The Stargazers of Copper County

Copper County #0.5

by May Archer

There’s nothing wrong with admiring a work of art, or so I tell myself…even when the admiring is more like peeping out my bedroom window, and the work of art is the shirtless, sweaty, body of the man who’s been mowing my lawn once a week every summer for years.

After all, looking is all it’ll ever be, given that Theo Ross is theoretically, sort-of my employee, thirteen years younger than me, and a permanent resident of O’Leary, the town right next to Copper County, where the Observatory House–the vacation home my stargazing grandfather built–is located.

But when Theo peers in my window and catches me… er, mid-admiration… all bets are off.

Because once we start talking, I learn that Theo is so much more than someone pretty to look at. He’s smart, funny, and incredibly talented at creating art, not just being it.

Suddenly we’re trading logic puzzles and drawings as coded messages, I’m inviting him over for dinner and stargazing, and I can’t help wondering if what the two of us have found together isn’t just a short-term thing…

But something that might have been written in the stars for both of us all along.

*This story was previously available as part of the Summer Nights 2024 promotion. No new material has been added.

Genres: Romance, M M Romance, Contemporary, Novella, Queer, Audiobook, Short Stories

Audible Audio

First published September 10, 2024

Reviews

[Reem · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are only two sexes.
In case you strongly and vehemently disagree, you may quietly unfriend me because this subject is not debatable.

Otherwise the book, just like most of May Archer’s is simply wonderful and brings me joy to read. It tells the story of the youngest Ross brother from Love in O’leary and it’s short and sweet. It’s also the prequel of the book I’m actually here for, which is super spy Reed Sunday’s and I cannot wait to start it.

[Cadiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

Awww and also I'd have loved for this book to be longer but it worked beautifully as the introduction to May's new series.

It's essentially the glimpse into the very start of the relationship between Bennett and Theo and it contains some super sweet moments.

[Cat the bookworm (semi hiatus ish) · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked about it the most is the title. But the rest wasn’t bad, either.

I mean… it’s a novella. 80 pages. You can’t expect too much relationship development there, so all things considering, it was fun. It’s the story of 37yo Bennett, an architect from NYC who moved to Copper County (close to O’Leary, where another of May’s series is situated).

And 24yo Theo, who’s been trying to get Bennett’s attention for years, and who now (finally) succeeds.

I liked the way they connected over logic puzzles, and the way that wore Bennett down. A thing I want a fan of: Bennett thinking (and behaving) like he was at just double of Theo’s age.

Come on. It’s only 13 years 🙄

But anyway. Fun start to a new series. I don’t think you need to read it to find your way into it.

[Renée · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Moraa · Rating 4 out of 5]

so cute

RTC

[Marthea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wstępniak do serii, całkiem uroczy, ale zdecydowanie za krótki, żeby dać więcej niż 3 gwiazdki.

[YonnoMaus]

I read this as a short story as part of the Prolific Works giveaway.

2 stars. This was ok. It’s really hard to have great relationship development in a short story set over a short period of time but this was okay for what it was trying to do.

Also, I’m definitely no logic puzzle genius but I do enjoy the grid puzzles which I tried to solve here and I thought it’s impossible to arrive at an answer using only the given clues. I even checked the solution on the author’s website and nada. It really is impossible. I hate stuff like that.

[Nijntje Pluis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know it's a short story, so I shouldn't expect a lot of plot or character development, but this one was too low for me on both fronts. There's a lot of name dropping from other series, which I haven't read and it bothered me a lot, because it took me out of the story and there were way too many to remember everyone.
Also, I thought this was just a prequel to a series, but apparently the O'Leary series comes before this and I think (hope?) some questions were answered in there already, because they weren't explained here. For instance: Bennett is a guardian for his niece. It's only mentioned once that her mother works abroad. But why? Which job was more important than caring for her teenage daughter? Where is the father? No idea.

This could have been nice if it had been longer, but they have one sort of date and then it stopped, which wasn't enough for me and although the puzzles and drawings were cute, I wanted more direct communication between them.

