Pause for Tales: Review and Giveaway: After the Rain by Brandy Bruce

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Review and Giveaway: After the Rain by Brandy Bruce

About the Book

Series: Sequel to The Last Summer
Genre: Adult, Christian, Contemporary, Fiction, Inspirational, Romance
Publisher: Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas
Publication date: February 4, 2019

Debra Hart is moving on. Maybe. Hopefully. One day.

As a radio show host, Debra spends her mornings as Miss Lonely Heart on air, empathizing with all the broken hearts in the Denver metro area. She spends her evenings watching old musicals and trying not to think about the guy who broke up with her and subsequently fell in love with one of her best friends. Alone in a new city, Debra questions where she belongs and who she is now.

When she stumbles into the indie music scene, Debra meets singer Ben Price. Rock star appeal, with a day job as a worship pastor, Ben is everything Debra wants to avoid. But he’s determined to be her friend, and it so happens she could really use one. Because try as she might, nothing seems to erase the anger and betrayal she feels.

It’s time for a new dream. But how does she start over when she doesn’t even know what she wants anymore?

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About the Author

Brandy Bruce is a mom to three kids, a wife, a writer, a book editor, and someone who really loves dessert. She and her family make their home in the beautiful state of Virginia.

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My Thoughts

I have been looking forward to this book since I found out there would be a sequel to The Last Summer. I will admit that Debra was not a favorite character of mine from the last book. She was too bubbly and happy and more importantly she was standing in the way of Luke and Sara’s happiness. So needless to say, she was not a character I had grown close too. However at the end of the last book and the meltdown she had, I began to feel for her.

After the Rain is Debra’s story, and wow! What a story it was. I think I like it even better than the The Last Summer. Eight or so months later Debra has moved on literally, from Texas to Colorado and has found a new job as a radio talk show host. But she is very unhappy, still angry, hurt, bitter and lonely. Getting inside of Debra’s head made me really feel for her, even though I felt she held on to the hurt for too long, I understood. She was deeply wounded, her dreams were crushed. She was heartbroken and the hurt went deep enough to shake her faith.

Enter Ben, worship leader and rock band member, who sees Debra as someone he would like to get to know better. He was so patient and loving to her it made me want to cry. These two certainly had some ups and downs in their relationship and Ben has a rough back story as well. I was so glad that Ben did not give up on Debra and continued to pursue her even when his own heart was breaking.

This was an emotional, uplifting, romantic read and I am so glad that I have had a chance to read author Bruce’s work. I cannot wait for more from her pen, maybe even more about these friends.

I received a copy of this novel from the author. I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions are my own.