The Science of Attraction - Audiobook

I’m completely in love with MacKenzie county in New Zealand. So much that I want to visit. Hell, I might even want to move there. Stunning mountains, rugged landscape, handsome men… Now, a bunch of them are gay, but that’s totally fine. Because I have to say these guys are pretty awesome.

In this third book, Jules is dealing with his homophobic father who recently had a stroke. Jules took over the management of the station, but now that his father’s home, the man is determined to retake his position as head of the house. The problem? He’s not physically or mentally capable.

Enter Liam. Liam the physical therapist whose experience makes him invaluable. Liam who won’t put up with any bull crap from anyone. Liam who wears his gayness with pride and he’d not willing to put up with bigots. If Jules’s father won’t get in line, Liam’s more than prepared to walk away.

Only Jules hopes he won’t because man, is Liam hot. And available. And interested. Thus the men begin an illicit relationship under Jules’s father’s nose. Discovery could mean the end of Liam’s job as well as the outing of a very in the closet bisexual Jules. He watched his father try to destroy the younger son, Jules’s beloved brother, just for being gay. What would happen if it turned out the eldest son enjoyed the company of men as well?

Now, this is a Jay Hogan romance, so you know there’s likely a big blowup in store. I just didn’t foresee how things would go. I thought I knew, but I missed some of the finer details that made the story so impactful. Wow, what a punch.

Of course I wasn’t certain how things might work. Jules isn’t leaving the station and his legacy. Liam’s work, sister, and nephew are in the city. So how are things going to unfold? I’ll leave it to the master storyteller to share the rest…

Gary Furlong is one of my favorite narrators and I thought he did a brilliant job with this one. Especially given Jules’s father’s stroke and how he struggled. Gary did that perfectly. There’s another book in the series and I can’t wait to read it.

The Science of Attraction is a steamy, heartfelt romance filled with Jay Hogan's trademark warmth, insight and down-to-earth humour.

When Paddy Lane had a massive stroke at the end of the previous book, life changed drastically and eldest son Jules has stepped up to take over the running of Lane Station. The past five months have been both challenging and invigorating - this is what he’s meant to do with his life and everything is going exactly as it’s supposed to - until the day Liam Skelton shows up and every thought Jules has had about himself and about the direction his life is taking flies right out the window.

Jules has known he’s bisexual since he was a teenager, and as he’s always been far more attracted to women than men, he hasn’t seen the point in rocking the boat. But there’s something about Liam – with his striking good-looks and air of confidence – that absolutely does it for Jules and makes him start to wonder what it would be like to be with someone he can be fully himself with.

Liam, an occupational therapist, has been employed to help Paddy to improve his speech and mobility, and needless to say, the old man isn’t happy at having his “gay arse in charge of his rehab.” The first few days are awkward, to say the least, until Liam confronts Paddy’s prejudice head on and makes it clear that he’s a professional and expects to be treated as one. The uneasy truce that develops between them surprises everybody on the station; Paddy is never going to wave a rainbow flag, but he does at least start to show Liam the respect he deserves.

The principal storyline revolves around Jules working through his complicated feelings about his sexuality and figuring out how to balance his desire for Liam with his desire to continue to run Lane Station. Paddy threw his brother Zach out when he told them he was gay, and Jules has been reluctant to be the cause of any further family fractures, so at first, he tries hard to fight his intense attraction to Liam. He’s the first and only man who has ever produced this kind of reaction in Jules, and as he’s only going to be around for a few weeks, getting involved with him would be only be asking for trouble. But Jules has never felt so powerfully attracted to anyone, ever... and he knows he’s fighting a losing battle.

The romance here is as sexy and well-developed as I’ve come to expect in a Jay Hogan book. The chemistry between Jules and Liam is electric from the get-go and I enjoyed their love story; the author really knows how to write a sizzling sex scene, although there are a lot of them here and I have to admit that after the first few, they started to feel like padding. And while I really appreciated the thoughtful way Jules’ situation unfolds, the storyline sometimes feels stretched a little thin for the page count.

And for all the family drama, this is a fairly low-angst listen. There is mention early on that Liam isn't a relationship kind of guy, but we’re not given a reason for that other than that he likes his own space, and whatever concerns he might have had in the past don’t appear to be a problem for him when it comes to Jules. So the main conflict in the story arises from Paddy’s homophobia, leading to Jules’ fears that being with the man he loves may lead to his losing his home and the future he’s worked so hard for – and the only other real obstacle is that Jules and Liam need to work out how they can make a life together given Liam isn’t local and his job generally requires him to travel.

Once again, Jay Hogan does an absolutely fantastic job of transporting listeners to the gorgeous locations of the Mackenzie Basin and into the daily lives of the workers on the remote sheep stations there.

Gary Furlong's narration is, once again, outstanding. He's a fantastic vocal actor who really gets under the skin of the characters and always finds the emotional heart of the story. His performance is well-paced and clearly differentiated, and he's able to portray a large-ish cast of characters in such a way as there's never any confusion as to who is speaking. He's particularly good as the cantankerous Paddy - all grumpy gruffness - and does a great job of conveying the genuine emotional connection between the two leads.

This isn't my favourite Mackenzie Country book - I liked the first two a little more, but any JH book is head and shoulders above most of the other contemporary romances out there, and with Gary F. in the narrator's chair, there's no way it could be anything other than a terrific listen.

The depth of this story was incredible! The struggles endured by these men were immense and realistic. How that each handled the bigotry was remarkable and hats off to them for how they responded! And what a captivating hook!! I am so excited to find out the outcome.

As usual, Gary smashed the narration!! That accent had a ton of effect on my overall satisfaction with the show. His differentiation was very well done, even the few words from Patty. Fingers crossed for more!!

This was a beautiful story filled with love, support and laughter.
Jules and Liam were perfect for each other and the chemistry between these two was just explosive.
I absolutely love the found family aspect and especially the author's capability to literally set you in this world.

I love Julian and Liam and how well they fit together. They both really work well with each other, even when they’re put into bad situations. Paddy and his bigoted ways was truly unthinkable, but I hope he can get his stuff together and not lose his relationship with his son. I definitely recommend this book to everyone who loves mm romance stories.