[Bess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally really enjoy May Archer because you get to watch relationships slowly build and grow. While this is a novella so I knew that wouldn’t be totally possible, I had higher expectations than this. It goes by extremely quickly, and a good chunk of it is the first chapter preview of the next book.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bennett & Theo
Rating: 3.3 ⭐
Narrator: Michael Dean

- Age Gap (13yrs)
- Architect/Landscaper
- Mutual Pining
- Small Town Romance
- Illustrations & Logic Puzzles
- Stargazing


Verse: No idea
HEA: Yes
POV: Dual
Breakup: No
Cheat: No
OM/OW Drama: No
Ages: 37 & 24

[Em Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved revisiting my O’Leary faves 🫶🏼 I always hoped we’d eventually get Theo’s story, so happy we got a little something. This is a shorty so it’s basically just mindless fun sexiness.

[caffeinated.crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Stargazers of Copper County is a shorty little novella set to prime the pump of May Archer's newest series. For real: I needed WAY MORE of both of these characters.

Bennett is what we call a snowbird. He spends time at his observatory/family vacation home but lives and works in the city. But over the years, and since the summer began, he's noticing his landscaper Theo more and more.

Through every window. Hiding behind his curtains.

It's all awkward as hell and hilarious. Bennett is like Mr Darcy, awkward and adorable and noble. He thinks he's too old to be messing around with Theo, so he... observes.

Theo is a Coppertain. He knows not to mess with the Copperplates who are only around seasonally. But he's been noticing Bennett for WAY TOO LONG ✨️years✨️ but now... he's noticing Bennett noticing him. Around town. Through the windows.

I'm gonna leave it there. Once Theo realizes he has a chance, or at least interest, he is like a predator on the hunt!

These two mcs are ADORABLY clueless until they aren't. Watching Bennett and Theo get to know each other was such a treat, and their flirting was top tier.

I'm excited about this new small town series. May Archer is amazing at small town -> big feelings. Stargazers was a sweet little toe in the water, and I just adored Theo and Bennett and their cute awkwardness.

[Kelsey Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75/5 stars! This was a short and steamy entry to begin the Copper County series by author May Archer. I didn't realize when starting it, that it was a novella, and am a little sad to not get more time with these amazing characters. Will definitely be continuing the series.

[Tracy Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved It! Short and sweet and so good! Glad Theo got his story. I loved him and Bennett, I didn’t want their story to end…

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute!

[Christina Sturgill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4/5 🌟
Spice: 1.5/5 🌶️
Characters: Bennett and Theo

Cute, sweet, and a nice start to a new series.

[Gigi Romano · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars*

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute short that will, I believe bring two other sets of series characters together... sorta?

Anywho, looking forward to this series and so I am jumping straight into The Pretenders of Copper County. because... why not? LOL!!!

[isthisakink · Rating 3 out of 5]

So. Here’s how we’re gonna do this one. Probably. Yeah, okay, this is how we’re gonna do this one: I’ll paste my knee-jerk, immediately-after-finishing thoughts, and then I’ll finish with my had-time-to-think thoughts. You can do with them what you will.

My immediate thoughts when I finished reading: It was hella awkward and uncomfortable in several places, but it was cute—when the sort-of attempt at extremely mild and poorly done kink wasn’t playing out. I hate to sound like a dick, but I enjoy this author more when they’re working with Lennox.

My thoughts after several days and time to reflect/basically a small essay: I always come off as a dick, but I’m not trying to. I get that intentions don’t mean a whole lot, but it’s just not my biggest concern in life currently to try and lie or placate or make shit more palatable.

With all of that being said, I get why y’all hate me, but I can’t help it this time. I’ve seen SO MUCH exhibitionist/voyeur kink this year in books, and this was just not it. It’s hard to do kink in a very short piece of a story, and if you don’t nail it, it’s always going to be a flop. That goes for anyone and everyone, so I’m not singling ANYTHING out, it just so happened to have come up right this moment and I have the time.

I absolutely thought it would’ve been way better without the quasi-nod to said kinks, because I loved the other parts of it. The characters, the setting, and the rest of the story were great, and it set up things for the new spin-off series coming perfectly.

But the last issue that I know is gonna rile y’all’s feathers is, that while this author creates and tells fantastic stories and I enjoy them to a point, the quality of the author’s publications goes up a thousandfold when they pair up with Lucy Lennox. The consistency and continuity are LEAGUES better, the editing is better, and that’s important whether people seem to think so these days or not. I don’t know when it became this huge gripe that we’re not supposed to rate works of literature on their mechanics, but I’m gonna need a better reason than “because I said so”, because readability is kind-of a hella important thing and has been since pretty much forever.

