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I read and enjoyed a couple of books by Jay Hogan last year, so I was more than happy to jump into Powder & Pavlova, the first book in her Southern Lights series of m/m romances set in and around Queenstown, New Zealand. This is a May/December story featuring a pair of engaging and well-rounded protagonists whose flaws make them seem all the more real, and their romance is a gorgeous slow-burn, full of chemistry that fizzes and pops every time they’re together on the page. Powder & Pavlova is charming, sexy and poignant; funny at one moment, heart-breaking the next, and I loved every minute of it.
Twenty-three-year-old Ethan Sharpe planned to travel for a year or so when he left school, intending to use the time away to figure out what he wanted to do with his life before returning home to Queenstown. But that one year became two; two became three, then four… until Ethan received a phone call six months before the book opens and he discovered his mother had terminal cancer and just a few months left to live. Now, just months after her death, Ethan is spending most of his time trying to keep the café she’d loved from going under and trying to do the best for his sixteen-year-old brother Kurt, whose grades are nose-diving at school and whose teenage attitude and snark always rub Ethan the wrong way. Ethan recognises his brother is hurting, but so is he; and it hurts even more when he remembers how he’d thought that he and Kurt would be there for each other – yet now he can’t seem to do anything right.
Tanner Carpenter is a former champion snowboarder whose career ended due to injury fourteen earlier, and who has never been near the snow since. He now works for a PR company that is looking to extend its profile and snag some contracts in the sports arena – rugby and snowsports specifically – and he’s in Queenstown for five months, heading up a small team whose brief is to test the market and come up with a pitch for contracts in the next Audi Quattro Winter Games. He noticed Ethan in the kitchen of the local coffee shop when he was on an office coffee run – and now makes a point of doing the runs himself; after all, nothing says ‘team culture’ more than the boss pitching in and getting the coffee in.
Well, that’s his excuse and he’s sticking to it.
Ethan has noticed Tanner, too, but the hot, almost-silver fox with the devastating smile and maturity and confidence painted all over him is way out of his league – and even if he wasn’t, Ethan doesn’t have time for dating or anything else. But the next time Tanner comes into the café, he engages Ethan in an unmistakeably flirtatious conversation and Ethan can’t help but flirt back; the sparks really do fly between them right from the start, and flirtation soon turns into a genuine friendship. Both men acknowledge the strength of the attraction they feel towards each other, but agree not to cross the boundary between friendship and something more. Ethan has his hands full trying to keep the café’s head above water and Tanner will be returning to his life in Auckland in a few months, so getting in any deeper is a terrible idea.
The trouble is, of course, that there comes a point when friendship isn’t enough for either of them. Even as the friendship the couple decides is all they can allow themselves grows and deepens, the author is showing readers how absolutely in tune they are; even as they recognise that they’re asking for trouble by embarking on a relationship, she’s showing us that they’re perfect for one another romantically – and the emotional connection she creates between them simply leaps off the page.
I generally enjoy May/December romances, although it’s not every author who can pull it off successfully and achieve the right balance of youth and maturity in the make-up of both characters to make the relationship believable, but Jay Hogan does it extremely well here. Ethan has a lot on his young shoulders; he’s still grieving his mother, he feels guilty about not being what his brother needs, and even more guilty about the possibility of failure when it comes to his mother’s business. Tanner is fifteen years older and more settled, even though he has his own fears and insecurities to overcome. I loved that these guys are so supportive of each other, and that even when they disagree, they’re strong enough and mature enough to admit when they get something wrong, further strengthening the bond between them.
The relationships between Ethan and his friends, Adrian (the mysteriously tight-lipped barista – I hope he’s getting his own book!) and Lucy, are well written, and the sibling relationship between Ethan and Kurt is skilfully handled. Even though we don’t get Kurt’s PoV, the author is able to convey his hurt and frustration so well that it’s easy to empathise with him, even when he’s behaving like a shit towards Ethan, and I was rooting for them to repair the damage and get things between them back on track.
