I think I've discovered a new favorite author. I'm new to Eli's work, but after reading "Blame It on the Mistletoe" a definite must read by the way. I went in search of more of her work. Eli's writing continues to surprise me and please me, this author really has a true writing talent. "Unwrapping Hank" is an adorable holiday read. It's an enemies to lovers story written in first person from Sloane’s and Hank’s point of view.You meet Sloane who's out, classy, suave, smart, and he’s from a wealthy family who love to travels over the world. Hank, however, grew up in a small rural town in PA. His parents live an unorthodox lifestyle causing Hank to be embarrassed by his family.Hank is a mystery to Sloane, the more he gets to know him, the more of a complex he appears to be, thus he begins his list of "Who is H.S.?" A list that continue to grow the more layers Hank reveals. Hank despises Sloane... Sloane bugged Hank to his very core... he bugged him because Micah thought he was perfect, nobody else gay or straight, had a problem with him, and most importantly Sloane was gay."It was like, I dunno, like he was available or something. I didn't feel that way about the other gay guys in the frat but with Sloane it was like there was a hot girl in the house. It just...it wasn't right...."Sloane is confident and secure in his skin & sexuality, Hank is inexperienced and unsure of his sexuality. Hank has a hard time accepting his attraction toward Sloane thinking something to be wrong with him. It was more like a journey of self-discovery. Hank soon learn to discover that his idea of what a typical gay man was supposed to be turned out to be a pivotal moment in his life... Gay was not just effeminate, but it could also include strong macho weight lifting muscle, tattoos tough heterosexual looking guys also. Watching these two love hate relationship was highly entertaining. I loved every moment of it. This story contain great humorous and emotional moments, that just made everything flowed very well... and can I just say how HOT!!! the sex scene was between these two when they finally got together. Well worth the wait.If you are looking for a fun and adorable Christmas story I highly recommend this story. It might be that the author and many of the characters are from Pennsylvania, where according to a friend of mine who just moved to Pittsburg, they live about two decades behind everyone else, but I found a lot of the dialogue in this story to be just that. Two decades behind the times. Which would be fine, if that is really the situation in Pennsylvania, but even sophisticated world-traveler, Greg Sloane, used a few terms that raised my eyebrows right up. I haven't heard anyone under the age of 55 use the word 'hip' unironically in a good ten years. And just the way the 'cool' characters were described, in regards to their 'coolness', felt... dated. Off. If there hadn't been references to current technology/affairs, I would have been convinced that it was set in 1995. This aside, I enjoyed this novel immensely. I would have given it 5 stars, were it not for the out-of-place dialogue. The characters were interesting, the conversations witty and intelligent. Even the plot wasn't particularly contrived.
What do You think about Scartando Hank (2014)?
Lovely story, warm and v. sexy. I'm a big fan of this author.
—mazzys
What a sweet holiday read! I love Hank and Sloane!
—MarissaMortified
