On Circus Lane is the prequel to 2020’s Merry Measure, in which the central romance unfolded against the backdrop of a trip to Amsterdam in order to celebrate the engagement of Tom Wright (older brother of primary school teacher Arlo) and his boyfriend, Bee Bannister. Readers were captivated by the pair – so obviously happy and in love – and have asking for Tom and Bee’s origin story – and here it is. I’ve been on a break from Lily Morton’s books for the last few years; having read most of them more or less upon release, I was finding them same-y and stale, and this is the first one I’ve read since 2021’s On a Midnight Clear, which bored me silly.

But the break seems to have paid off, because I enjoyed On Circus Lane, a typically light-hearted bundle of undemanding, festive fun featuring engaging (if slightly too perfect) characters whose love language is snark.

Bee Bannister is a certified genius. Matriculated to Oxford at the age of fourteen, he has degrees in mathematics, physics, ancient history (to relax) and art history (just for fun!) and is now taking a DPhil in mathematics. He’s not interested in relationships – he doesn’t have time and prefers to keep his work, study and men in separate boxes – and is very happy with the string of one-and-done hook-ups that make up his love life. Bee has agreed to go on a short break to Edinburgh with a small group of friends to support his bestie, Ivy, who is a bit nervous because she only knows one other person in the group, her colleague, Sal. When the book begins, Bee and Ivy are meeting up with some of the others when Bee’s attention is caught by the most beautiful man he’s ever seen – tall and broad-shouldered with thick, wavy hair and a chiselled face – and he’s walking towards their table. Bee gives the guy an encouraging, flirty smile, but he just looks straight through him and fixes his attention on the guy called Steven (whom readers of Merry Measure will recall as Jack’s awful boyfriend), whom he accuses of stealing his house keys. This must be Sal’s brother, Tom, and from the way he acts and speaks, Bee immediately pegs him as an arrogant wanker and decides to ignore him.

The next morning when Tom arrives at Bee’s place to collect him for the trip, he doesn’t remember meeting him the night before, which makes the hostility radiating off Bee very puzzling. It’s not until they stop for a loo-break and snacks that Tom realises what happened; he was so focused on his Steven-induced fury that he didn’t register Bee at all – which is surprising seeing as how the man is stunning enough to stop traffic.

Thankfully, Tom and Bee are adults about the whole thing, and the misunderstanding is very quickly cleared up, which leaves them the bulk of the book to spend time sight-seeing in Edinburgh, getting to know each other and falling in love.

Tom is smitten with Bee fairly quickly, and senses there’s the potential for something real and lasting between them – but he just as quickly realises that Bee’s revolving door of bed partners is a form of self-protection and that falling into bed with Bee will put paid to any hope of building a relationship. So despite Bee’s flirtatiousness and obvious desire to seduce him, Tom makes it clear that’s not happening, no matter that it’s killing him to keep turning Bee down.

But over the days they spend traipsing around Edinburgh with Tom playing tour guide because Bee didn’t pay attention in the group chat when they talked about needing to book tickets in advance for the main attractions they want to visit, Bee starts to realise just how much he likes Tom and that maybe – just maybe – he might want things to be different with him. Which is really scary considering he’s made avoiding commitment into an art form. Can Bee get past his insecurities to take a chance on what might be the best thing ever to happen to him?

Tom and Bee are likeable and charming, but with differences that complement each other. Bee isn’t especially social; he’s not big on social cues and often finds his mind wandering to whatever project he’s working on instead of paying attention to what people are saying, but he’s loyal to his friends, he’s funny and clever and intriguing. And where Bee is scarily bright, but sucks at people-ing, Tom is warm, kind and emotionally astute, and I loved that he spent time listening to Bee, working out what he liked and then made a point of finding places to visit he knew he would enjoy.

A few things brought my final grade down a bit. Tom is warm and lovely, but Bee isn’t all that well fleshed-out as a character; we know he’s gorgeous and brilliant and eschews relationships, and there are hints of a sad backstory but they aren’t followed up. The blurb seems to promise an enemies/antagonists-to-lovers romance but what we actually get is more of a huffily-and-temporarily-affronted-because-of-personal-baggage-to-lovers one – and even then, the misconceptions disappear so quickly they might as well not have existed at all. Then there’s sneering, supercillious arsehole Steven, who takes up far too much page time considering his actions don’t have anything to do with the main plotline.

Despite those reservations, I’m giving On Circus Lane a qualified recommendation. It’s sweet and sexy, with moments of genuine longing and heartfelt emotion, and I’m sure the author’s many fans will love it.