Book Details
Rain Dance (Tulsa Thunderbirds #5) by Catherine Gayle
Published by: Night Shift Publishing
Publication date: September 28th 2017
Genres: Sport, Romance
He’s in a drought. No rain. No goals. No women.
She has what it takes to quench his thirst.
Ethan Higgins, a defenseman for the Tulsa Thunderbirds, is in a rut. He hasn’t scored a goal in ages, and he hasn’t had a woman in his bed for even longer. The only thing in his favor is that he gets to spend time with his son when the T-Birds play at home on the weekends. Determined to be nothing like his abusive father, Ethan sets out to show his son how a real man behaves, and Natalie Turner gives him the perfect opportunity to do so.
Natalie has nowhere to turn when her boyfriend gets physical with her, this time in public—at least not until Ethan steps in to offer her a safe place to stay. Wary of trusting anyone, especially another hockey player, and even more so one as rough and tough as Ethan, Natalie attempts to resist the lure she feels toward the protective man. When Ethan’s son does a Rain Dance, the skies open up. But will soaking their hardened and cracked hearts be enough to end the drought?
**Trigger Warning**. Yes. There is a trigger warning in the synopsis, but I think that it bears repeating in this review. The opening chapters are very explicit and not an easy read. The domestic violence and sexual abuse are dealt with in painful detail. Please be aware of this if you choose to read this book.
And what a book! Honestly, this is one of the most powerful and emotive stories I have read from this author for a while. Yes, of course, the course of recovery is probably smoothed over for the purposes of fiction, but I really don’t think that detracts from the strength of the story, the depth of the characters or the message of hope which shines strongly from the narrative. No part of the story was sacrificed for the message, and that made for a great read.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.
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Catherine Gayle is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary hockey romance and Regency-set historical romance. She’s a transplanted Texan living in North Carolina with two extremely spoiled felines. In her spare time, she watches way too much hockey and reality TV, plans fun things to do for the Nephew Monster’s next visit, and performs experiments in the kitchen which are rarely toxic.
If you want to know more, be sure to sign up for Catherine’s mailing list. She can also be found at Hockey Romance, at Facebook, on Twitter, and at Goodreads. If you want to see some of her cats’ antics and possibly the occasional video update from Catherine, visit her YouTube account.
A bit more about Catherine- She doesn’t function without coffee. Two cups, every day, no matter what.
- She freely admits to her crazy cat lady status. She just wishes they would all stay kittens forever. Kittens are fun; cats are sometimes fun but often fickle.
- Her go-to writing snack? Orange gummy bears. Yes, just the orange ones. Yes, she knows it’s bad. These are especially important when she gets to those crying-and-writing moments.
- She’s an introvert and quite possibly a hermit. If you were to arrive at her house unnanounced, you might have to wait on the porch while she gets dressed. Working in PJs is awesome.
- She never learned to ride a bike, and she’s content to remain ignorant on that matter.
