Reviewed by Vicki

TITLE: Sunrise Over Savannah

AUTHOR: Scotty Cade

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 204 pages

BLURB:

Thompson and Caroline Gray were living their dream until Caroline’s untimely death just two years after they’d bought the Thundercloud Marina. When Caroline died, she left Thompson alone and emotionally disconnected—until Thompson’s longtime friend and towboat owner Hank Charming tows Garner Holt, a recently retired psychiatrist, and his boat into the marina for repair. Thompson and Hank are both drawn to the sailboat captain, but for very different reasons.

Since high school, Hank has secretly carried a torch for Thompson, even though Thompson remained committed to Caroline, even after her death. Hank is totally caught off guard when his initial attraction to Garner makes him realize this stranger might be the one to help him move on with his life. Thompson establishes a platonic friendship with Garner and starts to see the psychiatrist as his only lifeline to sanity. Life improves until Thompson sees Hank and Garner together, and old feelings Thompson thought were long buried begin to resurface. Garner quickly identifies the unresolved feelings between Hank and Thompson and decides to tap his professional skills and work behind the scenes to help Thompson and Hank see what has been right in front of them all along.

REVIEW:

There are three main characters to this book, Thompson, Hank, and Garner, plus the memory of Caroline, Thompson’s deceased wife. Thompson married his childhood sweetheart Caroline, bought their favorite marina, the Thundercloud Marina, and settled down to leave a happy life. Fate had a different plan, and took Caroline from Thompson very early. Hank and Thompson were friends back in the day, it appears there some attraction on Hanks side, and possibly Thompson’s as well. Hank, called Prince by his high school friends, sticks by Thompson through Caroline’s death, trying to help him heal. Thompson wants no part of healing, and pushes Hank away. Four years later, Thompson is still wallowing in misery and loneliness, greeting every sunrise from the dock were Caroline died in his arms.

Enter Garner. Garner is a psychiatrist from New York. Tired of his busy, unfulfilling life, he buys a big beautiful boat and heads out to explore the world. One morning near Savannah, his lovely boat won’t start.  He calls the boaters version of AAA, and Hank comes to tow him in to the closest marina, the Thundercloud Marina. Garner learns his boat has an issue and he settles in to stay at the marina for a bit, accepting a job from the somewhat surly Thompson.

That is basically the set up for the main act of the story. There is this wonderful developing dynamic between the three men, building trust, sharing past stories, and creating a friendship. But there is occasionally this bit of jealousy,  Hank is jealous of Garner and Thompson, Thompson is jealous of Garner and Hank. At the half way point, I still wasn’t sure if this was Garner and Hank’s story, with Thompson as a side character, or a soon to be threesome. Or if Garner was there as a conduit to get Hank and Thompson together… And no, I won’t tell you which it is! You’ll have to read this wonderful book to find out.

Each of the three men brings something of value to this story. Thompson is so wonderfully miserable, caught in some sort of guilt/angst drama thing over not just Caroline’s death, but their whole relationship. Hank is strong, independent, confident, and has loved Thompson one way or another for years. But there is possible something building between he and Garner. Garner is just a great guy. Strong, confident, and independent as well, but he’s also an intelligent, caring thoughtful healer. He sees Thompson’s pain and starts to work subtly to get through to Thompson for a while, then they just get in to it and get it done.

I loved following this whole mess of a story, these men are tangled up and confused, about themselves, about each other, and about their relationships. The healing that Garner brings to Thompson probably saves his life. He is likely to wallow in misery for ever, never finding happiness again. Hank is another story, he’s invested in Thompson, but he’s been pushed aside before, more than once. I think he would have been just fine without Garner, and possibly without Thompson. He seems stable, has a wonderful house and business. Maybe he would have found someone to love at some point. Garner is a ship passing in the night…

So. I’ll stop there before I say too much. I will say this is a beautiful story. Well written, deep characters, lots of drama, especially toward the end. There is not a lot of sex, this is a romance, but not erotica. When it does happen, it is special and meaningful. It was just perfect. This is about building characters and a strong story. I’ve read a book by Scotty Cade before, I can’t remember which at the moment, and I enjoyed it, but not enough to get me to read more. I read Sunrise Over Savannah to give a review, and I am so glad I did. I WILL go buy books by Scotty now, I get it. This was a lovely book.

I will also say, Scotty! Can we have more of Garner please???

RATING:

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner