Following the USA Today bestseller, Lost and Found Sisters, comes Rainy Day Friends, Jill Shalvis’ moving story of heart, loss, betrayal, and friendship.
Six months after Lanie Jacobs’ husband’s death, it’s hard to imagine anything could deepen her sense of pain and loss. But then Lanie discovers she isn’t the only one grieving his sudden passing. A serial adulterer, he left behind several other women who, like Lanie, each believe she was his legally wedded wife. Rocked by the infidelity, Lanie is left to grapple with searing questions. How could she be so wrong about a man she thought she knew better than anyone? Will she ever be able to trust another person? Can she even trust herself?
Desperate to make a fresh start, Lanie impulsively takes a job at the family-run Capriotti Winery. At first, she feels like an outsider among the boisterous Capriottis. With no real family of her own, she’s bewildered by how quickly they all take her under their wing and make her feel like she belongs. Especially Mark Capriotti, a gruffly handsome Air Force veteran turned deputy sheriff who manages to wind his way into Lanie’s cold, broken heart—along with the rest of the clan. Everything is finally going well for her, but the arrival of River Green changes all that. The fresh-faced twenty-one-year old seems as sweet as they come…until her dark secrets come to light—secrets that could destroy the new life Lanie’s only just begun to build.
EXCERPT
Chapter 1
Anxiety Girl, able to jump to the worst conclusion in a single bound!
Most of the time Karma was a bitch, but every once in awhile she could be surprisingly nice, even kind. Lanie Jacobs, way past overdue for both of those things, told herself this was her time. Seize the day and all that, and drawing a deep breath, she exited the highway at Wildstone.
The old wild-west California town was nestled in the rolling hills between the Pacific Coast and wine/ranching country. She’d actually grown up not too far from here, though it felt like a lifetime ago. The road was narrow and curvy, and since it’d rained earlier, she added tricky and slick to her growing list of issues. She was already white-knuckling a sharp turn when a kamikaze squirrel darted into her lane, causing her to nearly swerve into oncoming traffic before remembering the rules of country driving.
Never leave your lane; not for weather, animals, or even God himself.
Luckily the squirrel reversed direction, but before she could relax a trio of deer bounded across the road. “Run, Bambi,” she cried, hitting her brakes, and by the skin of their collective teeth, they all missed each other.
Sweating, nerves sizzling like live wires, she finally turned onto Capriotti Lane and parked as she’d been instructed.
It took a moment for her pulse to come down from stroke level. She’d been taught anti-anxiety techniques, but she’d never quite figured out how to make any of them work while in the actual throes of an anxiety attack.
It’s all good she told herself but because she wasn’t buying what she was selling, she had to force herself out of the car like she was a five year old starting kindergarten instead of being thirty and simply facing a brand new job. Given all she’d been through, this should be easy, even fun. But sometimes adulthood felt like the vet’s office and she was the dog excited for the car ride -- only to find out the real destination.
Shaking her head, she strode across the parking lot. It was April, which meant the rolling hills to the east were green and lush and the Pacific Ocean to the west looked like a surfer’s dream, all of it so gorgeous it could’ve been a postcard. A beautiful smoke screen over her not-so-beautiful past. The air was scented like a really expensive sea-and-earth candle, though all Lanie could smell was her forgotten hopes and dreams. With wood chips crunching under her shoes, she headed through the entrance beneath which was a huge wooden sign that read:
Capriotti Winery, from our fields to your table…
Her heart sped up. Nerves, of course, the bane of her existence. But after a very crappy few years, she was changing her path. For once in her godforsaken life, something was going to work out for her. This was going to work out for her.
She was grimly determined.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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REVIEW
Rainy Day Friends by Jill ShalvisMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Title: Rainy Day Friends
Series: Wildstone #2
Author: Jill Shalvis
Release date: June 19, 2018
Cliffhanger: No
It was as if her life had been a fresh painting and then it'd rained, smearing that old life away to nothing but a soggy canvas.
In essence, Capriotti Winery was a small town all on its own where there were no secrets and the gossip mill was alive and well.
They're large, loud, and never give you a minute's privacy. Unfortunately that's one thing that Lanie is desperate to have, especially at this juncture in her life. Her two month job there gives her an opportunity to get away and lick her wounds in the aftermath of losing her husband and discovering his shocking betrayal. I really empathized with her as I grew to understand the cause of her anxiety and sadness. She's the kind of person who internalizes everything, so it helped to be able to get inside her head, because she's as stubborn as a mule about letting people in and allowing herself to be vulnerable. Externally she's friendly but distant, not that Cora or the rest of the family are deterred. If they have anything to say about it, she's going to have a permanent place in their business and their lives.
Cora's son Mark is a single father of two adorable twin girls who's nursing some heavy heartache himself. After his wife decided she wasn't cut out to be a mother, she split town and never looked back. He's been picking up the pieces ever since. He works endless hours trying to make a better life for his girls, and his utter devotion for them was apparent in every word and action. He puts them first in his priorities, in fact, not wanting to even consider a serious relationship again until they're all grown.
Lainey starts to grow attached little by little. Mark's girls have burrowed into her heart when she wasn't looking, Cora has watched over her with an eagle eye, even Uncle Jack's bad jokes have her cracking a reluctant smile. Mark...he's a whole other story. Each of them dance around their attraction for a bit. This felt like a nice slow burn between them, because they weren't even sure that exploring their chemistry was worth the risk. Her time there had an expiration date, and neither was even remotely looking for love.
In the beginning stages of their relationship, I wasn't loving their casual arrangement. It messed with her mind badly, making her wonder once again if she was not enough. First by her parents, and then her cheating husband. But I could see that Mark was scared too, and things changed quickly once he understood her better. He just didn't know how to get through to her and help her see that it was okay for her to put her trust in him.
She'd really thought she'd known everything about him and their relationship, and yet he'd betrayed her. So she no longer believed in her own judgement and other people.
The family was absolutely endearing and it made me a little envious of Lainey as she was welcomed into their fold. River's appearance, and her own path to healing was an interesting addition to the story as it eventually intersected with Lainey's. They both needed to completely let go of the past, because it was holding them back from seeing the promise in their future. Overall, I really enjoyed my time at the winery. You can't go wrong with Jill Shalvis, and this one was no exception. I'd really like to read Holden and River's story as well, they were the absolute sweetest together!
If you're thinking of reading this, jump right in! It's not necessary to read the other full length or novella first.
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