Falling for Rain

Title:
Author: Susan Laine
Cover Artist: Paul Richmond
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Amazon: Falling for Rain
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 210 pages/novel
Rating: 2 stars out of 5

A guest review by Barb Manning

Summary review: The author’s writing style and choice of language made this a disappointment.

Blurb

Matt Wetherton is just an average-looking tax attorney until he breaks up a gay bashing and unwittingly becomes a hero. He isn’t looking for a date, but when he meets the man he rescued, he finds himself longing for one anyway. Rain Deveraux is a beautiful, effeminate lounge singer—and utterly unwilling to be Matt’s damsel in distress, even if he does wear women’s clothing for his performances. When common courtesy prompts Rain to pay Matt a thank-you call, it’s the beginning of the romance of their lives.

Before long, Matt and Rain fall for each other hard and fast, but both men are stubborn: Rain clings to his right to express himself even though Matt worries for his safety. Despite their occasional clashes, the passion between them is undeniable.

When an accident compromises Rain’s independence as well as his singing voice, it tests the strength of their newfound relationship. It is up to Matt to help Rain find his music again before depression sullies the brightness in Rain’s soul.

Review

Falling for Rain by Susan Laine is an old-fashioned romance between a young tax attorney, Matt Wetherton and Rain Devereaux, a lovely, effeminate jazz lounge singer. Matt and Rain meet under frightful circumstances—a group of drunk and angry young men are bashing Rain in an alley and Matt comes to the rescue.

The attraction between these two very different men is fiery and immediate. Matt likes Rain’s beautiful feminism and soulful singing voice. Rain, on the other hand, finds Matt’s straight-laced and straight-forward nature very refreshing.

The premise of Falling for Rain is great. How do two people attracted to each other with drastically different lifestyles come together to create a real romance and not just a few tumbles in bed? Unfortunately, Laine’s writing style and choice of language gets in the way of the story. Instead of real drama, I felt like I was experiencing a melodrama. Matt was barely present on the page and Rain was an unnecessarily over-the-top drama queen.

Rain’s character appears to have more development than Matt. Even his friends and family, Norma, Tiny and Momsy are entertaining. Matt seems more one dimensional. I didn’t learn much about his life before Rain, other than he has a boring job and a brother who loves him.

Much of the dialogue is silly and the action drags. I found myself skipping whole sections of sex scenes because they were boring. The sex scenes should at least be exciting. The dialogue, in particular, I found hard to get through. Here is an example:

Even when you were broken, there was a fire burning within you, and I was drawn to your flame like a moth—and I didn’t care if you burned me to cinders as long as I got to spend my last moments with you.

The cutesy nicknames like “sweetie pie” and “buns of fun” also got on my nerves. I like to reserve judgment on a book until the end, but this one sorely disappointed!