Against the Grain By Jay Hogan Performed By Gary Furlong
Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM
Tropes: Opposites attract, overcoming obstacles, workplace romance, jock/nerd, found family
Released: Audio-Nov 19, 2021; ebook-Dec 8, 2020
Publisher: Southern Lights Publishing
Series: Auckland Med, Book 4
Length: 11 hrs / 364 pages
I don’t like labels and I’m happy that way, but it’s taken a long time to get here. A jerk of a father, too many bullies to name, and a string of dipshit boyfriends whose interest in me rarely made it past the skirts I sometimes wear. Suffice to say, my faith in men runs a little thin.
The last thing I need is a gruff, opinionated, fiery, closeted, Paralympian jock messing with my hard-won peace. Miller Harrison is a wrinkle in my life I could definitely do without. I have a job that I love at Auckland Med., a boss who understands me, and a group of friends who accept me as I am.
I should walk away.
But Miller knows a thing or two about living life against the grain, and that hope I thought I’d buried a long time ago, is threatening to surface.
Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003
One of my top 5 audiobooks of 2021!
I’m relatively new to Jay Hogan’s books, having read my first one in September 2020, and I still have a few books in her backlist that I need to read. Against the Grain was the second book of hers that I read and the first book I read in the Auckland Med series. Yes, I read this one out of order but it didn’t really matter to my enjoyment of the story. I never felt lost while reading this one and I eventually caught up and listened to the first three books when they came out as audiobooks.
I loved Against the Grain when I read it with my eyes but I can’t begin to express how much more I loved it after I listened to Gary Furlong’s excellent audio performance. I’ve been a big fan of his for a while now but I think he outdid himself with this one. Audiobooks don’t tend to get my emotions involved with a story as much as when I read a book but this had me tearing up in more than one place. Gary put so much emotion into his performance that I could easily be convinced that he was telling his own story rather than words written by someone else. I hope that makes sense; I know this isn’t his story but his performance made it seem very real to me when listening to it.
Against the Grain is a well-developed and intense story. The main focus is on Miller, a masculine character who plays wheelchair Rugby, and Sandy, a more femme character who’s a nurse in the hospital where Miller works. They don’t meet under the best circumstances but Miller was captivated by Sandy right from the get-go. Miller isn’t exactly in-the-closet but he’s not out to his teammates or most of his co-workers. Sandy wears what he likes to wear; sometimes it’s skirts or dresses and sometimes it’s pants/trousers. He identifies as male but isn’t afraid or ashamed of expressing his more feminine side.
I almost don’t know where to start with my review so I’ll just say I loved everything about this story. Beyond the somewhat difficult road that Miller and Sandy travel to their HEA there are a couple of other very interesting subplots. One of these involves a 17-year-old bisexual friend of Miller’s nephew with a homophobic father.
If you like complex stories, with more than one plot line, I can highly recommend Against the Grain.
Story: ♥♥♥♥♥
Performance: ♥♥♥♥♥
O Factor: Scorcher
Available to borrow with Kindle Unlimited.
Auckland Med Series
I am a New Zealand author writing in m/m romance, and romantic suspense. I have traveled extensively and lived in the US, Canada, France, Australia and South Korea. In a past life I have been an Intensive Care Nurse, Counselor, and a Nursing Lecturer.
I’m a cat aficionado especially of Maine Coons, and an avid dog lover (but don’t tell the cat). I love to cook, pretty damn good, love to sing, pretty damn average, and as for loving full-time writing, absolutely… depending of course on the day, the word count, the deadline, how obliging my characters are, the ambient temperature in the Western Sahara, whether Jupiter is rising, the size of the ozone hole over New Zealand and how much coffee I’ve had.
Welcome to my world. https://www.jayhoganauthor.com/
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