I didn’t make that rule, it made itself.

And as much as y’all hate me, I can’t help that what I’m given to read is what I have to rate/review. I didn’t edit it, I didn’t write it, and I didn’t change anything. I just picked it up and read it, and easy readability isn’t there when I pick up this author’s solo work.

And it bothers me.

I’m bothered mostly because I want to love the books, but it’s hard to constantly have to keep running notes just to make things make sense. Timelines, descriptions, details, names; the list goes on and on, and that’s a fucking shame because the stories and characters are wonderful and sweet and I’m always here for them.

I just seem to have the same complaints every time, and y’all get pissy, and that makes me pissy, and I’m tired. Aren’t y’all tired? I’m tired.

3/5. So anyway, it was cute but it wasn’t what it could’ve been, and I’m hopeful that the series coming will be a good one.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

24 year old Theo Ross has nursed his crush on Bennett Graham for several years, and being his groundskeeper the past two years has inflamed it more. But Bennett is older, 37, and comes across more more worldly than the small-town Theo. Little does Theo know that the older man has been acutely aware of him, is painfully shy, and thinks he's too old. Bennett is content to be a creeper, watching Theo from the windows. Until The Incident... Then things become interesting for both. Theo enjoys answering Bennet's logic puzzles with his own doodles of art.

May Archer returns to the neighborhood of her O'Leary stories with a new series set in Copper Springs, another small-town right next door. In fact, some of the characters from her prior series make cameos in this shorter story.

The first half of this was pretty sweet, then about 2/3 of the way in Bennett and Theo have their date... which quickly turns into sex. And after that, the story flat lined. I felt like all character momentum was lost at this point, and little effort made to develop things, like why was Bennett his niece's guardian? What were Theo's life goals after coming back from SCAD? What happened to Bennett being too shy, too old, too reserved? (He gets pretty aggressive once they get going, though.) On the other hand Theo comes across fairly outgoing and I didn't buy him feeling too shy to say anything to Bennett for years...

I'm right in the middle on this one, mostly because it should have been developed better. It was lacking. Disappointing start to the series.

2.5 stars, leaning towards 2 stars.

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️
Bennet and Theo
PLEASE be aware that this summary/review is meant for my own purposes in order to help me recall this book and definitely has spoilers. It is in no way a reflection of what I think anyone else will like or want out of a book. It is simply a memory aid and a rough voice-to-text which is completely unedited/reviewed for errors. Read at your own discretion.

Bennet (37) is enamored with his yard guy, Theo Ross (from O'Leary) and likes to secretly watch him do his work. Meanwhile, Theo has been trying to get Bennett to notice him. When Theo catches Bennett in a private moment, Bennett is embarrassed. Bennett leaves The a note that he has written on the back of a logic puzzle. Theo solves the puzzle and leaves a drawing for Bennett. They begin to communicate back-and-forth with puzzles and logic. Theo tells Bennett that he would like to be invited in so Bennett does and they have an immediate attraction physically and intellectually. They get together and live happily ever after.

This is a very cute and well written novella. It is amazing that the author develops the characters and storyline so thoroughly in such a short work. Of course, we know Theo from the Love in O'Leary books but Bennett is new.

[Kaity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio: 5 stars for Michael Dean the Audio can be found on May Archer's website.
Book: 3 stars (less than 90 pages, doesn't feel right giving more than 3 stars)

A short and sweet novella to prepare us for the new series! I do think if I read the O'Leary series, that I could have enjoyed this more? But you don't need to read that series, to read this book. Maybe before the 1st book of the "Copper County" series comes out I will do a read of the O'Leary series and a reread of the Sunday brother series, but idk, I won't put too much pressure on doing that.

About the book though, I liked Theo more than Bennett, at the beginning Bennett wasn't doing himself any favors in how he was being a "creeper" lol. But I loved the puzzles and drawing passed between them, that was adorable.

