Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: The Sheltering Tree

AUTHOR: J.R. Lawrie

PUBLISHER: Carnation Books

LENGTH: 507 pages

RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2021

BLURB: 

The heart of Alastair Harding’s life is duty. Becoming the first gay chief of the Metropolitan police has required certain sacrifices, but Alastair made them willingly. If his life now lacks human connections, he can’t exactly complain—and it’s a little too late for regrets.

Jay Fieldhouse knows all about sacrifice, too. Brought to London for his own safety by witness protection, Jay’s grassroots charity works day and night to save vulnerable kids from a life of crime. But getting close to other people is tough when no one really knows who you are.

When he meets Alastair one night at a charity event, Jay is intrigued by his glimpse of a gentle soul beneath the commissioner’s uniform. The two men decide to run their lonely paths side by side for a while—after all, life is short and good sex is hard to come by.

Then the shadows of the past begin to stir, and the words which go unsaid might be Jay and Alastair’s undoing.

The Sheltering Tree is J.R. Lawrie’s first full length novel, following her beloved debut anthology, Let Your Heart Be Light.

REVIEW: 

Never have I been as devastated to see the words “The End” as I was when finishing J.R. Lawrie’s extraordinary The Sheltering Tree.  After futilely tapping my Kindle screen about a thousand times hoping for the appearance of more pages of Alastair Harding and Jay Fielding’s beautiful love story (because 507 pages of expertly crafted prose is clearly not enough), I lapsed into what I can only call grief.  I recognize it for what it is – a book hangover of the highest caliber – but acknowledgement of that fact is not the cure.  My TBR list is calling, but what can a new novel hold for me when I only want more of Alastair and Jay?

The Sheltering Tree emotionally transported me like no other book I have ever read.  I was lost in Ms. Lawrie’s gorgeous writing, the carefully crafted characters, and the intricate, emotionally complex, heart wrenchingly beautiful romance.  It’s a cruel, inherent truth that every fictional world eventually runs out of pages.  But Alastair and Jay have taken up residence in my mind and I don’t want them to leave.

Astonishingly, this is Ms. Lawrie’s first full-length novel.  Yet it reads as if penned by a master who’s been writing their whole life.  Her immense talent exudes from every perfect word on the pages of this book.  She’s enraptured us with two heartbreakingly isolated, lonely, older men navigating their way through first love like fluttering teenagers.  Alastair is in his fifties and Jay in his forties.  These two have been on their own for a very long time, each with a great deal of past hurt, turmoil and troubles.  

Upon first laying eyes on each other, Alastair and Jay’s intense chemistry is evident.  Their mutual attraction is irresistible while their need for each other steadily grows as their association tightens. Their desperation for each other is palpable.  Define it however you want, but these men know from the start what their end goal is.  But there are secrets, doubts and hesitations, and the road from start to finish is not straight, smooth or clear.

Ms. Lawrie has seamlessly woven a story with sex and love, power and peril.  Alastair and Jay live with ever-present danger, some real, some imagined, but it hovers like a sword poised to fall for a good portion of the book.  While they push and pull, grapple with how much to tell, how much of their feelings to show, their sex scenes are liberating.  They allow themselves to let go and open up, to communicate with their bodies everything they are too afraid to voice.  These scenes are sensual, erotic, and some of the most emotionally potent sexual encounters I’ve read.  The Cliveden scenes contain magnificent romantic displays, all demonstrated through small subtle things like surreptitiously passed notes, pet names, touches and glances that collectively create a stunning tableau of love.

Rarely do I forge a connection with characters as deeply as I did with Alastair and Jay.  But it’s hard not to because Ms. Lawrie brings Alastair and Jay to life.  They wend their way through our pores, our breath and wrap themselves around our hearts.  Every time Jay calls Alastair “Sunshine”, my heart clenched.  Every time Alastair breathlessly says “Jay” like it leaves him speechless, I swooned.  Alastair and Jay together are devastating.  Helpless, I fell haplessly, hopelessly in love with these men who I knew I’d have to leave when the story ended.   

While Alastair and Jay are the heart and soul of this book and we get the story from both of their POVs, we also get additional first hand observations from other characters like Juliet, Alastair’s longtime PA and closest (really only) friend, and Katie, the assistant at Cliveden. Their viewpoints and commentary add layers and color to Alastair and Jay’s developing relationship and burgeoning love.  That love blooms amidst drama and suspense that will have you riveted.  The potency and poignancy of scenes in the latter part of the book are intense.  My heart was racing, my stomach was twisting, the tears were flowing … This inspired, exceptionally executed story is just … So. Damn. Good.

As part of my book hangover coping strategy, I am fangirling all over The Sheltering Tree and its author.  Ms. Lawrie is a new author deserving of all the attention we can bring to her work.  I’m admittedly frustrated as I’m writing this review, though, because I feel the words I’ve put down here are ineffectual.  They haven’t done justice to the meaning and emotional impact of Alastair and Jay’s love story.  I can only hope that you will take me at my word that nothing I can describe here will adequately convey the experience of reading The Sheltering Tree.  So I implore you: Read this book.  Read it now.  Then read it again.  And when that book hangover hits, know that you are in good company.

RATING:    (plus many more)

BUY LINK: 

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