Book Description:
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?
Narelle’s Thoughts:
After the Rain is Brandy Bruce’s highly anticipated sequel to The Last Summer. A brilliant standalone novel that will tug on your heart strings and inspire you to cheer for Debra.
I do recommend reading The Last Summer first. The opening scene in After the Rain will hit you harder with more emotional impact if you’ve experienced what happened to Debra Hart in The Last Summer. From the opening line in After the Rain, you’ll immediately empathise with Debra and her situation.
After the Rain is Debra’s story, written in first person point of view. Life is unfair and Debra has learned this universal truth the hard way. She has left Texas behind and moved to Denver to start a new life. She was devastated by her recent breakup with her boyfriend, Luke. He dumped Debra and started dating Sara, her now ex-best friend. Luke and Sara’s betrayal cut deep, and Debra has a new wariness around people. She fears being hurt and rejected.
The difficult breakup precipitated a faith crisis in Debra’s life. She’s determined to protect her bruised and lonely heart from a God who she believes has abandoned her. Debra has walked away from God and the church. Her previous love for music and singing worship songs is dead. She’s not hearing the music anymore.
Debra is lonely and she misses hanging out with her perfect circle of close friends in Houston. She resents being the one who had to leave. Luke and Sara have won, and she’s left on her own to pick up the pieces.
Debra co-hosts a morning radio show in Denver, and her bitterness over the breakup leads her to create the radio persona ‘Miss Lonely Heart’. Debra takes calls from listeners with her co-host, Andy, and she dishes out relationship advice.
Paige is Debra’s one and only friend in Denver. At the start of the story, Paige convinces Debra to go out with her and her friends to see a local band.
Ben Price is the lead singer of the band and the worship pastor at Paige’s church. He was born to be a rock star. Debra is captivated by Ben’s performance on stage and she’s drawn to him, despite all of her emotional baggage. His incredible voice reaches out to Debra, touching that vulnerable place deep inside.
Ben has secrets of his own. We experience Debra’s intense emotional highs and lows as Ben challenges her to take risks and tear down the fortress around her heart.
A fun and compelling romance develops between Debra and Ben in the gorgeous Colorado mountain setting. Their relationship inspires both of them to question their priorities and chase their dreams. We journey with Debra on her roller coaster ride to overcoming her fears and opening her heart to faith and love and new adventures.
I loved reading After the Rain. I read it quickly because I had to keep turning the page to see what would happen next. I highly recommend After the Rain to readers who are looking for a fun and engaging romance with deep emotional layers that will challenge them to consider the big questions in life.
Many thanks to Brandy Bruce for providing an advanced reader copy.
After the Rain is available at Amazon Kindle.
