Cold Turkey by Hayden Hunt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars (note: rounded up on GR, 3.5 stars on my blog)
*~~*ARC kindly provided by the author to me in exchange for an honest review *~~*
I thought I could quit him cold-turkey.
All I wanted was to come home and have an enjoyable Thanksgiving with my parents. But I should have known that wasn’t going to happen. We’ve always had a rocky relationship, we’re not close by any means.
I was much closer to my best friend’s family. Ethan lived across the street from me growing up and we were always incredibly close. His house was a second home to me. So when he saw me outside of my parent’s house, he offered to let me spend Thanksgiving with them.
Which would be great, if I wasn’t trying to hide the fact that I’m still madly in love with him.
I never thought I’d see him again.
I was elated when I saw Daniel sitting outside of his parent’s old house. When he went away after High School, I was convinced he’d never come back to this town. I have missed him ever since he left…
So when he agreed to spend Thanksgiving with my family, I couldn’t be happier. And finally, I think I might have the courage to tell him how I really feel. I was a coward when we were younger, when I was still trying to figure myself out, but things are different now. At least, I hope everything will be different now.
Because I still really, really want him.
This standalone novel is currently on sale for .99! It comes complete with HEA ending and bonus material from two of my other books!
The style itself was good and had a fluent writing and the character where a bit better developed than in other books by the author. The sex was hot but unfortunately a bit short… It could have been a better balance so this way it had a lack. And I felt a connection was missing.
The behaviour of Ethan at the end was unfortunately a downfall. I could have give the book 4 stars but had to reduce the stars, because I can’t stand his douchebag kind of behaviour… He is immature, arrogant and… no, just no. This isn’t a loving, caring attitude, this wasn’t fair towards Daniel who stands behind him unconditionally. I had such an anger against him in the scenes.
Along with a few editorial mistakes and maybe spelling mistakes (I didn’t check this neatly) this was a nice, okay reading but not the best of the best… As I said the downfall for me was Ethan at the end. 
I can only give 3.5 out of 5 stars, it is rounded up at Goodreads to 4 stars because of the lack of using half stars.
New Leaf by Hayden Hunt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
*~~*ARC kindly provided by the author to me in exchange for an honest review *~~*
I thought he was out of my life for good.
I always hoped I’d run into Jackson again. I didn’t think it was ever going to happen, but I always hoped. So the day I found his lost kitten felt like fate. I didn’t even know he was in town, and now I was going to be seeing him again so that I could return his adorable cat.
But it’s been years since we last spoke and things didn’t exactly end well. I used to be in love with him, and I still have so many feelings, but can I forgive him? He’s been wonderful to me in the past but he also hurt me deeply. I can’t deny, though, that the bond between us is still strong. At least, it is for me. I can’t be sure how he feels. Especially considering how he left…
I was such a fool to ever let him go.
I haven’t been the best person, I will fully admit to that. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but leaving Grant behind was by far the biggest. He was my best friend, I’ve never been closer to anyone else.
And that’s the scary part for me. My biggest fear about returning to my hometown to help out my family was that I’d run into him again. I don’t want to get close to him again because it might mean losing him. And I already feel crushed from losing him the first time.
This standalone 30,000 word novella is currently on sale for .99! It comes complete with HEA ending and bonus material from two of my other books!
This was also not bad but a bit weak. I checked also a few editorial mistakes which can annoy somebody.
Jackson had issues which annoyed me, I had hard times to really understand his behaviour.
The plus were the sweet cats in the book, though I’m not that heavy cat fan. But they are charming creatures and give the story a funny note.
It is a pity the story seems a bit similar to Cold Turkey, the basic plot was a slight copy of the other story. Whereas luckily Jackson didn’t annoyed me as much as Ethan at the end. And here the cats are nice. Maybe this is why I liked this book a bit more.
The bonus chapter was okay, it was sweet and contained a sex scene, but I need the real “connection” and this is what I miss in a few Hayden Hunt books. They are either a bit random or too short… The balance could be a bit better, otherwise it isn’t really connecting.
I also had my struggles with the less character development, there was a huge prospect but it wasn’t used. A pity.
Though I liked this a bit more than Cold Turkey I give this book also 3.5 out of 5 stars, again rounded up on Goodreads because of the lack of half stars.
For those who read my reviews and wonder: these two books aren’t bad, that not, but they lack sometimes of the chances, they go unused and so they fail a bit in their uniqueness and creativity. This way they are “only” nice reads. So, they passed the test but they aren’t the top of the top. 😉
Mikku-chan 