The Right Time

Second Chance by Jay Northcote is a beautiful and, at times, heart wrenching tale of second chances, self-discovery, and the acceptance that comes with the courage to choose your destiny. A side benefit, Second Chance is educational, allowing one to enlighten themselves about the transgender process, free of the clinical mumbo jumbo. It is a reconnection with a twist that melts your heart. Oh, and these guys are in their mid-forties which is absolutely refreshing!

Returning home for vastly different reason, two men, besties in youth, Nate and Jack reconnect on a much deeper level than was possible in youth. Nate’s unrequited love for Jack in their younger years separated them in adulthood. Jack absolutely loved Nate back in the day, but Nate was Nat which presented challenges for Jack as a young gay lad.

Jack finds Nate attractive both emotionally and physically. However, his inner demons create a rift between them. Nate has had time to resolve his internal conflict and is comfortable with being himself. Jack is supportive of Nate’s transition, correcting those that misuse pronouns, but makes his share of mistakes along the way. As the world questions their path it is refreshing to see that their struggles primarily revolve around everyday life.

Love comes in a variety of packages and no matter what form it presents itself in it is a treasure to behold. Teenage Nate and Jack weren’t right for each other but the adults they have become are perfect, with all their scars and flaws. There is family acceptance with Nate’s daughter Cass and mother Sue; their family dinners together and crisis management precipitate a sense of normalcy that sheds the unwelcome tension. Jack’s family takes some time and pressure to understand, but in the end they want their son to be happy.

The romance and sexy times between Nate and Jack are superbly written. As Nate teaches the intricacies of their bonding, Jack eats them up both literally and figuratively. I was captivated, learning and growing every step of the way. Jack is an outstanding, inventive, and compassionate lover and partner. Chuckle moment – forties and caught making out in the backseat of mom’s car.

Hamish Long does a superb job of conveying the heartfelt feelings. Narrating the range of emotions this story presents must have been a challenge, but one tackled with seeming ease. Let’s not discount his accent, understandable to this American white boy and it took me to places I long to visit.

Overall, Second Chance is low on angsty drama. The focus being a second chance romance that finds its time in life. Nate and Jack have some pretty heavy things in their past showing their strength and resolve. Their reconnection is just in time for them to enjoy what each has been missing.

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Beautiful

This one has always been one of my favorites of Jay Northcote's! It is just a gorgeous novel...lovely main characters who are struggling...and the plotline is resonating and brilliant. Hamish Long is quickly becoming a favored narrator of mine as well. He does a great job here!

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Beautiful

4 Blue Roses
4 Blue Flames

Narrator Hamish Long delicately and so beautifully delivered a whirlwind of emotions contained in titanium box meant to survive forever among the stars. He captured the emotions and drama without real effort as the author wrote such pure truthful content. His voices accentuated the mannerisms or personalities of the characters and it was good enough for me to distinguish between them, especially the before and after transition voices of Nate.

This audiobook is so much more than just A meets B. I experienced it at a much deeper level than an ordinary romance. For me, it was about the truthful reflection of my own deeper or should I say hidden life’s story. The emotional shock I felt opened floodgates of feelings. I packed that shit neatly away and then this listen ripped it all open with a bloody wheel spanner or what the fuck ever.

The author captured word for word so known to me and so willfully ignored by myself. The struggle and internal war to survive within a body which is foreign to you daily.

I definitely recommend this audiobook. It’s stunning! Listeners will appreciate learning what it is and how it feels to live in a body that transitions from female to male, and especially for those who wonder what the sex is like afterward.

Happy Listening

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A Great Listen

This is one of my most recommended books with a transgender character. I loved it when it came out in 2018 and I’ve been eagerly anticipating the audio. I really enjoyed Hamish Long’s narration of Nate and Jack’s story. He did a really great job of bringing these characters to life for me. He definitely did justice to this love story. As the title suggests it’s a second-chance romance for two childhood friends who reconnect again later in life. Jack runs into Nate, once known to him as Nat, in the town they both grew up in. Nate and Jack rekindle their friendship, and begin to explore sexual one as well. Nate had been in love with Jack back when they were kids, but Jack was gay and Nate was still Nat then. I enjoyed their chemistry and and how their sexual relationship unfolded. Jack had never been with a transgender person in the past, and I liked how open Nate and Jack were on navigating those differences and preferences. It wasn’t skirted over, or ignored in the story, rather it was part of the evolving relationship. It felt very authentic and was very sexy. Listening to this audio made me remember why I loved this story so much. I definitely recommended this listen, or read!

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Amazing friends to lovers story. Own voices.

I love all of Jay Northcote's books, but this one definitely stands out.
It's unique in that both MC's are a bit older, in their mid-forties, and both have gone through hardships, struggling with depression (though each in a different way), and having to start over later in life.

To me this story, as well as Starting From Scratch, which also features a trans MC, has been eye-opening. It was very enlightening, at times heartbreaking, to read about the issues trans people face on a daily basis. Nate has overcome so much, shown so much courage. It was lovely to see him get his HEA.

Nate and Jack were childhood best friends, and though they lost touch with each other, they easily rekindle their friendship. I loved how these two were so drawn to each other, even after all that time. Jack handles Nate's transition very well, to me proof of the deep, emotional connection these two share. This was a friends-to-lovers romance in the very best of ways!