This review wouldn’t be complete without my mentioning the mouth-watering food and desserts Ethan and his team regularly prepare, or the wonderful descriptions of the South Island scenery; the view across Lake Wakatipu, the snowy mountains and the Aurora Australis, for instance, which all made me want to look up the price of a plane ticket!
Funny, sexy, sweet and touching, Powder & Pavlova made me smile and it made me cry, and I was so captivated by it that I raced through it in a couple of sittings. Jay Hogan has earned a place on my list of ‘must read’ authors, and I’m really looking forward to the next instalment in the Southern Lights series.
Buy it at: Amazon
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Grade: A-
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 26/01/20
Publication Date: 01/2020
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.
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This sounds really good. I was just wondering if I could find some more romances with olympic winter athletes as I’ve been binge watching the skiing and snowboarding. I know Sarina Bowen has her Gravity series (her first series I think), and Tamsen Parker has her Snow And Ice Games series but I haven’t seen a lot of other ones involving winter sports.
If you like M/M romances, Keira Andrews has 3 about Olympic figure skaters: Cold War, The Next Competitor, and Kiss and Cry. I actually read them just before the Olympics started and it’s a tie between Cold War and Kiss and Cry as to which I liked better. Kiss and Cry is the most recent, however, and so the most modern.
Otherwise, I suggest Faked by Karla Sorenson, where the hero is a snowboarder with hopes of making the Olympic team. I can’t recall there being any actual competitions in the story, however. It’s more about the hero-heroine relationship.
I’ve only just got round to reading this book, even though I read the second and third books in the series a while back. It’s very unlike me to read series out of order but I think I picked up these books at different times when they were on offer!
I really enjoyed this one and found it very moving, getting a bit weepy in one place. I shall have to get Pinot and Pineapple Lumps now as I want to read about Kurt getting his HEA!
I am very puzzled why there is a guy in the water on the cover though………………
Odd – the cover when I read/reviewed this one didn’t have the guy in the water! I can’t remember what it was exactly, but it was more landscape-y.
I’ve just used the new Power Search to read the reviews of the rest of the series and see that the cover you remember is there. It’s similar but taken further away, with the guy sitting at the lakeside looking up at the snow covered mountains. That’s a much better fit for the book!
I also noticed that the book title is written with ‘&’ instead of ‘and’, so I don’t know if that is a bug you can fix…………….. One of the other Jay Hogan titles has the same mistake.
That’s odd – I definitely see & on this page (in the title). Where are you seeing the &?
ETA: Hang on, I see it now on the new Power Search page. I’ll let Dabney know about it.
You can also find the previous cover on Google images search. When I read the book, that was the cover and I agree with you that it was a much better fit.
Powder & Pavlova was my first Jay Hogan book and I loved it. It remains one of my favorites, even though I don’t typically gravitate to age gap books. My next favorite of that series is Flat Whites & Chocolate Fish.
This sounds interesting Caz. Haven’t read Hogan yet, but will give this a try. Since you like May/Dec reomances, have you read the Thomas Elkin trilogy by NR Walker about a couple of architects? It is one of my favorite May/Dec stories. I think it might be right up your alley. Elements of Retrofit is the first in the series.
I LOVE the Thomas Elkin series – I did it in audio last year, and the narration is excellent. The age gap there is even bigger than this one (22 years) but the characterisation is so good and Cooper is so well written that it works brilliantly :)
Yes, I thought Walker wrote the two MCs, supporting cast, and the overall situation completely believably, as well.
This sounds delicious! And it’s not in audio…rats! Nor is anything else she’s written. I will keep my fingers crossed that that changes soon…
I’d love audio, too, but the author is another self-publisher, and as we know, audio is a big outlay and not everyone can manage it.
It’s a good read though – there are a few rough edges, but the romance is so well done and the emotions leap off the page – it actually brought me close to tears at a couple of points, and it’s not every author that’s capable of producing writing that can do that.
Unfortunately, reading for any length of time is physically painful for me, so it’s pretty much audio or nothing. I understand the huge expense involved in recording books, I know it’s thousands of dollars. And I know not all authors can afford that, just as I could not. But I hope this author can establish herself enough to eventually be able to commission audios of her books, which sound wonderful. I wish her well!
