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sarful's review
4.0
A delightful read about two older men, a nice departure from the romance about just young men finding love. Both men are happy with their lives as bachelors, one has a new twink daily. But, then they meet each other and form a strong friendship until they realize they can have more, if temporary, as one man is slated to leave back to France. Of course they and up in love and it’s glorious.
This was a funny and sweet romance that I ate up.
This was a funny and sweet romance that I ate up.
tragicgloom's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Medical content, Homophobia, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
toshi21's review
4.0
A delightful tale of two stubborn people
Lily Morton writes a story that is a delight to the senses.
The story is charming and humorous with a dash of humanity as they work through the trials of a first relationship while being older.
Magnus and Laurie work as neither one wants to admit feelings or comfort to the other
I love Morton’s quirks as she draws me. She takes normal every day moments and makes them filled with laughter and hilarity.
The romance between our heroes is sweet and steamy and leaves you sighing.
Lily Morton writes a story that is a delight to the senses.
The story is charming and humorous with a dash of humanity as they work through the trials of a first relationship while being older.
Magnus and Laurie work as neither one wants to admit feelings or comfort to the other
I love Morton’s quirks as she draws me. She takes normal every day moments and makes them filled with laughter and hilarity.
The romance between our heroes is sweet and steamy and leaves you sighing.
haletostilinski1's review against another edition
5.0
⭐︎4.5 "beautifully unexpected ;)" stars!⭐︎
Oh, how I love Lily Morton's works, let me count the ways. The last two she put out out there, though, I do have to say weren't as strong as they usually are for me, from her. Not on par with with what I'm used to. Still very good, but missing that little spark that makes Morton books so amazing.
This was brought back that spark. I absolutely loved this.
We rarely get romance books about MC's of the more mature age bracket, and I understand why. I mean, we want to read about people falling in love in their 20's, 30's maybe and then having sooo long together, the rest of their lives...and really, we do expect to find "the one" or at least the person we want to spend the rest of our life with, fairly young.
But every once in awhile, that doesn't happen (well, most people never even find that person, but for romance book purposes, of course our heroes find their one true love and all that ;)) and MC's find that one person to fall in love with later in life.
For Magnus and Laurie, they find it at age 52 and 48, respectively. Certainly late in life, but never say never, as they say. That's still a good 40 years they can have together, I say! haha.
But anyway, what I love about this is...they could have met so much sooner in life. It's wild. Laurie is Lennie's sister, who is Magnus' best friend from uni, and Magnus has been very close friends with her for some 20-odd years by the time he even meets Laurie.
And Laurie is only 4 years younger than him, so it's not like they're at completely different times in their lives or something. But these two always heard about the other over the years, but never met each other face to face.
Magnus wasn't even at Lennie and her husband Chris' (Magnus' other best friend) wedding because of his work...but they could have met then.
Laurie has lived in France all these years too and is an artist and has never really visited London, where Magnus is basically married to his job, for long.
So in the grand scheme of things, it makes sense why they never met. It's just crazy that they never met face to face when there were probably so many opportunities for them to. Life is interesting, for sure.
And also, would these two have been ready for each other when they were younger? Who knows. They're both so averse to relationships, Laurie having tried a few that never lasted long and Magnus having never tried to have one at all, would they have been able to get past their ego, hubris and all that back then? Who knows.
But it doesn't matter, because they meet later in life, when they're definitely more mature. Even if Magnus still sleeps with younger men to avoid complications and still ends with one of the younger men outside his door naked with a bow around his...bits ;). Not Magnus' fault, though lol.
And after all these years, they finally meet as Laurie's brother lives across the hall from Magnus, and he's away on business for part of the summer and Laurie is house sitting.
Right as Magnus' bed partner of the night before does the whole naked thing outside his door with a bow on his dick.
Thus starts a beautiful relationship between Magnus and Laurie lol.
But seriously, these two just clicked from the get go. I saw a few other reviews not liking the humor/snark between these two and feeling like they didn't have any real conversations, and I have to say that I disagree.
I mean, of course a Lily Morton book is going to have the humor, the snark, the sarcasm. That's like...a staple after all this time, and it's usually funny and I love some good humor with my romance if it's there.
And also, I think these two did have real conversations. They might have interjected with humor or sarcasm here or there in those conversations, but that doesn't take away from the serious aspects of the conversations too. And there were conversations of them just getting to know each other, making the other laugh, and falling for each other because of their personalities. It didn't always have to be super deep, 'real' conversations to be meaningful, in my opinion.
And also, for two people so averse to relationships, it makes sense for them to try to use humor and sarcasm at times to try to keep their real emotions at bay and to not let themselves get close to others in that way. Too bad it just didn't really work all that well on each other, because there was just something special about the other that they couldn't pull back from, or run away from.
My only real niggle that made me give .5 stars off was because of how many times Magnus backed off on asking what was going on with Laurie. It started to frustrate the hell out of me. Like...how many times are you going to let it go? The first few times, sure. But even when they're more deep into their feelings and relationship, he lets it go, and we didn't know ourselves what was going on with Laurie, so it just make me frustrated. I think we could have learned of it earlier and the drama that happened could have still happened.
I actually would have liked Laurie to have told Magnus, or Magnus would have pushed just a little after awhile. Especially when he could see that Laurie wasn't 100%. If nothing else, to just let Laurie continue to not take care of himself was just frustrating. I know it's Laurie's business and all that, but we were left hanging so many times that it got so frustrating.
But, that's a small niggle for me. Overall it didn't detract too much from my overall enjoyment of this.
I just loved these two together, and I actually wish we had gotten more sex - we only got about three or so scenes. I'm a greedy asshole who wants more when I love a couple haha. But the romance was also just too good to really care all that much at the more moderate level of sex scenes. At least what we got was scorching hot, and just left me wanting more. A sign of well written sex scenes ;)
I HIGHLY recommend this. It's so worth the read, and just getting that Morton spark back, for me, was exciting and wonderful.
Two MASSIVE thumbs up from me! ❤️
Oh, how I love Lily Morton's works, let me count the ways. The last two she put out out there, though, I do have to say weren't as strong as they usually are for me, from her. Not on par with with what I'm used to. Still very good, but missing that little spark that makes Morton books so amazing.
This was brought back that spark. I absolutely loved this.
We rarely get romance books about MC's of the more mature age bracket, and I understand why. I mean, we want to read about people falling in love in their 20's, 30's maybe and then having sooo long together, the rest of their lives...and really, we do expect to find "the one" or at least the person we want to spend the rest of our life with, fairly young.
But every once in awhile, that doesn't happen (well, most people never even find that person, but for romance book purposes, of course our heroes find their one true love and all that ;)) and MC's find that one person to fall in love with later in life.
For Magnus and Laurie, they find it at age 52 and 48, respectively. Certainly late in life, but never say never, as they say. That's still a good 40 years they can have together, I say! haha.
But anyway, what I love about this is...they could have met so much sooner in life. It's wild. Laurie is Lennie's sister, who is Magnus' best friend from uni, and Magnus has been very close friends with her for some 20-odd years by the time he even meets Laurie.
And Laurie is only 4 years younger than him, so it's not like they're at completely different times in their lives or something. But these two always heard about the other over the years, but never met each other face to face.
Magnus wasn't even at Lennie and her husband Chris' (Magnus' other best friend) wedding because of his work...but they could have met then.
Laurie has lived in France all these years too and is an artist and has never really visited London, where Magnus is basically married to his job, for long.
So in the grand scheme of things, it makes sense why they never met. It's just crazy that they never met face to face when there were probably so many opportunities for them to. Life is interesting, for sure.
And also, would these two have been ready for each other when they were younger? Who knows. They're both so averse to relationships, Laurie having tried a few that never lasted long and Magnus having never tried to have one at all, would they have been able to get past their ego, hubris and all that back then? Who knows.
But it doesn't matter, because they meet later in life, when they're definitely more mature. Even if Magnus still sleeps with younger men to avoid complications and still ends with one of the younger men outside his door naked with a bow around his...bits ;). Not Magnus' fault, though lol.
And after all these years, they finally meet as Laurie's brother lives across the hall from Magnus, and he's away on business for part of the summer and Laurie is house sitting.
Right as Magnus' bed partner of the night before does the whole naked thing outside his door with a bow on his dick.
Thus starts a beautiful relationship between Magnus and Laurie lol.
But seriously, these two just clicked from the get go. I saw a few other reviews not liking the humor/snark between these two and feeling like they didn't have any real conversations, and I have to say that I disagree.
I mean, of course a Lily Morton book is going to have the humor, the snark, the sarcasm. That's like...a staple after all this time, and it's usually funny and I love some good humor with my romance if it's there.
And also, I think these two did have real conversations. They might have interjected with humor or sarcasm here or there in those conversations, but that doesn't take away from the serious aspects of the conversations too. And there were conversations of them just getting to know each other, making the other laugh, and falling for each other because of their personalities. It didn't always have to be super deep, 'real' conversations to be meaningful, in my opinion.
And also, for two people so averse to relationships, it makes sense for them to try to use humor and sarcasm at times to try to keep their real emotions at bay and to not let themselves get close to others in that way. Too bad it just didn't really work all that well on each other, because there was just something special about the other that they couldn't pull back from, or run away from.
My only real niggle that made me give .5 stars off was because of how many times Magnus backed off on asking what was going on with Laurie. It started to frustrate the hell out of me. Like...how many times are you going to let it go? The first few times, sure. But even when they're more deep into their feelings and relationship, he lets it go, and we didn't know ourselves what was going on with Laurie, so it just make me frustrated. I think we could have learned of it earlier and the drama that happened could have still happened.
I actually would have liked Laurie to have told Magnus, or Magnus would have pushed just a little after awhile. Especially when he could see that Laurie wasn't 100%. If nothing else, to just let Laurie continue to not take care of himself was just frustrating. I know it's Laurie's business and all that, but we were left hanging so many times that it got so frustrating.
But, that's a small niggle for me. Overall it didn't detract too much from my overall enjoyment of this.
I just loved these two together, and I actually wish we had gotten more sex - we only got about three or so scenes. I'm a greedy asshole who wants more when I love a couple haha. But the romance was also just too good to really care all that much at the more moderate level of sex scenes. At least what we got was scorching hot, and just left me wanting more. A sign of well written sex scenes ;)
I HIGHLY recommend this. It's so worth the read, and just getting that Morton spark back, for me, was exciting and wonderful.
Two MASSIVE thumbs up from me! ❤️
b_nour's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
bfdbookblog's review
5.0
Man, I loved this book! Lily Morton is on my auto-read list, so I don’t even read the synopsis anymore before signing up.
I was pleasantly surprised by Magnus’ and Laurie’s ages…they are mature adults. They also don’t have perfect gym bodies. These guys are my age with realistic body types and amazing personalities.
Magnus is a grumpy old barrister (sidenote: I loved learning about the English legal system hierarchy) whose snark and sarcasm game is STRONG. His ego isn’t suffering either. But he’s a damn good guy who is easily wrapped around Laurie’s finger. The family ties are a bonus for me!
Laurie is a typical artist who gets lost in his work and forgets to eat but also has a solid sarcasm game. His wits are well matched to Magnus. He is fun-loving (typically) and convinces Magnus to enjoy more things outside work. I loved how easily bewitched Magnus became by Laurie. I also appreciated them becoming friends before lovers.
Magnus with his dog might have made me laugh out loud a couple of times.
There is relatively no/low angst in the story and their conflict is quickly resolved. This is an absolute must-read.
I was pleasantly surprised by Magnus’ and Laurie’s ages…they are mature adults. They also don’t have perfect gym bodies. These guys are my age with realistic body types and amazing personalities.