If you wanted a short, sweet, summer read this would be the book to pick up haha

[Tammy Moldovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fated in the stars

I loved this age gap adorkable romance with a side of mild voyeurism. It had a good mix of sweet, steamy, and real life issues. Bennett is a 37 year old architect with his own firm. He is working remotely in his vacation home in small town Copper Valley in order to take care of his teenage niece. He also has developed a small obsession with watching the landscaping guy. 24 year old Theo is a digital creator and works for his family’s landscaping company. He is doing his best to get Bennett to notice him since he’s been wanting to date him for years. Despite being short (I would have loved more to their story), this prequel was well written, the characters were three dimensional, and the storyline was engaging. I am looking forward to reading more in the series. 3.5 stars.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it hard to rate short stories because they cannot compare to a full novel and it is not fair to do so with the limits in pages.
This was a cute short story where most of the build-up is in the secretly pining and preparing for the getting-together stage. Seeing both of them and how they’ve kind of got a little crush and sort of stalker vibe going on not realizing the other one is in the same boat was really cute. I really liked Bennett and Theo and their behind the scenes shenanigans. They are kind of adorkable and find common ground where they did not expect it, and then start to realize they had no clue what the other has been thinking all this time. It’s an age gap, secret crushes, small-town, quick little romance, and it introduces the new series in Copper County.

[Dawn Siemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short & sweet

The romance is really short. These guys have mutual crushes, so kind of just fall together. The logic puzzles and drawings were sweet.

I like logic puzzles and astronomy, though not enough to buy books for more puzzles. I have looked for Scorpio in Hawaii and South America, because it's a southern constellation, not visible from where I live in California. I have looked at the sky in a $20 telescope and seen Saturn's rings and a couple moons.

The first logic puzzles, knowing the answers, made sense. The later ones did not. I tried to work them out and even looked at her website for answers. Try not to think about it too much and have fun with the story.

[LA FITCH · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good story. Bennett owns a house on the shore of Copper Lake which has an observatory built by his grandfather. He looks after his niece during school as her mother has a contract for a job in Portugal. While Vega is with her mother Bennett notices Theo who arrives every Friday to do the garden. Unknown to Bennett, Theo has a crush on him and does everything he can to get Bennett to notice him. Their HEA is highly entertaining only let down by the quick ending. Don't expect the big declaration or anything it just seems to go from, we must do this again, to we do every chance we can for many years to come. Still this book is in the don't miss it pile.

[Elyxyz Elyxyz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cercando di mettermi in pari con questa serie, ho letto questa breve novella di una settantina di pagine.
Trovare il giovane Theo Ross è come ritrovare un vecchio amico, dato che la sua famiglia mi ha accompagnata a lungo nel viaggio a O’Leary, la cittadina che confina col paesello di Copper County e il suo famigerato lago.
La storia è un bell’age gap di tredici anni, con un architetto un po’ guardone e un giovane giardiniere che sotto sotto ama farsi guardare seducendolo. Dolce, hot e carina al punto giusto. Mi sarebbe piaciuto approfondire un po’ di più la bravura di Theo nel disegno, ma la reputo una lettura veloce e gradevole fra due storie più corpose.

[Ruby Dalegendaryreader · Rating 3 out of 5]

"And because it felt right and fated, because it felt like Theo and I were discovering something here that had been a billion years in the making and would shine bright enough for a hundred lifetimes..."

Theo and Bennett had a crush on each other. With little notes, puzzles and doodles exchanged between them, they started to get to know each other.

I was lowkey delirious when reading this book because I was sick. It was very challenging but it kept my attention and my need for escapism so all good.

Quick read, very sweet and the equal yearning on both side was adorable to read.

[Valeria DePaula · Rating 4 out of 5]

✔️Letto!!!
Una storia che profuma di erba tagliata, serate sotto le stelle e desideri non più segreti.

Guardare Theo dalla finestra doveva essere un semplice piacere estetico… ma quando l’arte decide di ricambiare lo sguardo, è l’inizio del caos più dolce per Bennett.

Indovinelli, disegni, cene e costellazioni che sembrano dire sì, è destino: questo romanzo è tenero, sensuale e delicatamente stellare.
Un amore che nasce come un sogno estivo e cresce come un cielo pieno di stelle — difficile non innamorarsi con loro.

Molto carina e un bell'inizio di serie.
Avrei dovuto leggere la serie "L’amore a O’Leary" per prima cosa e rimedierò

Per me è ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

.
.

[Dekaydreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet - only drawback: too dang short!

Also, the logic puzzles: (never my forte, so I'll guess my complete befuddlement by the second one, even after seeing the answer, is par for the course). The first one was so ridiculously simple even I figured it out without spraining any brain cells. The second one, as I said, I still couldn't see the logic even with the given answer. Just, evil. Everything else about the story was delicious, but too brief to be anything but an appeteaser.