Ellis.I feel him.Before I even lay eyes on him, I sense him.The air in the room seems charged, my awareness of him heightened, but he is a stranger to me.Unfamiliar, yet familiar.Unknown, yet known.And something inside me says, “Hello, I’ve been waiting for you.”Macsen.I see him.I’ve seen him a hundred times before and I know this will not be the last, but each time I do, I feel it.That invisible … last, but each time I do, I feel it.
That invisible tether.
I remember everything.
I remember him.
His eyes lock with mine and then move away too quickly.
I am nothing more than a stranger, another face in the crowd.
While he is my favourite hello, and my hardest goodbye.
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OMG…What a story. Favorite Hello Hardest Goodbye was an absolutely amazing love story. This was my first E.S Carter novel and I there are not enough words to describe how much I loved it. Its a story about two men, two halves of one a whole, always searching and not complete until they found each other. Its a story that will give you all the feels and touch your heart in more ways than one.
From the start this story captured my attention and I could not put it down. I was hooked, consumed with these characters and their journey together. Mascen and Ellis’s story was unique and unlike anything I’ve ever read and I will admit I was not prepared for this book. However this was without a doubt one of the best books I’ve read this year and its definitely going on my list of all time Top Read. Worthy of so much more than 5 stars, this page-turner was a phenomenal and profound read and I would highly recommend it to all lovers of emotional M/M romance.
What an absolutely beautiful love story. I have fallen in love with two gorgeous men, Macsen and Ellis.
How can a book leave me heartbroken and tearful, but at the same time all warm, smiley and fuzzy inside? These are the feelings this incredible love story has given me and I’m in awe of this amazing author. I’ve read most of her books, she’s a one click author, but this has surpassed all others (and let me tell you “One” was a top favourite read last year).
With an eye catching cover and the perfect title, this book is a unique take on true soulmate forever love. A love that transcends all boundaries and withstands the test of time. From the first pages of Macsen’s frantic drive to Lily Bay, then the heartstopping moment he finally sees Ellis across the street, I was hooked and needed to know their story.
““I’ve found him.” The words leave my lips on a whispered prayer, finally answered.”
I’m not sure I have the words to describe how much I loved it from start to finish. I hope this is enough, I’m still feeling all the emotions a few days on, it was phenomenal. It will be among my top reads of not just this year, but always.
I highly recommend it and hope you love it as much as I did. If I could give more than 5 stars I would, it deserves it
So I guess it’s easy to say that E.S. Carter is a natural at any genre she writes. The first and last book I read by her was Dark (Feyness which was freaking amazing) and now this is a MM ‘not your typical’ soulmate romance that is perfect! Get ready for E.S. Carter to hold and squeeze your heart through this entire story. It is touching. It is beautiful. It is Love.
What can I say, this one snuck right up on me. It was a heck of a journey, sometimes even when you can feel it happening it still takes your breath away. The story of Macsen and Ellis broke me, the feels are so strong but also there is so much light. Iris in particular is a spark that cannot be missed and the camaraderie between all these friends is something to behold. Its warm and sweet, funny and heart breaking all rolled up in a beautiful book.
Holy fricking moly. I am currently lost for words. I feel like I’ve happened upon the Holy Grail of love stories. I’m not really a lover of weepies, let’s be honest, I avoid them at all costs, but sometimes you happen upon a book, and even though you know you’ll be reaching for the tissues (I had an inkling), you know you have no choice but to read it. Devour it even. Why? Because it was written by ES Carter, and no matter the genre, you know you’ll love it. Let me also say this, no one writes m/m romance like ES Carter, I just love her words, her stories, her characters, and her uniqueness. I was hooked from the very first page, drawn in by each word, each little snippet of information I could grasp about Macsen and Elliott. What a truly wonderful love story. Surpassing time, true love, destiny, fate, soulmates, it’s got everything. A love story to stand the test of time. I fricking loved it! I received an advanced copy of this book. This is my honest review.
This story gripped me at times and definitely had potential. The concept of reincarnation and always reconnect with the same souls seems a soothing thought. But it felt all a bit rushed in the end and overshadowed by the sexual attraction between the main characters. And the whole point was that their connection was more than lust… So I liked it as much as I was disappointed by the fulfillment.
Nice addition to the story is the playlist that accompanied this story. I’m a sucker when it comes to music based stories.
All the feels. This was such a unique book. I loved every word. One of the most beautiful love stories I’ve read in a long time. Highly recommended
4 Cranky Stars
I am going to admit It took me a bit to get into this story. It had me confused for a while because it seemed like it was fantasy with how Macsen explains their meeting to Ellis. It started to pick up more toward the middle when I finally had a grasp on what was happening between Macsen and Ellis. You can call it past lives or reincarnation who knows but whatever it was it was happening to these two.
