Review: After the Rain by Karen White

Suzanne is simultaneously running from and towards her past when she impulsively gets off a bus in tiny Walton, Georgia. An old locket of her mother's is engraved with a jeweler in Walton's name and it is this that determines her to stay put, at least for a while, in this town so small there's not even a hotel where she can rent a room anonymously. Instead, she ends up renting an old Victorian house and sliding into the life of the town and the people in it. Mayor Joe Warner is a widower with six children whose first impression of Suzanne is not a good one. She doesn't seem to like dogs or children. But despite their rocky start and the fear (Suzanne) and sadness (Joe) in their pasts, they start to forge a connection that even Joe's kids are okay with. Add Joe's re-election campaign and the underhanded dirt bag he's running against, the mystery of Suzanne's mother's locket, and Suzanne's abusive ex to the plot lines and you've rounded out the book.

This is apparently the second book about Walton, Georgia but it stands alone just fine (and I should know, not having read the first). I generally shy away from romances with children in them because the kids take up too much of the storyline and while that wasn't entirely the case here, it did intrude as Suzanne had to develop relationships with at least a couple of Joe's children. I also find that the presence of children in romances tends to cut the sexual tension and that again seems to be the case here. It may be "real world" in its portrayal but since I look to romances for escapism, that doesn't make me a happy reader. While I was reading, the book was fine but in all honesty, I didn't remember much about it once I'd closed the last page. Mostly this is a gentle sort of romance and people who like their stories on the sweet side will appreciate this one more than those who like their stories on the sexy side.