Desert Rain [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Elizabeth Lowell (Author), Laural Merlington (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 20, 2006

Holly She is a fragile innocent haunted by memories of her past and by dreams of the man who once shared her secrets...the only man she can ever truly love. Shannon One of the world’s great beauties, her face and figure grace the fashion pages of the most elegant magazines. Though many desire her, only one may have her. Holly Shannon North She is a contradiction: assured yet vulnerable, irresistible yet untouched. Destiny has brought her back to Hidden Springs, where she can be one person, where romance once touched her tender young heart - back to Lincoln McKenzie, the proud California rancher, long since hardened by life’s tragedies. Now, in the icy chill of a desert storm, they must find the way back to love together - to rekindle the fire whose healing warmth has drawn them home.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

By revising and padding her first contemporary romance, Lowell (Autumn Lover) has created a new full-length novel. Holly Shannon North is a tomboy turned fashion model who meets up with former flame, Linc McKenzie, during a photo shoot near Palm Springs. She realizes that Linc loves "Holly," the girl she was at 16, but has no interest in "Shannon," the sophisticated cover girl she has become. Holly tries to convince Linc, who seems to believe otherwise, that beauty does not equal evil. The love scenes are trademark Lowell: dynamic, sensual and thoroughly satisfying, but the book's premise is so weak and the characters so flat they can't sustain the added (in fact, doubled) verbiage.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

About the Author

Elizabeth Lowell's acclaimed suspense novels include the New York Times bestsellers Die in Plain Sight, Moving Target, and Running Scared, as well as the four books featuring the Donovan family, Amber Beach, Jade Island, Pearl Cove, and Midnight in Ruby Bayou. Lowell has more than thirty million books in print. She lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband, with whom she writes mystery novels under a pseudonym.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged; Unabridged edition (November 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423323734
• ISBN-13: 978-1423323730
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,554,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

NEW YORK TIMES Bestselling author Elizabeth Lowell has numerous historical and contemporary novels in print, including her four-book series of suspense novels featuring the unforgettable Donovan family--AMBER BEACH, JADE ISLAND, PEARL COVE and MIDNIGHT IN RUBY BAYOU. Ms. Lowell's current release, DEATH ECHO, is Book 5 in her St. Kilda Consulting series and features twin yachts, international gangsters, and plenty of romantic-suspense. There are more than thirty million Elizabeth Lowell books currently in print. Ms. Lowell lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars horrible - what a disappointment, May 14, 2005

By 

misty9 "misty9" (Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Desert Rain (Mass Market Paperback)

I love Lowell's 'Donovan' and 'Rarieties' series and am starting to read her backlist. Well, if this is and example of the 'romance' of the eighties I know why I only started reading it about a year ago. The 'hero' is utterly unbearable, and the heroin's ability to accept verbal abuse is pathological! He considers her a whore from bhe beginning to the end, and she not only forgives him, but justifies his attitude. Honestly, after the first 50 or so pages I started skimming - it was just too dumb for words. Save your money

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Just Plain Bad, July 12, 2008

By 

The Chalcenteric Kid (Boca Raton) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Desert Rain (Audio CD)

This is a review of the audio CD version. Let's first address what is wrong with the recording. Laural Merlington has such a lovely and expressive voice and easily differentiates the characters, but why oh why is Holly made to sound like the nine year old who first fell in love with Linc? Eeeew! I'm sure she could easily have made just a slightly plainer voice than Shannon's for Holly and the CD would have been 1000% better. As it is, the baby-doll voice given to Holly is just horrible to listen to. Horrible and disturbing at the same time. It sounds like they wanted to so change the voices that Shannon and Holly could be confused aurally - just like Linc is visually blinded by simple makeup. Guess what? That ploy doesn't work. It doesn't work in spades.

What about the book itself? It seems to me once Linc told the worldly ( yet still very chaste ) Holly that Shannon and everyone like her were prostitutes she should have slapped the snot out of him and gotten out of this book pronto. Holly could than have thanked her lucky stars that she got away from such an out and out creep and then she could have used the rest of the book to meditate that schoolgirl crushes at age nine NEVER WORK OUT.

She then could have met a handsome town vet and ( because of their mutual interest in horses ), and she could have been wooed and wedded by him instead of you-know-who.

All this AND Linc saw her as a woman at 14? Eeeew again! Double Eeeew! And he tells her so? Triple Eeeew!

In real life, this guy should have been in jail long before Holly ever came back to town.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ridiculous plot and even more ridiculous characters, May 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Desert Rain (Mass Market Paperback)

I have read a few of Lowell's book, but this one is one of the worst. Holly Shannon North is one of the most shameless female characters from all the romance novels I have read.

Lincoln McKenzie has his heart broken before by a beautiful woman that explains his aversion to them (yeah, right). These 2 characters knew each other since childhood and Holly left to pursue a modeling career under the name of Shannon.

Now bear this in mind, once Shannon takes off her make-up. Linc can't even recognize her. This is the most absurd storyline I have ever seen.

So now, Linc has to decide whether or not he could see Holly for who she is and not a beautiful woman. Among all the books I have read, I never really despise any of the lead character but this book is a winner. Holly/Shannon will go on bragging about her beauty (if wearing make-up makes you beautiful, so is half of the female population). And this sentence from the book will forever stick to my mind.
`Oh, Linc you don't know how beautiful I can be.'
Now that is someone who does not believe in modesty or shame.