Wait For The Rain & Bridges - Reviews & Giveaway

Reviews by Darcie Czajkowski

Wait for the Rain by Maria Murnane

When Daphne White looks in the mirror, she hardly recognizes her reflection. The dreams she had for her life when she was fresh out of college didn’t pan out as she’d planned. She dreamed of marriage, motherhood, and a career as a writer. While she did get married, she is now divorced, and her ex-husband is about to remarry. Meanwhile, Daphne hasn’t been out on a single date since they split up two years ago. Daphne is also a mother to Emma, but her teenage daughter needs her less than ever these days. And her career? Well, that was pushed to the way side years ago to allow her to devote her time and attention to raising her daughter.

Daphne hasn’t seen her college best friends, KC and Skylar, in a decade. Somewhere along the way of marriage and motherhood, Daphne stopped making the effort to keep in touch. But with her fortieth birthday on the horizon and Emma away with her father, Daphne has the perfect reason to celebrate and no excuse not to get away.

But relaxing on the beach isn’t so easy for Daphne. Her relationships with her friends feel stilted after so many years apart, and Daphne doesn’t know how to open up to them. She fears what they will think of her once they find out that the woman they used to know doesn’t exist. She fears that they will be disappointed in her. And the disappointment Daphne feels in herself is enough of a burden on her shoulders.

Will the magic of Saint Mirika be enough to inject hope into Daphne’s life? Will Daphne be able to summon the courage to share her struggle with her friends? Will she be able to rekindle the motivation inside of herself to pursue her career goal of becoming a writer?

In Wait for the Rain, Maria Murnane explores the value of friendship during difficult times. Everyone needs a support system; that’s what helps us to endure the lows that we all experience. Murnane brings to life common feelings associated with divorce, remarriage, and reentering the dating world. She also raises a poignant question: What do we do – or should we do – when our lives don’t turn out as we expect? Whether you’re turning forty, dealing with a major life change or upheaval, or struggling to reconcile your life vision with reality, Wait for the Rain is a story that will resonate with you.

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Bridges by Maria Murnane

Daphne, Skylar, and KC are back together again in Bridges, the sequel to Wait for the Rain. A lot has changed for these women: Chronic dater Skylar is engaged. Daphne has written a novel. And KC has become a (step)grandmother. Now, the Three Musketeers are back together again in New York to celebrate Skylar’s engagement and help her find the perfect wedding dress.

But, of course, life is never that simple, especially when it comes to these ladies. Normally spunky KC appears tired and withdrawn. Daphne has been rejected by most of the agents she’s submitted her manuscript to. And Skylar is struggling to connect with her soon-to-be stepdaughter.

Will the weekend be a disaster? Will these women be driven apart at a time that should be celebratory? Or will the women find a sense of peace in their respective challenges and a reason to appreciate every phase of life, happy or sad, easy or difficult?

Consistent with Wait for the Rain, Bridges takes the reader on a relatable journey and addresses challenges that most of us face: envying the life of a successful friend, wondering if we will ever find “The One,” and feeling defeated in the pursuit of a goal. This novel encourages the reader to go after what matters most to her in life, to dream big, to never give up, and to never settle for anything less than fireworks. If you enjoy bubbly, breezy stories with happily-ever-afters, then Bridges should be on your summer reading list.

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About the author:

The way Maria became an author is a little crazy. She quit her PR job and went to Argentina by herself for what was supposed to be a two-week trip. Instead, she ended up staying for a year to play soccer for one of the most famous soccer clubs in the world (River Plate). While down there she also decided to write a humorous novel called Perfect on Paper based on her experiences as a single woman in San Francisco. Fast forward a few years, and she’s now the best-selling author of the Waverly Bryson series (Perfect on Paper, It's a Waverly Life, Honey on Your Mind, and Chocolate for Two, which received a starred review in Publishers Weekly), as well as International Book Award winner Cassidy Lane, Katwalk, Wait for the Rain, and Bridges.

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Beach House for Rent - Pub Day Giveaway

When Cara Rutledge rents out her quaint beach house on Isle of Palms to Heather Wyatt for the entire summer, it’s a win-win by any standard: Cara’s generating income necessary to keep husband Brett’s ecotourism boat business afloat, and anxiety-prone Heather, an young artist who’s been given a commission to paint birds on postage stamps, has a quiet space in which to work and tend to her pet canaries uninterrupted.

It isn’t long, however, before both women’s idyllic summers are altered irrevocably: the alluring shorebirds—and the man who rescues them—begin to draw Heather out of the shell she’s cultivated toward a world of adventure, and maybe even love; at the same time, Cara’s life reels with sudden tragedy, and she wishes only to return to the beach house that had once been her port amidst life’s storms. When Heather refuses to budge from her newfound sanctuary, so begins the unlikeliest of rooming situations. While they start out as strangers, as everything around the women falls apart they learn that the only thing they can really rely on is each other.

And, like the migrating shorebirds that come to the island for the summer, these two women of different generations must rediscover their unique strengths so by summer’s end they, too, can take flight in ways they never imagined possible.

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About the author:

Mary Alice Monroe is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels, including The Summer Girls, The Summer Wind, The Summer’s End, Last Light Over Carolina, Time Is a River, Sweetgrass, Skyward, The Beach House, Beach House Memories, Swimming Lessons, The Four Seasons, and The Book Club. Her books have received numerous awards, including the 2008 South Carolina Center for the Book Award for Writing, the 2014 South Carolina Award for Literary Excellence, the 2015 SW Florida Author of Distinction Award, the RT Lifetime Achievement Award, and the International Book Award for Green Fiction. An active conservationist, she lives in the lowcountry of South Carolina.

  

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Summer Dance - Giveaway

When Liam Tate was seven years old, his uncle Cooper opened his heart and his Nantucket home to him. In the intervening decades, Liam has found both love and loss on the island, and since learning of his son Levi’s existence, a new kind of happiness. Yet one piece of his family history remains elusive—the long-ago romance between his uncle and Sally Adams. Now Sally has a revelation that sets the whole town abuzz: She’s publishing a book about what happened during the summer when she and Cooper first met, painting a picture so vivid it feels like yesterday . . .

In 1969, Winston Ellis Cooper III lands on Nantucket with only a duffel bag and a bottle of Jack Daniels. He finds a sparsely furnished beach cottage, about as far from Vietnam as he can get. But even here, Cooper can’t withdraw from the world entirely. Especially once his eyes meet Sally’s in the flickering lights of a summer dance. The effects of that fiery affair can still be felt decades later. And as the story unfolds, there are new lessons for all to learn about life’s triumphs and heartaches, and about loving enough to let go.

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About the author:

Nan Rossiter was born in Mount Vernon, New York. She grew up in Pelham, New York, and in Barkhamsted, Connecticut. From a young age she loved to draw. After high school, she attended Rhode Island School of Design and graduated with a BFA in illustration.
 
After working in the freelance field and creating art for internationally recognized companies such as Viking, MasterCard, and UPS, Nan began writing and illustrating books for children. She is the author-illustrator of several children’s books, including, most recently, The Fo’c’sle: Henry Beston’s "Outermost House".
 
Nan lives in rural Connecticut with her husband and two handsome sons. When she’s not working, she enjoys hiking with her family or reading a good book. 

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