Hamish Long

Joe is living an isolated life. He's in a long term relationship which appears to be more than a little unsatisfying and he's struggling to try and write without his partner's support. He ends up At Rainbow Place to do his writing and that's how he first encounters Dylan.

Dylan is an artist when he's not working his butt off at the cafe. He's entranced by joe when he first sees him appear at the cafe and he strikes up a friendship with him. He's concerned when he first sees the way that Joe's long-term partner speaks to him at the cafe but Joe doesn't want to talk about it.

Jay had done it again - writing about an issue that will strike home for some people. Joe is living a far from ideal life with a man that he once loved, and perhaps is now only tolerating for the sake of their history together. He and his partner are "coexisting" ... and he's feeling as though he's lost his way in their relationship.

And Dylan - oh my heart - Dylan has his own memories to deal with and suffice to say there's a very valid reason why he is so concerned about Joel. I'm not going into it because I don't want to spoil the book, but I applaud Jay for tackling difficult subjects.

This book is character-driven with most of the focus on Joe and his predicament. I'm glad that Jay took the time in this series to fully flesh out the issues of substance abuse and domestic abuse. While there is physical and emotional abuse in Dylan's past, the abuse that Joe is dealing with is primarily emotional. Emotional abuse is a terrible issue to shave to live with and I'm glad that such an emphasis has been placed on it in this story.

I tell you - I was more than ready for Harry (Joe's long-term partner) to be gone. I know that I should have felt some sympathy for him because of the issues he was dealing with but he was a difficult character to like. I felt like I would have liked him to be gone from the novel a bit earlier - but then I reminded myself that life's not actually like that! When a long term relationship ends, the people involved have to find a way to unpick all the knots that have bound them together over the years.

I did find that Joe moved on from his 10-year relationship extremely quickly! He was with his partner then two days later, he was "with" Dylan. Arguably it's realistic that the feelings would be there, but I think that someone who was leaving an abusive relationship would take time to breathe and ponder his future before leaping right into another relationship.

and ... this novel has beans and cheese on toast! My favorite meal!… (altro)