A Gentle Rain

Kara grew up in the Brazilian rainforest with her famous environmentalist parents. The best American finishing schools and Ivy League colleges prepared her for a life among the jet-set but when her parents die, Kara learns she was adopted and sets out to find her birth parents. Her search leads her to the Florida cattle ranch of a handsome cowboy named Ben who has a surprising collection of ranch hands. This wonderful novel is told in "He said-She said" style: Kara and Ben take turns narrating the story. This clever device enables us to know them intimately; they are real, thoughtful people with complicated pasts and loving hearts. We fall in love with the folks at Ben's ranch - his ailing little brother, Kara's mentally-challenged birth parents, even the abused horse, Estrela. The story is fast-paced, full of humor, romance, down-home Florida culture, and some villains you'll love to hate. Nothing is wasted; all the story elements are well-developed and resolved quite satisfactorily. This beautifully-written story is about finding happiness when it's least expected. Heartily recommended.

Deborah Smith writes with imagination that has run amok in this quirky romantic and humorous novel which also has serious undertones that are handled with gentle sensitivity throughout the book. There is an heiress, Kara Whittenhouse whose parents recently died in an airplane accident, after which she learns she is adopted. Her plans are to continue the environmental work at Dos Rios Preserve in the rainforest of Brazil begun by her parents, who were recommended for the Nobel Prize for their work. But now, she wants desperately to learn about her biological or birth parents. She wants to know who they are, why they gave her up for adoption and whether or not she has any brothers or sisters. She was discouraged from this search by Sedge, her parents lawyer. Kara then asked if he knew something awful about them. He replied, "Not something awful but something unexpected." Kara pressed him for what he knew and he replied, "They were mentally retarded." Kara wanted to meet them and learn about what happened ... Kara obtained false identity papers and called herself Karen Johnson a she drove to Jacksonville, FL to discover more about her birth. She bought a used car and planned to live at a motel near Jacksonville, FL in hopes of running into them..As it turned out, her used car broke down and Ben Thocco, a local rancher, came to her rescue. Mac, her birth father, had ended up punching a couple of local bullies, the Pollo brothers who wanted to take ownership of a runaway gray mare which Karen managed to tie up and reign. The gray mare had been bought at auction by Ben's ranch hands, who did not want to see the horse sold and made into dog food. They pooled their money and bought her. The mare was wild, a local breed that had been brought to Florida long ago by Spanish settlers. Later, this horse would be tamed by Karen and win a barrel racing contest against a formidable opponent who opposed Karen's entry into the contest. Through serendipity and black mail, television cameras rolled as her female opponent in the race embarrassed herself before the cameras. Karen ended up living at Ben Thocco's ranch after his worker's met her and she rescued their mare. Her handicapped birth parents worked for Ben. Ben had a brother Joey who was born with Down's Syndrome and also had end-stage heart disease. Ben cared for his brother since he was a teenager. He moved with Joey to Mexico to keep custody of his brothe. Later by chance he became "El Diablo", the star of a television program which was very popular then. After the show was cancelled, he returned to Florida. Ben bought a cattle ranch. He later helped other local handicapped people become independent by hiring them to work on his ranch. Karen became their cook and housekeeper. She learned how Ben needed money to make payments on loans and was being squeezed by a local banker. Karen rescued Ben by arranging through her lawyer to buy the loans via a Whittenhouse corporation - unknown to Ben. When K

Kara was raised by influential and well-to-do nature loving and hippy parents. Using their money and power to help the environment, her parents went against the family grain and made their own path. Hobnobbing with royalty, celebrities, and presidents was just something Kara grew up doing along with roughing it in Brazil and working side by side with all types and classes of people. She had a well rounded upbringing, but growing up she was a little chubby and had a bad stutter, she struggled to keep up with her parents. When her parents die in a plane crash, in her early 30's Kara feels orphaned and alone; that is until she discovers she has another set of parents somewhere at a ranch in Florida. When she comes to the ranch she finds Ben Thocco, ranch owner and all around good guy. He takes care of his little brother and a group of misfit ranch hands he has taken in and made his own. This book is classified as Romance, but to me it was so much more, bigger, deeper, better. This is a story about families, those you are born with and then the families we make. About two people with very different backgrounds but more in common than they know. It's about second chances, hope and a lot of faith. There are so many characters in this book and everyone is worth reading about and getting to know. Ms. Smith created a family out of several very special and unique individuals, each one with their own issues, but each one with a grand heart. I was moved and deeply touched by this story. I fell in love with every character and shared in their happiness and triumphs and cried with their sorrows. Kara's biological parents were my favorite characters. Two people with so many odds stacked against them, so much heartache in their past, but in their childlike innocence, remained hopelessly in love. They were sweet and simple, warm and loving and two of the most endearing characters ever written. I enjoyed every page of this book, it's a truly poignant tale; this Gentle Rain floods the soul. Cherise Everhard, March 2008

A GENTLE RAIN is a wonderful story full of tenderness, love, anger, passion and the generosity of the human spirit. I loved it. The many and varied characters lend a wonderful richness to the story. It touches on so many of our most powerful weaknesses and strengths. I had tears in my eyes and I had murder in my heart more than once, this novel takes you up to the peaks and always, as in life, there is someone ready and able to stick a pin in your balloon. A read you will not easily forget. Kara Whittenbrook is an heiress, her mother and father are dead and as she grieves she finds hidden in an old chest, her adoption papers. All her life she has felt that she did not measure up, but her parents have always told her she exceeds their hopes and love. Now she goes to her Uncle who explains what had happened and why her parents had adopted a child. He also tells her that he knows who her real parents are and that her adopted parents had wanted to tell her but they had died before they felt she was secure in herself to handle it. Ben Thocco is a rancher in Northern Florida, her real parents are Mac and Lily, they work for Ben. Ben's brother Joey has Downs Syndrome, his prognosis is not good. Mac and Lily are retarded, Mac's mother drank during pregnancy and Lily was severely shaken by a man friend of her grandmother. They have never mentioned having a child and Ben does not know about Kara. As a matter of fact most of Ben's hands have special needs, as well as some of his animals. Circumstances bring Karen into Ben's world, this big hearted cowboy, opens his home and loved ones to Karen, but not his past. The past is the one thing he wants to forget and does not talk about. Life has not been good to Ben but he is devoted to Joey and the others who populate his life and ranch. Karen is unsure if she should reveal herself to Mac and Lily, she still doesn't know why they let her go. She finds both to be loving, caring, giving people and falls deeply in love with them and Ben. The story is wonderful, full of ups and downs, but always with a sense of trust in the future. I loved it, I couldn't put it down and I love these people. I live in Southern Georgia and that is not far from the lovely places described in the book. Do not miss this one. I'll bet it wins an award.