Rainshadow Road (Friday Harbor, #2) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Jun 22, 2011 Lisa Kay rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-in-2012-group-challenge, genre-romance-contemporary, reviewed-by-me, authors-k, m-pb-paperback, authors-l, challenge-disney-princess-reading, season-winter, auto-buy-author, animal-dog-in-story

Edited March 4, 2012 to include my review of the audiobook, narrated by Tanya Eby. See below the ❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿. I also wanted to add our RLfoCI “buddy read” tee-shirt montage worn by Sam and Lucy, The Scream, and a picture of the Afterglow Mausoleum (all below).

Friday Harbor, Washington
Lime Kiln Lighthouse
(Credit: Laura Boulton)    Ferry leaving Friday Harbor

  vineyard in area	Orca’s blow-front of lighthouse

More wonderful pictures @ FACEBOOK: Friday Harbor

★★★★★ I have a friend who received an Edited March 4, 2012 to include my review of the audiobook, narrated by Tanya Eby. See below the ❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿. I also wanted to add our RLfoCI “buddy read” tee-shirt montage worn by Sam and Lucy, The Scream, and a picture of the Afterglow Mausoleum (all below).

Friday Harbor, Washington
Lime Kiln Lighthouse
(Credit: Laura Boulton)    Ferry leaving Friday Harbor

  vineyard in area	Orca’s blow-front of lighthouse

More wonderful pictures @ FACEBOOK: Friday Harbor

★★★★★ I have a friend who received an ARE of the amazing Ms. Kleypas’ second in the Friday Harbor series, and was kind enough to lend it to me. I loved it! Gobbled it down in hours, to the detriment of my sleep. It has some sad parts, though. Ms. Kleypas can make you feel her protagonists’ ache of love – whether it is the beginning, the end, or the disillusionment in between.

Ms. Kleypas is branching into “magical realism” – and I love it. It doesn't overwhelm the book, but makes a few appearances at critical times. And it all takes place in the lovely, enchanting setting of Friday Harbor, Washington. Can't wait for the next in the series!

❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿

Update March 4, 2012 on audiobook.

I recently did a “buddy read” of this book; as it was my second “reading” of it, I decided to listen to the audiobook, and I’m glad I did. It is well narrated by Tanya Eby (though she does **gasp** lisp the author’s name!). Still, I thought she elevated Lucy, the heroine, from what Megan, in her insightful review, wonderfully described it as having a “palpable sorrow, and quiet dignity.” In the audio, Ms. Eby made Lucy sound lighter and brighter, especially in the second half of the book, than I felt about her my first read-through.

Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” - (view spoiler)

description

TEE-SHIRT MONTAGE

Chapter 7

Lucy: (view spoiler)

Chapter 12

Sam: (view spoiler)

Chapter 14

Sam: (view spoiler)

Lucy: (view spoiler)

Afterglow Mausoleum, Friday Harbor
description

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor (Friday Harbor, #1) by Lisa Kleypas

Rainshadow Road (Friday Harbor, #2) by Lisa Kleypas

Dream Lake (Friday Harbor, #3) by Lisa Kleypas

Crystal Cove (Friday Harbor, #4) by Lisa Kleypas

...more

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Jul 07, 2010 Shawna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads, heartwarming, feel-good-read-pick-me-upper, hh-artist, hh-love-commitment-marriage-phobic, best-endings-epilogues, best-fave-reads-of-2012, hero-mix-of-alpha-beta, steam-2-warm, small-town-lovin-small-town-setting

4 ½-5 stars – Contemporary Romance

Lisa Kleypas is my favorite author and she’s delivered once again. Rainshadow Road is a poignant, lyrical, and altogether heartwarming read that seamlessly blends themes of self-discovery, family, friendship, romance, and even a slice of magic. And the beautiful, mystical setting makes me eager to visit the Pacific Northwest and San Juan Islands.

This speaks to some essential questions of life and love:

How do you learn to trust and risk opening your heart to ...more

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Jun 05, 2011 Lisarenee rated it it was amazing

Notes: I received an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) or this book. Some of the quotes I used may change by the final version.

'She'd lost her home, her boyfriend, and her sister in one afternoon.'

