A review by Dana Taylor
If you’re looking for quality contemporary women’s fiction, open the treasure trove from Barbara Samuel. I picked up this reissue of In the Midnight Rain on Kindle as it hit #1 on a free day, but it is well worth the $3.99 you’ll pay on an ordinary day.
Samuel aka “Ruth Wind” takes us to the South where the blues was born. Ellie Conner is a music biographer on the trail of a blues singer, Mabel Beauvais, who mysteriously disappeared on the cusp of a promising career. Ellie shows up in Mabel’s hometown and begins to stir the skeletons in the closets. She has a few in her own, also.
Dr. Laurence “Blue” Reynard offers her a cottage on his Southern estate and the sparks begin to ignite between them from the moment she opens her car door and steps into the humid summer breeze.
Samuel blends sexual tension, an interesting plot, and well-developed supporting characters with a lyrical way with words. Blue is another satisfying, long-haired Samuel hero–troubled and oh, so gorgeous. Ellie tries to keep him at bay, but when led to temptation, she can’t resist too long.
Samuel writes with an intelligence that belies the common idea that romance is for the simple-minded. Maybe it’s for those of us who love the simple pleasures. Pick up In the Midnight Rain by Barbara Samuel and curl up in your favorite reading corner.
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