TEST
Having really enjoyed Jay Hogan’s Digging Deep when I read it last summer, I was eager to read more of her work. First Impressions – the first in her Auckland Med. series – is her début novel (recently republished), an enjoyable enemies-to-lovers romance with an element of suspense/crime drama thrown in. The central characters are engaging and strongly drawn but flawed, and the chemistry between them is fantastic; plus there’s a nicely rounded-out secondary cast, and I thoroughly appreciated the vibrant, laid-back New Zealand setting, which made a refreshing change.
After a tragic event which sent him into a downward spiral of drink and depression, Los Angeles-based ER doctor Michael Oliver took the opportunity to relocate to Auckland as part of a two year exchange program. He’s been in New Zealand for six months and he loves it; he loves his work, he’s made some really good friends and is more than happy with his revolving door of bed-partners. His personal life went tits up around the same time his professional life imploded, making Michael more certain than ever that relationships aren’t his thing. We first meet him when he’s out cruising, making his move on the hot guy he’s decided is going to be his for the night, when his plans are interrupted by a raid on the club and he’s confronted by six-foot-four of scorching hot, snarky cop, an ansty German Shepherd glued to his side.
K-9 officer Josh Rawlins doesn’t have time for the mouthy, arrogant guy obviously checking him out, and has shut down his attempts to flirt when all hell breaks loose and shots are fired. While Josh and his dog, Paris, are involved in the fight to stop the shooters from escaping, Michael jumps in to help an officer who has been shot, keeping him alive until the paramedics arrive.
Josh and Michael take an instant dislike to each other and Michael takes a particular delight in deliberately needling Josh by attempting to flirt with him. But Josh is having none of it. His priority is his eleven-year-old daughter, and what he wants most is to make a loving home and family for her – but following his last long-term relationship, which ended after Josh discovered his partner had been cheating on him throughout, Josh has been wary of getting involved again. He certainly isn’t prepared to put himself and his heart on the line for someone like Michael who, Josh thinks, has impermanence written all over him, no matter how tempted he may be.
And Michael Oliver is most definitely tempting. Josh has to admit he’s funny and sexy and smart, and that something about him turns him on “like a fucking switch” . When the two of them at last give in to the intensity of the attraction between them, things get steamy pretty fast and Michael is surprised to find himself craving the space to just… let go that Josh offers. They agree to a NSA fling, but somehow things don’t stay that way and ‘casual’ soon develops into something neither man had anticipated. Josh doesn’t think Michael can ‘do’ relationships, and Michael has labelled himself the same way; he deliberately destroyed his last relationship when he was in that drink-fuelled downward spiral and has convinced himself he’s not cut out for anything long-term. But as the men spend more and moretime together, they are forced to confront the fact that their first impressions of each other were completely wrong and that perhaps they really do want the same things from life. The problem is admitting that – to themselves and each other.
I really liked both characters, even though Michael is a bit of a dickhead to start with, and their relationship is very well developed. The chemistry between them is explosive, and they have a lot of sex, but they laugh and talk and just hang out, too; they enjoy each other’s company and open up to one another, both feeling safe to let themselves be vulnerable when they need to, and I loved seeing that trust build between them. I was also relieved that the author didn’t take an obvious turn down Big Mis Lane at a point later in the story. There’s a great secondary cast, too – Josh’s daughter is a fairly believable eleven and their relationship is nicely done, as is that with his sister, and his friend and fellow cop, Mark; and Michael’s friend and colleague Cam Wano, a gloriously femme, snarky charge-nurse is a highlight – his story is told in the next book in the series. The crime drama storyline I mentioned at the beginning is perhaps distributed a little unevenly throughout the book – it sort of disappears for a bit in the middle before resurfacing towards the end – and there’s another sub-plot revolving around Josh’s homophobic parents which is quite heart-breaking – and quite honestly, I wanted Josh to tell them where to get off rather earlier than he did! I also had issues with the ending; it’s difficult to say too much without spoilers, but while I understood why Michael did what he did, I nonetheless found it rather selfish and needlessly hurtful.
Still, First Impressions was an engrossing read and one that I got through in only a couple of sittings, which is always a good indication of my engagement with a book. In spite of my reservations about certain aspects of the plot, the central relationship and romance are really well done, the characters are likeable and if you’re looking for a contemporary romance set outside the US, it’s definitely one to consider checking out.
Buy it at: Amazon
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Grade: B
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 14/12/19
Publication Date: 11/2019
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Related Reviews
The ebook links are back up for this book!
Updated! (And for Digging Deep too!)
Thanks Caz. Will do.
And please consider bringing them to audio! Those of us with impaired vision deeply appreciate having audio books at our disposal. Thanks!!
Jay Hogan- Author here guys ! Hi there. Such a good review and this is bad timing as it appears Dreamspinner have been super prompt in taking down my books from Amazon on the day I get my book rights back. First Impressions was released on ebook Nov 1. However my Dreamspinner rights just came back to me just today Dec 13 BUT I will be rereleasing again *sigh* by Jan all my books and First Impressions will be the first. Have a look in a week or so. I have a new series starting late Jan as well
Thanks for dropping by to explain that – and I’m sorry the timing didn’t work out! I think you’ve got my email address (from when you sent me the book), so if you’d care to email me once you have the titles for sale again, I’ll come back and fix all the links. (I assume the same is true of Digging Deep, so if you send me the details for that, I’ll fix those links as well).
Yeah, the Kobo and BN links don’t work and the amazon link (to amazon.ca for me) only goes to the paperback so I suspect it’s not available in any e-format while the author and publisher figure out the rights (I’m thinking the author has asked for her rights back due to the financial problems at Dreamspinner and Dreamspinner isn’t allowed to sell it). Hopefully the author will be able to self-publish it in the future.
Also, from looking at reviews on Amazon, it appears that this book was first published in digital format in 2018 and the paperback came out Nov 1, 2019. So it was in digital for quite a while before now.
It’s happened, literally, within the space of a week! I think the original publisher closed down and then the book was picked up and republished by DSP this year.
It sounds like a good story. Does anyone know if it will become available on kindle, or better yet, audio? It’s only in (expensive) paperback on Amazon right now.
Also, I could not get the Amazon link to work.
Fixed the link. She was on Dreamspinner, I think, so it’s possible there’s some issue with erights.
I hope they get the rights figured out. It sounds like my mind of book, and I’m sure it will sell better with an ebook option. Thanks for fixing the link!
See below for the author’s comments – she’s planning to republish in January.
That’s odd – when I input the review over a week ago, I definitely used a Kindle link. As Dabney says, maybe there’s a rights issue.
Did you try asking your local public librarian to purchase a copy? I have found that local librarians are really good about listening to patron requests, especially if they have the budget. In the past, some libraries didn’t buy romance, pulp fiction, etc. on the grounds of edifying the public, but that attitude has thankfully gone by the wayside in most places. Two libraries in WorldCat have “First Impressions” so far, so libraries could definitely add this 2019 title to their ordering list. I recently asked my library to please buy “Undercover Justice” by Nico Rosso, a Harlequin Intrigue title. And they did. So it never hurts to ask!