The Rain Trilogy by B.B. Easton

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Title: Praying for Rain
Author: B.B. Easton
Series: The Rain Trilogy #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: April 11, 2019
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 224
Genres: Apocalyptic, Romance, Dystopian
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »Violence « Hide Spoiler
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Reading Assignment Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER With Friends
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

“None of this matters, and we’re all going to die.”

With only three days left until the predicted apocalypse, the small town of Franklin Springs, Georgia, has become a wasteland of abandoned cars, abandoned homes, abandoned businesses, and abandoned people. People like Rainbow Williams.

Rain isn’t afraid of dying. In fact, she’s looking forward to it. If she can just outrun her pain until April 23, she’ll never have to feel it at all.

“Supplies. Shelter. Self-defense.”

Wes Parker has survived every horrible thing this life has thrown at him with nothing more than his resourcefulness and disarming good looks. Why should the end of the world be any different? All he needs are some basic supplies, shelter, and a sucker willing to help him out, which is exactly what he finds when he returns to his hometown of Franklin Springs.

As society crumbles, dangers mount, and secrets refuse to stay buried, two lost souls are thrust together in a twist of fate—one who will do anything to survive and one who can’t wait to die.

Perhaps, together, they can learn how to live.

Before their time runs out.

My Review:

4 stars — Well, that was a super intriguing premise, though really dark and disturbing as well.

Rain and Wes go through a LOT.  I was intrigued by what was going on with Rain, but I also started to lose patience when it took so long to get answers.  I think I was anticipating Rain’s trauma to be more one thing, and it turned out to be something else.  I have a habit of doing that, imagining only one kind of trauma and forgetting all the other things that can fuck a person up.

Rain felt a lot younger than just 19, but sometimes I think that’s because books give us unrealistic expectations of 19 year olds…especially given that life as she knew it went off course when she was 18, and she didn’t really have a chance to grow into that next stage of life.  I was torn between loving how much she cared about Wes, and feeling like it was surface and just her clinging to someone to care for….it felt a bit shallow.  But I think it will grow more realistic as time goes on.

I got frustrated with Wes as well, because we only get hints of what he went through growing up, so his aversion to being cared for was initially offputting.  As time went on it fit more, especially when we got glimpses of what happened with Lily.

The whole end of the world scheme was fascinating, and I can’t help but wonder what would really happen in those circumstances…I think it wouldn’t be quite that bad, but worse than I would hope it would be. I loved finding out what the reveal was, it was a twist I wasn’t expecting!  I anticipated that it wasn’t what people thought, but not what it actually was.  Fascinating.

I was slower to connect with Rain and Wes, and their chemistry, but that didn’t stop me from feeling for them from time to time.  I have a feeling that my connection with them will only continue to grow.

It was a strange dichotomy with these characters that felt so much younger than they actually were, vs some very adult situations and interactions.  It definitely kept me on my toes, and is not what I necessarily gravitate towards…had a bit of a dark feel, but not full dark.

I’m definitely interested enough to want to know where it’s going from here, and to get to know our characters even better.

PLEASE NOTE: the reviews for the next 2 books below will likely be at least slightly spoilery for book 1.

Title: Fighting for Rain
Author: B.B. Easton
Series: The Rain Trilogy #2
Published by: Indie
Release Date: January 16, 2020
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 185
Genres: Post-Apocalyptic, Romance, Dystopian
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »Violence « Hide Spoiler
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 New Release Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

The world was supposed to end on April 23, but Rainbow Williams’s world ended days before that. The mass hysteria caused by the impending apocalypse claimed everything she’d ever loved. Her family. Her city. Her will to live.

Until she met him.

Wes Parker didn’t have anything left for the apocalypse to take … he’d already lost it all by the time he was nine years old. His family. His home. His hope of ever being loved.

Until he met her.

Brought together by fate and bound by a love that would last lifetimes, Rain and Wes were prepared to die together on April 23.

They were not prepared for what would happen on April 24.

My Review:

3.5 stars — This was an entertaining ride as well, but I think I had a harder time suspending my disbelief in this one.  Especially with the additional reveals we get in this one about who was behind it all and the motivations.  There were so many things that just didn’t feel believable to me.  But perhaps we will find out even more in the last book that will put those things in perspective.  Or perhaps I just have too much skepticism.

I was a bit bummed that Wes hadn’t grown as much as I wanted him to (and as I thought he had in book 1).  He really let me down in this one, and his actions felt a bit cliche and repetitive.  Though, honestly?  Rain hadn’t grown as much either, but at least I felt a bit more for her and understood her setback a bit more.

I was surprised at the turn it took so quickly into this book, I had been hoping for it to go a different way.  I’m not sure how I feel about the whole Q situation.  I can’t help but wonder how she maintains that power.

The ending also had me going, wait what?  I mean, I sort of saw some things, but then others I was like “are you bluffing or what?”  Again, skepticism reared its ugly head.

So yeah.  I was initially going to round up, but I was explaining my thoughts to my hubby and now I’m leaning more towards rounding down.  I’m still very much enjoying myself, but book 3 has its work cut out for it to bring me back on board.

And I *still* feel like they act much younger.  I think I would have been more okay with it if they’d both been 19-20.  I guess I have to keep remembering that Wes is probably emotionally stunted because of the way he grew up…they both sort of were.  I keep wanting a teeny bit more details and explanations.

Title: Dying for Rain
Author: B.B. Easton
Series: The Rain Trilogy #3
Published by: Indie
Release Date: January 30, 2020
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 242
Genres: Post-Apocalyptic, Romance, Dystopian
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 New Release Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

What could be worse than knowing the exact day the world is going to end?

Waking up to find out that it didn’t.

The post–April 23 world is a lawless, senseless, ruthless place, but it’s not loveless. At least, not for Rain and Wes.

But when the government begins holding daily televised executions as a demonstration of their power, that love is put to the ultimate test.

Will Rain sacrifice one life to save the others?

Or sacrifice the others to save the one?

My Review:

3.5 stars — It was a fun ride, for sure, but I still had a hard time suspending my disbelief.  There were so many examples of evil people, not nearly enough kind people to compensate.  It made the ending harder to believe somehow…it just wrapped up super conveniently.

And honestly, while I liked both Rain and Wes, and definitely felt for a lot of what they were going through, I wasn’t in love with either of them…or even their relationship with one another.  *shrugs*  I just had a hard time connecting with them.  I think it’s the same reason I don’t gravitate towards MC books and the like — I’m just meh on people with questionable morals/tempers/etc.