The flash-backs were a marvelous touch, giving great insight into Nate especially.

Narration: Hamish Long’s performance of this amazing story brought it to an even higher level. His interpretation felt so right to me, as if he truly did bring these characters to life. Just wow. His smooth and warm voice is wonderfully pleasant to listen to and he is capable of incredibly nuanced emotion. I loved the voices he did for Jack and Nate, Nate’s timbre just a little bit higher pitched than Jack’s, and the British accent is just delicious.

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Sweet and passionate

This is a sweet story about second chance loves and acceptance and self discovery. And bonus: the main characters are 45 years old!! There’s a maturity present in this story that’s not often seen in the romance genre. I loved it and I recommend it!

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Gosh that was heckin cute!

Ok, this book! The story is relatively low angst. For most of the book, you are just listening to a pleasant story. Not much to get so overly involved. However there are moments that had me at the edge of my seat! And the spicy scenes were hot AF. The epilogue was so cute I almost flipped my desk at work! I have cute aggression, let’s not go into that… Anyway, I highly recommend this book if you want low angst, close family, second chance romance, trans joy, hot hot heat, and the slight possibility of flipping a table… 😂😍

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Beautiful and captivating

After moving back to his childhood hometown, Nate runs into his best friend, Jack, from his school days. Only Jack doesn’t recognize Nate at first. It isn’t until their second meeting that Jack puts it together. The man before him...was once known as Nat, when he was still presented with the sex he was told that he was. During their years apart, Nate had transitioned to male, as he always was supposed to be. It didn’t take long to rekindle their friendship, and, after a while, there was a possibility of more. Jack has some demons to slay first, and Nate has to decide what he can and cannot live with. Add in Nate’s teenage daughter, and Jack’s insensitive parents, and drama ensues. 

This story was beautifully written, and the characters were engaging. There were some heavy topics, such as depression, alcoholism, and coming to terms with one’s own sexuality. They were discussed without weighing the book down, but they weren’t glossed over as if they weren’t important. I thought the author did a wonderful job with the way he had Nate explain his transition to male. It was informative, and done with the grace and dignity his character deserved. As a reader, I came away from that encounter having learned something.

The narrator, Hamish Long, did a wonderful job bringing this story to life. His voice is beautiful and very easy to listen to, and I’m not just saying that because he’s British! I want to listen to more of his work, and we are fortunate because Jay Northcote uses him in some of his other books.

This book was one of those unexpected gems. I didn’t have any expectations going into it. I hadn’t read anything by Jay Northcote, nor have I heard any books read by Hamish Long. I am now a fan of both, and I cannot wait to read/hear more from both. This is a feel-good, low angst story, and the blurb promised a happy ending. I highly recommend reading it, or listening to it, to find out exactly what that looks like. You will be glad you did.

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So many things that I loved about this book!

First of all, Jay Northcote's writing stile is unique and so pleasant to read, and it conveys a huge amount of feeling without becoming "too heavy".
The spotlight on the trans man, Nate, and the difficulties he has faced growing up when he did not know and understand what his feelings of "detachment" and of "not belonging" were; and also the challenges both he and Jack have to face being back in their small hometown where everybody knows them and remenmbers them from when they were young.
Also, I loved how the book does not try to portray a picture-perfect image of their relationship or of their families. It was somehow refreshing that they had to face, not "major" incidents, but day-to-day annoying things like normal humans do.
Loved Hamish Long's narration! His accent transported me in the English countryside.

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A favorite of mine

I LOVE this book, the book with actual words. I don't remember how I came across it, probably an in depth search of books written by trans men. But regardless of how the book came into my life, it remains one of my favorite books. I've read it probably five or six times in the past two years. Nate and Jack are both cinnamon rolls, awkward at times, but very much aware of their bodies and feelings for each other (even if they're terrible at communicating those feelings). The intimate scenes are not thunderous or scorching, but sincere and clumsy, a nice realistic portrayal of two men in their forties falling in love and finding sexual gratification with their partner. Second Chance is very much informational, and I know this can rub people the wrong way, especially folks who aren't trans and/or non-binary, because it seems like the book has an agenda. But if you've ever been in a sexual relationship with a trans person, you very much have these conversations with your partner. I'm a trans man and have had the "I have a small penis" conversation with sexual partners in hopes they're not deterred by its size or mere existence. Those conversations are very real, and very necessary when sleeping with someone who may or may not have had surgeries, taken HRT, etc.

And while this book has a happy ending, the couple's journey is far from bumpless. Jack loves Nate, and while that love isn't as old as Nate's for him, it is a strong love. When that fiasco happens in the pub with his parents, and Nate's daughter blows up at Jack, it's deserved, but also very real. He makes so many mistakes in this story, and it's nice, because that's real life - no one is perfect. Jesus, Jack is messy, messy, messy. Nate is very, VERY guarded, and if he was a smidgen more guarded, I wouldn't like him as a character.

All of that said, I'm enjoying the heck out of this audio book, and I can't wait to listen to it over and over again when I'm out grocery shopping, cleaning, or on my morning walk.

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