Down on his luck is Gideon Joy’s default state. He doesn’t know why he expected a different outcome on his cross-country trip, but unsurprisingly, the hits keep coming—literally this time. Gideon strikes a moose with his car in New Hampshire, not only totaling his own vehicle, but damaging one belonging to local construction worker, Silas Bright. He has no choice but to stay in Lancaster and take … Lancaster and take on a job that’ll pay for the repairs. And in a town so small, Gideon’s constantly running into Silas. What starts as annoyance between them soon blooms into something much more intimate. But when Gideon’s notorious bad luck rears its head yet again, how many disastrous dates will Silas be willing to weather before realizing Gideon’s not worth the effort?
The quaint community has accepted Gideon as one of their own, but past fears of inadequacy threaten the very joy he left Los Angeles to discover. If he’s to find a happily ever after with Silas, Gideon must learn to accept that sometimes it’s okay to not be the best. And true happiness might be an everyday life in a small town.
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All the Lancaster stories are short ones – compact, delicious little bites of romance you can read without neglecting your life. On top of that, they’re warm and lovely stories of the sort everyone needs right now. Fuzzy blanket stories set in a small town.
Gideon believes he’s cursed with bad luck and Silas is painfully shy – neither one of them truly believes they can be happy. Which is what makes this gradual, hesitant courtship so much fun. There are a lot of funny moments and there’s a lot of anticipation because the reader will absolutely know what Gideon’s denying he needs to make his life right.
Beyond being warm and fluffy, the story carries a strong message of understanding where your talents lie and not focusing on the things you don’t do as well as others.
Joy by C.S. Poe was given in exchange for an honest review. Gideon Joy thinks if he didn’t have had luck he would have no luck at all and he got the message when he hit a moose and another car. Silas, a quiet and shy man may just be what Gideon needs even if Gideon doesn’t know it yet. I loved this story. The story and the characters were loveable. I had to laugh at the directions for a food delivery given by George because that’s how I grew up on landmarks as directions. So Gideons reaction was quite amusing and just the light and happy book I needed.
Joy: What a beautiful book C. S. Poe has written! Right from the first page, I was pulling for Gideon Joy and his epic bad luck made me cheer for him that much more. We find this blonde, unconventional man making his way to Maine all the way from Los Angeles, California only to be sidelined in New Hampshire by a moose. The moose causes his car to run into the vehicle of Silas Bright who happens to be a whole lot more than just a big probably homophobic New England hunk. This book is full of what would make anyone grin, chuckle, and say “Awww…”. Such a delightful read especially in our troublesome times. Thanks, Ms. Poe!
This is such a sweet short story. Gideon is, in his eyes, an unlucky screw up who has fled California and driven across country heading for Maine just to escape life for a while. He hits a moose in New Hampshire and wrecks his car and another car. He now needs a place to stay and a job to pay for the repairs. And thus begins his journey to finding happiness. He keeps running into Silas, first literally and then figuratively, around town and one thing leads to another as they decide to try dating. Silas is your stereotype strong, silent type and the perfect counter to Gideon’s hyper klutz persona.
This is a really lovely story of someone who discovers the world is different than he thought and perhaps he is too. There’s a whole “kindness of strangers” thing and a small town ethos. You could really see this being a perfect story for the Hallmark channel, as soon as they start doing gay stories.
I really enjoyed the story and it just made me happy. I had a smile on my face throughout and that’s what I want from a nice, light read.
**I voluntarily read an ARC and this is my unbiased opinion.**
This was fantastic!! This was a pure romantic, fluffy love story. Poor Gideon had a lot of unfortunate things happen to him, no wonder he felt the universe was plotting against him. He almost hits a moose but does manage to hit another car in the beginning and thing just kept happening to him. Silas is super shy and awkward, and he likes Gideon! This was an amazing story, well written, loved it!! I loved the pace of the story, it did not flounder. Great character development! I am voluntarily leaving a review form an advanced copy that I received. My reviews are solely based on my thoughts and opinions.