Spring Rain by Edie Claire, Julianne MacLean and Mary Campisi

 SPRING RAIN

Blurb:

 Immerse yourself in three full length romantic women’s fiction novels from some of the most beloved authors in the genre – more than 800 pages of emotionally uplifting, heartfelt family drama—where falling in love is only part of the story…

ALASKAN DAWN – By Edie Claire

Overachieving attorney Haley Olson has always done the responsible thing. So when her twin sister Micah needs a surrogate mother, Haley willingly volunteers. Like most feats the capable workaholic attempts, her pregnancy goes perfectly... until the results of prenatal testing threaten to tear Micah’s marriage apart.

Pregnant, overworked, and driven to the end of her rope by the neediness of the sister and widowed mother who depend on her, Haley seeks refuge with a week’s vacation on the Alaskan coast. As she soaks up the serenity of the unexpectedly vast and beautiful wilderness, Haley finds something else she doesn’t expect -- deep feelings for the wildlife-loving boat captain who reminds her how to laugh.

With her unborn niece or nephew on the way and thousands of miles of ocean between their lives and careers, Haley and Ben settle for a friendship. But back home in California, the emptiness in her heart refuses to heal, and when her pregnancy takes a frightening turn Haley must examine what really matters -- and rediscover the childhood dream she never realized she had lost.

THE COLOR OF HEAVEN – by Julianne MacLean

A deeply emotional tale about Sophie Duncan, a successful columnist whose world falls apart after her daughter’s unexpected illness and her husband’s shocking affair. When it seems nothing else could possibly go wrong, her car skids off an icy road and plunges into a frozen lake. There, in the cold dark depths of the water, a profound and extraordinary experience unlocks the surprising secrets from Sophie’s past, and teaches her what it means to truly live...and love.

PULLING HOME – Mary Campisi

It's taken nine years and a cross-country move, but Audra Valentine Wheyton has kept her secrets safe. She's created the perfect life: a husband who loves her, a daughter she adores, and a position as head writer for an award-winning daytime soap. When her husband dies suddenly, Audra returns to her hometown for the funeral and faces a community that has not forgotten her meager beginnings and the man who has never forgiven her for marrying his brother.

Jack Wheyton is a successful pediatric neurosurgeon who is about to become engaged when Audra walks back into his life with her daughter. He forgave his brother long ago for taking something that had been his, something he hadn't even realized he wanted until it was gone. But forgiving Audra is another story...and forgetting her? Near impossible.

When a shattering illness strikes Audra's daughter, she turns to Jack to save her child and risks exposing a secret that will change their lives forever.

 
This is not easy. Usually I read all the books before I rate a bundle but in this case I found that one of the books in this bundle hit a bit too close to home and I just couldn't read it.


Anyway, this is not the book's or rather in this case, the story's fault, as it is well written (otherwise it might have been easier) but cancer and the danger of loosing your child are due to our personal history a bit problematic. We almost lost our daughter a couple of years ago and we've lost too many loved ones to cancer so, well, I couldn't deal with that. Again, this is not due to the book but to my personal history.


Despite my problems with THE COLOR OF HEAVEN by Julianne MacLean, I really enjoyed the other books of the bundle. I loved to feel the chemistry between our hero and our heroine in ALASKAN DAWN by Edie Claire and I loved to see how those two fight for their love and their happiness and how much they are willing to give up for it.

What I also loved about the book was the way it dealt with topics like being a substitute mother and everything that implies. It was great (and hard) to read about the potential of a special needs kid as a result. The respect and the love for a well-loved aunt with a Down Syndrome and the mixed feelings at the idea of having a child with those very special needs - all those are at war and it's not easy to find your way in a situation like that. Well, some of those involved in that little mite that's on the way have more problems with it than others, which results in the substitute mother fleeing to Alaska to get away from all the demands, the worries and the smothering.

Throw in some amazing descriptions of Alaska and nature that almost had me pack my suitcase right then and there, great characters and an interesting plot and you'll know why I was hooked.

Nature is a big part of the book as well, actually, not just due to the main characters' love for it but also in their jobs. On the one hand there's Ben who is working as a captain to show tourists all those amazing whales and other animals, who tries to make them aware of nature's beauty and who also tries to fight for nature, to fight against the corporations polluting the sea - and then there's Haley. Haley who is working for the bad guys, actually.

Take Haley's needy and exhausting family (they made me scream with frustration..) and Ben's very lively, very loving, female-dominated family with his numerous sisters, their different jobs and top that with some real hot chemistry . yup, that's it. Sounds like a good story, doesn't it? And that's exactly what it is.

And then there's is PULLING HOME by Mary Campisi. I have already read several books by Mary Campisi and knew that I really love her books which was one of the reasons why I wanted to read this bundle. Pulling Home was great - and it did need a bunch of handkerchiefs and it was heartbreaking and I was so upset and - it was also very hopeful and sweet and I loved it. I loved to see how Audra got a chance at happiness because I was so upset by the way she was treated by her former neighbours, I hated all this judgement, this hypocrisy and - well, let's the, the brutal ironie of reality when all secrets are revealed. I felt sorry for those whose lives where lost to peoples' mean-spiritedness and I was furious thinking of all those narrow-minded people making other peoples' lives hell. In the end, despite everything that went down and all the bad things that happened, I was just happy to see Audra blossom and start a new life.

So, apart from the one book that was  just not my cup of tea but well written nontheless,  I really enjoyed this bundle and can defintily recommend it. 

★★★★