
This story of a poor man, jilted by the woman he thought he would spend the rest of his life with, is short, simple, sweet and has that special quality that lifts it above the ordinary.
When Blake is devastated by his girlfriend not returning from a "Hen Party" overseas, he is lost and completely bewildered. An accidental bad reaction to a party drug leaves him in the hospital, near death. His brain, it seems has begun to misfire. He is constantly confused and struggles to cope with the day-to-day activities of life, constantly surrounded by cartoon characters he believes come from the misfiring neurons in his head.
The characters in this story are very real, very relatable and very easy to empathize with. My only complaint is this story was not long enough. I wanted more of these magical people and more of this writing. Yet, in this short novella (75 pages on Kindle) Hodden has managed to tell a wonderful story.
In my opinion, this is his very best work and right up there with his other acclaimed story; What Once Went Wrong. Hodden tells us he is writing romance because he was challenged to do it. I would say he is writing romance because he is damn good at it. If you love romance with a touch of quirk, then you will adore A Wintered Heart. I sure did.