“I know it’s thousands of dollars [to make audio books].” This is not necessarily true for self-publishers, but it is still a big hassle. KDP has a partner audiobook program called ACX where authors can a) narrate their own books, b) pay someone a flat rate to narrate their book(s), or c) pay nothing up front for someone to narrate their book(s) but share all future royalties on that audiobook’s sales. So there are definitely options that don’t cost big bucks.
Personally, I’ve never gone the audiobook route because I don’t want to deal with the extra paperwork, auditioning actors, etc. Also, I’m personally not a fan of audiobooks so I think I would have a hard time producing a good one.
There may be options that don’t cost big bucks, but as someone who listens to a LOT of audiobooks (and reviews many of them) I know full well that “if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”. Getting a good, established narrator will mean an author can recoup their costs reasonably quickly, as audiobook purchases are very often narrator driven – I’ve discovered a lot of new authors simply because their books are performed by a narrator I like listening to. I know not everyone is a fan of the format, but for some people it’s one of the few ways they can experience books; which doesn’t mean they should accept listening to any old rope because it was cheap to produce!
I know that’s not what you were saying – but while the process CAN be as simple as you suggest, if you want to produce a good product that actually has a chance of selling, then there’s considerably more to it.
“but while the process CAN be as simple as you suggest, if you want to produce a good product that actually has a chance of selling, then there’s considerably more to it.” Oh, absolutely! I certainly don’t want audiobook readers to have to settle for second best. And I realize there are readers like KesterGayle who need audiobooks for accessibility. So it’s wonderful that these options exist now.
Thanks for sharing about audiobook purchases being narrator driven. I’ve never given that much thought before except in those notorious cases of movie celebrity narrators. I’m not saying celebrities can’t make good narrators, but having a reader-type voice is a different skill from starring in a movie. More power to those who are multitalented!
As for me, I can’t get into the audiobook format for a few reasons. First, it’s too hard on my wandering attention span. When I read, I often stop to daydream. (Bad habit, I know. But can’t fight the way my brain works.) Second, I sometimes need to reread what I just read because my reading comprehension skills have always been a bit weaker than my decoding skills. Rewinding an audiobook would be an absolute *pain* for me in this regard. And third, unless an audiobook has an ensemble cast, I get really distracted by a man doing a female character’s voice and vice versa. Unless someone can pull off a Dustin Hoffman turned Dorothy in “Tootsie,” it’s just too jarring to me. Just imagine, say, Samuel L. Jackson narrating “Gone with the Wind” and saying “Fiddle dee dee” in an imitation of Scarlett O’Hara, and you’ll see what I mean.
Thank goodness we’re in a such a media rich world for those of us with different needs!
You might be surprised at the following some narrators have In the romance genre! They have become rock stars in this ever-growing world, and have fan-created Facebook pages and everything. They even go to book signings now and there are conventions just for romance narrators.
For me, audios have been a godsend, and I can tell the difference between a crappy one and a decent one. Like…can the narrator act, for example? Are there background noises like phones ringing or static or clicks? Or even dogs barking? Those are a few clues right there. And can the narrator pronounce the words correctly? As we all know, anecdote and antidote are NOT pronounced the same, and that’s just one example I recently came across. Things like that drive me kinda nuts. So, I would rather the author get it right, invest the money, and produce a good audio book. Or don’t bother at all. Why ruin an otherwise good book with a sub-standard recording?
On the other hand, I selfishly want ALL the books to be on audio, from Homer to Michelle Obama and beyond! Just make them good ones, please!
“You might be surprised at the following some narrators have in the romance genre!” Wow! I learn something new every day. Incidentally, I’m told there’s a similar celebrity status for Italian film dubbing stars. Personally, I prefer subtitles to dubbing in foreign films, so imagine my shock to learn that in some countries, dubbing artists are considered celebrities in their own right.
