Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: Safe Place 
SERIES: Rainbow Place #2
AUTHOR: Jay Northcote
PUBLISHER: Jaybird Press
LENGTH:
RELEASE DATE: August 31, 2019
BLURB:
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?
REVIEW:
With the misfortune of having the biggest homophobic asshat in the area as his father, Alex has been hiding in the closet since he the first time he knew that he was never going to be the kind of kid that his parents wanted. He has plans to finally come out, though, once he hits university. He only has a few months left to wait, so surely he can last one more summer of hiding the truth from his family. All he has to do is get thru his A-levels, avoid his father as much as possible, and not fall hopelessly in love with Cam.
One can probably guess how well that is going to go.
I was glad when I realized that his book was going to be about Alex and Cam. They were absolutely adorable in the last book, so I was happy to get to spend some more time with them here.
This book was about on par with the first book in the series. I really liked both Cam and Alex. We certainly get a lot more information about Alex here, though. Which was cool, but I would have liked to know more about Cam. I don’t know if I was just really distracted (I have had a crazy busy week, so it is entirely possible) but I can’t remember a whole lot about Cam’s backstory. I know he is bisexual and he plays rugby, but if he has a job of some kind, it has completely escaped my memory. Cam was such a good guy, I just wish I could actually know more about him.
But from what I do know, he is a good compliment–if a somewhat hesitant one at times–to Alex, who has a fuckton of issues to deal with. These two have a bit of a long walk to get to a relationship, but I really enjoyed their friendship along the way. Their thing is a bit stop-and-start at times, but you can clearly see that they care about each other, and that’s what I really liked about it.
This isn’t an overly complicated story, but it a very well told one. And it was a story that I enjoyed reading. I can’t wait to see what is next in the series, either. So far the first two book have been very pleasant reads. And I can’t say I have too many complaints about this one. It was just a good story, and well worth the read.
RATING: 
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