Destructive Relations by Hayden Hall
Parrish Turner has always been my ultimate fantasy. He was my gay awakening, my sweetest torture, and my forbidden fruit ever since my father remarried and merged our families.
And he never even noticed me. The most I got from him was a passing growl. And it was enough to make me wild with desire. Until he left.
Now, five years after I’d last seen him, we’re back in the same house. Even worse, we’re in tight quarters, forced to share the same bed. Luckily, it’s only for a couple of weeks.
But that is long enough for my will to cave in. Especially now that I’ve got nothing else to lose and Parrish is starting to tease me in ways I can’t interpret. Either he’s trying to bully me for fun, or he’s flirting. With him, the two are never far apart.
He blurs the line between right and wrong. And I can’t resist the temptation that could only ever end in the destruction of whatever family we have left.
Destructive Relations is the first novel in the Destined to Fail series. You can expect forced proximity (only one bed), two young men who hate each other, forbidden love, heart, heat, humour, and a happily ever after. Make sure to use the Look Inside feature to read the content warnings. All books in this series are complete standalones.
Review
I really enjoyed Destructive Relations Destined to Fail #1), Hayden Hall showed me in Rescued (The Sanctuary book 1) just how great he is at writing a book that tugged at my heartstrings and he managed to do the same in this book.
My heart broke for Parrish and the way his mother and stepfather treated him from the very start and they only proved how awful they were when he returned for his sister’s wedding. I was pleased he’d made a life for himself elsewhere but sad due to the baggage he carried.
Every time the parents opened their mouths I wanted to slap them, their behaviour was just awful and I will never understand parents who are like this towards their children.
That baggage included his animosity towards his younger stepbrother Levi and it took him a while to realise it wasn’t Levi’s fault, that everything that happened was on their parents.
Poor Levi having to live with them and put up with their expectations, Parrish coming home turned out to be the best thing for both of them in many ways.
The animosity between Parrish and Levi and the sexual tension between them built up until it exploded with a massive and very hot Bang. The author does a great job making the bedroom scenes very hot and steamy while enabling us to see the changes in their connection as time went on.
I don’t personally understand the ‘tabooness’ around step-siblings, just because parents get married doesn’t mean the kids are going to think of each other as siblings and it doesn’t make them related other than by marriage. I was glad that Parrish and Levi got past the stepbrother issue and followed their feelings.
I loved seeing how Parrish started to heal through his relationship with Levi and I loved how they had each other’s backs as time went on. There were a few angsty places where I held my breath hoping things would turn out ok, but overall it was low angst, just how I like my books.
There are some nasty characters in this book, actually more than there are nice ones, thankfully they mostly get what’s coming to them.
A great read and I look forward to the next book in the series.
Live on Amazon 9th March
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