Joel Froomkin

Gideon Ramsay is so far in the closet he should be a talking faun.

A talented, mercurial, and often selfish man, Gideon has everything he should want in life. Fame, money, acting awards – he has it all. Everything but honesty. At the advice of his agent, Gideon has concealed his sexuality for years. But it’s starting to get harder to hide, and his increasingly wild behaviour is threatening to destroy his career.

Then he’s laid low by a serious illness and into his life comes Eli Jones. Eli is everything that Gideon can’t understand. He’s sunny tempered, friendly, and optimistic. Even worse, he’s unaffected by grumpiness and sarcasm, which forms ninety percent of Gideon’s body weight. And now Gideon is trapped with him without any recourse to the drugs and alcohol that have previously eased his way through awkward situations.

However, as Gideon gets to know the other man, he finds himself wildly attracted to his lazy smiles and warm, scruffy charm that seem to fill a hole inside Gideon that’s been empty for a long time. Will he give in to this incomprehensible attraction when it could mean the end of everything that he’s worked for?

From the bestselling author of the Mixed Messages series comes a story about a man who needs to realise that being true to yourself is really just a form of finding home.

This is the third book in the Finding Home series but it can be read as a standalone.

Gideon by Lily Morton

Narrated by Joel Leslie

A Finding Home Novel, Book 3

Audible US

Audible UK
Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Goodreads

Eli grins at me happily before turning round and mounting the stairs in his characteristic long-legged strides. I’ve noticed that he never seems to rush anywhere, but somehow he seems to get to places quicker than anyone else. I follow a bit more slowly, and when I round the deck, I look around curiously.

The sky is a clear, pale blue and there’s every sign that it’s going to be a scorching-hot day. However, the breeze blowing across the deck has ensured that it’s still cool at the moment. Set along the deck are padded mats in bright colours, and a group of people dressed in colourful yoga gear chat happily amongst themselves.

As Eli comes onto the deck, a slender dark-haired woman detaches herself from the group and comes over with a huge smile. “Eli, you came,” she exclaims with as much enthusiasm as if Eli were her long-lost brother. “I’m so pleased.”

My eyes narrow. When did he meet this woman?

He grins lazily at her, oblivious to the fact that she’s currently eye-fucking him so hard I’ll need a cigarette when she finally looks away. “I said I would,” he says happily, the Welsh lilt very evident in his early-morning voice.

I shoot him a look of total incomprehension. As far as I know, he’s been ensconced in the suite with me for the last few days, insisting that I sleep and relax. Yet every time we’ve left the cabin since then, people have hailed him left, right, and centre. How is this possible?

I come back to the conversation as Eli pats my arm. “This is Gideon.”

I bite my lip because his tone of voice and gestures are currently suggesting that rather than being a famous actor, I am, in fact, a raggedy old sheepdog. She gives me a cursory glance and smiles before returning to eye-fucking my nurse.

I can actually feel my mouth drop open. I’m not being conceited but… Oh, okay, I am being conceited but goddammit, there aren’t many people that overlook me. I’m too famous. I pause. Or infamous. I shrug. Either fucking way, I’m bloody memorable. Apart from on this fucking ship where my nurse appears to be the headline act.

I wonder whether I should be annoyed, but I’m far too amused to bother with that, so I stand, trying not to smile as she engages Eli in a very animated conversation while he shoots me occasional glances to check whether I’m okay or if I’ve died from boredom. Finally, when the group starts shifting about like sheep getting bored, she breaks away from the conversation and heads back to the front of the deck.

I turn to face Eli, leaning my elbows on the rail. “She seems very…” I pause, searching for words. “Very awake.”

He starts to laugh. “It’s usually better for the back and forth of conversation that both parties are conscious.”

I shake my head. “I’m not sure about that. Sometimes I think it would be better for people if they were asleep when I spoke to them. Less chance of them taking offence.”

He nods solemnly. “You might be right. Either that or dead.”

I’ll start by saying, I really love Lily Morton’s books. I haven’t been able to read the first two books in this series, because…well, I really don’t know why at the moment, because now I have to go back. 🙂 But when I saw this, I knew that I needed to listen to it. Between Lily’s love of snark, and Joel’s absolutely amazing ability to voice the character’s so authentically, there was zero chance this was going to be anything but fantastic!

