Reviewed by Jen
TITLE: Hate to Love
SERIES: Stand alone
AUTHOR: Autumn Winchester
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 321 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 7, 2025
BLURB:
Oakley’s journey begins in darkness. Unwittingly sold on the dark web, he finds himself living in fear.
But then enters Sabastian—a compassionate man with the kindness Oakley never thought he would encounter.
Can Oakley and Sabastian transform their fates? The road from hatred to love is a winding one, filled with unexpected challenges and revelations.
*Contains child abuse themes such as imprisonment, lack of care, and physical abuse
This story begins with Oakley as a captive being treated horribly by a man who has had him for a number of years. He has been grooming him for years, keeping him thin and timid. The sexual abuse doesn’t go into too much actual detail, but suffice to say, Oakley has had it pretty rough. He is often made to wear girls clothes and to look feminine in general. This is how Sebastian finds him thinking he is rescuing a young girl.
We never really find out much about Sebastian’s background, but he is clearly into some shady stuff. He means to do right by Oakley though and takes it upon himself to keep Oakley safe while there is a bounty out for him.
Much of the rest of this story is about Sebastian earning Oakley’s trust and helping him to become his own person. He is adamant that nothing will happen until Oakley is of age.
One major aspect of this story that I was not privy to ahead of time was the Daddy/Little dynamic that evolves. Had I known, I most likely would have passed, as those are just not my thing.
I enjoyed watching Oakley blossom from his former shell, but there is also a big age gap here, and that, coupled with the unrealistic feel (perhaps more background would have helped this), made the story a little slow for me.
I am a big fan of this author though, so I will chalk this one up to it’s a me problem, not the book. If these aspects don’t bother you, be sure to give Oakley and Sebastian a chance.
