The Rainbow Clause

By: Beth Bolden

Narrated by: Wyatt Baker

Don't like the athletes. Don't sleep with the athletes. Don't fall for the athletes. It had never been particularly difficult to follow the rules, but Nick had a feeling he was about to be tested.

Heisman winner. Member of the national championship team. NFL rookie of the year. Quarterback Colin O’Connor knows he’s become the ultimate romance novel cliché: all the success he’s ever dreamed of but nobody with whom to share it. Too bad it’s not as simple as asking out the next girl who intrigues him - because the next girl to intrigue him probably won’t be a girl at all.

Unexpectedly, the solution comes in one neat package: Nick Wheeler, lead journalist for a leading sports and pop culture blog. Hired by Colin’s team, Nick comes to Miami to shine a spotlight on the NFL’s most private quarterback.

The heat in Miami rises when Nick discovers Colin is nothing like the hollow personality he pretends to be in interviews and he’s even hotter in person than on his Sports Illustrated cover. Nick knows this is the story of his career, and it also hits close to home. What he needs is to help Colin share his story while keeping their growing relationship from boiling over in the press, but what he wants is to tell the world.

Note: This book has been re-edited and rereleased on June 24, 2017. Content is the same, errors are fixed.

©2017 Beth Bolden (P)2018 Beth Bolden

Really loved the story hated the narrator

i love football so i like the story and i know Miami well so i really enjoyed and related to this story

Sports Romance Perfection

Deeper than just your average sport romance or coming out story, The Rainbow Clause just grabs you and holds you tight until the bitter end, which is really anything BUT bitter. Colin and Nick are two of the most engaging and loveable characters I’ve ever read (listened to). When Colin decides it’s time to come out he goes for it, he knows what and who he wants and it’s wonderful to experience. Superb story!

Kept zoning out

Had a hard time finishing this one, the writing is good but the story just felt kind of flat to me. I think if maybe the conflicts were a little more developed, it would have been better. They just happened and resolved so quickly.

Slowburn 🔥

This was such a delightful slowburn!

If you love slowburn romances with heart and heat, I definitely recommend this one.

The narration was pretty enjoyable and the overall story drew me in.

I love Beth's writing style.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to this one

Another Sweet Sports Romance

This is one sweet sports romance story. I had a few giggles and “awww” moments while listening. The pacing of the story is just enough. It is a story about a famous award-winning quarterback who decided he can’t live in the closet anymore and is coming out with his bi-sexuality. I like how being bi is represented well in this book. How it’s explained in simple terms but made it clear what being bisexual is like.

I adore Colin. His steadfast personality, his sharp intelligence and his relentless pursuit to go for what he wants, and on top of that, is a really great guy. Nick has his small issues, I wasn’t liking the whole fact of him going home & putting them through the ringer for no reason rather than his own fears holding him back. But that got resolved quick and thank goodness!

So.. this story is low on angst. It’s more relationship-focused plus the glaring scenario of PR machinations for athletes who just want to live their lives.

It’s ultimately sweet and feel good read.

Wyatt Baker has improved with his narration style. He still tends to sound flat sometimes, but now, he has added more to it. I’m hoping as I listen to more of his narration, it keeps getting better and better.

Great sports romance

Imagine there's this star NFL quarterback that you've been following since his college days, that you've had a crush on. Now imagine you've been chosen to write the most important profile on him, bringing to light his most highly guarded secret...and to do so you get to shadow him by living with him to learn the ins and outs of his life. Sounds like a dream come true, right?

Colin likes to keep to himself-he'd rather enjoy a quiet evening at home away from the spotlight than be out clubbing with his teammates. He's sweet and a bit introverted-not what you'd expect from a star NFL player, and around Nick he lets his vulnerable side show. Nick reads people quite well, and easily picks up on things about Colin. He knows everything about Colin's career, and as he learns more about him personally, he falls hard--no matter how hard he tries not to do so. The closer the two become, the more inevitable them falling for each other.

Colin and Nick's relationship develops at an easy, natural pace and nothing ever feels rushed. I thought they fit well together, and that Nick was the perfect person to write Colin's coming out story. I did get a bit frustrated with Nick when he went back home, but otherwise I really loved the two of them together. Their intimate scenes built slowly over time, going from sweet and tentative all the way to intensely passionate with a slow build of the sexual tension. The gradual build of Colin and Nick's relationship also mirrors Colin's measured process of coming out as he becomes more comfortable with expressing that side of himself over time.