These two main characters could not have presented more oppositely. Gideon was simply a sarcastic cynic who had been around the block so many times that the reader would get dizzy by proxy. Meanwhile, Eli was nothing but calm and patient with his patient. No matter what Gideon gave Eli, he simply gave it right back or moved on. It wasn’t love at first sight as much as learning to love yourself, and someone else as a side benefit. Gideon’s trials brought tears to my eyes more than once, yet he made me laugh out loud even more often.

I really loved how realistic some of this book was. Giving Gideon time to find himself is very adult, and really shows that Eli cared more about Gideon than Gideon cared about himself. And Gideon taking that time and knowing that it was what he needed in order to be what Eli needed. That is as it should be in life.

Then there’s Joel’s narration. What can I say…each time I listen to one of the books he narrated, I initially am concerned that I will somehow associate his voice with another book I passionately loved that he narrated. This has happened to me with a few other narrators (don’t worry, I get into them either way usually). However, that never happens with Joel. I am always immediately immersed into the story and know that I will hear that voice in my head as that person forever. Joel has an amazing ability to not only create a distinct voice for each character, but manages to flip back and forth instantly within a book. Perfect example…towards the end, the entire group of men, including a few side characters, are all in one room near the end of the book, gathered around to see what Gideon does (no spoiler here!), and everyone speaks at some point, and yet, the listener could immediately tell who was speaking by the voice, and not just by the words. It’s amazing to me the range that Joel has. I’d also be willing to bet that if I went back to listen to Oz (Book 1) and Milo (Book 2) (and by if, I actually mean, I am going back right now to listen to them-just grabbed Oz 🙂 ), the voices are exactly the same as what I just listened to with Gideon (Book 3). Joel is a master at his craft, and listening to his narration is simply about immersing yourself into the story and letting go.

*Side note* I generally take about 2 weeks to listen to an audio book this length, because I can’t multitask very well. I soaked this one up in 4 days…that says SO MUCH!!!!

Anyway, the story is great, with the good guys getting the happy endings (epilogue is awesome!) and the bad guy getting his comeuppance. My perfect way to end a book. Give this one a shot, listen and enjoy!

Story: 4.5 pieces of eye candy

Narration: 5 pieces of eye candy

Lily writes contemporary romance novels, and specialises in hot love stories with a good dose of humour.

Lily lives in sunny England with her husband and two children, all of whom claim that they haven’t had a proper conversation with her since she bought her first Kindle.

She has spent her life with her head full of daydreams and decided one day to just sit down and start writing about them. In the process she discovered that she actually loved writing, because how else could she get to spend her time with hot, funny men!

She loves chocolate and Baileys and the best of all creations – chocolate Baileys! Her lifetime’s ambition is to have a bath in peace without being shouted by one of her family.

About the Narrator

Joel Froomkin, a eight-time Earphones Award-Winning narrator, is a UK transplant, growing up with American parents in a British commonwealth. A classically trained actor with an MFA in theatre from USC, he is often cast for his unique ability to deliver native, authentic combinations of British and American sounds. His great range and ability to bring characters to life with honesty, wit and versatility delights producers and listeners alike. He has won Earphones Awards for 1st person British, American and Australian narrations.

He was the winner of three 2020 Independent Audiobook Awards, including Best Male Narrator. He has nearly 300 full-length audiobooks to his credit and over 25,,000 five star reviews on audible. His narration of JJ McAvoy’s Ruthless People was a #1 Romance Best-Seller on audible. He served as Director of Drama at Manchester University and has been a Theatre Professor at Indiana/Purdue University.

He is a dialect specialist and has taught accents and speech at NYU, Tisch School of the Arts as well as coached accents for major regional theaters, Broadway stalwarts and national tours.

He has had the pleasure of working with Audible Studios, Penguin Random House, Dreamscape, Scholastic, Podium, Blackstone, Harper, Bee Audio, Brilliance, Deyan Audio, Tantor, Punch and Hachette.

Joel also records in the romance genre as ‘Joel Leslie’ and has developed a very strong following and garnered many awards including m/m Audiobook Narrator of the Year 2018 from openskyebookreviews and numerous Audiobook of the Year-winning titles.

Joel has consistent access to his home studio for all production needs. When not in the booth he spends his time chasing after two loquacious wiener dogs.

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