Review: this was sooooo gooooood!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 6, 2014
This was soooooo sooooo good! Honestly, this is better than A Better Man and I absolutely loved that second edition.When the first book ended, we were hinted to the appearance of the first tenant for The Halfway House that Matthew Doner and Julian Capeletti set up. With their new house finally ready for occupancy, A Hunted Man opens to a young Cameron Pierce finally being released from a lengthy prison stay. With those first few pages, I just KNEW that this was a much different Jaime Reese book. The writing style has changed so much, for the better, and astoundingly, it is very visual and quite auditory. This is not a horror where that is to be expected. This is a romance thriller and it set such vivid imagery that it took me by surprise and made me smile from start to finish.When Cam reaches the halfway house, the rules are immediately set into place by Matt and Julian. Cam needs this, he likes order. He can follow rules. He was good at that.What he could not handle was the acceptance he felt from these two men. And his own room with an attached bathroom. With these new changes that may point him to a much, much better future, Cam falls into a panic attack that sets the tone of this whole story. Cam's past is filled with such torture and pain and it starts the question: how did he end up in maximum prison? A second question: with his tarnished record, who in his right mind would develop a relationship with a man like him - and stay? Actually, stay?Assistant District Attorney, Hunter Donovan, was a regular at the diner that Cam worked in. Stepping into it one hectic day, he immediately notices the subtle changes: the diner is cleaner and there was this beautiful new employee. Best of all, this new guy presented him with a deliciously-arted cafe latte. Something the diner never served before. Things started getting really, really interesting at this point.This is a real love story unfolding itself from simple words. And yet the simplicity of the writing made this such a delight to read for as things developed from good to bad to good then worse then bliss, it was still a simply written romantic story. The relationship that developed between Cam and Hunter was fast on the uptake but they never rushed through it. Instead, due to the circumstances of Cam's parole and Hunter's rigid and intense schedule, they were both forced to take things easy and get to know each other more before taking on that final step. This upped their relationship into something more than initially thought.The drama here is not really drama per se. We have a mystery that needs to be solved and it involves politics and drug related crimes that Cam never knew he was even a part of - although this does explain a lot of things including his landing in maximum prison. It is this convoluted criminal move that landed him in jail even if things were too coincidental and too circumstantial to even be logically acceptable in court. Hunter's need to prove Cam's innocence is a great read for it shows the different layers of this man as well as his different personalities when faced with different situations. He could be very brutal and manipulative: a trait that is a must for a successful criminal lawyer. This is what sealed it for me for this book. The layered personality was so successfully written in but never once overwhelmed the man who was the lover and the friend.All in all, this was such a fantastic read, quite different from the more haunting and sweet first installment. I don't know what Jaime Reese did, maybe this is the real author blossoming out, but I can honestly say: I.  Just. Love. This. Book!