From the Bookshelf of Turning Pages At Midnight…

Off Balance (Painted Bay, #1)

Jay Hogan

Start date: April 2, 2022

Finish date: April 6, 2022

Discussion: Buddy Reads

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* September 2025 Buddy Reads
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What Members Thought

Oct 01, 2020 Sheri rated it it was amazing

Shelves: love-knows-no-age, still-smiling, fave, opposites-attract, luv-2-reread, hot-hot-hot, obsessed, alltime-fav-mc

Can love change the world? Is it…possible?
Absolutely! And in the small coastal New Zealand town of Painted Bay, it did. This story blew me away. I’m still dipping my toes into Hogan’s wonderful writing but now I want to dive straight in and immerse myself completely. I’m not ready to let them go. There is so much heart in this book. But not only are the feels in full effect but it’s passionate, lively, and overflowing with courage and hope. I believe courage and hope go hand-in-hand. You must b Can love change the world? Is it…possible?
Absolutely! And in the small coastal New Zealand town of Painted Bay, it did. This story blew me away. I’m still dipping my toes into Hogan’s wonderful writing but now I want to dive straight in and immerse myself completely. I’m not ready to let them go. There is so much heart in this book. But not only are the feels in full effect but it’s passionate, lively, and overflowing with courage and hope. I believe courage and hope go hand-in-hand. You must be brave to dream and daring to trust. Both Judah and Morgan have each in spades, they just needed someone to nudge them along the path to reclaim their happiness. They bump, tap, poke, and jab…it was utterly breathtaking.

What's to like: When a medical tragedy strikes Judah his world comes crashing down. His sole purpose in life is dancing. Ménière’s disease obliterates his professional dancing career and there’s no choice but for him to return to his hometown. He brought every piece of rubble remaining of his intricately built world and intends on hiding below them. He has no intention of even thinking of rebuilding and every plan to hide beneath the debris. Morgan has been in Painted Bay for five years but Judah has been gone nearly twice as long. And when the nosy fisheries officer snags Judah’s attention…something shifts. And this my friends, is where the going gets good!

What's to love: Morgan, oh Morgan, how do I love thee? With all my heart! Judah is a lucky guy but then, I know Morgan would say just the opposite. Judah is fabulous in his own way but I’m always a sucker for a man in a uniform. The timing is all wrong. Neither are looking or prepared for a relationship. Yet, when fate presents you with a precious gift, a once in a lifetime gift or in Morgan’s case, twice, there’s no choice but to grab on with both hands and never let go. Morgan is solid with a tender heart, still recovering from losing his wife 5 years prior. She was the light of his life and still flickers from time to time. I loved how Morgan handled tough situations. He was clear and honest, voicing his opinions and feelings from the start. No wiggle room for misunderstandings. I loved how he saw past the prickly facade and straight into the sensational core of Judah Madden. I loved how he discovered his reset button. Yep, he totally has one. I loved their fierce magnetism and racy *gulp* passion. I loved toe-top dancing, facials, and ballet tights. I loved family dinners and love found in the sidelines. I loved how this amazing small town focused on “Judah-now”, not “Judah-before”. Had can be a painful word…so why not concentrate on have? Yeah, that’s much better.
Can you tell I just…loved it? You really have to get this one!

Oh, one more thing! Did you spy that cover? Gorgeous!

Beware of: Rock bottom can be monstrous and full of monsters. Family can be endearing and maddening, occasionally at the same time. And love so strong, I can feel the tremors of their aftershocks across the world.

This book is for: Anyone interested in witnessing a remarkable counterbalance to lost dreams and the beauty of fresh wishes becoming reality…this is exactly what you need. Book two…I can’t wait for you!

Book UNfunk ...more

95 likes · Like · see review

Oct 27, 2020 Florence . rated it really liked it

3.75 I wish this book ended at 75% stars

“I’m not sure about this,” he panted, “but I suspect that molesting the local fisheries officer in the community centre car park, while wearing a royal crown, tights, and sporting an erection the size of Kilimanjaro, wouldn’t be considered appropriate behaviour.”

