In the Midnight Rain

Hadn't even heard of Ruth Wind before but halfway thru this book I'm looking for other books of hers. All the ones listed seem to be either much lighter in nature or out of print. She's a terrific writer with an ability to draw you into her characters' feelings and to the atmosphere. I hope she writes another "real" book.

All I can say is "Wow!" I finished this book with tears streaming down my face. Ruth Wind makes every word of this story sing. I felt the rain on my face, I tasted the buttery crunch of sweet corn on the cob and most of all, I felt every emotion that Blue Reynard and his Ellie experienced as they were falling in love. When you add a tantalizing mystery and the story of a woman discovering herself by discovering her past, you end up with an irresistible and empowering piece of women's fiction. It takes incredible skill to blend growing orchids and Vietnam and race relations and romance, but Ruth Wind makes it look effortless. I'm off to the Romance Writers of America site to vote for this brilliant and touching book as Favorite Book of the Year.

I am one of those people who never pays any attention to "category" romances - just breeze right by them--so this book was my first exposure to Ruth Wind. Boy, have I been missing out! She is a fabulous writer, with the ability to wrap a location around you, people it with believable characters, and even give you a sound track to go with it. I devoured this book in two days, with the house practically falling down around me, but I couldn't stop until I had all the answers. I loved the characters--small town, but not cliches or caricatures, and I loved Pine Bend, with it's heat and its food, it's sorrows and its secrets. I can't get enough of Pine Bend, and I can't get enough of Ruth Wind. Anyone who is getting tired of romantic suspense, or who wants something a little more in-depth and darker-edged than Krentz or Roberts, look no further.

Biographer Ellie Connor sees an opportunity to provide personal comfort to herself while researching the life of blues singer Mabel Beauvais. Ellie heads to Pine Bend, Texas where Mabel simply vanished while on the verge of superstardom. Over three decades ago, her mother became pregnant in the town, but never revealed the identity of Ellie's father.Ellie stays at the home of attractive widower Blue Reynard, an individual she met via E-mail. As Ellie makes inquiries into the life and disappearance of Mabel, she hesitates about searching for her own roots even though she knows she needs closure. Even more stirring to her already over-boiling emotions, Ellie and Blue begin to fall in love. She is not sure she can deal with her feelings for him and her search for her father while he has never recovered from the death of his first wife.IN THE MIDNIGHT RAIN is a poignant contemporary romance that shows how talented an author Ruth Wind is. The gut-wrenching tale will evoke strong emotions from the audience, who will want Ellie to find what she truly seeks. The charcaters are complex as they demonstrate how complicated modern day relationships have become even between two people. In her mainstream debut, Ms. Wind blows away much of the competition with a remarkable rousing drama that touches the inner soul of the reader.Harriet Klausner

Ellie and Blue have been internet writting buddies for a year. Ellie is a biographer, interested in Mabel Beauvais, a blues singer of the fifties/sixties who walked away from her fame. Blue, Dr. Reynard with a PhD in Botany, offers the cottage on his property as a center for Ellie's investigation into Mabel's life. Blue lives in Mabel's home town which offers a treasure trove of information as to who this wonderful blues singer was and what might have happened to her. Ellie (real name Velvet Sunset) is on a parallel quest, to find her unknown father. Yet this summer will give her the chance to discover more about herself than about Mabel or the missing man who fathered her. For Blue, meeting Ellie breaks down walls of protection errected around his life;One filled with loss of his parents, early and his wife five years ago. Driven by the relationship building between these finely carved characters, Ruth Wind has fashioned a deep, pulsating love story. With the background of sultery southern nights, a forest of orchids, the warmth of great blues music and emerging passion between two great romance characters, this book is a must read for everyone. If you love character driven story lines, self discovery, and deep devotion this is your kind of story. Great tale of love, lost, found and held on to. DON'T MISS THIS ONE!