They say that how you handle yourself in your darkest moments defines you. Lucy had just had her boyfriend, make that former boyfriend, tell her things were over. He had a lovely speech all ready, and then at the end, he oh so delicately (Not!), told her things might get a little awkward because he'd be ...more

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Feb 19, 2017 Thenia rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary, r-ab, reviewed, romance, 2018, series, magic

A story about betrayal, new beginnings and love.

Lucy is reeling by her fiance leaving her for her younger sister, but they are not content to leave her be. In an effort to get Lucy's parents to accept their new relationship, Alice and Kevin come up with a plan that has Kevin calling in a favor from his friend Sam.

They ask him to get close to Lucy and help her het over her bitterness over their betrayal and forgive them, giving them the green light to get married.

The attraction between them is im ...more

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Jul 10, 2012 D.G. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-romance, reviewed

Check out this review and others at badassbookreviews.com

The Friday Harbor series is Lisa Kleypas first foray into magical realism, a fiction genre in which magical elements blend with the real world. The genre originated in Latin America – see Like Water for Chocolate or One Hundred Years of Solitude – but with the popularity of the paranormal and fantasy elements in romance in recent years, some American authors - Sarah Addison Allen comes to mind – have added a helping of magical realism to t Check out this review and others at badassbookreviews.com

The Friday Harbor series is Lisa Kleypas first foray into magical realism, a fiction genre in which magical elements blend with the real world. The genre originated in Latin America – see Like Water for Chocolate or One Hundred Years of Solitude – but with the popularity of the paranormal and fantasy elements in romance in recent years, some American authors - Sarah Addison Allen comes to mind – have added a helping of magical realism to their contemporary romance. Ms. Kleypas is now following suit.

The first book in this series Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor was too subtle to be considered magical realism but in Rainshadow Road, Ms. Kleypas embraced the elements of the genre. There are fantastical occurrences without explanation, wonderful language and imagery that gives you an enchanted vibe almost as if you were in a fairy tale. The characters live in the real world with cellphones and cars but the magic is subtle and wondrous, a reflection of the characters’ themselves, their feelings and personalities. Like the mysterious vine in Sam’s property that is “alive but not flourishing”, so closed up to all the outside influences that it doesn’t let anything or anybody touch it. I won’t spoil it for you and tell you who’s this supposed to be. :)

The storyline was pretty simple as romances go: the hero is a commitment phobe with a bad childhood, the heroine’s boyfriend left her for her sister. They are attracted to each other but Lucy is understandably leery of starting a relationship with no future and Sam doesn’t want to hurt her. But circumstances bring them together and before you know it, they are involved.

The description gives the impression that the conflict will be centered about a stupid misunderstanding but don’t fear this will be the case. These characters act like adults (at least the ‘good ones’ do) and don’t play silly games. Family plays a big role for both main characters, specially because they’ve both had to deal with the heartbreak and disappointment that only somebody really close to you can inflict. However, the story is light and hopeful. You will definitively not be depressed at the end.

The ‘bad characters’ (Kevin, the cheating boyfriend and Alice, the sister) were a bit two-dimensional. It was difficult to understand why they betrayed Lucy, given the way their relationship unfolded. It just didn’t seem to make sense to go through all the trouble. I have the impression that Alice will be a future heroine (she’s definitely messed up enough) and Ms. Kleypas loves to redeem villains (see Devil in Winter).

This book is the perfect introduction for lovers of paranormal romance who want to try contemporary romance and viceversa. It has enough fantasy to add an extra dimension to the story but not so much that it’s completely unreal. ...more

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Nov 07, 2012 lia rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary-romance

A beautiful story of two people learning to trust and love each other despite their horrendous past.

Lucy had experience the worst betrayal. Her boyfriend Kevin cheated on her with her sister Alice. And worst than that they are planning to get married soon.

Sam Nolan comes from the Nolan family. His parent was a well known drunk and drunk themselves to death but after they succeeded in scarring all their children of love and matrimony. So today he is a confirmed bachelor without ever wanting to ...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Jenifer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, contemporary-romance

I received this book as a winner of the First Reads contest and am so glad that I did!
Rainshadow Road is a light romance novel and I really enjoyed it. The story line is interesting and the writing style was engaging. While the characters seemed a bit predictable, they were still likeable (or disagreeable as the case may be) and were well thought out by the author. The author was able to describe the surroundings in a way that made me feel like I was there in Friday Harbor living right along si ...more

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