A beautifully written romance story that made me laugh, cheer and tear. Ms Bozza writes a character that is so wonderfully human and real that you know them and love them. I have never given any thought about large age differences between partners. You simply fall in love and act upon it. I thought Hilary took the difference in age to the extreme although most of it was because of insecurity. The search for the truth about Thaddeus was intriguing and meshed perfectly with Tom and Hilary's love. The garden was also the ultimate example of age making no difference and the way both men worked at it was perfect. ( )

I loved the writing in this May/December m/m romance, and I thought much of the story was just lovely. But in the end I didn't quite feel like I knew the characters well enough, and--and this is the real thing that knocked this out of hovering-near-five-stars territory--I wasn't convinced that this 65-year-old-man and this 23-year-old man really had the foundation for a relationship. I don't really need convinced about May/December romances--as long as everyone is consenting and adult and there's no weird power imbalance, I'm in. (I might be in if there *is* a weird power imbalance, too, provided it's explored adequately and so on.) But I wasn't convinced about these two, regardless. We never get Tom's (May's) point of view, and that was certainly part of it. And Hilary (December) just seemed... infatuated, I guess? (He also seemed way older than 65. He called Tom "my dear," constantly (honestly that repetition may have been too much even if the endearment itself didn't ring false) and almost doddering. People age differently, but he felt a good twenty years older than he was.) I dunno. Ultimately it just didn't quite work, and I think it's down to not getting enough of them as people on the page. But I am intrigued, based on the writing, to try more by Bozza. ( )

This book very much had the quality of that marvellous state between dreaming and awakening, that state where reality does not infringe on what-might-be.

I loved it. I loved the slow, sweet, poignancy of Hilary falling in love, of finally experiencing what he never dreamed would happen for him. I loved Tom's openness and loving determination in wooing Hilary. I loved the very Englishness of the setting.

If I had to confess a niggle it would be that Hilary's "voice" seems more appropriate to the generation just before the one he is written in. But that is just my humble opinion whilst reminiscing about 1967. (And this, after all, is just a dream...) ( )

This was quite a beautiful romance, and strange enough, while the pace was slow, for various reason I will explain, the story wasn't at all boring, and actually it was captivating, like a blanket wrapping you in winter, letting no desire to go out of your nestle.

Hilary is 65 years old; already enough an original character for a story cause you aren't used to imagine senior people to have love story, or if they do, they are chaste, often with people their own age. When you pair him with 23 years old Tom, well that was unexpected. Above all cause, it's Tom who initiates everything, being charming and hinting to an interest that was beyond their common task of restoring a psychic garden in Hilary's backyard.

For Hilary is more upsetting to accept what people will think of them, than believing that Tom is really interested in him. Maybe cause Tom is really an open character, no hidden layer, honest and kind from the beginning; Hilary doesn't question if Tom has an hidden agenda, and so he believes Tom's feelings are sincere. What he questions are how much enduring they are, and what Tom's friends and relatives will think if he has a relationship with a man that could easily be his grandfather.

I liked how respectful the author was of these two men, and how she didn't deprive them of the sexual nature of their relationship. Tom is 23 years old and it would be unbelievable if he hadn't desires; sure their love making is different from that of two twenty something fellows, but nevertheless is satisfying for the both of them.

The story has its bittersweet undertone, and the author doesn't hide what is the possible future of this couple; they can find happiness, but indeed, happiness with Hilary will not last for the entire life of Tom, but is it better to love and lose or to not love at all?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1908312947/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

I read this, but I really am just unsure how to rate it. On one hand, it was beautifully written, on the other is that I just could not, for the life of me, picture this relationship ever. The age gap was so far apart, it just squicked me out. I almost DNF this one because of it. (my own fault, really. I read the great reviews that warned of the huge age gap, but they were such great reviews!)

Sorry, but can't really recommend this to anyone, though I will try another one of the author's books.