When the Rain Ends

 This is the first I have read of this author and wondered why I'd selected it.  Paperback, published in 2023 it is  326 pages.  Took until about page 120 to get my interest.  Surprised me that I kept on reading but it is light and easy reading.  It turned out to be nicely written, a decent story about grief, trials, trying to start over and romance.  It is how one woman divorced with a teen daughter is slowly going to lose her vision.  But Dani, the mother, has backbone and is one who will not wallow but gird herself and go forward..  Dani is very accustomed to cloaking her feelings and giving  the impression that everything is fine.  She dresses up, and goes forth. Pg. 194, "Even alone, she kept her shoulders back.  Posture affects attitude and as an added bonus made the clothes hang better."  That technique is so like me.  

But when her ex husband and father of  daughter, Bella, dies suddenly in an accident life has turmoil.  Bella t internalizes her grief and  mimics  her mothers way of not showing feelings.  Like mother like daughter.  Dani keeps her vision loss secret from all but her father and brother.  She runs a successful art gallery off the outer banks but decides to move inland and away,  She bought an old farm with silos and has hired a contractor known to the realtor to renovate it.  She plans to renovate the silos into a different art gallery where tourists will stop on their way to and from. . This uproots Bella from her friends and routine. 

Dani has become involved with her contractor, Jackson, but has kept the relationship a secret.  She herself is unsure.  Jackson has his own load of grief.  

Page 52, "Her mind lingered in the odd space between awake and asleep where  dreams and worries flourished."  

Pg 181, "She had  few memories but the precious few were crisp and sharp honed to a fine tip.  But memory was a tricky thing.  It changed with time, emotions and experience like the beach did with the tides."

Pg. 187, " Time.  For a long time, he'd resented the long lonely years stretching out in front of him.  Then he'd  stopped resenting the future and started searching for moments in the present.  Do not squander time, It is the stuff life is made of.,"

Pages 200-201 "..grief bubbled under the surface.  But that's what grief did.  It was patient, always lurking in the shadows, ready  to spoil a happy moment , sour a day or prompt unexpected tears." 

Pg 305, "Does it ever get better?     It never goes away.  Most days it does lose its edge.  But every so often when you least expect it grief cuts.  And maybe that's not so terrible.  The jab is a reminder that you loved her very much."

Pg 307, "Her life wasn't perfect.  Certainly not the one she'd envisioned as a kit.  But it was the one she had.,  And she would make the best of it.  Somehow., "     Another  quote that is so me.  

Pg 320. " Grief has a way of feeding off of other emotions so it's easier not to feel anything."  

Back cover

Over all I give this novel almost 4 ****.  It  did finally catch my interest and  yet it is not the kind of book I'd normally read.