Review Tour: Safe Place by Jay Northcote

Reviewer's Rating: 4

4.0Overall score

A good HFN. I like this series.

Safe Place By Jay Northcote

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Released: August 31, 2018

Publisher: Jaybird Press

Series: Rainbow Place, Book 2

Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @Black Jazz Design

Synopsis

Where do you go when your home is no longer a safe place?

Alex is about to turn eighteen and is firmly in the closet. He’s been biding his time, waiting to escape to uni, and finally come out away from the oppressive influence of his homophobic father. When he flunks his exams, he’s stuck in the small town of Porthladock—and what’s worse is that he’s working for his dad. The only thing that makes it bearable is Cam.

Cam’s comfortable with his bisexuality, but he doesn’t broadcast it. Young, free, and single, his social life revolves around playing rugby and hanging out with his mates. He’s attracted to Alex, but with the six-year age gap, Cam’s wary of getting involved. Plus, he thinks Alex needs a friend more than he needs a lover, and as their friendship grows, Cam decides he’s not willing to risk ruining it for casual sex.

When Alex’s dad finds out about his sexuality, Alex is suddenly both jobless and homeless. He finds work at Rainbow Place, the local LGBT-friendly café and Cam lets Alex stay in his flat for a while. But Alex would rather be sleeping in Cam’s bed than on his sofa. With them both living under one roof, their feelings for each other grow stronger, and the sexual tension is hard to ignore. Will giving in to it ruin their friendship and complicate things for Alex even more?

Although this book is part of a linked series, it has a satisfying happy ending, and can be enjoyed as a standalone.

48,000 words approximately

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

A good HFN. I like this series.

Safe Place is book two in the Rainbow Place series but it can be read as a standalone with no problem. Book one, Rainbow Place, sets up the location of the Rainbow Place series and how the cafe got started. It’s a good story but don’t be afraid to read Safe Place if you haven’t read book one.

The blurb perfectly describes the story so I won’t go over it again. Cam and Alex’s friendship is important to both of them but Cam is afraid to jeopardize their budding friendship to act on his more-than-friends urges. Alex agrees to stay just friends because he doesn’t want to lose Cam.

The pacing of the book was just a bit slow for me. The main conflict for the story, when Alex’s dad learns he’s gay, didn’t happen until about 58% of the way through the book. It was good that we got a lot of background on Alex and Cam so I didn’t really mind this as I enjoy a good slow burn romance. What bothered me just a bit was that things escalated fairly quickly for Alex and Cam from that point on and I would have preferred that this part of the story was at the same pace as the beginning and perhaps just a bit longer.

We learn something about Alex’s mom near the end of the book and I felt like I wanted to know more about her situation. I know that this book was about Alex and not his mom, but I still wanted more about her. I’m one of those readers who always wants more. ?

In any case, this was a very good story and I hope to see a bit more of Alex and Cam as the series continues. I know they probably won’t be main characters again but perhaps we’ll get a glimpse of them at some point.

This may sound funny but I’d also like to say I love how “British” this book is. I like reading stories that are written differently from the way we speak in the U.S. and I’m enjoying getting an education in British English by reading Jay’s books.

♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Spicy

Reviews for Jay Northcote

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Books in the Series

Rainbow Place Series

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August 31 – Mikku-chan, Gay Book Reviews, Two Chicks Obsessed, My Fiction Nook, Lelyana’s Reviews, My Mind’s Landscape, September 3 – Katie’s Book Corner, Cupcakes & Bookshelves, September 5 – Bonkers About Books, September 7 – Queerly Reads, September 10 – Amy’s MM Romance Reviews, The Way She Reads, The Day Before You Came, September 12 – Wicked Faerie’s Tales, Wicked Reads, September 14 – BooksLaidBareBoys, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, The Geekery Book Review, September 17 – Nicole’s Book Musings, September 19 – Xtreme Delusions, Book Lovers 4Ever, September 21 – Drops Of Ink, Valerie Ullmer, Mirrigold, Lillian Francis, Making It Happen, OMG Reads, Bayou Book Junkie

About Author

Jay Northcote

Jay lives just outside Bristol in the West of England. He comes from a family of writers, but always used to believe that the gene for fiction writing had passed him by. He spent years only ever writing emails, articles, or website content.

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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