When Macsen was young he dreamed of a boy who was an especially important piece in his life puzzle. Fast forward to present day and he runs a successful business but always felt something was missing. When he sees an advert for a dilapidated manor in a small town, he feels drawn to it. With no real rhyme or reason, he sets out for Lily Bay and it’s here he feels that pull to a pub and one particular pub owner. Ellis has always been a love them and leave them kind of guy. There has always been something missing that he cannot explain. When a handsome man shows up at his pub and asks to rent the room above while he remodels the manor Ellis is taken back. Something about this man seems familiar but he’s never met him. Over the next few months, they start a relationship and discover their connected past.
This story was good don’t get me wrong, but it was hard to follow at times. It is a good love story albeit a sad one so be prepared for that. It’s also written with English slang which wasn’t that really hard to figure out. I hope this book reaches someone who can understand appreciate it.
A beautiful, emotional, epic love story. Ellis and Macsen have found their way into my heart, and I’m so not okay.
What I love about the blurb for Favourite Hello. Hardest Goodbye. is that it doesn’t give anything away. And the truth is, this is a story that needs to be experienced in the moment as it unfolds.
Favourite Hello. Hardest Goodbye. is a beautiful and breathtaking story of a love between two souls that can transcend time or distance.
Ellis and Macsen, to the outside world, are nothing more than strangers who have met by chance. And yet, for these two men, drawn to one another on the deepest of levels, a single glance holds more than anyone can imagine or comprehend.
This story made me laugh and cry. But more importantly, it made me feel. I fell in love with Ellis and Macsen and their epic story. And in the end, though I knew what was coming, FHHG was everything I needed and more.
I adore this original and romantic story of a love that transcends.
Macsen has spent a lifetime searching for one thing, one person and when he arrives in the seaside village of Lily Bay he knows deep down that he has found it.
“When I open my eyes, they meet the smooth depths of his.
“Tell me what you feel.” A plea.
“Everything.”
Macs is willing to risk everything but he needs to make sure he doesn’t scare Ellis away with their powerful truth.
“I want to consume you.”
“Then do it.”
“I want to own you.”
“Do it.”
“Will it ever be enough? I want you so bad it hurts, Macs. How can that be right?”
“Because that’s how you know it’s real, Ell.”
FHHG is a beautiful, epic love story. Plenty of heat and swoon, but definitely be prepared with a box of tissues.
-5 Stars!!-
I trust E.S. Carter’s writing so much that I usually go into her books blind.
I didn’t need to read the blurb to know that Favourite Hello. Hardest Goodbye. would have been a good novel but, still, I was struck by its beauty.
Macsen and Ellis came from two opposite worlds, a businessman from the big city the first and the owner and chef of the local pub in the little town of Lily Bay the latter, but it took just a look at each other to understand they were perfect together. They were the missing pieces they were looking for in order to be happy and live their lives at the fullest.
This was a brilliant, powerful romance with a beautiful message. Even if I shed a bucket of tears and I felt my heart breaks more times than not, I can guarantee you it’s all worth it. Go get it right now and got carried away by Macs and Ellis magic journey.
Favourite Hello Hardest Goodbye is not only a beautifully crafted love story but also a story of intrigue and truths to be discovered. From the first page, ES Carter lays little traps for you to fall into and ask questions. They are the hooks that reel you in and leave you wanting to know everything about Macs and Ellis and the people they are.
I was desperate to understand Macs in the beginning. Why buy an old run-down mansion in a place you’ve never been to? Why leave everything you’ve built in London on a whim?
Then Macs finds Ellis. More intrigue is laid out and I took the bait, reading this beautiful story like a woman possessed in order to get answers. Thankfully, I got them all.
Underneath this amazing and different storyline, is the heart of real love. One man searching for his true love, another man not realising how much he needed to love, or indeed, what real love was until he found it.
The sleepy Welsh village setting is knee-deep with many brilliant supporting characters. I have to mention Iris in particular, who speaks her mind – without a filter. She is both hilarious and endearing.
The story itself leaves you feeling as if there are a world of possibilities out there for this amazing couple. It will have you analysing until you’re blue in face! But one thing is for sure, I truly fell in love with both Macs and Ellis and I bet anyone else who reads FHHG will do too. They are amazing, beautiful men who were destined to be together. Always.
“Some lights should not, and can never be dimmed.”
