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mari1532's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I own the paperback copy of this book, but I listened to the audiobook through my library.
Brief Summary: Garrett McCray is a journalist interested in interviewing a doctor in Wyoming for a piece in his family's prominent Black newspaper back East. However, his arrival in Wyoming does not go according to plan. After an accident, Garrett inadvertently meets Spring Lee the intriguing sister of the doctor he has come to interview. At the same time, Garrett explores the small Wyoming town and Dr. Lee's family and medical practice he and Spring keep running into each other. As their feelings for each other begin to grow they wonder how long their relationship can last.
Thoughts: Jenkins is a brilliant writer and she knows how to write swoon-worthy men. The way that Garrett had a discussion with his mother about what love and family mean was beautiful and made me fall in love with both of them as characters. It was so honest and self-reflective in a way that is not always included in discussions of choosing to have children.
I also loved the relationship between Spring and Regan. They have such a natural beautiful comfort with one another. I love their banter and the deep conversations that they have throughout the book. I also enjoyed how we were able to see how Spring took to being an aunt and how much she loved that role.
Spring is such a dynamic character. The journey that we go on with her throughout the book is like peeling back the layers of an onion. She starts as such a closed-off character that the way she opens up and becomes more vulnerable throughout the book is so hopeful. I was rooting for her from the very beginning and the fact that she becomes closer to not only Garrett but everyone within her close circle throughout the book was heartwarming and satisfying to read.
Such a good book. Highly recommend for romance lovers.
Brief Summary: Garrett McCray is a journalist interested in interviewing a doctor in Wyoming for a piece in his family's prominent Black newspaper back East. However, his arrival in Wyoming does not go according to plan. After an accident, Garrett inadvertently meets Spring Lee the intriguing sister of the doctor he has come to interview. At the same time, Garrett explores the small Wyoming town and Dr. Lee's family and medical practice he and Spring keep running into each other. As their feelings for each other begin to grow they wonder how long their relationship can last.
Thoughts: Jenkins is a brilliant writer and she knows how to write swoon-worthy men. The way that Garrett had a discussion with his mother about what love and family mean was beautiful and made me fall in love with both of them as characters. It was so honest and self-reflective in a way that is not always included in discussions of choosing to have children.
I also loved the relationship between Spring and Regan. They have such a natural beautiful comfort with one another. I love their banter and the deep conversations that they have throughout the book. I also enjoyed how we were able to see how Spring took to being an aunt and how much she loved that role.
Spring is such a dynamic character. The journey that we go on with her throughout the book is like peeling back the layers of an onion. She starts as such a closed-off character that the way she opens up and becomes more vulnerable throughout the book is so hopeful. I was rooting for her from the very beginning and the fact that she becomes closer to not only Garrett but everyone within her close circle throughout the book was heartwarming and satisfying to read.
Such a good book. Highly recommend for romance lovers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Cancer, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Grief, Death, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, and Terminal illness
erinwolf1997's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, and Sexual content
Moderate: Blood, Death, Racial slurs, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Slavery
Minor: Medical content
now_booking's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I love this author’s work and couldn’t not jump on this new release, a second installment in her Women Who Dare series. Unlike some of her other series, this book isn’t at all linked to “Rebel,” the first book in the WWD series- different worlds, different settings. Indeed, my feeling is that this series is linked by the strong Black unconventional female leads who are living life on their own terms. I think this description could fit any Beverly Jenkins’ heroine personally, but I suppose the heroines in books 1 and 2 are extra daring and out of the usual way. This book IS however linked to this author’s Old West series with Book 3 in that series, “Tempest,” featuring Colt and Regan, characters who also feature prominently in this book as the brother and sister-in-law of the protagonist. Nonetheless, like most of this author’s historicals, each book stands alone and it’s only a bonus if you happen to know the characters previously.
The premise of this book is that female Wyoming rancher, Spring, is one of the few black people in her rural small town, and she has a scandalous reputation from a somewhat wild youth. Now older and a self-made rancher, what people say about her doesn’t matter to her because she has been through fire to get to where she is, she has paid her dues and she’s not in this world to be liked or to be what anyone but herself thinks she should be. When she meets Garrett, a citified lawyer cum newspaperman cum carpenter from Washington DC, come to her Wyoming small town to interview her doctor brother, sparks fly but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to change herself for anyone.
