Sunrise Over Savannah

Title:  Sunrise Over Savannah

Author:  Scotty Cade

Publisher:  Dreamspinner Press

Length:  204 pages

Rating:  B List

Quad Shot of Love

 

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:  A bittersweet story of friendship, devotion, commitment, loyalty, grief, and love.  There are several things happening in this story that will change everything.

Told from all of the main characters’ points of view we get to know all three men very well.  Each voice is distinctive and I was glad that I was not left guessing with how complicated and changing the relationships between all three men were as the story progressed.  Many times each man was unsure of what he felt and wanted.  There was a lot of denial going on.

Garner is burnt out and looking to find some peace and happiness again, and maybe a little adventure as he travels around in his beautiful new boat.  He comes into the situation knowing that he won’t be staying long, but quickly realizes that he needs to use his psychology skills to help his new friends, if he can.  He is instantly drawn to both men and begins to date Hank, even though he cannot stop thinking about Thompson, or what he would like to do to him in bed.

Hank, “Prince” to his friends, is a sweetheart.  He has been in love with Thompson since they were boys, and try as he might, he can’t seem to move on.  There will always be a piece of his heart that belongs to Thompson.  He likes Garner and is smitten with the intelligent and funny man and hopes that maybe he can be the one who helps him let go of the past.

Thompson has become locked into his grief.  Rather than healing and allowing his wife, Caroline’s memory to be of moments of happiness and joy tempered with loss, he has kept the wound of her passing an open and festering sore that is destroying him.  So his days seem filled with little more than grief, guilt and bitterness.  He needs help if he’s going to ever be anything more than a shell of his former self, simply existing and in nearly constant pain.

There is no menage in this story.  All of the men are attracted to each other to differing degrees and they are all very good friends. But even though Garner and Hank go out on a few dates they soon realize that there will never be anything more than friendship between them.  Garner likes Hank too much to love him and leave him and Hank is still so in love with Thompson that he can’t really see anyone else.  As for Thompson, there has never been any man for him but Hank, and there never will be.

One thing I have learned with Scotty Cade’s books is that you must expect the twists.  You will not necessarily be able to predict what that twist will be but there is a very good chance that at least one of them will break your heart.

There were some moments where I was nervous about how things were going to work out for our guys.  I became a little frustrated at the possibility that Garner could come between the men, but Scotty Cade managed to bring it all together and make me curious about what is in store for Garner on his journeys.

Reviewed by Nina