Rainy Day Friends by Jill Shalvis – Blog Tour and Book Review

It’s that time of year – when everyone is looking for the perfect beach read. Rainy Day Friends by Jill Shalvis certainly fills the bill. I thank TLC Book Tours for sending me a copy at no charge for my honest review.

About Rainy Day Friends:

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (June 19, 2018)

Following the USA Today bestseller, Lost and Found Sisters, comes Rainy Day Friends, Jill Shalvis’ moving story of heart, loss, betrayal, and friendship.

Six months after Lanie Jacobs’ husband’s death, it’s hard to imagine anything could deepen her sense of pain and loss. But then Lanie discovers she isn’t the only one grieving his sudden passing. A serial adulterer, he left behind several other women who, like Lanie, each believe she was his legally wedded wife.

Rocked by the infidelity, Lanie is left to grapple with searing questions. How could she be so wrong about a man she thought she knew better than anyone? Will she ever be able to trust another person?  Can she even trust herself?

Desperate to make a fresh start, Lanie impulsively takes a job at the family-run Capriotti Winery. At first, she feels like an outsider among the boisterous Capriottis. With no real family of her own, she’s bewildered by how quickly they all take her under their wing and make her feel like she belongs. Especially Mark Capriotti, a gruffly handsome Air Force veteran turned deputy sheriff who manages to wind his way into Lanie’s cold, broken heart—along with the rest of the clan.

Everything is finally going well for her, but the arrival of River Green changes all that. The fresh-faced twenty-one-year old seems as sweet as they come…until her dark secrets come to light—secrets that could destroy the new life Lanie’s only just begun to build.

Rainy Day Friends can be purchased at Harper Collins

About the Author:

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jill Shalvis is the award winning author of over three dozen romance novels. Visit www.jillshalvis.com for a complete book list and a daily blog chronicling her I-Love-Lucy attempts at having it all; the writing, the kids, a life …

Find out more about Jill at her website, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

My Opinion:

Imagine your husband dying and then several other women showing claiming they were his wives. Well, that is what happened to Lanie. She thought she had a typical marriage – OK one maybe where she was happy when he was away but she had no idea he was away because he had an addiction to marrying other women. For some reason that baffled my understanding these women seem to blame Lanie – whom he married first – for his predilection for bigamy. As if she knew and or could control him

That is only one of my problems with the book but I will get in to what I liked. It was a fast, easy read as you would expect. The women are all beautiful and the men are all gorgeous. This is escapist reading at its finest. Lanie hies it out of town to “find herself” by accepting a short term contract as a graphic designer at a family owned winery. The Capriottis are the family we all wish we had and worked for – in other words they are fictional characters. They were a joy to read. They give hope to anyone living in a crappy family.

Lanie, who has sworn off love. Love but not sex meets the Capriotti son Mark who has sworn off love for reasons of his own. Love but not sex, so you can imagine what happens between these two.

River is a pregnant young woman. living in her car who stumbles into the winery with an ulterior motive but she too is sucked into the Capriotti orbit. As her story unfolds and her connection to Lanie is revealed it threatens a burgeoning peace that Lanie was starting to feel.

OK – what I didn’t like. I for the life of me didn’t understand why Lanie felt so burdened by her idiot dead husband’s actions. Why she felt it was her fault. So much of the plot rested on this and I just didn’t get it. I also didn’t get the other women hating on her for his idiocy. I am also not personally someone who wallows so I don’t get people who wallow. Get a grip, move on. Life sucks sometimes. Sometimes really badly.

All in all I was entertained for an afternoon but also equally frustrated.

Rating:

3.5

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