Published By: Pansy
Pages: 400
Released On: 04/06/2026
Stories don’t always unfold the way you expect them to…
When 45-year-old Adam inherits a rundown farmhouse and castle in Tuscany from a great uncle he didn’t know existed, he quits his job in Manchester to renovate the property. He’s thrilled his boyfriend of two years, newly divorced and out-of-the-closet Theo, is joining him. But Theo’s ex-wife says she can’t take their children for the summer, so they come too. As the temperature rises, so does the tension. The kids are hostile to Adam, immune to the beauty of the rural location – and scared of the resident lizards.
As Adam explores the crumbling walls of the castle and sorts through his uncle’s possessions, he discovers some dark family secrets. But could they finally allow him to break free from the pain of the past, start building a new family and open a life of queer joy?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Pansy for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
Is there anything more heartwarming than a new Matt Cain book?
There’s 53 chapters which makes roughly 7 pages per chapter, which is a good length, as I don’t like overly long chapters.
I’m not 100% sure but I thought I’d seen somewhere that this is based on a true story and that Matt had indeed inherited this Italian property. The only problem is…I can’t find where I read it so now I’m wondering if I imagined it.
I love that our protagonists are a little older, in their forties, and are just settling down in this new live of theirs. It shows that love and dreams don’t have to stop just because you didn’t find them in your 20s.
I love Italy, although I haven’t been to the area in this book. But it sounds idyllic and made me really want to spend my summer in the Italian countryside drinking wine, gazing out at my vineyard. Oh…a girl can dream. Here’s hoping I have a long-lost uncle with an Italian castle to inherit.
I loved the blended family in this. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows, but that’s good. I’ve only become a blended family since my dad died and my mum found a new partner, but I’m in my 30s and so it doesn’t feel like a blended family, if that makes sense. But I can’t imagine how easy or difficult it might be for children to cope with a new family, particularly if they’ve only experienced the “traditional” family set-up but now they’re contended with something different. And I loved how honest Matt was about that. It’s not always pleasant but it’s important to talk about.
I know they played their roles perfectly, but the kids in this book are so irritating, that if they weren’t children I would have said “push them down the hill”. They’re so rude and miserable and just nasty and I didn’t like them at all (except for the youngest, he was a sweetheart). I know I should have been patient and given them the benefit of the doubt but it was hard to. But they did get better as it went on.
I really enjoyed it from the start, but it definitely got even better once Adam started investigation his Uncle’s past, about 1/3 through. That’s when it starts to get juicy and when it turns from a good book to a great book.
It’s not my favourite of his books – that accolade still remains with One Love. But it’s a very enjoyable, moving, entertaining, funny, serious, relaxing, gorgeous story.
By the end of it I felt so warm and I could feel my smile getting bigger. It is so uplifting and heartwarming.
If you’re heading to Italy this summer then it’s the perfect read to lose yourself in.
Books By Your Bedside 