Blog Tour + Excerpt + Review: "Little Lies" by H. Hunting

Today, I am thrilled to participate in the blog tour celebrating the release of "Little Lies" by Helena Hunting (writing as H. Hunting). This book is a spinoff of both the Pucked and All In series, featuring the children of those books' main characters. However, it reads as a complete standalone. 

 

"Little Lies" grabbed my attention from the very first page and did not let go until the end. The prologue was incredibly suspenseful, and after that I did not want to put the book down until I was sure that everything would work out for female lead Lavender Waters. The story was quite angsty as Lavender and male lead Kodiak Bowman worked through all of the issues keeping them apart, but I enjoyed the moments of lightness scattered throughout to lessen the tension. Most of them seemed to involve Lavender embarrassing herself in front of Kodiak, and as much as I felt bad for her in those situations, I couldn't help but laugh. I think my favorite was when she accidentally started playing a racy reverse harem audiobook over her car's audio system.

 

The slow burn, friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance between Lavender and Kodiak was well crafted and kept me at the edge of my seat waiting for them to finally act on the obvious chemistry between them. When they did, it was totally worth the wait; I thought my Kindle might spontaneously combust from all of the heat those two generated! However, as much as I loved Kodiak and Lavender together, I would have liked to see Kodiak grovel a bit more before Lavender forgave him for the terrible way he'd treated her since their falling out several years earlier. The "punishment" Lavender concocted really didn't seem like much of a consequence at all since I'm certain that Kodiak enjoyed at least some parts of it.

In addition to Lavender and Kodiak's relationship, the secondary plot involving Lavender's relationship with her brothers (especially her twin, River) was very well done. In a lot of ways, Lavender and River's struggles were just as heart-wrenching as Lavender and Kodiak's. It's hard enough for twins to establish individual identities without the kind of trauma River and Lavender faced. Given their circumstances, it's easy to understand why they came to rely so much on each other. They had to grow up sometime and learn to stand on their own two feet, but that's a lot easier said than done.

Overall, I very much enjoyed "Little Lies" and would recommend it for all fans of angsty/emotional contemporary and/or new adult romance. I hope there will be future books set in this world featuring some of the other Pucked offspring that featured as secondary characters in this story, such as Lavender's brother Maverick and cousin BJ.

 

*Review copy provided by the author via Social Butterfly PR. All opinions expressed are my own.

 

About "Little Lies"

Little Lies, an all-new, angsty and emotional new adult romance from New York Times bestselling author Helena Hunting writing as H. Hunting is out now!

I don’t want you.
You mean nothing to me.
I never loved you.
I turned my words into swords.
And I cut her down.
Shoved the blade in and watched her fall.
I said I’d never hurt her, and I did.
Years later, I’m faced with all the little lies, the untruths, the false realities, the damage I inflicted, when all I wanted was to indulge my obsession.
Lavender Waters is the princess in the tower. Even her name is the thing fairy tales are made of.
I used to be the one who saved her.
Over and over again.
But I don’t want to save her anymore.
I just want to pretend the lies are still the truth.

 

 

Read an Excerpt from "Little Lies"

The front door swings open, and the never-ending nightmare that is this day smacks me in the face like a long-expired sausage. Kodiak stands in the doorway wearing only a pair of swim shorts, wet hair sticking out all over the place, water dripping on the damn floor. But God, is he ever glorious. Muscle layered over muscle, thick biceps flexing as he holds the doorjamb, a mischievous grin popping the dimple in his left cheek.

My heart seizes and gallops. I miss this version of him: the one that smiles and doesn’t hate me.

He ruins everything a moment later by bellowing, “Who’s fucking in the driveway?”

His gaze moves to Dylan, who looks as horrified as I feel, but as it shifts to me, his smile drops and my stomach tightens.

“You should really go,” I tell Dylan.

“I’ll see you around.” He disappears into his car and barely has the door closed before he’s backing out of the driveway and screeching down the street.

I adjust my backpack on my shoulder and head for the house, steeling my spine and my nerves because Kodiak is still standing in the middle of the doorway, his face a mask of indifference. I try to brush by him, but he stays where he is, making it impossible.

I sigh, exhausted beyond belief. I just want to go upstairs and have a good, cathartic cry. I try to mirror his apathy. “Can you move so I can get into my house?”

His brow furrows as his eyes move over my face. He lifts his hand, like maybe he’s thinking about touching me. There’s no way I can handle that. I jerk back and swat his hand away. “What are you doing?”

“Your lip is bleeding.”

“Don’t act like you actually give a shit, Kodiak.”

“Tell me what happened.” His voice is low and soft, and for whatever reason, that makes me even angrier, so I lash out, wanting to wound him the way he keeps wounding me.

“You, Kodiak. You happened, and you ruined my goddamn life. Now get the hell out of my way.” I elbow past him, almost tripping over several sets of running shoes.

I head straight for my bedroom and lock the door behind me. I slide down the wall until my butt hits the floor and close my eyes, taking deep breaths.

I imagined the concern in his voice.

I imagined the pain that sat heavy behind his eyes.

We see what we want to, not the truth, especially when it hurts.