Reviewed by Larissa

 

TITLE: Crossing the Touchline

SERIES: Auckland Med Book 2

AUTHOR: Jay Hogan

NARRATOR:  Gary Furlong

PUBLISHER: Self-published

LENGTH: 11 hours and 58 minutes

RELEASE DATE: February 12, 2021

BLURB: 

What if you’ve worked your whole life for a dream, to play rugby for the most successful sports team on the planet, the New Zealand All Blacks?

What if that dream is so close you can smell it?

What if you meet someone?

What if you fall in love?

What if your dream will cost the man who’s stolen your heart?

And what if the dream changes?

Reuben Taylor has a choice to make.

Cameron Wano is that choice.

REVIEW: 

I have two initial comments about the audiobook of Jay Hogan’s Crossing the Touchline, the second book in her terrific Auckland Med series, narrated by the fantastically talented Gary Furlong:  First, 11 hours and 58 minutes.  You read that correctly.  Just shy of 12 hours of Gary Furlong’s gorgeous, versatile voice in your ear.  Second, 11 hours and 58 minutes.   Just shy of a 12 hour run time and it goes by in the blink of an eye.

Honestly, I could stop there (although you know I won’t 😉) because those two comments encapsulate my view on this amazing audiobook.  This is a long book and a longer audio and yet both are selling points as far as I’m concerned.  Jay Hogan’s writing is always top notch and Crossing the Touchline is no exception.  Her characters are always given so much dimension and life that you almost forget they are fictional.  Her storylines are different, intriguing and unpredictable.  Then add to it Gary Furlong’s indescribably amazing narration.  You will sink into his vocal performance, time will fly with this engrossing story, and you will wish that there was more to enjoy because it will feel like it’s over all too soon even 12 hours later.

In Crossing the Touchline, we meet the endearing 23-year old rugby player, Reuben Taylor.  Reuben is your prototypical example of “looks may be deceiving”.  He’s an uber-talented rugby player who is on the verge of making it onto the All Blacks, the premier rugby team in New Zealand with a zealot fanbase. On the outside, he’s the big, built, strong, rugby player tough-guy with single minded focus on his sport.  In actuality, Reuben is a soft-hearted, altruistic, mush of a guy who is secure enough in his masculinity that he doesn’t need to wield it as some measure of his value or worth. 

As soon as you meet Reuben, you immediately understand who this guy is and how his lifelong goal of being an All Black chafes against his desperate need to be himself.  Reuben is closeted, mainly due to fear of jeopardizing his rugby career.  There are no out and proud players on the All Blacks and he really doesn’t want to be the trailblazer.  He just wants to be known for his talent and skill on the rugby pitch.  But he also hides because he’s surrounded by his homophobic, alcoholic brother Craig and his hateful, vile, homophobic father. 

Craig has a 4 year old special needs son, Cory, who he neglects, and who Reuben loves and cares for like his own son.  Reuben’s father verbally (and in the past, physically) abuses Reuben with vitriolic, venomous attacks about Reuben’s sexuality.  He also bullies and blackmails both of his sons at every turn to keep them in line.  Cory is Reuben’s biggest weakness.  There is nothing he wouldn’t do for that boy and his father knows it and uses it against him.  The scenes with Reuben’s father are intense and uncomfortable, and drive home just how miserable and desolate Reuben’s life is.

Cameron Wano, the sassy, spicy, ferocious Auckland Med ER Charge Nurse and BFF of Michael Oliver from Book 1, couldn’t be more different than Reuben.  Cameron is twinky and fabulous, out and proud, wears makeup and lingerie, and is absolutely unapologetic about who he is and what he wants.  Cameron is dynamic and Jay Hogan vividly brings to life all of the colorful and beautiful facets of his personality.

Making Reuben and Cam work as a couple is no small feat because they don’t seem to go together at all, but Ms. Hogan shows us just how wrong we are in that conclusion, and does so in a seamless, effortless way.  She convincingly weaves attraction, conflict, sex, angst, vulnerability and possibility together into a tapestry that displays a life where Reuben and Cam fit perfectly and belong together.  The storyline is not an easy one on either of them, but I was totally there for it.  Cam and Reuben’s romance is a slow-burn that stretches out across the book like warm caramel.  The story is gorgeously written and will have you fully invested.

A deeply textured, complex, emotionally difficult story like this with two very different, very strong characters must be extremely difficult to successfully narrate.  But Gary Furlong is our narrator here, so if it’s hard, we’d never know it.  His narration is flawless. I cannot think of anything that he could have done better.  I was utterly blown away.  During the entirely of this 12 hour audio, his characterizations of Reuben and Cam (and all the other characters as well) are distinct, spot on and consistently delivered.  He never slips.  Not once. 

More astonishingly, his voice had me falling so far into the story that I forgot someone was reading a book to me.  All I heard was Cam and Reuben.  Mr. Furlong created an unparalleled, immersive experience.  Notably, Mr. Furlong knew exactly how to capture the complex personalities of the two leads.  Cam is over the top, in your face, saucy, strong and absolutely rock-solid sure of himself.  There’s an ever-present mischievousness to him;  you are always slightly on edge because you can’t predict exactly what Cam will do, but it undoubtedly will be fabulous and maybe a bit naughty.  But he’s also kind and sweet and warm, and fiercely protective of those he loves. 

Mr. Furlong captures that with his Cam voice.  It sits in a higher register and is energetic with a lot of emphasis and punch behind the words, as well as the physical actions and reactions that accompany them.  It also has a rounded tone to it that sounds very silky, almost seductive, but then shifts into a sharpness that roars to life when Cam goes into protective mode or stands up for himself or someone he loves.

Reuben has an equally large presence, and while Mr. Furlong has Reuben’s voice sit in a similar register to Cam, it is very different in its speed (it’s slower) and intensity.  Reuben’s loneliness and frustration bleed out through Mr. Furlong’s expertly crafted Reuben voice. 

When you put Reuben and Cam together, the way their tones interplay and resonate and change and shape themselves to fit the dynamic of the scene … it is nothing short of remarkable.  It’s almost like Mr. Furlong got inside Cam and Reuben’s heads and excavated all of their inner feelings and secrets.  He then communicated those to us in all the right places and at all the right times.

Mr. Furlong’s narration in Crossing the Touchline is duet narration delivered by one narrator.  I don’t know of too many narrators that can pull that off, not in the seamless way he did.  You should run, not walk, to grab this audiobook.  As for me, Gary Furlong now sits atop my list of favorite narrators.  I am going to start sending petitions, gifts, (bribes lol) to him and Jay Hogan to deliver the remaining Auckland Med titles in audio posthaste.  In the meantime, I’m shopping in Mr. Furlong’s catalog for other great audios from him.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon 

Audible 

Author’s Direct