Rain Dance

by Karen Wood

'You should come to the drought-relief fundraiser,' Kaydon said to Holly. 'It's a big fancy ball, heaps of fun.' Boy, could this girl use some fun. And some rump steak.

Holly shook her head.

Kaydon gave up. Trying to make her smile was like doing a rain dance. There were clouds and rumblings, and a sprinkle here and there. But no amount of fancy footwork was going to make it happen for real.

Holly Harvey doesn't want to move to Gunnedah, far from her friends and her home near the beach. And she's a vegetarian, so living on a beef property, with cattle yards, polo ponies and pig-shooting, makes it even worse. She and Kaydon are worlds apart - until a fight breaks out at the fundraising ball.

Another addictive romance from the author of Jumping Fences.

Genres: Young Adult, Romance

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2014

About the author

Karen Wood is the author of the five Diamond Spirit books. She has an Arts degree majoring in communications and a diploma in horticulture. She has syndicated a gardening column in several newspapers throughout Australia, has published feature articles in various magazines and has published photographs in bushwalking guides. She is married with two children, a few horses, some dogs, chooks and a very cute rabbit. She lives on a small acreage on the Central Coast, New South Wales, where she spends as much time as possible with kids and horses or at her laptop, dreaming up a new book.

Reviews

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rain Dance is an enjoyable Australian rural romance for an young adult audience from accomplished author, Karen Wood.

When the Harvey family loses their house to the bank, they are forced to relocate from their coastal home to an isolated property in Gunnedah to fulfil a temporary building contract. Fifteen year old Holly, along with her two older brothers, Brandon and Jake, and younger sister, Eva, have no option but to make the best of the situation but she can't imagine ever considering the arid land home.

Seventeen year old Kaydon Armstrong is shocked when he returns home from boarding school for the holidays to learn his father has made a deal with an investor to expand their cattle farm. Given the current drought conditions, Kaydon is suspicious of the investor's motives but his father isn't interested in his doubts and is determined for the deal to go through.

Rain Dance is an engaging story set in Gunnedah, a regional area in New South Wales. There is a sweet romance that develops between teenagers Holly, a vegetarian, and Kaydon, a fifth generation cattle farmer, action packed scenes when an accidental fire sparks and threatens Holly and her family, and a touch of intrigue when it becomes obvious the investor willing to bankroll the Armstrong's plans for expansion has his own agenda.

While Rain Dance is aimed at a young adult audience Wood doesn't shy away from illustrating the realities of life. She explores the affect of the financial crisis through the Harvey family's losses, the emotional and financial strain drought has placed on regional farmers and raises the environmental risks of mining. Wood also examines some difficult themes through some of the minor characters. Kaydon's best friend Dan has been struggling since the death of his father in a farming accident. Dan's mother has been unable to maintain the farm and, with the family on the verge of losing everything while the insurance company delays payment, Dan is growing increasingly desperate. Jake, Holly's brother, has admitted to being gay and is feeling lonely, and Holly's mother has just been diagnosed with cancer, with the only treatment available hundreds of kilometers away.

With appealing characters, a strong sense of place and a well crafted plot, Rain Dance is a lovely read. I'd recommend it for adult fans of the rural romance genre to share with the teens (age 12 and up) in their life.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

The country is in Kaydon's blood. As a fifth generation cattle farmer, he was born knowing that some day he would be expected to run the property. But his lack of say in his own future has him feeling trapped. When his father finds a business partner and buys a new property, Kaydon is sceptical. The drought has been making farming more difficult and Kaydon can't quite work out why they are expanding when the rains still haven't come and there is less food than ever for the cattle.

Holly's family are also feeling the financial effects from the current economy. When the bank took their house, they were left with not a lot more than the clothes on their backs. Moving from a place near the beach to the middle of nowhere isn't Holly's idea of fun but with money being so tight her dad can't say no to a few months work building a house on Kaydon's father's new property. Holly doesn't eat meat and finds country life brutal and at times barbaric. Kaydon is a symbol of everything Holly isn't. But when times get tough, Holly realized that maybe they aren't so different after all...

Before reading Rain Dance I only knew two things about Gunnedah NSW. The first is it's where supermodel Miranda Kerr is from. And secondly there is a big agriculture exhibition there each year. Despite (or perhaps because of) not knowing very much about the country, I loved reading Kaydon and Holly's story in Rain Dance - especially the outback setting. It is one thing hearing about the drought on the news and quite another to be reading about it from characters experiencing the effect of the lack of rain first hand. In Rain Dance, Karen Wood has given us a story which not only entertains but educates about just how hard things are for those living in the country.

There are so many things I loved about Rain Dance. I thought the characters were great. Holly is 15 and at that point in life where she's depended on by her family but at the same time treated like a child. She has no say in her life about where they live or what they do but has to look after her younger sister and make sure everyone has clean clothes to wear and food to eat. Kaydon is almost Holly's opposite with him spending most of his year at boarding school and free from most family responsibilities. His father doesn't depend on him for a thing and Kaydon wishes to be taken seriously with regards to running the property. Despite their differences, I thought they were a great match for each other. His direct and down to earth country ways meshed well with her green and hippy ideals.

Most of the events in this book occur within a one week period but the pace worked perfectly for the story. From Holly's arrival in Gunnedah to the ball and the events afterwards - it never felt rushed but instead everything happened at speed which felt right for the characters. I enjoyed the situations Ms Wood put her characters in and was surprised at how much character growth we could see in such a short time. I especially loved Eva's role in the later part of the novel.

