Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE:  Pinot & Pineapple Lumps

SERIES: Southern Lights, Book 4

AUTHOR: Jay Hogan

NARRATOR:  Gary Furlong

PUBLISHER: Southern Lights Publishing

LENGTH: 9 hours and 50 minutes

RELEASE DATE: December 14, 2023

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 is 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:

Pinot & Pineapple Lumps continues Jay Hogan’s terrific Southern Lights series by shifting focus to Kurt, the younger brother of Ethan who was the focus of the first book, Powder and Pavlova. You can read Pinot & Pineapple Lumps as a standalone, but preferably, you’ll read the books in order due to the interconnected characters and Kurt’s history with his brother Ethan, his now-deceased mother, and the events that play out in the third book, Flat Whites and Chocolate Fish. Hogan does a fine job of providing needed context within Pinot, but if you want the details, read them in order.

Kurt is now twenty, about to graduate from design school, and has been building his clientele for his design business. He’s very talented and eager to make a success of himself, but he’s still dealing with a lot of trauma and scars, both physical and emotional, so it’s a struggle to get his life back on track.

Kurt met Penn a year ago and the palpable chemistry between them drove them to an encounter that was aborted before it got much beyond a smoking hot kiss. Through a confluence of serendipitous events, Penn is brought back into Kurt’s orbit. The age gap between them is an issue (a silly one that Penn eventually gets past), but there are other complexities at work and knots to untangle.

The story, like all of Jay Hogan’s works, is full of heart. She doesn’t pull any punches in dealing with Kurt’s PTSD, the lingering grief from his mother’s death, and Penn’s struggles with his dying father.  While Penn initially gets hung up on age, he grows to see Kurt for the strong, resilient adult that he is and loves him for who he is now, baggage included.

I enjoyed seeing Kurt and Penn come together and heal, and as is usually the case with her books, I couldn’t put it down. This is a deeply emotional story with family dynamics, heartbreak and even some suspense.  Ethan plays an important role here, and shows himself to be the overbearing, often unreasonable guy we’ve grown to love.  His heart is in the right place and Hogan does a stellar job of excavating the relationship between him and Kurt, who he takes more of a parental role with rather than as a sibling.  Some of the best parts of this story are the poignant moments showing the brothers’ forgiveness and acceptance, and how Ethan, with his partner Tanner’s solid grounding presence, learns to trust Kurt to know himself and his own mind and to step back and stop helicoptering.

Gary Furlong narrates the audiobook and is mesmerizing in his vivid portrayals of all of the characters. As Hogan’s go-to narrator, he knows her style and intent, which comes through in his intuitive, emotionally connected vocal performance. This is a dynamic story with lots of ups and downs and Furlong captures all of the changes and nuances while maintaining Hogan’s humor and sharp dialogue.  He also gives life to the breathtaking New Zealand landscape Hogan describes, including Penn’s lush vineyard. In Furlong’s hands, the Pinot & Pineapple Lumps audiobook is an excellent listening experience that I highly recommend.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon 

Audible