Release Day Review: Ebb and Flow by Andrew Grey

Title: Ebb and Flow
Series: Love's Charter: Book Two
Author: Andrew Grey
Release Date: August 18, 2017
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 200

GoodReads ~ Dreamspinner ~ Amazon

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 façade.

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.

*Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*

Ebb and Flow is Book 2 in Andrew Grey's Love's Charter series. Many of the characters in this book were introduced in Book 1, and I think this book could be read without reading Book 1. But, I think to fully enjoy the story and its characters, you should read the series in the correct order!

We met Skippy in Book 1, and he seemed like a guy who liked to have fun. In this book, I learned that he was a workaholic, and the little time he spent in Florida was the only break he really allowed himself. Skippy has a lot of daddy issues. He's not close to his parents since he spent most of his time away from them since the age of 8. He became a lawyer and worked hard at his father's law firm. He worked to win the unwinnable cases to get his dad's approval but never does. Whatever case he wins is just not enough to please his father. After another successful case, he's given a new one in Florida that will affect the charter service of his good friends. He decides it's a good time to get away with his friends for a vacation before beginning to work on the new case. And, it wouldn't be a vacation without an outing on his friend's charter service.

Billy Ray also has a lot of daddy issues. His daddy is a highly thought of, controlling preacher in their small town. Billy Ray knows he's gay but he could never act on those feelings and risk his daddy finding out. He gets a job working for a charter service and is enjoying his freedom of having a job and his own place to live. But Billy Ray's world is thrown into a tail spin when Skippy and his friends charter the boat, and they're all out and proud. Billy Ray and Skippy can't keep their eyes off each other, and before the end of the charter, Skippy's invited Billy Ray to spend more time with the guys.

This is definitely a story with a lot of daddy issues, though at first appearance it seems like each of the men have different issues with their fathers. Billy Ray and Skippy come from two completely different worlds, but they have more in common than expected. Both men have to learn to take the control of their life away from their fathers and to live the life they want. And once they do that, it allows both men to find happiness with their lives. But, this story was not overpowered by the daddy issues. They were there, but it wasn't overwhelming.

I really like Skippy from the first time I met him and really liked learning more about him. I thought he was a very likable, great character. I enjoy his friendship with his group of friends and his assistant, and how he cares for others. Billy Ray seemed like such a young guy throughout the story. You could tell he had lived a small-town, sheltered life. I really liked him the more he grew as a person, and as he became stronger throughout the story. I thought the relationship between the two men was perfect! I loved Mike and William being in this story, even for a small part! I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series!

Rating: 4 stars!