Book Reviews

Book Blurb

When all your friends have plus-ones but you’re still figuring out step one.

Alaric: Turning thirty doesn’t mean you have to grow up and be boring, right? Except if you ask all my friends, it does. They’re all busy coupling up and settling down, while I’m stuck cuddling up to strangers for a shot at a good night’s sleep. Only this state of utter desperation would lead me to move to middle-of-nowhere Sutton Common with the world’s most peculiar, boring man. He even walks an imaginary dog!

Gerald: I never thought I would want a housemate, and after meeting Alaric, I’m even more convinced. The man’s a walking disaster who sleeps on the floor and won’t stop making fun of my book club reads. I could never trust him with my secrets, like my dream to dance with my neighbour’s dog at the prestigious Crufts dog show. I should be glad when he decides to move back out as soon as possible, right?

Only it turns out Alaric might appreciate a firm hand… and I might like being the one holding the leash.

From the 2025 winner of the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Romance comes a tale of two housemates in love. If only they realised.

This is book 2 in the Mis-Shapes series but works perfectly as a standalone.

 

Book Review

Take two secondary characters from Fearne Hill’s first book in this series, ‘Maybe’, make them as different as humanly possible, like Yin and Yang, throw them into a quiet flat in a quiet London suburb, create an almost hostile tension between them from the get-go, add a neighbor’s dancing dog for a touch of unexpected color, and watch the result. The highly enjoyable result, I’d like to add. That’s how you write a successful ‘Fool’s Gold’.

 

On one side, we have Dr. Alaric Alvin, the elflike, sparkling human equivalent of a rainbow-colored unicorn who, in book one, was working in the same emergency department as Isaac Fitz-Henry. Alaric has specialized in urology in the meantime, but he’s still “living the vida loca.” Adulting isn’t something he even remotely plans to do any day soon. It’s much more fun taking off the edge of a difficult working day by giving a PS5-game a go with one’s bestie, getting drunk, hitting the dance floors, and hooking up with strangers. A lifestyle choice made easy by the fact that he’s living in the only place a person of sound mind would want to live in: central London. But it seems those happy times are over. Because his best mate Stefan, who shares his flat with him, has recently met Mister Right (who isn’t Mister Right, but Stefan isn’t asking). And the new boyfriend isn’t keen on having a third party in his new “home, sweet home.” Which means Alaric needs to find a new place to stay, and that ASAP.

 

The problem is, London, and more specifically central London, is expensive. Too expensive for Alaric’s means, anyway. That’s when someone suggests he might want to move in with one of his remote acquaintances, Gerald Mason. Yes, I’m talking about the very same Gerald—quaint, nerdy, quiet, unremarkable, and stiff—with whom Isaac used to go on a couple of hapless dates in book one. Gerald, who seems to have been born already a fully-formed responsible adult, owns a flat with a room to let, and he’s looking for a flatmate because, for unspecified reasons, he needs some extra money. The rent sounds good, the whereabouts, not at all. In fact, Gerald’s flat is situated in—Sutton Common, a tranquil suburb a long, long, looooong way from central London. Hardly London, actually. Yet Alaric runs out of options, so he finally moves to—shudder—Sutton Common, bringing all his belongings, his glitter, his sass, and his words. Oh, so many words! Unsurprisingly, Gerald’s welcome turns out rather chilly, if not outright alarmed. He’s an introvert man, a bookish man, a tidy man, a man who cherishes rules and principles and allotted places in the dishwasher for each specific cup, plate, and fork. To accept a whirlwind such as Alaric in his sanctum is challenging, to say the least. If only he didn’t need the money for his little, secret side-activity…

 

Well, this book was “such fun,” as Miranda Hart’s TV-show-mum in Miranda would have exclaimed. The whole novel is very British, very Londony (much to my delight), and an entertaining take of the opposites-attract trope. One could also say it’s flatmates-to-lovers, even enemies-to-lovers. A real Yin-Yang situation as I wrote in the first paragraph. Where Alaric is witty, sassy, glittery, lively, loud, unfiltered, and extremely verbal (his flow-of-consciousness monologues are too funny), Gerald is exactly not that. He likes the calm and quiet of his suburb, of his immaculate flat, of his perfectly planned-out life. The arrival of this exotic… hobbit, as he calls his new flatmate, is a constant test for his patience. Why would anyone wish to share so many private, even intimate things? Why would anyone ask so many indiscrete questions—and expect honest answers? Gerald doesn’t get it. And yet, he realizes something draws him inexorably to this unexpected addition to his existence.

 

Because here lies the exquisite pleasure of Fearne Hill’s plot: the two main characters could have turned out stereotypes, mere caricatures. But they both have depth and warmth. They genuinely care for other people, even for people whom they intitally find irritating. Gerald and Alaric take quite a while (half the book, in fact) to realize they not only manage to live with each other without mutual homicide constantly looming over their heads, but that they even like each other. That’s when they accidentally hook up in a sizzling hot scene. And from there it takes the rest of the book for them to become aware of the fact that they have fallen for each other. All perfectly timed, perfectly paced, perfectly written, with little twists and turns, no unnecessary drama (just what one needs to be satisfied, actually), and loads of silly-funny conversations that made me love the two men a bit more with each chapter.

 

A highly entertaining romance with lots of British flair and flavor, a cute book that warmed my heart.

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the author. This book has been provided by the author for the purpose of a review.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 270 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	26-February-2026
Price	$5.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0FLKH3314