I liked this novel the way I adore anything Ms Bev writes. The storytelling was gorgeous, the history was well-researched and vibrant, the action was good, the characters feisty, the heroine absolutely everything. Garrett is a real delight as a hero- open-minded, non-judgmental, understanding, he’s the perfect match to Spring. I’m a “give me all the babies and marriage” sort of romance reader but I loved that the author took a different path with this heroine, because I recognize that not everyone’s happy ending looks like marriage and children and I think the author did a fantastic job representing this underrepresented sort of heroine in this book. I loved that Spring was always unapologetically and unashamedly herself and just really had no flips to give. It was good to have a hero that for once was the one that compromised and gave up some of his dreams for love. This was fun and deeply emotional and engaging. I listened in audio and I must say like all Beverly Jenkins’ other books, this translated very well and was quite a gorgeous listen. Highly recommend!
The premise of this book is that female Wyoming rancher, Spring, is one of the few black people in her rural small town, and she has a scandalous reputation from a somewhat wild youth. Now older and a self-made rancher, what people say about her doesn’t matter to her because she has been through fire to get to where she is, she has paid her dues and she’s not in this world to be liked or to be what anyone but herself thinks she should be. When she meets Garrett, a citified lawyer cum newspaperman cum carpenter from Washington DC, come to her Wyoming small town to interview her doctor brother, sparks fly but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to change herself for anyone.
I liked this novel the way I adore anything Ms Bev writes. The storytelling was gorgeous, the history was well-researched and vibrant, the action was good, the characters feisty, the heroine absolutely everything. Garrett is a real delight as a hero- open-minded, non-judgmental, understanding, he’s the perfect match to Spring. I’m a “give me all the babies and marriage” sort of romance reader but I loved that the author took a different path with this heroine, because I recognize that not everyone’s happy ending looks like marriage and children and I think the author did a fantastic job representing this underrepresented sort of heroine in this book. I loved that Spring was always unapologetically and unashamedly herself and just really had no flips to give. It was good to have a hero that for once was the one that compromised and gave up some of his dreams for love. This was fun and deeply emotional and engaging. I listened in audio and I must say like all Beverly Jenkins’ other books, this translated very well and was quite a gorgeous listen. Highly recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
porshea's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
It could be my love of historical fiction, but nowhere is Beverly Jenkins’ writing more potent than in her historical romances. Wild Rain delivers on this high praise with its vivid setting, compelling character arcs, and masterful entwining of Black history into an original narrative.
Wild Rain is book two in the Women Who Dare series yet it’s heroine, Spring Rain Lee, is actually the sister-in-law of Regan Carmichael Lee, heroine of Tempest in another series by the author. Set in Reconstruction-era Wyoming territory, we follow Spring and her beau, Garrett McCrary, as he comes into her smalltown of Paradise to interview her brother, a doctor educated at Howard Medical School, from Washington, D.C. Any initial attraction is deterred by the poor state that Spring finds Garrett under, as he is injured by being thrown off his horse while making his way to town during a snowstorm. Never one to waste time with niceties and decorum, Spring hastens to save him by taking him and his horse back to the home where she lives alone and patching him up. As he starts to recover under her care, the two get to know what makes the other tick — his chivalry and penchant for asking loads of questions and her reservedness — and the differences between his city and her rustic lifestyles. Over the few days — scandalous in this time period — that Garrett spends at Spring’s house, the two fall into a rhythm where he supports her self-sufficiency and she comes to appreciate his care.
Once the snow melts, they go into town where we meet more of the colorful townsfolk who make up the hard yet communal populace of Paradise, Wyoming, including Spring’s aforementioned sister-in-law Regan Carmichael Lee. Regan picks up on Spring’s conflicting feelings of being happy as a Black woman living alone on her own terms yet also having a strong attraction to the care that Garrett offers. I loved that even this early on in the book we gain insight into what is really going on under Spring’s aloof demeanor by the gentle probing and general thoughtfulness of Regan. In fact, most of the people that Spring regularly interacts with show her a deal of respect and seem to have maintained good relationships with her as her whole life has unfolded in Paradise — her father being freeborn and raised there. It is through these interactions that we come to understand that the societal snubbing and outright violence that Spring faces from the primary villains of the novel are particular cruelties by awful people. Matt Keachem and his father abused Spring when she was turned out of her home at eighteen by her still living and judgemental grandfather, Ben. Throughout the greater romance of this story, the interactions with these antagonists and their schemes hint towards what Jim Crow justice looked like in the ‘Old West’ and supply Spring and Garrett with real obstacles to work through together instead of relying on tired romantic tropes that would take one open conversation to overcome.
I genuinely appreciate the levels to this story. It takes an author dedicated to their craft and the shape of the history they want to integrate into their story to bring the urgency and intimacy of history to life successfully in present-day releases. Jenkins’ longevity not only in writing or romance, but in bringing history to the page compellingly makes Wild Rain a story to treasure. I look forward to adding a physical version of it and more of Jenkins’ historical romances to my collection!
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Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
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