Rossingley #1
by
Pages: 271
A grumpy aristocrat, a closeted doctor, a vast country estate, and a priceless butter dish – welcome to Rossingley!
Dr Jay Sorrentino is getting married in ten days’ time to the girl of his dreams. So what the hell is he doing in a gay London club with a stupidly handsome stranger?
As if calling off the wedding and alienating friends and family isn’t enough, Jay also has to contend with starting a new job in a new hospital. The last thing he needs is for his prickly supervisor to recognise him.
Dr Lucien Avery, the unexpected and reluctant heir to the vast Rossingley estate, is difficult. Reclusive and miserable, he hates packed lunches, bland clothing choices, most of his colleagues, and supervising junior doctors. That is, until the delectable Dr Sorrentino turns up on his doorstep.
To Hold A Hidden Pearl (Rossingley #1) is an M/M contemporary romance centred around Rossingley, a fictional country house and estate in southern England. The first in the series, it can be read as a standalone.
- 1 To Be Read list
Publisher: Ninestar Press
Editors:
Cover Artists:
Genres:
Pairings: M-M
Heat Level: 4
Romantic Content: 4
Ending: Click here to reveal
Character Identities: Gay, Genderfluid
Protagonist 1 Age: 26-35
Protagonist 2 Age: 26-35
Tropes: Class Differences, Coming Out / Closeted, Coming Out Later in Life, Death of Parent, Find Love and Come Out, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Gay for You / Straight to Gay, Hurt / Comfort
Word Count: 75000
Setting: UK
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Same Universe / Various Characters
We track the graceful birds for a while, swapping the binoculars between us.
“So, what do you do here all day, apart from watching birds and avoiding chopping wood?”
I’m rewarded with the shy smile again, and my stomach does a small flip.
“Oh, you know, the usual. Host gala balls, receive ladies for tea in the drawing room, alter the cut of my britches with my valet, terrorise the under footman. Swive the stable boy.”
I don’t know what swive means, but I can hazard a guess. “Very funny, Lucien. I’m a poor lad from a council estate in Wolverhampton. I haven’t got a clue what someone like you does to run a place like this in the twenty-first century.”
He sighs. “Nor did I until about eighteen months ago. I was just another weary junior doctor, with an ICU consultant job lined up at St George’s.”
True Loveislove reviews on https://www.instagram.com/loveislovereview/ wrote:This is my first book by Fearne Hill, and I am looking to reading more of her work after enjoying this story so much.
Lucien and Jay are such different characters who come together when both are in need of comfort and support. Lucien keeps everyone at arm’s length, giving him quite the reputation at the hospital where he works, but Jay’s warm and caring nature is hard to deny, as is the attraction they have together ever since an, (at the time) anonymous, hookup weeks previously.
Discovering that Lucien is to be Jay’s Educational Supervisor comes as quite the shock, especially as Lucien is the only person who knows that other side of Jay. Aside from starting his new job, Jay’s world has fallen apart after calling off his wedding and meeting Lucien, getting to know him, gives Jay an outlet, a place that he can be himself and not worry about everything else.
The pain from both men, Lucien especially after losing his family months previously, is palpable as I read the story. I was drawn in right from the start and loved all aspects of it. There are several sides of Lucien to fall in love with and Jay has a lot to deal with in the life he doesn’t want anymore; friends and family who don’t know why he called off the wedding, still sharing a home and financial with his ex-fiancé.
It’s a lot to weigh on a person and he feels guilt for a lot of it and Lucien is where he gets to let go of that, him being the only person to truly understand him. Their relationship development is interesting and I like that time was taken with everything, both physical and emotional. Whilst this is quite an emotional story, there are still light-hearted moments, my favourite being towards the beginning of the book and Jay getting ridiculously drunk and Lucien looking after him.
I cannot recommend this enough. There is drama, heartache, love and heat, all working together to bring two men their much-deserved HEA. 4.5 stars.
Please ensure you read the trigger warnings.
ALL the five shining stars/pearls for this glorious story!
I’m not sure where to start and how to review this utterly, utterly delicate narrative. My heart, it did the funniest things. I wanted to review hyperboles to catch the eye of other reviewers and show them what this story did to me.
With his icily sharp, haughty mouth, thirty-four-year-old dr. Lucien Avery keeps everyone at distance, he can’t interact, not anymore. His life made a dramatic downfall eighteen months ago.
He’s miserable, haunted, hurt and unreachable, till dr Jay Sorrentino enters his life.After one blowjob in a club, Jay takes, at twenty-nine, the big step, breaking up with his fiancée just before they would marry. He’s blocked by all his friends and family who are furious. Jay starts a new job at a new hospital, he can’t believe his eyes, his supervisor is the beautiful elegant man who he gave his very first blowjob.
Lucien is not sure how, but Jay breaks through his high walls. He’s swept off his feet by Jay and Jay has only eyes for Lucien.
Lucien is the gloriously sixteenth Earl of Rossingley, he’s extraordinary, something very special, I’m not gonna spoil, he’s has a thousand special characteristics, one even more attractive and endearing than the other, he’s extraordinary period!
Read it yourself, I was head over heels for him, just like Jay.“I’d walk to the ends of the earth for that heart-stopping smile.” Me too Jay, me too!
What a precious story, there are many moments full of heartache, sadness, melancholy, my heart hurt for Lucien, but there are also beautiful romantic moments, fabulously and deliciously steamy encounters, gosh!
The intensity is high, on all fronts, emotionally, physically.
The author uses words that made my insides warm and soft, and created an absolutely breathtaking picture, with heartaches, hurt, comfort, sexiness, and two outstanding characters, I couldn’t stop looking at all the precious details.
Emotionally It’s all well balanced, heavy parts are present but didn’t make it a depressing read.
Lucien was in the spotlight how he deserved to be and Jay got enough attention and space too.
I’m out of words, just read it yourself!
(less)
