Blurb:
Welcome to Weatherton, Wyoming, where romance is
always in the air!
Rand McCade made a promise to his dying wife to one
day remarry. He couldn’t imagine ever loving someone again, but he’d do
anything to give his wife peace in her final moments. Two and a half years
later, he begins to fulfill his vow by contacting a mail-order agency in the
east. He doesn’t want to remarry, but a promise is a promise.
Lettie Morgan needed to leave Baltimore. Widowed
and pregnant, she was being pressured to marry a violent man. In order to
protect herself and the baby, she seeks out an agency she’d heard of which
finds brides for men in the west.
How can two hearts, broken and grieving, put their
pasts aside and blend their lives into one?
A family-friendly historical romance novella with
elements of faith, family and friendship.
Review:
Having come off reading ALL of Suzan Tisdale’s
book, and having just finished Frederick’s Queen (you can read the
review here),
I am in a desperate search for a book I can’t put down. Sad to say, I have
downloaded about ten books, but for various reasons I can’t seem to get into
them. Some of that is me, some of it is the authors.
I finally picked up a charming little Christian
romance novel by Leah Atwood titled After the Rain. This is book one of
her Brides of Weatherton Series. Alas, I finished it, but I was not
overwhelmed. Let me say, though, that that is probably more me than Atwood.
I like angst in my stories. As many of you know
from my previous reviews, I don’t like heroes or heroines who are perfect. I
want them to have a temper, to say the wrong thing, to do something ugly
occasionally, if for no other reason than they are afraid and it makes for
interesting conflict. None of this happened, of course, in After the Rain.
Rand and Lettie are too perfect for my tastes. When
they say something catty to each other, they turn right around in the next
scene and apologize. Honestly, one of the only reasons I kept reading was
because I kept thinking that the former suitor would eventually turn up. At the
end, however, we find out he likely committed suicide. On top of that, near the
end of the book, Lettie’s mother shows up at the McCade ranch and asks for
forgiveness. She has simply realized she was wrong to treat her daughter the
way she did all those years. Needless to say, expecting fireworks from both
ends and not getting either, I was a bit disappointed.
While I sometimes appreciate these sorts of sweet
stories, especially if the romance is well-done even if too chaste, this one
fell flat. I can believe two young people, inexperienced in matters of marriage
and love, might not have a longing or a hunger for a physical relationship.
(Actually I don’t, but I think lack of experience can make them reticent at
least.) I find it harder to believe two people who were as happily married as
Rand and Lettie aren’t fighting the normal natural desire of a physical
relationship. Yes, they were Christians. Yes, a Christian, even one seeking a
second marriage, needs to work hard at being chaste. But it should be work if
you are falling in love. It should not be easy to turn off that part of
themselves.
I did give After the Rain 3 roses. Atwood's writing
is good. The story does flow. Not only is the writing itself (sentence
structure) tight, but the plot passes along at a reasonable pace. However,
there is no great soul searching for either Rand or Lettie. Neither do they
experience any real character growth beyond their ability to tell the other “I
Love You.”
If you like sweet Christian romance with little to
no angst and no hint of a physical relationship, then you will enjoy After
the Rain. If you want something grittier and more real, then you might want
to keep looking along the bookshelf. As for me, I’m still on that all elusive
quest for a book I can’t put down.
Length: 130 pages
Digital Price: $0.99
Thanks for visiting. Rose, Julie Donna &
Rochelle
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