Reviewed by Anna Lynn

TITLE:  Pinot and Pineapple Lumps

SERIES:  Southern Lights

AUTHOR:  Jay Hogan

PUBLISHER:  Southern Lights Publishing

LENGTH:  359 Pages

RELEASE DATE:  March 18, 2021

BLURB:

Penn from Adelaide. That’s all I knew.

We shared a single kiss over a year ago, and I can still remember every toe-curling second of it. He thought I was too young for him. I thought he was running scared. But that kiss was the first time I’d felt alive in a long time, and I’ve been chasing the feeling ever since—doing my research, a lot of research, a lot of men. Something my protective older brother isn’t too happy about.

I’ve been through more than most guys my age, and I still bear the scars. My head’s not always my best friend, but I’m building a life, PTSD be damned. I can’t turn back the clock, and I’m not sure I want to.

Except maybe to that moment when Penn kissed me. I mean, the odds of us ever meeting again were slim to none, right?

Yeah, about that.

But this time I’m ready. I’m a year older, an ocean of therapy wiser, and I know exactly what I want.

REVIEW:

If you have been following this series, this is the fourth book. Here is a quick breakdown of the first three books, book one is Powder and Pavlova which is Ethan and Tanner’s story. It is actually in this book where we will meet our main character in this fourth book, Kurt. Kurt is the younger brother of Ethan. He was 16 years old at the time. Book two is Tamarillo Tart which has Cassidy and Stefan as our main characters. In the beginning of this fourth book, we will see a very significant event involving these two, you will absolutely love it! Book three is Flat Whites and Chocolate Fish which has Adrian and Niall. All the main characters of all these four books are connected to each other, as those of you who have been following may know, as friends, really best friends and brothers. And somehow they have come together in this small town of Gibbston Valley in Queenstown, New Zealand.

As I mentioned above, this is Kurt’s story. Towards the last part of the first book, there was a fire in the newly-opened business of Ethan and Adrian’s, unfortunately Kurt was inside the establishment (roastery/cafe)  at the time which resulted to degrees of burn in his body which needed to be grafted. And this happened only months after their mother’s death. The two brothers were barely hanging on emotionally and financially at the time. And then he had to undergo several surgeries and had to testify, together with Adrian, against Lander, the culprit behind the fire and some of the worst parts of Adrian’s past.

Our story begins four years later. Kurt is now 20, about to graduate from Design school. And although he is living near the vicinity of his brother and his brother’s boyfriend, he bought his own caravan so he has his own space. He has been building his clientele for his design business, and doing really really well. He maintains the designing for his brother’s coffee shop and roastery business. And he has accepted jobs from several businesses and wineries around the area as well.

Penn is the only son of Otis Cunningham who owns Cunningham Wines, one of the more famous wineries thereabouts. When he was old enough, he left his father’s winery and went to Australia where he has a good job (from behind a desk) handling 5 different vineyards, making sure that they are making money in the market. He and his father really don’t agree with each other when it comes to how their own vineyard should be handled. His father is stuck on just producing their red wine, while Penn wants to develop white wine. But the night he and Kurt met over a year ago, he was back in town to deliver what Stef ordered and also because his father was diagnosed with cancer. Although they only spent 15 minutes together and shared one toe-curling kiss, it was something that neither of them forgot.

Now Penn is back, his father is getting worse and Tracey just couldn’t handle his father and the vineyard all at the same time, especially with his father being difficult every step of the way. And changes have to be made. First and foremost, the labels of their wine. It is old, they have to usher it into the new millennia, and hiring a recommended Graphic Designer will help them make that a reality. When Penn found out at the meeting that his Designer is the same guy he kissed over a year ago, he thought it must be fate because he hasn’t stop thinking of the young man since it happened. But the said young man is ten years younger than him. And he has a boyfriend back in Adelaide.

Kurt is trying to put his life back on track. After everything he went through with what Lander did, he still has nightmares and phobias to contend with. He is afraid of enclosed and dark spaces. He doesn’t do well with crowds and sudden noises scare him. But he is really trying to get better. In the meantime, he has alienated himself from his friends because something has change in him, he is not the same boy/man anymore.

There is a quality in all of Ms. Jay Hogan’s books that will not allow you to put it down, not until you have finish it. I have experienced it time and time again. I think it is because of the way her stories are written, they are in-depth, full of heart and just burst right into your heart. And I think that is the main reason why her stories are loved. Kurt and Penn’s story is full of love, with a healthy dose of pain and struggles between father and son, between brothers and even between friends. It is also a story of healing. It is a story of how man endures pain and gets back up time and time again.

The fact that we can feel and read all these in her stories just make her stories more relatable and heart-wrenching. I love it!

RATING:

BUY LINK:

Amazon