Book Review: The Scent of Rain by Kristin Billerbeck
Hey look! More review week! Coming up later this week… Dee Henderson’s long awaited Full Disclosure and a couple others you’ll have to wait to find out ;).
Could it be that the life Daphne’s always wanted is right under her nose?
Daphne Sweeten left Paris—and a job she loved—to marry the man of her dreams in the U.S. But when he stands her up on their wedding day, she’s left reeling and senseless. Literally. She’s been trained as a perfume creator and now her sense of smell has disappeared along with her fiancé.
She has to figure out why her nose isn’t working, fix it, and get back to Paris. Meanwhile, she’ll rely on her chemistry skills and just hope her new boss at Gibraltar Products, Jesse, doesn’t notice her failing senses. They’ll be working together on household fragrances, not posh perfumes. How hard can it be?
As Daphne and Jesse work on a signature scent for their new line, she feels God at work as never before. And the promise of what’s possible is as fresh as the scent of rain.
I’ve read one or two of Billerbeck’s books before [I particularly enjoyed A Billion Reasons Why] and jumped at the chance to review this one.
I love the smell of rain. Whenever I buy candles for myself, they’re almost always some variety of water. If I can’t get “rain fresh”, I get Waterfall or Brookside or some other variation on a fresh water scent. /sigh/ Love.
I loved both of the main characters. I identified with parts of both of them though I didn’t always fully understand the intricacies of the scent business. It was fairly easy to take Ms. Billerbeck’s word for it and move on ;). Plus I did learn something.
The romance went at just the right pace as did the plot about Daphne’s ex trying to steal her perfume. The end seemed a tad rushed to me [but a lot of romance endings do – I always want *more*].
In the end, Ms. Billerbeck creates flawed, human characters who do their best in difficult circumstances, who learn to trust God and have that trust rewarded by an ever-faithful Father.
I look forward to Ms. Billerbeck’s next offering and just may keep an eye out for a paper copy of this one for my keeper shelf.
Overall rating: 8.5 out of 10