REVIEW: The Meaning of You by Jay Hogan

- April 24, 2025

THE MEANING OF YOU

Fisher & Church - Book One

by Jay Hogan

Release Date: April 24, 2025

Review

Wow! Just wow!

In some ways, this feels like two books, complementary; they flow well together. The first half is emotional AF. That’s not an understatement, it nearly wrecked me. Nick and Madigan meet at the worst of times. And I do mean the worst of times.

Nick is a grumpy bugger at this best, throw in some heartbreaking grief, and he’s a tough nut to crack. Madigan seems to be the one person who can reach him while also not giving in to his tantrums. I love that about him.

This story is about strength, loss, and futures. And both these men are 50ish, and I love that about the story. They’ve lived, learned, and know what it is to know your own mind.

As they get to know each other, mystery and suspense surround them. And in the second half we get thrown into danger.

It was a fascinating story and kept me glued to the pages (and my kleenex box), and I’m obsessed to find out where their story heads.

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Synopsis

We’d shared a forever love. The kind they write stories about. A once in a lifetime chance at something special. For fourteen years Davis was my world. We were growing old together, fifties and counting. Then it was all ripped away in the blink of an eye.

We’d told each other everything, or so I thought. But secrets have a way of bubbling to the surface and it turned out Davis kept a few of his own. Hidden laptops, clandestine meetings, cryptic emails. The husband I’d believed in was a lie.

Or was he?

I have to find out. And Madigan Church is right there to help me. A complicated man. A man I wasn’t expecting. An attraction I can’t deny. Confusing. Challenging. Madigan makes me feel things I’m not ready for. Want things I don’t deserve. Not now. Maybe not ever again.

But with every step into the twisted mystery, the danger escalates. Neither of us is safe. Not from the truth, and not from what’s growing between us.

Because we aren’t the only ones on the hunt. Somewhere amongst my late husband’s secrets is something worth stealing, maybe even worth killing for.

And time is running out.

Author’s note: This story features the death of a spouse who is not a main character.

‘The Meaning of You’ is the first book in a romantic suspense series following the same couple. There are no cliffhangers.

About Jay Hogan

Jay is a 2020 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in Gay Romance and her book Off Balance was the 2021 New Zealand Romance Book of the Year. She is a New Zealand author writing mm romance and romantic suspense, primarily set in New Zealand. She writes character driven romances with lots of humour, a good dose of reality and a splash of angst. She's travelled extensively, lived in many countries, and in a past life she was a critical care nurse, nurse educator and counsellor.

Jay is owned by a huge Maine Coon cat and a gorgeous Cocker Spaniel

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