Rain Dance was a great book with realistic characters facing real life problems. From family relationships to financial ruin, this novel covers a lot of ground. The romance was wonderfully paced and a clean read for anyone wanting something which would suit a younger audience. I loved the setting with the outback being such a prominent feature in this book and will definitely be reading more by Karen Wood in the future.

Thanks to Allen and Unwin for the review copy.

[Leigh Hutton]

A clean, enjoyable YA rural romance with authentic station-life detail and an exciting storyline. I have to say that Kaydon was the standout character for me; I think Wood did a brilliant job describing and developing him. I would have loved to see more strength from Holly, and direction in terms of her future goals. Her sassy little sister, Eva, overshadows her in a few crucial scenes. All-in-all I enjoyed this book and will definitely be checking out more of Wood's works, especially her Diamond Spirit books about horses.

[Bluebelle-the-Inquisitive (Catherine) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holly wan't ready for the lights to come back on. She wiped furiously at her eyes. This girl's reality tore her heart apart as much as her own. She knew what it was to lose everything. The sound of Rocket whinnying as he was driven away on someone else's float, her sister screaming Gidget's name. Dad shut away in his office for days on end. — Holly Harvey

I need to state two things. Firstly, I am not in the intended age bracket for Rain Dance, which I would say is probably late high school. Secondly, I didn't choose this book, it was sent to me in a box from my local library in a pot luck situation (along with 5 others). But I'm glad I read it. It's a good read for what I want right now, not mentally taxing and outside of my norm. It's a good Australian book. It uses our linguistics, slang and laws. Set in a farming town NSW. It maintains realism, especially around guns. The 15-year-old Australian protagonist doesn't know how to or want to fire a gun. She's not a country girl, at 15 she can't drive. These moments of discomfort for her feel right.

I like the characters. Female protagonist Holly is 15, an empathetic vegetarian, after losing everything she has ever known she just wants to go home. Her perspective is oddly relatable because of the writing you are asked to walk in her shoes. Male protagonist Kaydon is a country boy through and through but not comfortable with the expectations placed upon him by his family. The support cast is made up nearly entirely of their families and some of the townspeople. Dan, Jake and Eva are possibly the best. Eva is Holly's sister, she's six, adorable as hell and I love her. Jake is Holly's brother he is not at all what I expected. Some of the characters are shallow, two dimensional but I really don't have an issue with that. Dan is Kaydon's best friend he's exceptionally human, old before his time and desperate. I will say that LGBT isn't handled all that badly given contexts.

The plot is semi cliche, girl transplanted into new setting wants nothing more to go home, meets boy, loses boy, disaster strikes forcing them together to save the day. But it is all very Australian. From the disaster to the writing. That Australian-ness is what makes this unusual for me, I don't read Australia very often and not find it cringe. This has a message, a message still relevant over 6 years later, but it is woven in well to the narrative.

"Yeah everyone has hard, Jake. No one's hard is harder than someone else's hard. It's all just hard."
"I don't want to live in a closest."
"It's no place to live." [...]
"I don't want to be beaten up every time I'm the real me."
"I don't want you to be either." — Holly Harvey & Jake Harvey

A representative gif:

[Georgia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s not often hat you see a young adult book set in rural Australia but Wood handles the setting with a mix of romance and overcoming challenges well. Holly Harvey is a city girl who never wanted to move to the country- in fact she lives near the beach and is a vegetarian! But when she moves to Gunnedah, country boy Kayden who enjoys polo and pig shooting cross paths. There is one night that brings them together but causes some conflict as well.

[Carol Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an education

About life in the cattle country of Australia . And good lessons about life being "hard" - it's relative, and each person's "hard" is differnt.
Loved these three books and your Diamond Spirit series, Karen.

[Bianca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Raindance had a cute romance in a small country town in Australia. I feel the story was rushed and untrue in some aspects but I am not one for country romances. So this is not gonna be a book I will reread

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good.

[Pippi Voakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awwwwww!

[Jewel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story and the writing is absolute perfection. Karen Wood has such an amazing command of the English language.

[Caitlin Heppner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just fell in love with this book! I fell in love with the characters and at times wished I was actually there with them! I found that this book is written with the same love and passion as all of Karen's other books! I definitely recommend it! I only had one problem....that i really didn't like about it; it was to short! I wanted to hear more about Holly and Kaydon, more about Dan, more about their families, everything!

[Laura Rittenhouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holly is a city girl, a vegetarian and very reluctant to move onto the station when her father gets a job working on restoring an old house there. Enter the rich farmer's son, a drought, a bushfire and you've got a pleasantly told but rather predictable story. I liked this probably more than the basic plot would warrant because it's well written and does give a feel of what it's like to live on the land in outback Australia.

[Catherine J Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

A page turner with some substance

I was very happy to find another book by this author. Once again a great read, hard to put down. This one gets into some hard issues as well ... rural depression, environmental issues, gender issues. Believable, complex characters. Eva is a lot like someone I know.

[Steve Woodhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

So , I picked this up after it had been given to one of my daughters, started reading a few pages and in short I was hooked.. read it in an afternoon and found it to be entertaining, really well researched and a great light read.. no sure what the demographic is supposed to be but it appealed to a 48 year old bloke

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️ // This Australian novel was enjoyable from start to end. It involved clean romance and an intriguing storyline about life on the cattle ranch. It’s a great page turner with substance to keep you entertained.⁣

READ IF YOU LIKE:
- Young Adult
- Rural Country Setting

[Bec · Rating 5 out of 5]

other brilliant book from Karen!
review to follow

[Debbie Tink · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a fun rural romance.

[Ella Rose Brunton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice light read. Loved it.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was absolutely fabulous. I can’t wait for Karen Wood to try another book. I would recommend it to 13+ year old.

[Jem · Rating 4 out of 5]

qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm yep