Review: Laugh out loud humor
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 28, 2013
I went a long time between episodes of this series, having read Country Mouse over a year ago. City Mouse unfortunately got stuck in my TBR pile and unjustly left unread for far too log. My loss, because this is a great story and I enjoyed it so much I regret not having read it much sooner.Owen, the so-called country mouse because of his less sophisticated background, has decided to move to the city to live with his boyfriend Malcolm, the city mouse. Let me hasten to explain, these are men and they are not mouse-shifters! It's just a play on the old city mouse/country mouse cliché.Owen is an explorer and quickly begins finding his way around London. The fact that he has a liberal soul and is not affected by status does not sit well with financier Malcolm. Owen finds a job that suits his personality and life goals. He is the entire IT staff for a building full of non-profit agencies. Malcolm desperately wants Owen's future protected by a prestigious job and a high income, neither of which appeals to Owen.The two men have to get to know each other on new turf and learn to respect one another's idiosyncrasies and strengths in a new light. This is demonstrably more difficult for Malcolm than it is for Owen, so it comes down to Owen having to change Malcolm's outlook without changing the essential Malcolm whom he loves.This is a wonderful story and I enjoyed it a great deal. There is great laugh-out-loud humor throughout the book (Malcom visiting Owen's workplace with great trepidation, for example), just the right amount of angst (will they be able to look beyond their very basic differences and make a life together), and a lot of love to make the heartbreak worthwhile. I look forward to reading anything Amy Lane and Aleksandr Voinov care to write, separately or (even better!) together. Their styles of writing really complement one another.This review originally appeared at Mrs Condit & Friends Read Books