Favourite Hello. Hardest Goodbye. is a M/M stand alone love story by E.S. Carter. This is the story of two men, two hearts, that were searching for each other, yearning for each other, neither complete until they were united. I suggest going in to this book blind, letting it unfold before your eyes, and experiencing it one word at a time.
Macsen Evans is thirty six years old and is a self made millionaire. Intuition has gotten him where he is today. He trusts his instincts. That is how he knew he had to buy Lily Bay Manor in the small Welsh village of the same name. And that is how he knew that is where he needed to be. Where he would find him.
“Connection. Tether. Us. Always us.”
Ellis Probert is twenty eight years old and has lived in Lily Bay all his life. He is the owner and chef of Safe Harbour, a pub and restaurant. Ellis has been with many men, always for just one night. That’s all he can offer. There has always been something missing in him, he never knew exactly what it was. Until that day, when their eyes met, and he saw him.
“Have you found what you’re looking for?”
“I have.”
“Me too.”
“Tell me what you feel.”
“Everything.”
When Macsen comes into Ellis’s world, he can’t think of anything but him. He can’t concentrate on anything but him. They’re drawn together like magnets. Neither can resist the pull. But he can’t understand why. Why now? Why this man?
“Ellis and Macsen. Two men bound by more than this moment. Two halves of a whole. Bilateral symmetry. My beginning and my end.”
This is the story of two souls bound by a love so deep, so strong, that nothing can keep them apart. That no matter what, they will always find their way to each other.
“He was the nourishment that filled my starved soul. And I would love him every day, night, and minute that followed in the same way.”
E.S. Carter writes with such beauty. Her stories never fail to sweep me away. This one is truly unique and I’m not sure if my heart will ever be the same. This is a love story that I will never forget.
“I will always follow you.”
We have all had that feeling of a time and place somewhere or someone …
This is such an exceptional book once read never to be forgotten ..
Meet Mascen Evans , he is kind , thoughtful , self made entrepreneur .
Mascen has searched for Ellis Probert for many years and now in Lily Bay he finds his love.
Ellis Provert is a chef in Lily Bay ..
I was so caught up in the marvellous standalone book that the time disappeared .
This is such a wonderful different book , it is a book you need to read with no preconceptions , you need to go in knowing nothing .
E.S. Carter takes you on a journey a journey my heart will never forget ..
There is such love and honestly , completeness , and wonder, such amazing men with such a story between them that you feel every emotion .
What a beautiful epic love story ..
Wow !!!
Favourite Hello. Hardest Goodbye is a M/M love story that’s going to stay with me for a long time, it’s a book that truly deserves 5 stars because it has all the feels you would expect in a great read.
I don’t want to give to much of this love story away because I believe this is a book you need to pick up with no preconceived ideas, you need to read it first hand and just go with the flow, you won’t be disappointed.
Macsen Evans is a self made millionaire but in order to become successful he left everything he knew in his home town of Lily Bay but now he is back and is looking to complete his life and that means convincing Ellis Probert that there is such a thing as love at first sight…..
Two men looking to complete their life’s, two hearts that that together become one , two soulmates who need each other to survive all add to the romance and love that flows through this stand-alone.
I highly recommend this to all romance lovers because it’s a love story that is captivating.
Macsen Evans is a self-made entrepreneur and such success has given him the ability to fulfill a strong impulse to find what he needs. When he arrives in a Welsh seaside town, Macsen operates on instinct in search of the one person who completes him, a local named Ellis Probert. Though Ellis isn’t the type to believe in love at first site, Macsen challenges what Ellis feels and has known for some time. Together, they learn what most don’t believe is possible.
“So I’m supposed to trust that all this weirdness between us is meant to be?” “Is that so hard to do?”
Told in dual POV, the plot begins with vague references of how Macsen and Ellis share a deep connection. As more develops, the intensity builds which only further underscores the rightness of what they feel and how fleeting it can all be, as neither are willing to delay what they feel.
“The passion is familiar, the burn of pleasure creeping up my spine, a memory. We’ve come together like this so many times before, and each time feels like the first.”
The theme of this story is one that is steeped in a deeply romantic notion, but it doesn’t make their lives any easier or love less painless. By the end, Macsen and Ellis appealed equally to me, as they share in love and loss – just a bit differently. I admired Macsen’s ability to identify what is most important and his resolve. As for Ellis, I understood his skepticism but liked how he evolved and absorbed some of Mac’s easy energy.
Favourite Hello Hardest Goodbye is contemporary MM romance with the theme of recapturing what is lost. This book would appeal to those who enjoy a story with heart and soul.