Published By: Headline Review
Pages: 464
Released On: 18/01/2024
2002
Danny arrives at Manchester University determined not to hide from the world any longer. This is the year his life will begin.
He locks eyes with a handsome stranger across the hall at the Fresher’s Fair. It starts with a wink and soon Danny and Guy are best friends.
2022
Now, both single for the first time in years, Danny and Guy return to the confetti-covered streets of the Gay Village for Manchester Pride.
After years of shared adventures and lost dreams, Danny finally plans to share the secret he has been keeping for two decades. He has always been in love with Guy.
Could this weekend be the end of a twenty-year friendship . . . or the start of something new and even more beautiful?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Headline Review for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
A brand new matt Cain book? Just what I needed for a chilly winter evening.
I’d read that this was a bit like David Nicholls’ One Day, and I was a bit apprehensive as I never fully got into that book. I felt it was all a bit slow. And I was worried that this would be similar. But I needn’t have worried. I mean yes, for me, no explosive action happens in it, but that doesn’t mean it’s boring. It’s a slow burn, giving you time to really develop a fondness for these characters and their journeys, and it’s perfectly executed.
People think this is just a piece of entertaining fiction – which it is – and nothing of consequence. But it’s more important than that. It breaks my heart to know that this isn’t just fiction, people have to go through this day after day, just because of who they love. This kind of thing should be relegated to fiction, to fantasy worlds.
I completely recognise that as a heterosexual woman, I have never been put in a position where my sexuality or the gender of my partner has been put under scrutiny. But it’s books like these, that contain openly gay characters, but in the same way that mainstream books market openly straight characters…I think it’s a lot more important than “just” a piece of entertainment.
It’s set over two time periods, the early 2000s whilst the two protagonists are at University and the years following graduation, and 2022. We get to see the two men grow up individually and together. It makes them so likeable and so detailed that it’s hard not to root for them. It also allows us to see the change in LGBTQ+ attitudes over those two decades.
Like the work of the aforementioned David Nicholls or Nicholas Sparks, Matt is not apologetic about the romance and the light and likes and loves and positivity in his books. But he balances that with very human feelings and situations, especially around LGBTQ+ elements.
It felt so real, like I wanted these people to be in my world. They’re not always likeable. They’re immature and they can be nasty and angry and obliviously cruel, but that’s what makes them – and I know I keep repeating myself – but real. No-one is 100% a good guy in life, we are all sometimes the villain, and that’s what Matt has achieved here. Danny and Guy are both the hero and the villain in their respective stories, and it’s just about balancing that.
Not to be dismissive or anything as he’s obviously worked really hard on it, but for me, the plot is inconsequential. He is such a master at creating well-developed, flawed, likeable, and very real characters, that I would just gladly read a study of people by him for 400+ pages.
It was really moving. I wasn’t expecting it to be so. But it really is just so beautiful that I found myself welling up on more than one occasion. There’s just so much heart in it. I won’t give too much away as I think the effect comes from experiencing it yourself, btu there are passages in it – particularly towards the end – that just, I felt in my heart and my soul. There’s this nostalgia, but it’s not always a positive one, and it is so strong. I predict a bestseller come January.
It is a truly heartwarming, cosy, intense, strong, sad, happy, fun, entertaining, beautiful, important, comforting hug of a book.
Books By Your Bedside 