Lucy Marinn is a glass artist living in mystical, beautiful, Friday Harbor, Washington. She is stunned and blindsided by the most bitter kind of betrayal: her fiancé Kevin has left her. His new lover is Lucy’s own sister. Lucy's bitterness over being dumped is multiplied by the fact that she has constantly made the wrong choices in her romantic life. Facing the severe disapproval of Lucy's parents, Kevin asks his friend Sam Nolan, a local vineyard owner on San Juan Island, to "romance" Lucy and hopefully loosen her up and get her over her anger. Complications ensue when Sam and Lucy begin to fall in love, Kevin has second thoughts, and Lucy discovers that the new relationship in her life began under false pretenses. Questions about love, loyalty, old patterns, mistakes, and new beginnings are explored as Lucy learns that some things in life—even after being broken—can be made into something new and beautiful.
MY TAKE:
Fifteen pages in - My heart ached and went out for Lucy. The more I read the more I thought "That poor girl". But the end of that fifteen pages, the good that came out of the bad, made me smile.
I can understand Lucy's rapt attention in the glassblowers. My dad was friends with people in the Globe factory. They blew those glass balls that people put out in their front yards in pestals. Lisa did a wonderful job of describing that! Her research on that was spot on!
30 pages in - I am cackling here. I love this part. Lucy and Sam are talking about what their sexes do with breakups.
Sam: It is a lot simpler for guys. We jsut drink a lot of beer, go a few days without shaving, and buy an appliance
Lucy: You mean like a toaster?
Sam: No, Something that makes noise. Like a leaf blower or chain saw. Very Healing
Oh man that part right there got me howling with laughter where I HAD to read it to my hubby. Even he laughed.
50 Pages in - Had to pause here because Justine and Zoe's characters are great! Such diversity between two characters. These two girls, especially Justine and her love for confrontation, is what every gal needs in her life. Just that scene alone makes me hope Kleypas decides, once the Nolan's are done, that she'll consider writing a book for Zoe and Justine. Zoe, from what little is divulged, deserves a happily ever after.
165 pages in - Revisiting Mark, Maggie, and Holly was like seeing long-time friends again. The connection is just there. And I was struck with how much I actually missed the Nolans. There is just something about them that tugs at the heartstrings, that makes you relate and bond with.
The scene between Mark and Holly brought actual tears to the eyes. It's a wonderful continuation from Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor, touching the heart as the soul.
The last hundred pages flew by...and all the way, through the sheen of happy tears at the ending, I was given the thought... Rainshadow Road conveys what romance is all about.
That through the scared skeletons of the past, Nolan managed to work through the dark shadow that was his family's supposed legacy. The two of them, Lucy and Sam, were cynics when it came to love, each colored from family's, yet somehow, the two managed to find the magic of love, that cynic or no, love shines through.
Kleypas never lost the magic that was the Nolans, what was introduced in Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor. Sometimes, anticipated books in a series can fall flat... Not Rainshadow Road. The magic of the story continues..
Now I am eagerly awaiting the next installment, for Alex... Lisa Kleypas never disappoints - be her historical or contemporary..
Five Shillelagh and a bear claw
