Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: On Board
SERIES: Painted Bay, Book 2
AUTHOR: Jay Hogan
NARRATOR: Gary Furlong
PUBLISHER: Southern Lights Publishing
LENGTH: 10 hours and 26 minutes
RELEASE DATE: August 16, 2022
BLURB:
Leroy Madden is in trouble. Big, handsome Fox Carmody trouble.
Leroy has buried his attraction to the enigmatic fisherman in irritation and pointless bickering, keeping Fox at a safe distance. But with the troublesome man now living in Leroy’s house, it’s becoming impossible for Leroy to keep his true feelings hidden, or the fact that Leroy maybe isn’t so straight after all.
Leroy hungers for something different between them. He wants more. But Leroy’s business is struggling, his newly mended relationship with his brother is at risk, Fox doesn’t plan to stay, and their mothers are lovers.
Regardless of what Leroy’s heart so desperately wants, his entire world is at stake, and nothing about a relationship with Fox Carmody was ever going to be easy.
REVIEW:
Whenever I see a Jay Hogan audiobook, I know it will be a fantastic listen because her go-to narrator is the fabulous Gary Furlong. He’s back to narrate On Board, the second book in Hogan’s Painted Bay series, after unsurprisingly delivering a stellar performance of book one, Off Balance. That book is a beautiful story that I highly recommend you read first to get some background on Leroy and Fox, but it’s not strictly necessary to understand and enjoy On Board.
This book picks up a year after Off Balance ended, and Judah and Morgan are now married and living in domestic bliss. In that first book, Leroy, Judah’s brother, is not a very likeable character, showing a complete lack of empathy or understanding about Judah’s devastation from his ballet dancing career ending due to an inner ear disease that affects his balance. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical about how Hogan would turn Leroy into someone we could tolerate, no less like. But she does us one better with a beautiful redemption story for Leroy, and we are completely on board with his character transformation and his relationship with Fox Carmody.
At the end of Off Balance, Leroy’s mother, Cora, and Fox’s mother, Martha, revealed they were in a relationship and very much in love. Leroy met Fox for the first time during the family dinner where Cora and Martha made their announcement. Fox irritates Leroy from the get-go because he conjures unexpected (and unwelcome) feelings in Leroy. Luckily for Leroy, Fox lives across the country, so Leroy feels secure in his ability to keep up his ostrich syndrome about his sexuality. But things are never that simple, so while Leroy may hope to avoid Fox and his attraction to him, things don’t turn out how he planned.
At the beginning of On Board, we see that Fox is very much back, living in Cora’s home which happens to also be where Leroy lives. Suffice it to say, Leroy is none too pleased about it. Fox is going through some difficult times as he’s in the midst of a messy divorce from his cheating husband who is essentially bankrupting him and also spreading rumors that Fox cheated. Fox has fled to the sanctuary of Painted Bay and his mother to avoid it all.
Hogan tells an antagonist-to-lovers, slow-burn story with a bisexual awakening journey for Leroy, but it’s unique, as is typically the case for a Hogan-penned romance. Leroy and Fox’s relationship is authentic, develops organically, and plumbs the depths of these two complex characters as they circle each other until they finally come together.
On Board has less action and more introspection than some of Hogan’s other stories, but it doesn’t diminish it’s immersiveness especially when Furlong gets hold of it. A lot is happening here – self-awareness and self-acceptance, reestablishing family relationships, and falling in love with the last person expected. Furlong gets the myriad subtext throughout the story and has a solid handle on what Leroy and Fox are going through individually and their struggles when interacting with each other. You hear this intuitiveness in how Furlong embraces these characters and captures their nuances using his extensive vocal skill set. While the pitch is somewhat similar, Leroy and Fox’s demeanors are quite different. You can hear the differentiation of their personalities through Furlong’s use of timbre and dynamics. He captures Leroy’s edges, sharp tongue, and grumpy-bordering-on-hostile attitude, as well as Fox’s more upbeat, sunshiney personality that masks the stress and strain of his personal life. Hogan gives us not only a terrific character arc for Leroy but a thoughtful, “real”-feeling romance and doesn’t shirk any attention from Leroy’s work of reconnecting with Judah and reestablishing their relationship. Furlong acts the heck out of this story, and it pulls you into the journey for all involved.
On Board is an engaging romance brought to life through another superb performance from Furlong. Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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