Title: Ebb and Flow

Series: Love’s Charter 02

Author: Andrew Grey

Genre: Contemporary

Length: Novel (200 pages)

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (18 August 2017)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts

Blurb: To achieve happiness, they’ll have to find the courage to be their own men.

As first mate on a charter fishing boat, Billy Ray meets a lot of people, but not one of them has made him as uncomfortable as Skippy because he’s drawn to Skippy as surely as the moon pulls the tides, and he’s almost as powerless to resist. Billy Ray has spent his life denying who he is to avoid the wrath of his religious father, and he can’t allow anyone to see through his carefully built facade.

Skippy is only in town on business and will have to return to Boston once he’s through. After all, his father has certain expectations, and him staying in Florida is not one of them. But he doesn’t count on Billy Ray capturing his attention and touching his heart.

Billy Ray doesn’t realize just how much he and Skippy have in common, though. They’re both living to please their fathers instead of following their own dreams a fact that becomes painfully obvious when they get to know each other and realize how much joy they’ve denied themselves. While they can’t change the past, they can begin a future together and make up for lost time as long as they’re willing to face the consequences of charting their own course.

ISBN: 978-1-63533-918-5

Product Link: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/ebb-and-flow-by-andrew-grey-8779-b

Reviewer: Prime

Review: Ebb and Flow is the sequel to Andrew Grey’s Setting the Hook, the first two book in Love’s Charter series. For me, I feel this book, although is about a different couple’s courtship than in Setting the Hook, is the type of book you need to read the first installment first to get a feel for the world, characters and overarching themes set up initially. There are also some overlapping characters, which mean we get to catch up with the guys that started it all, William and Mike.

Billy Ray is first mate to Bubba on a fishing charter boat (FYI and totally not a spoiler, Bubba got a promotion at the end of Setting the Hook). Billy Ray is stuck in a bad situation that he cannot help – his father is a small town preacher who is all about fire and brimstone, and so it’s going to take A LOT for poor Billy Ray to burst out of the closet to his father. His father is over bearing, not only to his son but also to the locals (though no idea what the locals feel about that), and Bubba is resigned to the fact that no matter how hard he tries he will never meet his father’s lofty expectations.

On a charter, Billy Ray is drawn to Skippy (aka Harcourt Anson III, so snobby!). Skippy is in town from Boston for business, but he wants to make it fun. As a partner of his father’s law firm, his father works him all hours to the point of exhaustion and having zero time an actual life. And so we start, with instant sparks of attraction, the story of two guys unfortunately has to deal with the pressure of trying to please their impossible (and homophobic) fathers.

I suppose that there is an element of unrequited love at first. The guys are both worried about what would happen if they even thought of making a life together. Both of them expect retribution from their fathers, they do occur in different circumstances but overall, the story line for Billy Ray and Skippy is the same. I think that shared element both enhanced the story for me, as well as kind of took away from the characters developing. I’m not sure how to put my thoughts into words. I suppose, it’s kind of a love hate type of thing.

For lovers of Andrew Grey, this story is another fantastic reason to love the man’s writing. Seriously, I’ve been in love with his book since the first. If you started with Setting the Hook, you’re going to love Ebb and Flow. For anyone else: why have you not read the awesomeness that is Andrew Grey???

Title: Setting the Hook

Series: Love’s Charter 01

Author: Andrew Grey

Genre: Contemporary

Length: Novel (200pgs)

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (12^th May 2017)

Heat Level:  Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts

Blurb: William Westmoreland escapes his unfulfilling Rhode Island existence by traveling to Florida twice a year and chartering Mike Jansen’s fishing boat to take him out on the Gulf. The crystal-blue water and tropical scenery isn’t the only view William enjoys, but he’s never made his move. A vacation romance just isn’t on his horizon.

Mike started his Apalachicola charter fishing service as a way to care for his daughter and mother, putting their safety and security ahead of the needs of his own heart. Denying his attraction becomes harder with each of William’s visits.

William and Mike’s latest fishing excursion starts with a beautiful day, but a hurricane’s erratic course changes everything, stranding William. As the wind and rain rage outside, the passion the two men have been trying to resist for years crashes over them. In the storm’s wake, it leaves both men yearning to prolong what they have found. But real life pulls William back to his obligations. Can they find a way to reduce the distance between them and discover a place where their souls can meet? The journey will require rough sailing, but the bright future at the end might be worth the choppy seas.

ISBN: 978-1-63533-707-5

Product Link: Dreamspinner Press | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Reviewer:  Prime

Review: I will read anything by Andrew Grey, his stories make me laugh and/or make me cry and always have a whole lot of heart. All his characters are realistic with very human flaws and it’s always a pleasure to read and see them develop throughout the course of a story. To put it simply, he embraces the everyday differences, not everyone is perfect and that is the attraction. That being said, while I loved Setting the Hook, it wasn’t my favorite book by Grey. However, since I rate them all so highly, this is still pretty damn good. I enjoyed it from start to finish, devouring every single word hungrily.

William Westmoreland books the same fishing charter in Florida twice a year. He needs to get away from the hustle and bustle and the stress that comes from his life in Rhode Island. His parents – who at first are very unreasonable people with stupid high expectations – practically rule his life because of his devotion to the family business and always wanting to make them happy. He loves Mike Jansen’s fishing charter because it is the place he feel he can relax and be himself, at least for a little bit, while enjoying the beauty of being out on the water. He’s definitely attracted to Mike but not about to make any moves.

Mike on the other hand is a very stoic character. He supports his mother and daughter, not allowing any room for being himself – he fears that stepping out of the closet would ruin him. (Seriously, William’s father gives him some awesome advice to put things into perspective regarding this).

That is why, for obvious reasons, neither of the guys are looking for a relationship. But the chemistry is there from the get go. As the saying goes, the body is willing but the heart is not. Things are complicated and their negative outlooks make it worse. The journey to love isn’t simple for these stubborn guys but is totally worth it, which even includes surviving the wrath of a hurricane.

Setting the Hook is the first book in Grey’s Love’s Charter series and I’m definitely keen to see what else is set to happen in this new world! There is plenty of drama and the guys are delightfully stubborn, convinced that things could never work while on the road to their HEA.