Hello Forever Series: Hello Goodbye #2 on 14 July 2017
Pages: 213
A SINGLE BASKETBALL GAME CHANGES EVERYTHING...
When they were only teenagers, Axel and Caxton were caught making out in the woods at church camp. And afterward, Cax had disappeared from all the youth group activities.
Six years later, Axel is astonished to spot his first love’s face in the crowd of a college basketball game he’s watching on TV—at a school which has just offered him a job. It’s a thousand miles away, in a tiny rural town. But suddenly, he can’t wait to get there.
Cax can’t believe his eyes when Axel appears in the same Massachusetts town where he now lives. And he’s still just as drawn to Axel as ever. But he can’t let himself go there again, because loving Axel will mean giving up everything else he holds dear.
Both men have so much to lose. But as far as their love is concerned, it's Hello Forever.
Hello Forever had everything I enjoy in a romance, a strong relationship between the protagonists – even when they thought they couldn’t be together.
Story:
After Axel and Cax got caught making out in the woods at youth camp, Cax just disappeared. Axel still thought of him, and at least his mom was there for him in every way she could be. Six years later, when Axel is offered a job, he decides to say ‘yes’ after seeing Cax in the stands of a basket ball game.
There is a lot of love and hope in Hello Forever. At the same time, there is a lot of bigotry and hate, too. The characters move the story forward, and it took Cax a lot of courage to finally dare to hope for happiness.
Characters:
Axel is a bit lost after college, but when he is offered a job with the media team, things start to look brighter. Caxton is not living life to the fullest. But he will do anything to keep his brothers safe, and to be able to spend time with them. Side characters are well fleshed out.
Writing style :
First person point of view, with chapters from either Axel’s or Cax’s perspective. Past tense narration with good dialogues that moved the story at a nice pace. There are also quite a bit of e-mail conversations between Cax and Axel, as Cax needed to keep Axel a secret.
Feels :
Lots of feels! I have to say that sadness was one of the strongest, though, because it always makes me sad when parents aren’t able to accept and love their kids. No matter who their kids love. There was anger as well, because I can’t stand people who think they are worth more because they’re hetero. Thank goodness, there was both hope and love, too, because my heart almost couldn’t take it.
And flirty. But not in a dirty way. Axel didn’t send pictures of his dick or anything. Instead, he’d send pictures of his dinner or something – like a homemade chicken cutlet covered in marinara sauce and mozzarella. Hungry? There’s plenty, he’d written.
He walked off and I let my eyes roam, trying to take it all in. Men with men, as far as the eye could see. I’d always wondered what freedom looked like. And now I knew – it looked like this place.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
This sounds like a great story! And I love it when the side characters are well fleshed out. Always nice to know!
It was so very good, Stephanie. I fell in love with Bowen’s writing in this one, and I have binge-read most of her books now…
Twitter: Mollykatie112
Bowen is quickly rising to be one of my favorite romance writers. I wasn’t aware of this series yet, so thanks for putting it on my radar! Her Ivy Years is wonderful and I recently read Him as well. So good! Glad you are enjoying her books as well?
I agree, Lorna! I loved the Ivy Years, and the spin-off series from that one. Her writing is so good, and her characters so realistic and relatable.