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Length: 66,000 words approx.
Rainbow Place Series
Blurb
After a recent redundancy, Joe takes a few months off to try and make it as a writer. His partner, Harry, is less than supportive but Joe is used to that after ten years together, just like he’s used to Harry’s controlling nature and his drinking habit.
Dylan, a server at Rainbow Place, is fascinated by Joe as he sits in the café and works on his laptop. His attempts to flirt are met with awkwardness at first, but gradually Joe opens up. Dylan is disappointed when he learns Joe isn’t single. As their friendship develops he begins to worry about the nature of Joe’s relationship, especially when he witnesses Harry’s behaviour in person. Abuse isn’t always physical, and Dylan knows that from experience. His concern helps Joe see his relationship for what it is, and gives him the courage to end things with Harry.
Free to act on their mutual attraction, Joe and Dylan dive headlong into something that becomes serious fast. Joe revels in the passion and intimacy he’s been missing out on for so long, but Dylan is worried that Joe is on the rebound. He puts on the brakes, knowing that they need to slow down to make this last. For this new relationship to work, Joe needs to show Dylan that he’s ready to move on from the past.
Although this book is part of a series, it can be read as a standalone and has a satisfying happy ending.
4 Stars
A tale with a message that hits home. I wish a good friend of mine would read this...
This tale is the 3rd in the Rainbow Place series, but can be read as a standalone. However, as we get glimpses of the previous leads in each book, it's best to read them in order so you know who's who, and you can catch up with them as they're living their HEA. It's nice that all the books seem to overlap, not take place after each other, so e.g., you see Cam and Alex's relationship playing itself out in the background of this book, though their own book was the 2nd in the series.
I'm not going to rehash the tale, but I will say that it's one that made me think back and examine relationships, mine included, around me. Though she doesn't read MM, I do wish a good friend of mine would read this because frankly, I think it'll hit home and give her the strength to take the next step in her life, which she's been talking about and needing to do, but hasn't quite gotten to the stage of 'the time is now'. In this, the older lead, 42yo Joe, has been in a relationship with Harry for 10 years, and it's slowly been eroding him and his confidence. He knows he's being put down by his lover, but he always seems to make excuses for Harry, and it's not until 26yo Dylan enters his life that he begins to see how unhealthy and isolating his relationship is.
This book might not be for everyone, because Joe is still living with Harry and starts something up with Dylan before he ends things with Harry. So, technically, there is cheating of a sort, though in my book, it's fine, given the characters and the circumstances. I don't think I'd have done the same, as I think, lol, my conscience wouldn't have let me without confessing all up front, but I got why Joe fell for Dylan and his breath-of-fresh-air-ness. He does confess, because he's basically a decent guy and he didn't go looking for another relationship; it was like fate dropped one into his life. I didn't like him any less for how he and Dylan started up, and I didn't feel sorry for Harry, though I also didn't hate him. I think the guy had issues, was basically unhappy and didn't like or love himself, but didn't want to face facts...
Dylan wasn't a young impressionable guy, and he'd lived not such a bed-of-roses life and was in a position to see the danger signs and warnings, and I liked that he was simply there as a (flirty, interested) friend to Joe. But, truth has to be said, I also wasn't sure if theirs is not a rebound relationship/you-saved-me relationship. I suppose time will tell, as we'll see the guys in the next book of the series - I hope there will be a next one, but I didn't get an out-and-out sense of meeting a potential new lead/s in this book. Joe and Dylan are just starting, and I think they were right to do what they did, that Dylan was right to say no at one point, and that Joe was right to at least try to stand on his own two feet. And, I suspect there's baggage that needs to be sorted out with Harry, who surprisingly wasn't painted as black as some authors might have made him out to be, but as a stuck-in-rut Regular Joe type, though he had more than one issue and more than a few vices. At the same time, I can't see him being primed as future hero material, but he's only 40 and with the right will to change, with support and a little eating of humble pie, there might be a future for him.
At one point in the book, the words 'Better Place' hit home and made me go looking for the title of this novel. I think that it's a very apt title for what takes place in this tale, and it's lovely to see the Rainbow Cafe going from strength to strength.
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
One day, Jay decided to try and write a short story—just to see if he could—and found it rather addictive. He hasn’t stopped writing since.
Jay writes contemporary romance about men who fall in love with other men. He has five books published by Dreamspinner Press, and also self-publishes under the imprint Jaybird Press. Many of his books are now available as audiobooks.
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