Mirrigold: Mutterings & Musings

A Christmas Harbor by Avery Cockburn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was very lucky to beta read this book for Avery and what an absolute delight of a story it is.

If you know Billy Joel’s Piano Man, then you won’t be at all surprised by the plot of this story which has a writer and college lecturer, a bit down on his luck, meeting a guy from the Navy in a bar:

Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he’s talkin’ with Davy, who’s still in the navy
And probably will be for life

Over the course of the night they forge a connection and head off back to David’s boat, anchored in the harbor near the Naval College where he works, and discover they’re more compatible than even they might have hoped.

While there’s a relatively short period over which they meet and get down and dirty, the pacing never feels rushed, neither does their relationship, which seems like a bizarre thing to write, but this book gives you the impression they’re sort of suspended in time for a while.

I firmly believed they’d still be together a year or more later, they just have a bone deep emotional response to each other, coupled with the maturity to know when something’s worth taking a chance on.

#ARC kindly received from the author in return for an honest and unbiased review

View all my reviews