Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel

 

FOXED: To be thrown into a state of uncertainty—flustered, bamboozled, bewildered, puzzled, vexed.

Jed Marshall is a successful classic car mechanic. He is fifty-five years old, divorced with a close relationship with his ex-wife, spends time with his kids, and babysits his granddaughter whenever needed. He’s also mostly closeted and almost no one knows he’s bisexual. It was never really an issue until now when Nash Collingwood becomes the new school principal, as well as Jed’s daughter’s boss, and Jed is smitten.

Nash is confident, good looking, and out. He still goes to clubs looking for younger men for hookups and has never been interested in a long-term relationship. One look at Jed and Nash is gone for the man, but Nash has no idea if Jed would be interested and, even if he is, what they want is drastically different—or is it?

Jed thinks that Nash is way out of his league and way more experienced with men and, anyway, Jed doesn’t think he needs to come out at this stage of his life. But Nash really sees Jed and the men get each in ways they never expected. If Jed is ready to fully embrace having a private life with a man and balancing his family commitments, he could have the second chance at love he thought had long passed him by.

This was the first book I read in 2023 and it was a nice way to start the year of reading. The way the word “Foxed” is used here is not common to U.S. terminology, so at first the title and the play on words didn’t connect for me. The book is set in New Zealand and, again, Hogan sets a great sense of place to the area where the men live.

Jed is fine with his life. He’s not unhappy and he spends his days with work and his family. Although he has a good relationship with his ex-wife, she made him feel guilty about the amount time he spent with his kids when they were younger and now Jed thinks he has to make up for it. He babysits his granddaughter whenever he is asked and, although he feels he is starting to be taken advantage of, he can’t say no, and his own projects get pushed aside. His family knows too much about his life and Jed is simply caught up in the tide that his life. When he meets Nash, everything starts to shift for him.

The book is told in alternating points of view and we get a great sense of where both men came from and then how everything starts to change as they spend more time together. It’s less common to find two leads over 50 and their age was handled well and made for great depth to their characters. There are complications as Jed needs to come out to his family and embrace being in a relationship with a man for the first time, but there was something lovely about watching Jed and Nash fall for each other. Choosing Foxed as your next book is a great way to start off your year of reading