A first kiss from a younger man leads to a sexual awakening… older man get some experience might be a fun diversion.
Swept rapidly into a deeper connection than they bargained for, they face a dilemma. George isn’t ready to come out, and Quentin wants a boyfriend who isn’t afraid to be seen with him in public. Can they find a way to navigate the unpredictable waters of their new relationship and find happiness together?
Contains: Age gap, gay first times, sexual exploration, out for you.
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Finding your happy place be it a place or a person makes all the difference. George meeting Quentin and realising tbis is his person and his happy place, makes the decision to come out seem easier than it’s always been. This has low angst, no drama almost fluffy read is great with all that is happening right now! Loved it and recommend it to all.
An amazing, well-written May-December romance with the perfect amount of angst, steam, starry eyes and sweetness.
I loved the realness of this story, how everything wasn’t just perfect lust and connection from the first. This romance felt so genuine and authentic, like something that could happen to actual people, which made it a very appealing read to me. As a reader I got to cheer for Quentin and George as they stumbled, doubted or misspoke and sympathized with them as they struggled through some pretty awkward moments. And most importantly, I got to see them fall in love which was absolutely heartwarming.
George is a product of his upbringing, poor guy, and in some ways he’s in a prison of his own making because of that. He has carried around a big secret for most of his life and doesn’t appear to have any friends he can turn to in order to break free and be true to himself, which was pretty sad. I loved his bravery and how he handled his coming out though. Quentin is a wonderful character too. I could easily relate to his longing for a relationship, as well as his hesitancy to open himself up to heartbreak, again.
I loved how these two men fit into the Rainbow Place “community” and I especially liked Seb’s role in their story, though the glimpses we got of the other characters in the series were great fun as well.
Wonderful new addition to this series <3
Have you ever read about a character you badly wanted to reach through the pages, give him a hug and tell him everything will be alright? That was George for me. It broke my heart to see how badly he’s lived all his life, his loneliness and estrangement from friends and family…all because how deeply ashamed he was about his needs.
And then he met Quentin. Just as lonely,and also disillusioned with love and distrustful. I appreciated the lack of insta-spark at their first meeting. Or at their second, or the third. Actually, their initial “friends with benefits” encounters were more on the awkward side. But, the amazing thing was that they talked, George slowly forced out of his comfort zone, with Quentin always there to gently help him out of his shell. And, what I really liked was that discovering the joys of man on man sex didn’t automatically give George the strength to embrace the rainbow colors. He still struggled, he still doubted…and sadly, making Quentin struggle and doubt, too.
That’s why this book was an emotional ride. Sexual awakening with a dash of angst, sweetness and hotness. Amazingly, it wasn’t only about Quentin and George finding their with each other, but also with their families and within the community.
Loved it.
Rainbow Place is my happy place
I loved this book. It’s a beautiful and uplifting story of bravery, acceptance, love and hope but at times it was hard to read. It dealt with some serious and important topics but it also shared some powerful truths. “…when you start trusting people enough to be honest with them, life’s a lot less lonely.” Watching Quentin and George come together was amazing. They have a powerful connection and they sailed away with my heart. Not to mention they’re both pretty spicy together.
I fell for them, especially and because their stories made me feel. I felt so much for Quentin and George as they worked through everything together and apart and I’m honored to be part of their incredible journey. They are two wonderful people to add to an already fantastic cast. I adore Rainbow Place and everyone in it. It feels like a warm hug each time I visit.
I had a bit of harder time with this final story of the series and I think it was because I really was worried about Quinton with George’s reluctance to admit his truths. I know that everyone needs to come out in their own time but I don’t like the idea of the timing causing another harm. I’m am proud that even Quinton realizes that he needs to have a line without making demands. I did appreciate the internal pain that George was facing and my heart goes out to anyone that has that much fear and self-loathing. The ending did redeem the story for me.
Listened to the audio version and it was very well done.
Well worth the wait
After reading the first 4 books in the series I couldn’t wait to read this. And it didn’t dissapoint at all, I had a smile on my face a lot, I had tears as well. Rainbow Place is somewhere that we all want to hang out and you really feel that you know all the regulars and staff. Just love this series Jay.
Audio review….
Great characters yet again. A young reporter and an older closeted boat builder. The ups and downs of a rocky relationship. Still set around Rainbow Place. You don’t need to read the rest of the series to appreciate this book but I would recommend that you read them anyway as they are so good.
Hamish Long has again narrated this book and has done a great job. Wonderful clear voices, full of emotion.
What more can I say apart from download the series and spend a few hours in South West England wishing we weren’t on lockdown.
I love both this series and the narration by Hamish Long. Once again, he nails the characters through voice and expression. I did find it slightly harder to get into George at first. He has a much lower and deeper voice than the other characters, but it did suit him. George is also harder to like, initially anyway, because of his circumstances, so slowly warming up to both him and his voice works.