I geniusly don’t understand what happened. I’m a massive fan of Jay Hogan, I have read and mostly loved all of her books before and I adore her writting style. I don’t get it, I was ADORING thi 3.75 I wish this book ended at 75% stars

“I’m not sure about this,” he panted, “but I suspect that molesting the local fisheries officer in the community centre car park, while wearing a royal crown, tights, and sporting an erection the size of Kilimanjaro, wouldn’t be considered appropriate behaviour.”

I geniusly don’t understand what happened. I’m a massive fan of Jay Hogan, I have read and mostly loved all of her books before and I adore her writting style. I don’t get it, I was ADORING this. All was so smooth sailing, it was loveling making its way to a five stars and on my favourite book of the year list. Judah and Morgan were so fucking good together. The sex scenes were brillant, their chemestry was off the charts. Loved the banter between them, and the humour was so so good. They had brillant communication, they talked about everything. They were so fucking solid together and they had all the ingredients of a star couple and then 75% hit and all went down hill... so down and i’m really bummed about it.

I’m removing .25 stars from the 5 stars rating I would have given this book if it ended at 75% for each thing that really annoyed me in the last 25%:

1- These two were so good at communicating and saying how they felt and then a little thing happened and that was it, they forgot how to communicate and didn’t talk for days.

2- They never picked up talking about their disagreement, like sure they got back together, but they had forgotten how to communicate and it never came back. They just kept sulking on their own and never talked to each other about their issues.

3- The resolution didn’t make sense to me. It happened and I just didn’t get it. These two had stoped communicating with each other and suddently they were just all ready and willing to do giant commitments and changes for each other, I just didn’t buy it. They weren’t ready do any of that before and then, suddently, without talking to each other about what they wanted, they were ready to commit and change their lives around. That was way too out of the left field for me. I needed them to communicate and decide together what the best plan of action is.

4- Another thing about the resolution. It was nice the choice they ended up making to settle the conflict. But it was the one option that the author spent the entire book trying to tell you couldn’t happen and wouldn’t be it and the change between it not even being an option and then it being how they settle the conflict was way too fast and didn’t make much sense. I really didn’t enjoy that. It just didn’t make sense with the rest of the story.

5- There was this weird investigation plot with people doing illegal fishing. It was never resolved and was just in the back and it was barely talked about. It could just have been left out of the book if i’m being honest. I don’t understand why it was there and what it did to the story. It was really underdevolped too. If it had to be there, I would have liked it to be way more there. I just didn’t care for it and I would have enjoyed the last part of the book way more if it wasn’t there. It was so clear it was only used as a plot to manifacture drama and this book really didn’t we need, we had a main character with a chronic illness that wanted to move really far away from the town we’re in, that was more than enough drama as it is, we really didn’t need any more.

P.S. all the bonus points to how Meniere’s was described, I loved seeing how Judah dealt with it in his every day life and how it affected him. It is a permanent disorder and I loved that we got to see how it kept affecting him, and that it wasn’t just brushed off as something not important and not there, to help the plot along. It was a really good representation of how he lives his day to day life with his disorder and for that, I am very greatful.

PSS. I want my own really hot and hairy fisheries officer, Morgan seems like one hell of a man and sexy as all hell. Judah is a very lucky man. ...more

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Apr 11, 2022 Diana rated it really liked it

Shelves: m-m, turning-pages-buddy-read, tpam-challenge-2022

4.5 stars

I’m not sure if I would have read this book unless it was for a group Buddy Read. I still was going to skip it, because I was a little nervous about the one of the MC being a ballet dancer. I decided to give it a go and try something different.

Honestly, I did struggle in the very beginning mainly because I did not like Judah, the ballet dancer, at all. Once it was explained what he was going through, not only in the present, but also his childhood, I adored him. He was a sparkly rainbo ...more

17 likes · Like · see review