I really enjoyed this story, and it was a 4.5-star read for me. I highly recommend The Rainbow Clause to any M/M romance fan, and if your a sports romance fan even better. I really liked that Colin and Nick's relationship built slowly, I like when a story is more slow burn since it builds the tension and is more impactful when they finally give in to each other. This book is meant for readers 18+ for adult language and explicit M/M sexual content.

The narration: This is the first book I’ve listened to with Wyatt Baker as the narrator. The delivery was relatively smooth and pacing was spot on. There was not quite the differentiation in character voices that I’m used to, so it was sometimes difficult for me to tell Colin and Nick apart. That also made it easier for my mind to wander while listening since there was not as much variation in the tone. If you’re the type of audiobook listener who prefers more of a reading than performance, this will likely work well for you as you listen.

Wonderful twist for a romance

Romance story at it’s best!!! The Rainbow Clause by Beth Bolden is a sports romance with a twist, a bi-sexual athlete that comes out to the public and in doing so falls in love with the journalist writing the article that will tell the world of his sexual preference.

Colin had it all, the heisman quarterback, the winning team, the fame and all the women he wanted. Yet Colin felt lost and unsure of himself. A virgin, only fell in love once before with his best friend Gemma who put him in the friend only box, he finally meets someone worthy of his affection, Nick! With Nick being the person assigned to write the story of the year, Nicks coming out, he is resistant in returning the attention and to go over thin line between work and pleasure.

I enjoyed the story very much of Colin, his story is endearing and full of inner struggles as well as those that society and social media put on him. In the end, love conquers all and you cannot help but cheer!!

The narration of this story was extremely well done and Wyatt Baker really brought the characters to life. I would definitely listen to that voice again!!!

Ok story

I was excited to finally get my hands on The Rainbow Clause, but I’m sad to say that it fell a little bit short for me. I liked Colin and Nick but I didn't feel a connection to them, so the story ended up feeling a bit flat for me. I saw some inconsistencies with the characters which were a little difficult for me to overlook. The story itself felt drawn out and I think there were several parts that just didn’t need to be there. If these would have been eliminated, it would have helped the pace of the book.

There were some wonderful things in The Rainbow Clause, though. One aspect I did really like about this book was the way it handled Colin’s bisexuality. I feel this is something that tends to be under-represented and even when it is, it's more a blanket term thrown over a character that still acts more gay than bi. Beth Bolden didn’t do that. In fact, she did a great job of representing bisexuality in Colin’s character. We really get to see the struggle of what he faces with that and his attraction to both sexes. I also liked how once Colin decided it was time to come out, he held to that steadfast and seemingly fearlessly and that Nick was right there eager to help him represent the community.

Overall I enjoyed the book, it just left me wanting more to help me connect with the story and its characters. It was low angst, which I actually enjoyed because it allowed me to relax and enjoy the story without the stress of what's next.

The narration was really well done. Wyatt has a voice that fit the story really well and I found him easy and enjoyable to listen to, he added a lot of life and personality to the book.

It was ok

I liked it but I didn't love it like the other books I have listened to.

Good start to the series!

Overall 4 Stars

The Rainbow Clause is Beth Bolden's MM debut book and while it wasn't perfect, it was still a pretty good, enjoyable audiobook that I have no trouble recommending.

Colin is a bisexual football player, ready to come out of the closet and Nick is the journalist who will write a spotlight on Colin. Nick moves into Colin's house in Miami and they hit it off and start a secret relationship, but even if Colin is ready to be out, Nick doesn't seem as ready to show the world they're together.

I loved Colin, he was such a fantastic character! I loved his determination and his personality. I wasn't as sure about Nick, but he won me over... eventually. Frankly, I was frustrated with Nick, I know the book needed some angst to move things along, but really, there were times in which I just wanted to shake some sense into Nick. Nick and Colin were such a great match, though, with amazing chemistry and I loved the progression of their relationship.

The narration fell a bit flat for me, while Wyatt Baker's voice is very pleasant, I would've liked that the different characters had more distinctive tones so they would've been more easily recognizable. As it was, I sometimes felt like my Kindle's text-to-speech feature had morphed from female to male, with better pronunciation and more emotion to it. Anyway, that doesn't mean it was bad, because it wasn't, it's just that I would've liked Jemma, for example, to actually sound like a woman and not having to wonder who was talking without it being pointed out to me.