Title: After The Rain
Author: Lucy Dillon
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 432
Release Date: 17 March 2022
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Hello fellow book lovers and welcome to my stop on The Random Things Tours’ blog tour for Lucy Dillon’s heartwarming new book, After The Rain—a beautifully written and entertaining tale of friendship, family, community,loss and hope.
Also, before I move on to my review I wanted to say a quick thank you to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me on this tour and to the Penguin for the wonderful ARC.
Synopsis
First, the clouds...
Tara Hunter is a therapist on a mission to restore Longhampton's community spirit after catastrophic flooding. But with her boyfriend AWOL, her family fragmented, and only a cat for company, Tara's own life is crumbling.
Then the storm...
On top of everything, Tara's father - last seen as he walked out on her when she was ten years old - is suddenly back, with a surprising offer that could change everything.
And after the rain...
Dr David Dalloway is Longhampton Wellness Centre's new star counsellor. He's charming, caring and has a knack for reading people's minds - which is the last thing Tara needs right now. Will having David and her dad around make for a bigger storm on the horizon? Or is this Tara's chance for a fresh start?
Review
I absolutely loved reading this, the writing was utterly compelling and the characters were both endearingly full of depth. Especially Tara who despite being a therapist, really struggles to open up about her personal issues and conflicting thoughts surrounding her father’s abandonment. I liked her kind, compassionate personality and hardworking demeanour however, her refusal to understand or even empathise with other characters was a little jarring personality wise. Although, I did like Tara’s moments of self awareness with Dillon effortlessly exploring the emotional and lasting effects a divorce can have on some people—I feel it’ll definitely resonate with readers who grew up with divorced or absent parents.
New colleague and pet whisperer David was another character that I really liked and the slowburn friendship/romance brewing between Tara and David was really nice and fairly uplifting,though I really would’ve liked just a bit more romance between the two. Also I absolutely loved a Sybil the cat, who was definitely a whole mood and bore several similarities to one of my own cats so obviously I couldn’t help but love her (and her scathing judgy looks.)
There’s not really anymore I can say about the book without ruining the entire plot but I can say that it’s an absolutely delightful, heartfelt and escapist story that’s perfect book to wile away a lovely weekend with.
Also, a huge thank you to Random Things Tours and Penguin UK for the arc.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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