The Rain Sparrow
By Linda Goodnight
Publisher: Harlequin HQN
Release Date: February 23, 2016
Carrie Riley is a loving sister, a good friend, and a
compassionate person. She is also a woman filled with fear. She is afraid of
storms, afraid of flying, and afraid of venturing beyond Honey Ridge and her
job as librarian. A single scandalous incident from her past has left her wary
of anything that draws attention to her and of any man to whom she feels an
attraction.
If she ever married, and the jury was still
out on that unlikely event, she wasn’t looking for
tingles. She wanted a friend, a man who would discuss books and work beside her
in charities and hold her through the
storms of life, both figuratively and literally.
Hayden and Carrie meet late one night during a violent
thunderstorm. He is looking for a cup of coffee, and she is hoping to find
someone else in Peach Orchard Inn awakened by the storm. When eleven-year-old
Brody Thomson appears, a fugitive from the storm, they befriend him. Carrie
recognizes him as an after-school regular at the library, and Hayden sees in
the boy a younger version of himself, a battered child who prefers “camping
out” to what awaits him at home. From this point on, the lives of these three
are intertwined. They care about the boy and are soon caught up in the mystery
of Brody’s mother’s disappearance years before. They are caught up too in their
growing feelings for one another, but Hayden believes he can never share his
past with anyone, and he is convinced sweet Carrie deserves better than he can
give her.
Meanwhile, Thaddeus, Josie, and other long-dead characters
and the events at the grist mill loom large and vital in Hayden’s dreams and in
his head. He feels compelled to write their story even though he never expects
to publish it as far removed as it is from the stories that have made him rich
and famous. He and Carrie will be called upon to exhibit the same courage that
characterizes Thaddeus as they confront their own challenges.
Goodnight proved in The
Memory House, one of my favorite books of 2015, that she could blend the
present and the past in a seamless tale that captures the reader’s sympathy and
imagination. She does so again in this second Honey Ridge novel. I was engaged
with all the characters and as eager to see the scarred Thaddeus and angry
Josie find happiness as I was to see wounded Hayden and fearful Carrie conquer
their demons and achieve their HEA. Seeing the main characters from The Memory House, both past and present,
in the midst of their HEAs was a bonus.
In The Rain Sparrow,
Goodnight gives readers another novel that is both historical and contemporary,
both mystery and romance, both intriguing and rewarding. I am eager to see
what’s next in this series, and I give the second book my unqualified
recommendation.
