Note: Review originally written for Speakingof Audiobooks . Permission
has been granted to publish review in its entirety here.
Why I read it: I was so looking forward to
listening to this book. I adored Blue Eyed Devil and Smooth Talking Stranger and I love Tanya Eby’s narration. The combination of this author and this
narrator felt like an automatic win for me.
And I did enjoy it, but... well, let’s get to what the story is about first.
What it's about: Sam Nolan is the owner of the old
Victorian House and proprietor of the vineyard at the end of Rainshadow Road on
San Juan Island, Washington. We met him
in Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor
which featured his brother Mark and his, now, wife-to-be, Maggie. Sam’s gorgeous and talented and friendly and
sexy but he doesn’t do commitment.
Ever. He’s always honest about
it. He’s not a cheater or a deceiver but
his experience with his alcoholic parents and their toxic marriage has scarred
him for life.
Lucy Marinn is a glass artist,
working mainly on stained glass windows.
We first meet Lucy when her boyfriend of 3 years, Kevin, dumps her for
her younger (and very spoiled and not at all nice) sister Alice. We are told
that Kevin has awakened Lucy’s sensuality and taught her about trust in a
relationship (as she’s not otherwise a very trusting person) but frankly, Kevin
is an asshole. We see that there are no redeeming aspects to his character at
all. He whines. He blames everyone else for his shortcomings
(eg, “It might be your fault, but it’s definitely not my fault” [that I cheated
on you and slept with your sister]). I
wondered why Lucy had been with him at all.
Kevin was a caricature and didn’t fill me with confidence in Lucy’s
judgment in men.
Moving along. Lucy meets Sam
early on in the story and there is an attraction but Lucy is gun shy after her
breakup with Kevin. They start to form a
friendship and then Lucy is involved in an accident where she needs someone to
care for her. She moves into the house
at Rainshadow Road and their relationship develops as Sam looks after her. (It
makes sense in the book, trust me).
What worked for me (and what didn't): The book features “magical
realism”. During times of strong emotion
glass on or near Lucy turns into real creatures – butterflies, hummingbirds,
and other small animals. I confess I
don’t know much about it but, from this book, it didn’t seem to be something
which really added to the story. I felt
that those parts could have been left out altogether and there would have been
no loss. I’m not sure if it’s supposed
to be that way or not. In a PNR for
example, the paranormal/magical aspects of the story are necessary, but I’m not
sure the same could be said here.
Tanya Eby is one of my favourite
narrators. She has a very pleasant voice
to listen to. I think I’m extra picky
because there are some narrators out there who do great character voices and
everything but to my ears, their “narrator” voice (i.e. the voice they use when
they’re not doing dialogue) isn’t that nice to listen to. Not the case with Tanya Eby. She has a lovely timbre to her voice. She also delivers a number of different
female and male character voices across a range of ages. Her voice for Sam was very sexy – kind of
husky and just like I pictured him actually having. Kevin sounded like the moron he was. Lucy’s mother sounded more mature without
being old and Lucy’s dad sounded like the distracted, somewhat uptight,
professor-type he was in the text. I’m
happy to say that there is even a distinction between the voices of the 3
brothers Mark, Sam and Alex – it’s subtle, but definitely there.
I haven’t read the DIK review which was published at AAR the other day as I didn’t want it to influence my own
review. But, suffice it to say that I
didn’t have quite the same experience of the book as AAR’s Pat did. I liked it; Tanya Eby’s narration was
wonderful. I was surprised when I looked
at my iPod and saw that I was 6 hours into an 8 hour audiobook and realised
that Sam and Lucy’s relationship had really only just begun. On the one hand, those 6 hours had flown by.
On the other, there’s only 2 hours left and they’ve only just got
together! I ended up having the same
criticism of Rainshadow Road as I did with Christmas
Eve at Friday Harbor – after such a beautiful set up, the ending is
rushed. In this case, the relationship
part is rushed. We see Lucy and Sam
together for 3 or 4 days when she is recuperating at his house, but then all of
a sudden we move to “over the past 2
months...” – I wanted to hear about those 2 months dammit!! They are beautiful characters – Sam is funny
and he’s a geek with cool science-y t-shirts – Lucy (despite her previously
appalling taste in men) is eminently likeable.
Because those 2 months were missing in action, it was difficult for me
to really buy into Sam’s conversion from “no commitment. Ever” to “marry me”.
(I don’t think the HEA is a spoiler! :D)
I wanted to but I just didn’t see enough of their interactions as a
couple together. I didn’t see him
completely falling for her over those 2 months.
I was only told it happened.
What would have made this book an
A read for me would have been to make it longer and fill in those 2
months. I would have had the joy of
listening to Tanya Eby’s wonderful narration for more hours and I would have
gotten to know those great characters better and been more convinced at the
end. Oh, I believed it, but I didn’t sigh
over it. Not like I did with Hardy and
Haven from Blue Eyed Devil.
What else? There’s one other thing. Sam and Lucy first make love very soon after
her accident. As someone who has
recently had some surgery, I found this a bit hard to believe. A few days after a significant accident where
you can’t walk for a while is not a time when one is likely to feel sexy. Romantic? Sure. A few kisses and many cuddles
definitely. But sex? Um, not so much.
I recommend this book. I flew
through it. It was very good; it’s
worth a listen for Tanya Eby’s narration alone, but it could have been amazing and because of that, I was left
feeling a little disappointed in the end. The story was engaging, the narrator
excellent – I would have happily listened to more. There was just something
missing for me – those 2 months!!
Grade: B-
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