Falling for Rain by Susan Laine is an old-fashioned romance between a young tax attorney, Matt Wetherton and Rain Devereaux, a lovely, effeminate jazz lounge singer. Matt and Rain meet under frightful circumstances-- a group of drunk and angry young men are bashing Rain in an alley and Matt comes to the rescue.

The attraction between these two very different men is fiery and immediate. Matt likes Rain's beautiful feminism and soulful singing voice. Rain, on the other hand, finds Matt's straight-laced and straight-forward nature very refreshing.

The premise of Falling for Rain is great. How do two people attracted to each other with drastically different lifestyles come together to create a real romance and not just a few tumbles in bed? Unfortunately, Laine's writing style and choice of language gets in the way of the story. Instead of real drama, I felt like I was experiencing a melodrama. Matt was barely present on the page and Rain was an unnecessarily over-the-top drama queen.

Rain's character appears to have more development than Matt. Even his friends and family, Norma, Tiny and Momsy are entertaining. Matt seems more one dimensional. I didn't learn much about his life before Rain, other than he has a boring job and a brother who loves him.

Much of the dialogue is silly and the action drags. I found myself skipping whole sections of sex scenes because they were boring. The sex scenes should at least be exciting. The dialogue, in particular, I found hard to get through. Here is an example:

Even when you were broken, there was a fire burning within you, and I was drawn to your flame like a moth --and I didn't care if you burned me to cinders as long as I got to spend my last moments with you.

The cutesy nicknames like "sweetie pie" and "buns of fun" also got on my nerves. I like to reserve judgment on a book until the end, but this one sorely disappointed!

Reviewed by Creative Ink Romance Reviews ( )

While browsing the M/M Romance Group I came across a string of Cross-dressing and transgender focused book recommendations. This was an area I had never read. Most of the stories have read might have a secondary character who is a "Queen", but was never the focus.

Basic Plot

One day, Matt Wetherton saves Rain Deveraux from a gay bashing and finds that he can not get his mind off Rain. Effeminate Rain is full of personality and life, and Matt is intrigued. They enter into a relationship, but can they make their relationship work?

What I thought:

Rain is such an unique character, one that is more than just dressing up like a woman and acting effeminate. What I liked about this book is that the characters are not limited by their facades, but rather we see deeper than skin. Both men have fears about the relationship and I enjoyed how the author made the unveiling exciting.

I loved how the book was more than sex, but dealt with serious issues and had actual character development. A quote:

"But the truth is, most relationships are fundamentally the same--regardless of the gender or sexual orientation of its members. And the key to any lasting relationship is communication. Man, if you have doubts, you have to talk to him about whatever troubles you."

Which is great, especially when they both do not follow the advice and the miscommunication ensues.

Conclusion:
This was such an eye opening book. It was more than just a love story, I felt that I learned about the psychology of cross-dressing and how the relationship works.

Great book! I will keep looking for other books by this author. ( )

Stiff dialogue, no chemistry between the MCs who were uninteresting and one dimensional. So disappointed. ( )