Two Chicks Obsessed with Books & Eye Candy

Sharing our love of M/M Romance

Jay Hogan

Off Balance: Painted Bay #1 by Jay Hogan: New Release Review

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When JUDAH MADDEN flees his tiny suffocating home town in New Zealand for the dream of international ballet stardom, he never intends coming back. Not to Painted Bay. Not to his family’s struggling mussel farm. Not to his jerk of a brother. Not with his entire life plan in shreds. And certainly not into the tempting arms of MORGAN WIPENE, the older, ruggedly handsome fisheries officer who seems determined to screw with Judah’s intention to wallow in peace.

But dreams are fickle things. Shatter them and it’s hard to pick up the pieces. Hard to believe. Hard to start again.

And the hardest thing of all? Finding the courage to trust in love and build a new dream where you least expected to find it.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

I know Jay Hogan has several titles out, but this is the first time I am reading one. You know I am a sucker for a ballet dancer, right? Such a sucker that I didn’t even really read the blurb. Just said “GIMME!”

Fall from grace, early retirement, having to return home to the tiny town he hated, Judah is in a bad place. And he meets Morgan, a guy still grieving his wife while going through the motions of life. They quickly decide neither wants a relationship and to just be friends. HA! Ha I say! That never works out.

Morgan is the consumate relationship guy. Judah has only been in 1 relationship- and that ended when his career did. These guys are nothing alike and yet are so great together.

Center to their story is Judah’s health issues. And while a lot of time was spent with him dealing with it, I also didn’t feel like it was overboard. It isn’t something that can be ignored and it was almost it’s own character. Seeing how Judah dealt with it, how Morgan dealt with it, how family and friends dealt with it.

There’s also a subplot of poachers that Morgan is trying to catch. I didn’t grab me as much, but it kept him busy as I imagine his job normally isn’t that exciting.

There is A LOT of sex in this book. They cannot keep their hands off of each other. And I get it. And I think this is the first time in a book there was a sex scene that actually took advantage of the dancer’s flexibility. Wink wink.

There were quite a few side characters- Judah’s brother who resents him, his mother who has her own secret, his best friend and his daughter who has her own challenges and Morgan’s cop friend who offers a bit too much advice in my opinion. But all of the characters had good parts in the story, even Judah’s bully from high school. They all added to the story without acting as just filler.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to book 2. Especially if it is who I think it is.

4 Pieces of Eye Candy

First Impressions (Auckland Med: Book One) by Jay Hogan: New Release Review

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Michael:

Two years ago I made a mistake—a big one. Then I added a couple more just for good measure. I screwed up my life, but I survived. Now I have the opportunity for a fresh start. Two years in NZ. Away from the LA gossip, a chance to breathe, to rebuild my life. But I’m taking my new set of rules with me.

I don’t do relationships.

I don’t do commitment.

I don’t do white picket fences.

And I especially don’t do arrogant, holier-than-thou, smoking-hot K9 officers who walk into my ER and rock my world.

Josh:

One thing’s for certain: Dr. Michael Oliver is an arrogant, untrustworthy player, and I barely survived the last one of those. He might be gorgeous, but my daughter takes number-one priority. I won’t risk her being hurt again. I’m a solo dad, a K9 cop, and a son to pain-in-the-arse parents.

I don’t have time for games.

I don’t have time for taking chances. I don’t have time for more complications in my life.

And I sure as hell don’t have time for the infuriating Dr. Michael Oliver, however damn sexy he is.

Title: First Impressions
Series: Auckland Med: Book One
Author: Jay Hogan
Release Date: November 1, 2019
Category: Contemporary Romance

Amazon

Okay, first impression? Hot cover!

Anytime you give me a hot man in uniform, it’s going to give me pause. Throw in a hot doctor, uhm, yes, please! Make one of them a dad? Just take my money…. Take all of it!

In this one, we have Michael, who I’ll get to first. I didn’t care for him in the beginning. He’s arrogant and slutty and no matter what his reasons were, I just didn’t connect with him. After the death of a patient had hit him hard and lead to a multitude of problems in his life fueled by alcohol, guilt, and anger, he tucked his tail and ran away to Auckland, NZ, to take a job there. That’s where he meets K9 officer, Josh something or other and his dog.

A drug sting lead him and his team to the club where he finds Michael in a compromising position in the backroom of a club. He’s unapologetic but he knows Michael’s type, having had his heartbroken by a player of the same type. He wasn’t far off, Michael admits later to have purposefully cheated and though it’s off-page, I just never got over that either. I get the why’s, kind of, but it just wasn’t a good excuse to me. I didn’t like the way he treated Josh one second and then flipped the next and their banter wasn’t fun in the beginning.

So, after a scene at the club that left one officer dead, another injured and Michael a witness… Josh had to put his feelings away for a bit and tolerate Michael. He was insanely attracted to him, but he knew it would only lead to heartbreak. That’s all guys like Michael were good for, right?

Somehow or another, their angry banter turns sexual, which was hot. I hate the friends with benny’s thing, but anyone who saw them together knew how they were lying to themselves because you could tell that even from the beginning, even though they didn’t want to, they developed feelings for each other. I adored how vulnerable Michael let himself be with Josh, and I loved seeing Josh take charge and give Michael what he didn’t know he needed. I loved the relationship with Josh and his sister and his relationship with his daughter. It may have been a secondary storyline, but, it was real and sweet and he was protective and smart when it came to her and her safety and the strained relationship with his parents… who are horrible, by the way. I actually thought they’d be a bigger problem than they were, but I was glad about that.

