Ebb and Flow

As the sequel to Setting the Hook, Ebb and Flow does a magnificent job!
Billy Ray is first mate to Bubba, who was first mate to Mike in Setting the Hook. Billy Ray knows he’s gay but as his father is the town preacher he has never been game enough to come out and admit it. Billy Ray has tried to gain his father’s acceptance but in the back of his mind he knew he’d never get it. His father has an identity crisis, ‘he thinks he’s god!’, to this end he goes around town checking to make sure the people are living the kind of life he thinks they should.
Everything starts to change when Billy Ray meets Skippy on a charter, from the moment Billy Ray catches sight of Skippy he’s drawn to him and he can’t understand why he can’t ignore him like he has every other man he’s been attracted to.
“Harcourt Anson III” Skippy, has been assigned a case that takes him to Apalachicola where he and his friends go on another fishing charter where he meets the incredibly good-looking Billy Ray. Skippy has spent the majority of his life trying to please is parents, especially his father but it’s not until he’s in Apalachicola that he realises once and for all that he’s never going to gain his father’s love or acceptance. What Skippy learns helps to solidify his tenuous idea of starting a branch of the family law firm in Florida.
The closer Skippy and Billy Ray get the more they realise they have fallen in love but to both of them it seems like a fool’s errand what with Skippy having to go back to Boston once the case is over. This is when Billy Ray’s father discovers that he is gay, he disowns him much to Billy Ray’s relief! If you have read Setting the Hook then you will definitely want to read Ebb and Flow, if you have read these books, why not? You are missing out on Andrew’s brilliant work!

4 Hearts Reviewed by Prime

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???

Independent Reviewer for Divine Magazine, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book two in the Love's Charter series, but you don't need to have read book one, Setting The Hook for this to make sense. But I will recommend that you do, and explain more as I go.

We met Skippy in book one, he and his friends hired Mike's boat. Skippy is in town on business for his father's law firm, but is having a few days off before he starts. Billy Ray is now first mate to Bubba on Mike's boat, since he got a second boat with William's prototype engine in. Billy Ray knows he is gay, has done a long time but he hides it, mostly because of his religious father and the power he has over Billy Ray. But Skippy calls to Billy Ray, in a way no one else ever has. And it will take both men standing up to their overpowering fathers to figure out just want they really want.

I listened to book one, but I READ this one. I should know better to switch mid series. This one doesn't have the warm and fuzzies that book one did, but still a cute read.

Skippy's father sends him to the town in Florida (that I can't even say, let alone spell!) that has the harbour Mike works his charter out of. An oil company wants to built a pipeline right across the harbour. While that doesn't go down the way Skippy's father wanted, but the client and the twon are happy with the result. Standing up to his father, Skippy finds out just why it seemed he was so busy for the firm and just what his father really thinks of him.

I loved that both men were able to stand up to their respective fathers, even though they both knew they could lose everything.

I didn't feel the same connection I did to Skippy and Billy Ray that I did to Mike and William, but that might just be because I listened to that one and read this one.

Oh, I said you didn't NEED to read book one first. But it might help you understand Bubba's reaction to Billy ray's coming out to him. When Mike did the same, Bubba reacted badly. He's better here, but you'd just get that extra insight.

It says this book is 200 pages, but it didn't seem like it. One of those books you can just fall into and forget about the world for a while. Took me little over 90 minutes. A cute read, but not quite a warm and fuzzies one too.

4 solid stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**

Oh Andrew you've done it again with Ebb And Flow. I liked that it was about them and their fathers. They did what they had to do without much angst. They got it. Now I want to know when will the next book be here?????

Oh Andrew you've done it again with Ebb And Flow. I liked that it was about them and their fathers. They did what they had to do without much angst. They got it. Now I want to know when will the next book be here?????