The Secret of Rainy Days
-
-
5.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $17.99
-
- $17.99
Publisher Description
Growing up in Erob, Alabama, Nina "Little Bit" Barnes Enloe lived in the shadow of her imposing and harsh grandmother, Nina "Biggie" Barnes Enloe. If she wasn't being bossed around by Biggie, then the task fell to her best friend Win...who did win. At everything. Bit never seemed to share Win's lifetime supply of “lucky dust.” Perhaps the only thing Bit has ever chosen for herself is her friendship with Avery, the out-of-towner who showed up on the saddest day of her life—unpretentious and decidedly un-Southern—with a funeral casserole in hand.
Bit believes she can escape her grandmother’s controlling grip once and for all by moving somewhere where she is the only Nina Enloe listed: New York. Yet her world is turned upside down when an unexpected loss forces her to leave her new life in the city and return to Erob, where she must face everything—and everyone—she left behind. In the process, Bit discovers her true identity, learns the hard lessons of acceptance and forgiveness, finds herself falling in love in unexpected places, and finds comfort in the secrets of rainy days.
Leslie Hooton, author of Before Anyone Else, brings her signature wit and Southern charm to the page again in this triumphant coming-of-age story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the uneven latest Southern inspirational from Hooton (After Everyone Else), a sudden loss forces a young woman to return to her cliquish Alabama hometown, where she must reconsider her idea of "home." Nina "Little Bit" Barnes Enloe grew up in Erob under the shadow of her outspoken grandmother, her namesake, known as Biggie ("I shared her name, and by God, I was going to be a lady according to her rules."). By leaning on her brother and their close circle of friends, Nina made it through the hardships of her father's suicide and her emotionally distant mother before leaving for college and becoming a successful lawyer in New York City. Now, she's returning to collect her inheritance: Biggie's home, granted along with Biggie's wish that Nina live in it, get married, and raise her own family there. While Nina is in no hurry to settle down, she does find herself drawn to her brother's best friend, Carter. The romance between the two develops slowly; it's friendships rather than seduction at the heart of the narrative. While the cast feels realistic and engaging, Nina herself doesn't do much to endear herself to readers and comes across as prickly and quick to find fault in others. Much of the plot, meanwhile, is told through digression, which mutes the emotional through line. There are some big personalities at play here, but as a homecoming story it rings hollow.