Of course, with any relationship that starts out casual with one or the other constantly reminding each other that it’s casual, it’s bound to get… messy. And it did. Again, I couldn’t stand how Michael used all these different things to push Josh away and I couldn’t stand how Josh just let him. I didn’t like that even though it was Michael that needed to do the groveling and the growing, that Josh was the one who went after him. To fight for them. Michael should’ve been the one to realize how stupid he was being and stop running for a change. I also didn’t understand the unlikely friendship with the ex and his new fiance, especially a touchy feely one at that.

I dunno, when I adored it, I really, truly adored it but Michael really need a slap or two upside his head to maybe knock some sense into him. The dialogue between them was a little….eeeek, but, only because I didn’t see Michael as the person he let himself sometimes be. It was hard for me to connect with him throughout. I wanted to, ooooh, how I wanted to… it just sadly never happened.

It definitely kept me interested though and I was glad for the happy ending, but my goodness, did it take a while to get there. I’d be really interested to see who’s next. I loved Michael’s makeup wearing charge nurse, Cam and Josh’s bestie, Mark… I’ll definitely be looking forward to the next one!

Even though my review miiiight seems ranty, it’s a solid 4 pieces of eye candy from me

 

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Digging Deep by Jay Hogan: Blog Tour, New Release Review * 2

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A Digging Deep Story

Drake Park has a complicated life. As a gay male midwife, he’s used to raising eyebrows. Add Crohn’s disease and things get interesting—or not, considering the sad state of his love life. Experience has taught Drake that most men are fair-weather sailors when it comes to handling his condition—gone for dust when things get rough. Staying healthy is a full-time job without adding in any heartbreak, so a little loneliness is a small price to pay. If he says it often enough he might even believe it. One thing for sure, the cop who arrested him isn’t about to change that.

Caleb Ashton does not have a complicated life. A senior detective with the Whangarei Police Department, he likes his job and is good at it. He works hard and plays hard, happy to enjoy as many men as he can while he’s still young enough—or at least he was. These days he feels adrift for the first time in his life, and the only thing sparking his interest—a certain prickly young midwife.

But can Drake find enough faith to risk opening his heart again? And does Caleb have what it takes to cope with the challenges Drake’s condition presents?

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

This book will take you on a journey about a young man living with Chron’s disease and a playboy cop who thinks he may have found “the one.” Drake will need to decide if he can open his heart again or if the fear of rejection is too much to overcome and Caleb needs to decide if he can be by Drake’s side for the long haul or if he’ll run at the first sign of trouble.

As someone that doesn’t have Chron’s disease I can’t speak to the validity of Drake’s story. However, the disease and symptoms were well researched and presented in a way that didn’t read as a clinical encyclopedia. The characters were well developed and the story flowed so organically. The supporting cast of characters were just as charming and engaging as the main characters. I would love to see more of Carmen in a future book.

4 pieces of eye candy

This is a first for me with this author, and I saw the length of this book and was a little wary about it. It’s hard to hold my attention, but I love love love realistic reads about real-life problems and relationship hurdles. In this one, we meet Drake, who has Chron’s disease. Now, I’m not going to lie… I don’t know much about the disease, other than the generic, basic info you can look up, but it seemed to be Drake’s entire life. He literally can’t make one decision about anything without factoring in how it’s going to affect his day-to-day living with the disease.

An emergency trip to the bathroom is common, and when he has to go… it has to be
NOW… so when he enters a restricted area of a building during a protest, of course, he gets questioned by the police. His attitude was probably the reason why he was taken in… had he calmly explained, …. But then that would’ve been boring, eh? So, that’s where he meets Caleb… a detective on parole at the building during said protest.

Caleb is made to seem like a jerk, but the dude was just doing his job. If you look at how cops work here in the states, right or wrong, they wouldn’t have had as much patience as Caleb did with Drake. He tries to understand his predicament, but again, the man was just doing his job. Not only was Drake on a watch list because of the protest, he also ignored (because he had to) a direct order, several times and then gave the cop attitude for doing what he had to.

That seems to be the general goings-on in the whole book. Caleb, though not one for relationships and having never had a serious one, ever… seems to like Drake and his snarky comebacks and flair for dramatics. He tries several times to even get that first date, and I’ve gotta be honest… I dunno if I’d have bothered. I understand, at least a little bit, having been described in detail about what Chron’s does to one’s body and how living with it affects not only the person who has it but everyone else, especially a partner… but my goodness…. How many times can you tell someone no and to go away before they’re just like.. okay, see ya!
Infinity, it would seem, if you’re Caleb…

I couldn’t handle the push and pull… like, Drake pushed him away and then got upset when he went away…not even just once, but throughout the whole book. I felt for him, I really did… this story gives you a really clear picture of the disease and I couldn’t imagine it. My heart broke for him in so many ways… but romantically. I just wanted to punch him. I know he’s been hurt before in large part because his partner of two years couldn’t handle the complications of the disease, but, Jared wasn’t Caleb and he tried and tried and tried to show you that he was all in….

I also didn’t care for such meddlesome friends. Believe me, I have the most in your face, nosiest, well-meaning but annoying friends, but each of their friends were just obnoxious to me.

Annnnnnyway….it ends sweet and I’m a sucker for a happy ending, so I can’t be too hard on it, despite what it may look like. I actually fell for Caleb a bit, because the man truly had patience of a Saint and didn’t often let Drake get away with pushing him away before letting him have it right back… but, still… I’m exhausted. I need a nap now lol

3 stars from me