I adore a good May/December romance with a more dominant older character. I really appreciate that everything isn’t plain sailing(!), that inexperienced George is able to express what works and doesn’t work for him, and that Quentin listens and adapts. The boat is a good addition and adds an extra layer of interest (and education). This all adds up to a read that is just that bit better.
Personally, I just don’t care for age gaps and I didn’t think these two had the best chemistry to start with.
The Rainbow Place series continues to offer up a wonderful universe and setting with a wide variety of characters and couples. Happy Place is the fifth in the series and while it reads well as a standalone, I think it’s best to at least read the first in the series so you can fully appreciate the Rainbow Café and the way it symbolizes a welcoming place of acceptance and support within a small English community.
Happy Place is a May-December romance which features a closeted man who continues to struggle with his sexuality. I really liked the slow build of feelings between George and Quentin. It felt genuine, especially as Quentin struggled with his feelings about George wishing to keep their relationship secretive. I also loved how the series overarching theme of having the confidence to embrace oneself fits within each of the books. While Happy Place has some angst as these two work through some things, the feeling of hope and love was much more prevalent.
The overall feel good quality of the Rainbow Place stories makes these comfort reads I’m happy to reach for and recommend to anyone looking for great stories with a variety of characters and relationships.
*eARC received via Signal Boost Promotions. Reviewed for Alpha Book Club*
May 24, 2020 edited to add my comments on the audiobook:
Story – 5
Performance – 5
Overall – 5
Love the book, love Hamish Long’s performance.
I can’t say enough good things about Jay Northcote’s Rainbow Place series. I’ve loved the books when I read them as ebooks and I’ve loved them all over again when I listened to the audiobooks. Hamish Long is a perfect fit for this series. He does amazing voices for each of the individual characters, many of whom show up in books other than the one they are primary in.
I originally read Happy Place back in March. Below is a copy of what I had to say about the ebook back then.
A great addition to this series!
All of the books in the Rainbow Place series can be read as standalones. I have read all of them and highly recommend this series. Happy Place is a coming out story about a man in his forties who has hidden his sexuality all of his life; no one knows, not even his ex-wife.
When George unexpectedly comes out to the younger man who interviewed him for a magazine piece his life begins to change. When Quentin finds out that George has never been with a man before he offers himself to George. Before long things turn into something that neither of them expected
Although their relationship starts out as strictly a couple of hookups, the more they see each other the more their feelings change. The first sex scenes between them seemed pretty realistic to me as George has never been with a man before and only knew what he’d seen in porn. Also, his nerves caused him to have performance anxiety and that also felt pretty realistic to me.
Happy Place really tore me up in places. I was so sad for George that he hasn’t experienced romantic happiness in his life. His strict upbringing by his fanatical mother pretty much scarred him and caused him to be ashamed of his sexuality; it has prevented him from living openly as a gay man. There were many places in this story that brought me to tears but I knew that Jay Northcote would give George and Quentin a happy ending.
Quentin is falling for George but he just can’t handle the pressure of keeping George a secret and it’s causing a strain in their relationship. Quentin doesn’t want to force George to come out because if things don’t work out between them, he doesn’t want to be responsible for forcing George to do something he wasn’t read to do.
I loved that George’s job was restoring boats and that he lived on a sailboat. I’ve never been on a sailboat but have always wanted to experience that. The scenes on the sailboat were really beautiful. They allowed me to imagine that I was on the boat and being comforted by the gentle rocking when the boat was anchored.
I think Rainbow Place is a fantastic series and I hope Jay continues to write more books set in this world.
***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com***
It’s not easy to balance the right amount of angst and sweetness, and still make the story realistic, especially tackling situations like coming out. This story has it all and is very well written! I liked the MCs a lot and the overall feel of the story was just right.
I always enjoy this authors work and this was no exception. While this was a romance between Quentin and George, the heart of this story for me was about George finding himself…finding comfort and acceptance of who he really was so he could truly be happy. Quentin did help him along the way, but George had to dig deep and fight through years of self doubt and guilt to get there, his journey was very moving. The relationship here started as a hookup and gradually grew into so much more. This was very steamy and I really adored their bedroom scenes because they were filled with very realistic dialogue and were extremely hot to boot! Although I’ve read a lot of this authors books, this is my first book in the Rainbow Place series. How I adored Seb in this book…now I must go back to the beginning and read them all!
I’ve wanted Quentin to get his HEA for a while and I loved George, bless him.
This is a tale about accepting who you are and overcoming old fears. It features an age gap romance, coming out of the closet, and a romance that starts as a hook up (so expect plenty of sexy times).
There’s also a chances to catch up with several of our couples, especially Simon and Charlie and Seb and Jason.
Can’t wait for book 6.
This was such a great story! George and Quentin are such wonderful characters. The struggle George goes through, the pain Quentin endured due to an ex made them wary to try. Their journey to finding love was both heartbreaking at times due to the circumstances and extremely hot as they learned together as kind of student and teacher if you will. I loved watching them fall for each other and happy they had such support whether they knew it , like for Quentin or not like for George.
5 out of 5 sails.
I received an Advanced Readers Copy for an honest review.