Bestselling romance author Deborah Smith's latest book, A Gentle Rain, contains an interesting story filled with every cliche that the romance genre brings to mind.Kara Whittenbrook is a down-to-Earth billionaire. She was raised in the rain forests of Brazil by her environmentally responsible parents. At the same time she managed to go to boarding school, earn a degree from Juilliard (in harp performance) and get two master's degrees - library science and world cultures. Oh, and she speaks at least six languages.
When her parents die in a plane crash, she discovers that she is adopted. In order to meet her biological parents, she hides who she is and shows up on the ranch in northern Florida where they live. Kara falls in love with her biological parents and the head of the ranch, Ben Thocco.
Though there are parts of this novel that are interesting, the uses of cliches - like the damsel in distress being saved from a gator (read Dragon) - and the fact that Kara quotes famous authors from Austen to Shakespeare almost as often as she has her own lines left this reader thinking that the author was trying too hard. The plot is interesting, if predictable, but (maybe because I am not a great connoisseur of the romance genre) I think the readers deserve more respect that they are given in A Gentle Rain. Considering Smith has sold over 2.5 million copies of her books, not everyone agrees with my assessment!
Smith, Deborah. (2007). A Gentle Rain. Smyrna, GA: Belle Books.
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