The Gardner and the Marine By RJ Scott
Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM
Tropes: Hurt/Comfort, Traumatic Brain Injury, PTSD, Combat Veteran
Released: August 20, 2021
Publisher: Love Lane Books
Series: Ellery Mountain, Book 9
Length: 50,000 words
Cover Design: Meredith Russell
Harrison is alone and hurting with his memories gone, but Toby shows him that love can heal even the most broken of hearts.
After losing his entire team in a roadside bomb, Harrison is left with a traumatic brain injury, a broken body, and scars on his heart that might never heal. Staying at the Ellery Mountain Veterans Center is the first step in healing, but short-term memories evade him, and the only thing he trusts is the love of Barney, his support dog.
Until he meets Toby.
Toby lands the chance of a lifetime, using his horticultural skills to aid in working with veterans during their physical and mental recovery. Meeting Harrison on his first day goes badly, but there is something between them that could be more than just friendship.
With time, it could even become love.
Triggers for PTSD and past suicide ideation.
This story was previously available in weekly instalments in my newsletter. The file has been edited and a few scenes added.
Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003
This book really touched my heart.
There is a reason that RJ Scott in on my list of favorite authors and this book continues to solidify that position. The Gardener and the Marine was originally a free newsletter serial but I confess that I didn’t read it then; I wanted to wait until the full story was available because I’m too impatient to wait for weekly installments. I’m not sorry I waited; Toby and Harrison’s love story is going to stick in my mind for quite a while.
Harrison is suffering from a TBI (traumatic brain injury) and PTSD. He survived a bomb while four of his Marine brothers did not. He’s come to the Veteran’s Center in Ellery Mountain to heal and learn how to deal with his survivor’s guilt. Toby has started a new program at the center, using gardening and horticulture to help the wounded veterans heal.
RJ’s detailed description of the struggles that Harrison has dealing with memory loss and retention were at times heartbreaking. At the same time, the detailed description of the coping mechanisms he uses were inspiring.
Toby and Harrison clicked with each other fairly quickly but I would not call this insta-love by any means. It takes time for Toby to gain Harrison’s trust but the bond they eventually form is strong and beautiful.
While I consider this story to be on the sweeter side, conflict is usually good to keep things interesting and RJ is a master at giving her characters challenges to face and The Gardener and the Marine is no exception. Some readers may need to heed the trigger warning for PTSD and past suicide ideation.
While I loved everything about this story, I want to give special notice to a couple of things: Harrison’s service dog, Barney and Toby’s brother, Alec. Barney is Harrison’s touchstone; he helps keep Harrison centered when things become overwhelming for him. Toby’s brother has autism and anyone who follows RJ closely will see bits of her personal experiences in this wonderful story.
Although this book is part of the Ellery Mountain series, it can definitely be read as a standalone. Characters from other books appear in this one but RJ has written the story in such a way that readers won’t be lost if they haven’t read the other books. This is such a wonderful series, though, so I whole heartedly recommend all of the books.
I almost forgot to mention two things… the last chapter introduced two new characters and I was so happy to learn that the next Ellery Mountain book will be about JC and Adrian and, last but certainly not least, the wonderful epilogue for Harrison and Toby was like finding all of my favorite toppings on ice cream sundae. 😊
♥♥♥♥♥
O Factor: Spicy
I didn’t look at them, let alone talk to them, and even though I sensed Daniel wanted to ask me if I was okay, I ignored him and was quickly halfway up the stairs, my hand on Barney’s collar, hoping like hell for my leg not to buckle. He didn’t call up after me. No one shouted in this place, because it was an oasis of peace and a secure shelter for all those damaged vets who’d been chewed up and spit out by war.
When my recollection of why I was here hit me front and center, I counted myself as one of the lucky ones to find a place to hide. I wasn’t a danger to anyone else, but I was a danger to myself. The night terrors, the panic attacks, the stupid fucking inability to be a goddamned man—that was why I was there. The hospital staff healed my body to the best of their ability, the shrinks attempted to fix my head, but I didn’t have peace, and Barney was the only thing I cared about.
Caring got you hurt, and I was too raw to extend any affection or understanding to anyone but Barney.
I slumped onto my bed, then flopped backward, hands extended to each edge, Barney jumping up and curling himself right into my side. My heart raced, my head hurt, but once I matched my breathing to Barney’s and allowed his presence to soothe me, I began to calm.
“Danno, Brat, Diaz, Spook, and me,” I whispered into the room. “Danno, Brat, Diaz, Spook, and me.” The names of the fallen were a reminder of what I’d seen and lost and were a way to connect with the world around me. Other people grieved Danno and Brat’s loss—they’d only been kids both of them with big families. Diaz had a girlfriend who blamed me for her beloved dying on my watch. Spook had been married no more than a month and had left a pregnant wife behind.
I had my mom, but I’d pushed her away when I was in hospital. I know that because it’s written in my book.
Why didn’t the explosion take me?
Ellery Mountain Series
RJ Scott, author of M/M romance. Writing love stories with a happy ever after – cowboys, heroes, family, hockey, single dads, bodyguards
USA Today bestselling author RJ Scott has written over one hundred romance books. Emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, single dads, hockey players, millionaires, princes, bodyguards, Navy SEALs, soldiers, doctors, paramedics, firefighters, cops, and the men who get mixed up in their lives, always with a happy ever after.
She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing. The last time she had a week’s break from writing, she didn’t like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a box of chocolates she couldn’t defeat.
Review copy and media kit provided by:
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