Sylvia Barry Reads: August 2025

Ten Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall — 5 Huh? Who?s out of 5

Sylvia Barry read this book. She thinks. No, she definitely read it and loved it, she was just pretending she’d forgotten because the waves like to think they wash everything away and she didn’t want to hurt their feelings. Sylvia’s homonculi adored it as well and found it, ironically, unforgettable.

Sam Beckett is a Scouse bath and linen store manager just trying to get through the day. Unfortunately, his boss Jonathan Forest is a mean, sexy penny-pincher who wants to fire everyone Sam employs. So when Sam heads to London to plead his and his employees’ case, and accidentally falls and hits his head on an exhibit shower, it’s a great opportunity to pretend he’s had an amnesia-inducing concussion. Jonathan believes Sam and takes him home to convalesce at his palatial estate, because that’s a very normal thing for a boss to do. 

Sam, Jonathan, and Sam’s cat Gollum (Sam’s full name is Samwise Aowyn Beckett, don’t worry about it) spend a lot of extremely domestic time together while waiting for Sam to recover the memories he’s supposedly lost. Sam even talks Jonathan into hosting Jonathan’s big, loud, hilarious family for Christmas. As time passes and Sam and Jonathan grow closer, Jonathan also happens to notice that no one’s called to check up on Sam. For such a sweet, family-oriented guy, Sam doesn’t seem to have any family of his own. Very mysterious.

Grumpy werewolf-esque boss falling in love (against his better judgement) with his folksy sweety-pie employee, while a silly cast of characters are just. So. British. A funny, cozy, deeply delightful holiday romance that will tenderly touch all your soft bits. Highly recommended!