Magnus is a grumpy old barrister (sidenote: I loved learning about the English legal system hierarchy) whose snark and sarcasm game is STRONG. His ego isn’t suffering either. But he’s a damn good guy who is easily wrapped around Laurie’s finger. The family ties are a bonus for me!
Laurie is a typical artist who gets lost in his work and forgets to eat but also has a solid sarcasm game. His wits are well matched to Magnus. He is fun-loving (typically) and convinces Magnus to enjoy more things outside work. I loved how easily bewitched Magnus became by Laurie. I also appreciated them becoming friends before lovers.
Magnus with his dog might have made me laugh out loud a couple of times.
There is relatively no/low angst in the story and their conflict is quickly resolved. This is an absolute must-read.
ilyarozanov123's review
3.0
3 or a 3.5 because I enjoyed this one a lot. One of the best I’ve read by Lily Morton for sure. Mags and Laurie were great together. I loved the humor and the way they had so much fun together. They were both very fleshed out and interesting characters.
I did find the Danish a bit cringe, especially at the end, because I’m a Swede and thus practically conditioned to find the Danish language ugly (and definitely not romantic). So I could’ve done without that part.
I did find the Danish a bit cringe, especially at the end, because I’m a Swede and thus practically conditioned to find the Danish language ugly (and definitely not romantic). So I could’ve done without that part.
so_many_books's review
5.0
How to express my love for this book? It is really hard to put into words all theese feelings inside me.
Beautifully Unexpexted brought a lovely rom com and some amazing angst together. All that with two mature MCs who are still full of light and life even though they've lived half their life already.
In this book two men, Magnus and Laurie, find unexpected companionship and friendship in each other after a rather hilarious meet cute.
Magnus is a posh, rich and very confident barrister in London who lives life unapologitacally himself. He's parpatually single and conquers all the twinks heaets for one night around him.
Laurie is an artist. He's free and sees rhe world a certain way while being messy and artisty. He has a secret though which he tries to hide (unsuccessfully) from Magnus.
They are the unexpected partner in crime the other never expected. Laughing and having fun with the other more openly that they ever were with others.
The humour and the fun almost jumped out of the pages entertaining the reader to no end. I laughed a lot and smiled the whole time whole reading. Also I cried some because a litt angst and drama is needed even in the funniest books.
So yeah! This story was utterly entertaining and fun while being heartwrencing and lovable. All the love to the Uthor for creating this!
Thank you to GRR and Lily Morton for providing me a copy to review!
Beautifully Unexpexted brought a lovely rom com and some amazing angst together. All that with two mature MCs who are still full of light and life even though they've lived half their life already.
In this book two men, Magnus and Laurie, find unexpected companionship and friendship in each other after a rather hilarious meet cute.
Magnus is a posh, rich and very confident barrister in London who lives life unapologitacally himself. He's parpatually single and conquers all the twinks heaets for one night around him.
Laurie is an artist. He's free and sees rhe world a certain way while being messy and artisty. He has a secret though which he tries to hide (unsuccessfully) from Magnus.
They are the unexpected partner in crime the other never expected. Laughing and having fun with the other more openly that they ever were with others.
The humour and the fun almost jumped out of the pages entertaining the reader to no end. I laughed a lot and smiled the whole time whole reading. Also I cried some because a litt angst and drama is needed even in the funniest books.
So yeah! This story was utterly entertaining and fun while being heartwrencing and lovable. All the love to the Uthor for creating this!
Thank you to GRR and Lily Morton for providing me a copy to review!
enayqueerbooklover's review
5.0
Happy sigh….
Mags & Laurie are EVERYTHING. The snarky hilarious conversations. The fun they have together. The gentle development of a beautiful friendship, which progresses to more in the best ways.
Sigh.
Book hangover…
Mags & Laurie are EVERYTHING. The snarky hilarious conversations. The fun they have together. The gentle development of a beautiful friendship, which progresses to more in the best ways.
Sigh.
Book hangover…