“Like… can the narrator act, for example?” The few times I’ve listened to snippets of audiobooks, I have to say I was most impressed with the acting in an ensemble recording I heard of Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather.” While I agreed with the complaints saying the main narrator was too “spritely” for such a heavy tale, the rest of the cast was incredible. It was clear they were imitating their movie counterparts and did a fantastic job. The moment I heard “Fredo” speak, I thought, “Holy cow! It’s like they brought John Cazale back from the grave!”
“I selfishly want ALL the books to be on audio.” I wonder why more are not. I’ve heard of a lot of people listening to audio recordings during commutes so I think there’s definitely a market. I think it’s especially strange that companies like Carina Press reserve audio book rights and then almost never produce them. That could be one obstacle to their availability as well. For me, it is especially annoying that Carina Press generally only produces paperback versions of CRs rather than their HRs or SF books. Since e-books cost libraries a lot of money, there are a number of Carina Press titles I would like to read but can’t. (As a general rule, I never buy books. My library is good about purchasing any paperbacks or shipping them over via ILL.)
Audio is booming right now. I can’t remember specifics but I’m pretty sure I read an article fairly recently that said it was growing fast while ebook sales have mostly levelled out.
Carina’s titles in audio are usually produced by Harlequin Audio/Harper Audio, which makes sense as they’re now part of the same company! Some – like Jenn Burke’s Not Dead yet series and Charlie Adhara’s Big Bad Wolf series were released by Tantor Audio. The whole rights thing is pretty complicated and I don’t really know how it works; but they do have quite a few number of their titles in audio.
I get that audio isn’t for you – I’m just responding to that specific comment re. Carina titles.
Ah, thanks for the clarification about Carina Press. It gets confusing sometimes when audio productions have different names than their imprints. I try to learn something new every day, and I think that’s the thing of the day. :)
As for e-book sales leveling out, “The People’s Guide to Publishing,” published Dec. 2018, by Joe Biel (head of small press Microcosm) had a section about that. He said that the only e-book genres that do really well compared to paperbacks are romance, erotica, some types of sci-fi, and pulp fiction. In short, he said, anything someone would be embarrassed to read on a public bus in paperback form. But overall, e-books are only about 4-5% of the book market.
The boom in audio books makes perfect sense to me! People are realizing they can enjoy books when doing so many other tasks, like driving, housework, shopping, doing crafts, many can even listen at work. I certainly had plenty of jobs that would have been ideal for for listening to books. Women can listen while hubs watches the game, men can listen while the wife is watching her reality shows. Or vice versa.
Narration and production values are improving all the time, there are more and more books to choose from, and podcasts are popular, too. A lot of people can’t read for various reasons, so now they get to experience the joys of books, too. I like to fall asleep with a book in my ears. I put on an old favorite, close my eyes, and poof! I’m asleep.
Ebooks are great for a lot of folks, but reading on a phone is just too small a screen for many of us. If I do read a book, which is almost never, I need to have HUGE letters so phones don’t work for me for that. I need to read on a tablet with at least a 10″ screen. As our population ages, these restrictions will be true for more and more of us. So the lack of growth in ebook sales (and in ereaders) is not surprising to me. Now I’m seeing writers releasing their work to audio first, sometimes months ahead of the ebook. This is a trend of which I approve!
I expect this boom to continue, and I think there will be more and more ways for audiophiles like myself to access books in the future. More companies like Audible, more library-related access, and authors and publishers selling directly to the public, and who knows what else? I can’t wait to find out!
Unless someone can pull off a Dustin Hoffman turned Dorothy in “Tootsie,”
I could give you a list of male narrators who are excellent at portraying female characters. I grew up listening to audio drama on the BBC (Radio 4) so the idea of having just one person telling me a story was weird at first, and I tended to stick to listening to those when they started to be released for sale. But I was lucky enough to pick a romance audiobook narrated by the one of the best working in the genre when I decided to give them a try – and I was hooked. I’ve listened to some great narrations and some seriously crappy ones (the reviewer’s lot) but the good ones can elevate a good book to something really special
Aw, thanks for the offer. I’m sure there are very talented narrators out there. But that’s only one of my reasons for avoiding e-books, the others being the attention span and comprehension issues I mentioned.
I agree Caz. Good narration can sweep you away!