Sheltering Rain

I read Me Before You and needed more! Loved every character In that one. Sheltering Rain is not the same. The characters are not as strong and endearing. Confusing at times. Will try something else.

Three generations of women--mothers and daughters--are the core characters in Sheltering Rain; we join the first of them in 1953, in Hong Kong, where young Joy and her best friend Stella are waiting to listen to the coronation ceremony of Elizabeth II. On that same day, Joy meets a young man, a naval officer, named Edward Ballantyne, and before the day is out, the two have pledged themselves to one another.

Leaping forward to 1997, in Ireland, we first meet Sabine Ballantyne, Joy and Edward's granddaughter, aged sixteen and eager to put distance between herself and her mother Kate. We experience both Kate and the grandparents through Sabine's eyes, as the teenager flails against her mother's choices, while also finding her grandparents' rules and regulations unbearable. She reaches out to the men who work with the horses, and soon finds solace in riding.

The story unfolds slowly, moving back and forth through time, until we begin to see how the secrets, betrayals, and pain of the past have affected each of them. Will they find a way to work through their differences? How will discovering what was hidden in the past help them in the present?

The author brings the reader right into the Irish countryside, into the pubs, and shows us the emotional terrain of the characters' lives in very satisfying ways.

At one point or another, I found each of the characters frustrating. I liked that we began with Joy, as meeting her first through Sabine's eyes would have made her unlikable. And understanding Sabine from her own perspective made it possible to overlook her rudeness and lashing out when we saw her through Kate's eyes. However, I found it difficult to like Sabine, even understanding her point of view. Her self-absorption is probably typical for someone her age, but she seemed to go out of her way to be cruel to her mother.

Kate is the character in the middle, in a sense, sandwiched between a disapproving mother and a rebellious daughter. But as she begins to search through her past mistakes and learn from them, we see hope for them all. In the end, the climactic events bring closure and a sense of connection. 4.0 stars.

I liked it because of the different relationships presented and the way it talked about each equation and background and how it all came together at the end. More real life, not just a romantic story. I would recommend it to anyone looking to more depth in fiction.

I love reading JoJo Moyes books and decided to read some of her earlier books like this one. I found this book as captivating and engaging in terms of character development and story line but it did move slower until the middle of the book. With that said, I still liked this book a lot as the characters were quite varied which made them even more interesting and the end was a bit surprising but pure JoJo Moyes as love means so many different things. I highly recommend this book but liked some other JoJo Moyes books just a bit better!

An element of surprise sets this novel apart. Just when you are chugging along steadily, your world is turned upside down, when the character you thought you knew is not who she appeared to be. Then it's a wild roller coaster on the Welch coast, very exciting and full of intrigue. Also topical, with domestic violence being the focus both now and in the story. Sensitively written, as we have come to expect, a delightful and gripping read.