Customer Reviews

Rainy Day People

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I cannot give enough praise to "Rainy Day People" and author Susan C. Haley, along with Robert J. Delany. I also cannot tell you anymore strongly to get this book!

It is such a shame that new authors like Susan Haley, have such an uphill battle getting recognized, and their books bought by readers. Seems no one wants to take a chance with new authors anymore and that is truly sad.

What's so great about this novel? I don't know where to begin. For one, it's real life. There's nothing over the top here folks where you'd find yourself saying, "This could never happen." These are real people you'd meet on the street, in your local coffee cafe or bookstore.

The author's talent brings the characters to life for you and way before the end of the book, you care about them, know them, feel for them. Marvelous character development in this book.

Reviewer Paul Lappen, and others, have done an excellent job in giving a synopsis of the story line, so I won't repeat it again. However, I really felt connected to Amber. Her and I are so much alike. We both love living near the water, don't believe in coincidence, have a close affinity with nature, and while mostly quiet and content, have a wild side we have to give into now and then. We both cherish our solitude. Amber never gives up, never gives up hope just like me.

Ben, on the other hand, reminds me so much of my husband. Hard to get to know, at least at first. Also a tendency to being grumpy, pragmatic, set in his ways, somewhat of a martyr complex. You have to slowly chip away at the exterior to get to the real person. Many people would say, "Forget it.", but Amber didn't and neither did I. And I can say I've been happily married almost 16 years.

Do yourself a great favor and an act of love for yourself and get "Rainy Day People". Your heart will soar just like Ben did in his days as an airplane pilot.

"Rainy Day People" is a book about love, life, adventure, passion, and learning to pick up the pieces & go on when life throws you a curve ball. It's one of those stories that feel so real - you come to know & truly understand the characters, flaws & all! In fact, there were times when I became so swept away in my reading, that I actually became happy, sad, or really annoyed with what one or the other main characters were doing or saying, and I had to laugh, reminding myself that this is "just" a book - and that the characters were just that, characters. It's the authors' way of writing that brings about this amazing connectedness with the books main characters (Amber & Ben).

The gist of the story is this: Amber has been alone since being widowed a couple of years back, but it's a chance encounter at a local book store that would change this - forever. It's here that she meets Ben Reilly, and it's their story that the author writes about. You'll join in on their journey, with all of the twists & turns it entails (and there are many).

Although I really enjoyed this book cover to cover, I have to say that the last 30 pages or so had me literally rivetted to my seat - with the ending being quite a surprise!

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys real-life-type stories of love, loss, & connectedness - it's truly a great read!

As I read this wonderfully mesmerizing novel, I felt Hemingway's famous quote from "A Farewell to Arms" tracking me from line to line: "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills."

When Amber and Ben, in the autumn of their lives, meet by chance, quiet sparks fly and a gentle fire burns, even though they are oil and water opposites in many respects. Each of them has been broken and each of them stubbornly circles the wagons around that broken place simultaneously pushing the other away and inviting the other within.

At one with nature, Amber wants Ben to see the pure synchronicity of their unfolding relationship. Pragmatic, and often grumpy to a fault, Ben resists opening up and giving up on his close-held secrets. Both characters are strong at their broken places and I imagine the author is, too, for her often poetic words, leave one guessing until the last pages whether the world will kill Amber and Ben or allow their love and their lives to endure.

This is a spellbinding novel and highly recommended.

Love is the absolute last thing on the mind of Amber, a widow of two years who has become quite complacent with her life - that is, until she meets Ben, a recovering alcoholic currently fighting cancer, among other demons from his past. Despite their instant attraction for one another, Ben struggles to open up fully to Amber, leading her on a subsequent convoluted journey of the heart as she aims to embrace his presence in her life while simultaneously coming to grips with his frequent absences from it. Along the way, she learns invaluable lessons about both him and herself, ultimately embracing the newness of a life she never actually sought.

Rich, profound, and real, Rainy Day People is a gripping, heartrending read. Drawn straight from the pages of everyday life, author Susan Haley's vivid tale of mid-life love and heartbreak will serve as a literary reflection of the challenges confronting many of us on a regular basis - be they physical, emotional, or spiritual in nature. As such, it will not be difficult for readers to relate to the grim realities facing Amber and Ben both individually and collectively - not to mention the genuine bliss they experience together when their guards are laid down and they allow their souls to feel - and heal. In impressive fashion, Haley paints a picture of life at its rawest, where it serves as the source of both our greatest joy and pain and makes us the flawed - yet noble - human beings that we are.

Clearly crafted from the depths of her own sage soul, Susan Haley's moving opus is a strong testament to the redemptive power of love and the resilience of the human spirit. A striking, strongly recommended read.


