Title: The Cuckoo’s Call
Author: Lily Morton
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 331 Pages
Category: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4.5 Stars
At a Glance: Wren’s backstory gives The Cuckoo’s Call its sentimental bite, and I joined Team Wren from the start. Lily Morton delivers his story in true romantic fashion. Not that we’d expect otherwise of this author.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Can a summer romance last forever?
Wren Roberts thought he’d found his fairy tale when he met Mateo Rossi on holiday in Majorca. The wealthy and successful older man swept him off his feet, and before he knew it, he’d thrown caution to the wind and was living in Mateo’s waterside apartment in Venice. It’s a far cry from his harsh upbringing and crummy flat in London.
But as the summer turns to autumn, cracks begin to show. Mateo’s family aren’t welcoming, and there doesn’t seem to be a place for Wren in Mateo’s world. He could have coped with all of that, but Mateo himself seems like a different person away from the sunshine island.
Should Wren have been more cautious in riding off into the sunset when he wasn’t sure what lay over the horizon?
Review: There is a single notable difference between The Cuckoo’s Call and the other books in Lily Morton’s repertoire, a difference that caught me more than a bit off guard. For anyone who’s read even a few of this author’s books, expecting a good bit of humor to kick off the romantic journey isn’t a baseless expectation. This book, however, opens on a note of such obvious melancholy and poignancy that it caught me off guard, to the point that I immediately shifted my expectations to accommodate for how I might engage in a different way with the story. Never fear, though. The snark readers associate with the author’s work is still here, along with her trademark grumpy-ish/sunshine characters. The sarcasm is merely peppered about amongst the building of an unintentional romance that isn’t short on pathos and is long on charm.
The setting of The Cuckoo’s Call is nearly as much a character in the story as its protagonists, Wren Roberts and Mateo Rossi. Majorca provides the backdrop to their unexpected meeting and the unlikely friendship that builds between them, thanks to Wren’s innate kindness and keen instincts and Mateo’s profound curiosity about the man with the sassy mouth who doesn’t look anything like a typical guest at one of his family’s luxury resort hotels. That Wren expects to be treated shabbily, if not overlooked entirely—by everyone, not just the hotel staff—plays a role in Mateo enlisting Wren’s help on a project that forces a little proximity, but it’s Wren’s irrepressible charm and wit that are the kryptonite to Mateo’s vow never to become emotionally involved with someone, anyone, ever. Haha sure.
Wren’s backstory gives this book its sentimental bite, and I joined Team Wren from the start as I watched the way he handled himself with his fair-weather best friend, Owen, and the assorted collection of knobs they were traveling with. Wren made this trip at great risk to his financial security, all for the sake of this friendship, a friendship that, as it turns out, was decidedly lopsided, and I loved the confidence and strength it took for Wren to stand up for himself even when it was uncomfortable. He’s such a sweet character, certainly one of the sweetest Lily Morton has ever written, and I unabashedly adored him by the end of the book.
Mateo is the older man in the relationship, forty to Wren’s own twenty-two, but older does not, in this case, mean wiser, and I loved that Wren had so many things to teach Mateo despite their age gap. Watching Mateo remain oblivious to the fact he was absolutely smitten with Wren, and not only that but was falling head over heels in love with him, was so satisfying. He’s a man with more money than experience, and he comes to learn, almost too late, that the only currency Wren is interested in is the emotional kind. Readers get to be the outsider looking in and witness the moment everything falls into place for Mateo, which happens in Venice, under the spiteful eye of his despicable father, stepmother, and half-sister, who are horrific to Wren for no other reason than he’s poor. It’s Mateo’s grandfather who steps up and saves the family reputation, as he could see what a treasure he had in his midst even before Mateo himself caught on.
I love the pivotal moment in a romance when all the stars align and the time finally comes to go big or go home, and in this case, that choice is made literal when Mateo doesn’t go big and Wren decides he must go home. That moment in The Cuckoo’s Call picks up where the Prologue leaves off, and Lily Morton delivers it in true romantic fashion. Not that we’d expect otherwise of this author.
You can buy The Cuckoo’s Call here:
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