2.5 stars

I hate leaving low star reviews but this felt flat for me. I didn't see a connection between Daniel and Eric at all. Maybe if we had more story for their relationship to develop, I would've believed it. I also think this needed a lot more editing. I didn't feel any strong emotions like I was hoping would come from this story.

It's a short novella. However, I feel it could have been a lot shorter.

I feel this book is for beginners and for those who wants a quick, short read.
I wish I could enjoy the writing more. I wanted more chemistry between the characters.

However, I enjoyed the short read.

Thank you, NineStar Press Publication, for the advance reading copy.

Very quick novella that could have been so much more had the author dove deeper into each character. PTSD is a very real thing and it is hard to write the story of a character dealing with PTSD when the characters are not well developed. Again, had the author gone more in-depth this could have been a story that was so much more.

2 Stars ⭐️

It has taken me a while to write this review of Homefront by Jaxon Altieri because I kept putting it off. I unfortunately did not enjoy this title and I didn't want to write and leave a negative review and put off others from giving it a try. I honestly don't like putting down authors and their efforts but I felt that this was underneath a good story, not original, as I have read the same storyline in other works, but it had potential that was wasted.
There was grammatical errors and the whole novel required a more involved editor to ensure that the story had more emotional flow. It really suffered from the tell and not show aspect. Some things were just explained instead of shown, for example when a character has an emotional moment in a group therapy session, it could have been a really beautiful and emotional scene but instead it felt flat and emotionless with no warmth.
This was a slog to finish and left me disappointed.

Really enjoyed this story. A quick and easy read for those who are in between longer books. Enjoyed looking at the two becoming closer and starting their relationship.

This was a quick novella that I felt could have been so much better. It could've been a full novel and actually explore the MCs rather than just give the surface of their stories. There is a lot too get into dealing with the death of a family member, the military, PTSD, etc. If this were longer and more flushed out I think I would've enjoyed this more.

In concept, this had such great potential. The discharged vet (Daniel) finding his fallen comrades brother (Eric)to return a letter to him. However, this story falls flat very quickly. The writing is hard to read…at times it felt like I was reading a fan fiction of a story that already exists. It became repetitive…there was a point where Daniel is alone in his hotel room…completely alone…and yet Daniel’s name was mention a total of 7 times on that one page. Towards the end of this, I found myself skimming because I just wanted to get to the end…which says a lot for such a short book.
The dialogue was so bad I outwardly cringed. Like I said though, I think this is a strong concept. This could be a really good book…I think it needs the grace of being a full book though, and not some Wattpad type thing. I’ve had great success with NineStar and their published works, but “HomeFront” just missed the mark for me.

War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, Daniel, returns to the states to return a letter that was sent to his brother-in-arms, Shawn, that died in combat to the younger brother, Eric, that he got to know so well through letters the Eric would send. Likewise, Shawn would always write about Daniel to Eric.
When Daniel arrives, there's a lot of emotional upheavals but also an underlying connection/bond that was formed long before they ever physically met.
The ARC copy that I read still could use another round of edits and proofreading. There were some issues here and there.
While I get the intent of Eric's anger and bitterness towards Daniel, he displays a lot of childish behavior that was rather unbecoming to the character. Daniel broke my heart though.
There were near as many internalized monologues and mental debates as there was actual dialogue.
There was one short scene where the two men ALMOST get naked, but they never go beyond kissing and touching above the waist, therefore I'd call this SWEET contemporary gay fiction with a hint of romance, though there is NO romantic content.
Within a few short days, they were professing their love despite Eric blaming Daniel for Shawn's death and Daniel convinced he would never be good enough for Eric. Their connection was believable, but the love story was a major reach.
Short story.
3.5 stars

Warning:
A wounded warrior with PTSD learning to deal with reintegrating into civilian life once again.
A grief-stricken younger sibling of a deceased soldier tries to learn how to move on from a death that makes no sense to him.

For a short book, I found it to be tedious and long winded. The writing was a little confusion to follow and I never liked Eric, not from beginning to end. I thought he was mean right up until the end and his friend at the diner behaved oddly. It was repetitive with the story of what happened, he told Eric what happened and then he wanted to know again and asking if he read the letter. Yes, he said that.

Aw, what a sweet book. Daniel is asked by his fallen and fellow soldier to make sure that his brother realizes that he understands and accepts him. Daniel is suffering from PSTD and guilt and questions his friend and not him. Eric is angry and doesn't want anything to do with Daniel at first but eventually, they are able to talk and there is a mutual attraction between them. The is sweet, romantic, short, forgiveness, and I enjoyed it.

This book is about Daniel going to Jasper Falls to send a message from his bestfriend to his brother, Eric. Both are grieving at the loss of the person they care about the most and when they found each other, their worlds are going to change.

This book is so sad and I felt myself crying from the grief of both Daniel and Eric. Daniel really seems so depressed and I was relieved to see him getting happy as the story goes on. I wish it was longer!!! I absolutely loved Jenny and she was so funny! The writing was my cup of tea and I absolutely adore the book.

I really struggled to connect with this one. For some reason... I found the writing to be a bit clunky; it could be just a stylistic thing. I think I got a little overwhelmed by some of the sentence structure and found myself re-reading sentences to see if I had understood it correctly.

the author could benefit from the "show don't tell" rule... even the first pages of the book felt as though it was a bit forced.

The depiction of PTSD seemed quite accurate although I've not experienced it myself.