Linda Waterson
Apex Reviews

Susan C.Haley's "Rainy Day People"is a spectacular read that will leave you reminiscing about some of the greatest love stories in history besides those that the reader may have experienced themselves.Anyone who has ever loved another, will again experience the emotions that made that love so special.Susan's work will tug at your heart,elicit the broadest smile you are capable of making and captivate the very essences of life's miracles.
"Rainy Day People" is a classic for lovers of nature and its wonderments. Susan's discriptive abilities are so incredible that as you read her work, you feel you are part of the scene she so brilliantly describes. You can smell the salt from the oceans waters, the fragrances from the forest and its creatures, as well as feel the cold and dampness of an
autumn morning at the shore.As various incidences occur in this extraordinary book, all of your senses are open to the experience at hand. She is a master at captivating a reader and making her story, theirs.
One of the most wonderful movies I've ever enjoyed was "On Golden Pond".For a blood and guts writer, this movie mesmerized me in ways that I can't even explain. I can honestly state that "Rainy Day People" is as good if not better than this Oscar winner. The trials and tribulations of Ben and Abby are equal too, if not greater than, Hepburn and Henry Fonda. Both share a commonality of life, nature, illness and an undying love. I sincerely hope that this book will someday be made into a movie because I know it will shine in the minds and hearts of its viewers.
I would personally like to thank Susan C. Haley for writing a book that has enabled me to enter her world and leave behind some of the horrific pain I endure on a daily basis.The moments of serenity I experienced reading this book have helped me endure my physical maladies in a way far greater than any medications I take on a daily basis.
Thank You Susan.
Sam Ross, Author
"My Life in the Trenches"
"The Protege"

Simply a stunning story, not of romance, but of love. You feel like your riding along with Ben and Amber in her silver streak of a car without a seatbelt to the very end. Sometimes the road gets bumpy, sometimes scary indeed. It's a chance meeting, a delightful roadtrip, a face-to-face look at life, and a lesson in living it. Ms. Haley is a rising star among independent authors. The honesty and warmth of this story beats anything I've read on the New York Best Seller list in years. Take it to your heart and you'll see rainbows, maybe even double rainbows.

Rainy Day People is a fantastic study of human emotional experiences. The play and interplay between whimsical Amber and insightful Ben produces a plethora of speculation and surprise for the reader. It is one of those books that makes the reader think on, long past the last page of the book.

It is rare that authors disclose human emotion with such depth and insight. The book forces the two characters into honesty with self and with one another in such a way that the reader is both touched and awed. The book promises and delivers intellectual sophistication and raw emotional experience such that most readers will begin to reexamine their own relationship motivations long before the end of the book. A wonderful "rainy day" read!

Dr. Karen Hutchins Pirnot
Clinical Psychologist/Author

From fathoms beneath the depths of the soul and mind, Rainy Day People was created by Susan C. Haley with Robert J. Delany. This contemporary, mid-life love story cannot compare to all others, as the conversations and thoughts of the characters are profound, leaving the reader to ponder over simple, yet unique, philosophies of life. This novel will test "your" mind and soul. It will make you laugh. It will make you cry. It also will teach you to appreciate nature like you have never done before.

This is the beautiful story of the recluse, Amber. A widow of two years, Amber never expected - never searched for - a second love. Then she met Ben, a reformed alcoholic fighting cancer. He came into her life. He left her life. Then, he came back into it again. Two people, both with pathos that invaded their lives in the past, connected. To secure their connection, they traveled leisurely up the East coast, heading for their pre-determined destination - the State of Maine. Amber's love of nature introduces Ben to respecting nature in a different kind of way, although he fights it. Her love of land, untouched by advanced technology, introduces Ben to places from another time, places of simple enjoyment. And in between, profound intellectual rhetoric between the two, in an effort to search the other's psyche, takes place and continues to take place after they reach Maine and settle there. But again, Ben leaves, causing frustration and anger - and an accident.

Susan Haley's descriptions of her characters and the environment surrounding the characters are expertly portrayed. The reader can visualize who, what, where, when and how throughout this touching and brilliantly written novel. But, it is Susan's analogies that will always keep the reader wondering, except for the Rainbow -she lets us know. Never again will anyone gaze at a Rainbow without thinking of the correlation Susan presents in this book.

This Novel should be displayed on the front tables in all Barnes & Noble and Borders book stores throughout the US.

I don't know what happened to my review I wrote over a year ago, but since it is not here I will write again as this book cannot go unreviewed!

It is not often that I will reread a paragraph for its sheer beauty, but I did this over and over again while reading Rainy Day People. The author is an accomplished artist using words to paint beautiful pictures.

Apart from that the story is great and the characters are "real". This book is a gem.

Love, like most things in life, is not easy. It can be a winding road that tests us with hope and fear and lonliness and laughter. And when it catches us by surprise, it can be a road for which there is no map. Susan Haley does a terrific job of taking the reader on a journey of love. But this is not your run of the mill love story. Her characters are so real you almost feel like you can reach out and touch them. Written with passion, this is a great book for a fireplace, a beach, the airport, or any place you want to be when you're in the mood to slip into a good book, roll down the windows, and ride.
Review by Ray Ryder: Author The Rockwater Mountain Murders and The Spirit of Whiskey River