Review: Crossing the Touchline - Jay Hogan

Title: Crossing the Touchline
Series: Auckland Med
Author: Jay Hogan
Genre: MM Romance
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 23, 2019

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.

Reviewed by Melissa Brus

Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team

This was my first Jay Hogan book. It will most definitely NOT be my last. Hogan takes the reader into the rugby world, into the realm of New Zealand’s All-Black Rugby at that. With the backdrop of this super masculine sport, Hogan creates an amazingly sweet, extraordinarily hot romance. Reuben Taylor has as much heart off the field as he does on it. As a rising rugby star, he is steps away from the epitome of his dreams, that All-Black membership. And the fact that he has reached this far with his father in his life? Plus the challenges of his brother and the demands of a special needs nephew? One more thing could bring his dreams crashing down. So of course that is when he meets Cameron Wano, brother of a teammate. Cameron is in one word, fabulous. He has never been in a closet. These two are explosive together. Watching them navigate Reuben’s need to remain closeted is heart wrenching. The added pressure of Reuben’s need to be there for his nephew definitely impacts their choices. This could have been such a cliché sports romance, but it is SO much more. I have minimal knowledge of New Zealand, and less of rugby! But Hogan writes in such a way that you are still totally engaged and feel right at home. The characters are so well written. These guys are the kind of characters that stick with you long after the happily ever after. This book had me up way too late because I just could not put it down. The sleepless night was so worth the ending. I am standing by for the next book in this series.