Kisses in the Rain

by Krista Lynne Jensen

Georgie Tate is a survivor. She's survived an abusive relationship. She's survived the car accident that took the life of her controlling fiance. Now she just needs to survive the memories that haunt her. Escaping to her aunts' cozy home on a tiny island outside of Seattle, Georgie finds just the change of pace she needs to pick up the pieces of her life. Taking a job at a local seafood restaurant is the first step in reclaiming her sense of self, but she is completely unprepared for the battle that awaits her there.

Jace Lowe has loved and lost, and he's determined that it will never happen again. Hardened by heartbreak, he stays focused on his work as sous chef at one of the island's top seafood restaurants. When beautiful Georgie takes her place on the restaurant staff, Jace is resolved to keep her at arm's length, and his downright rudeness her first week goes a long way in achieving that goal. Georgie, on the other hand, doesn't want anything to do with Jace anyway and prickles against his abrasive behavior. As the combative pair comes together on a joint project for the restaurant, they find their distaste for one another dwindling. the connection is undeniable--and it terrifies them both. Can two people jaded by the past be softened by the promise od once-in-a-lifetime love, or is this just another recipe for disaster?

Available in paperback and ebook.

Genres: Romance, Lds Fiction, Clean Romance, Contemporary, Lds, Contemporary Romance, Christian Fiction

319 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2015

About the author

Krista writes contemporary romance, historical romance, and fantasy. She is the author of OF GRACE AND CHOCOLATE (2012 Whitney Award Finalist), THE ORCHARD (2013 Whitney Award Finalist), FALLING FOR YOU (2014), and KISSES IN THE RAIN (2015 Whitney Award Finalist) through Covenant Communications, Inc.. She has novellas in Love Unexpected: With All My Heart (2014, Covenant), A Timeless Romance Anthology: Love Letters, and A Yuletide Regency (2014, 2018, Mirror Press), and Christmas Grace (2017, Covenant).

Krista has lived in lush Oregon and rugged Wyoming, but Washington is her beloved home state. She likes to choose familiar settings for her stories, and is grateful to have such inspirational places to choose from. She is a mother of six, gramma of three, a gardener and cook, loves to travel, laugh, and lives to make the best of what she's been given.
Krista is a member of LDStorymakers and ANWA.
Author blog: kristalynnejensen.blogspot.com
IG: @kljbooks

Reviews

[Katie (hiding in the pages) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a good book that really plays on my emotions. It's sometimes a fine line though. Sometimes bad things happen to good people and the results are either depressing or sad, yet hopeful. This story was definitely in the latter category. Georgie has gone through some really tough things and the hardest thing is, she doesn't remember everything that resulted in a horrible accident. She has a few flashbacks throughout the book and really struggles with trusting and loving again. I never felt like it was a downer; instead, I was inspired by her journey.

Jace has had a rough time lately and doesn't want to let anyone get too close again. I was amazed at how patient and real he is, even when he has every reason not to be. I couldn't help but like him and his matter-of-fact ways.

I love food and a good chunk of this story revolved around food, since the main characters both work at a restaurant. They're on a quest to come up with new items for the menu and I devoured the sections talking about their ideas and their tests. Okay, so I didn't really eat the pages of my book, but I found myself very engrossed in those sections. I wish recipes were included because my mouth watered more than once.

The bottom line is, the recipes were twofold: two great people, a fantastic setting, journeys and trials to overcome, and great romantic moments made this one a winner for me. Add to that the descriptions of literal food and recipes and I fell in love with this one!

Content: no language; mild violence (emotional, accidents, a moment of peril); mild religious elements (the characters are LDS, but nothing is preachy); mild romance (kissing). Clean!

*I received a copy in exchange for an honest review*

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute!

Squeaky clean


This is LDS fiction but it is not preachy. The characters attend church and are in the same ward. That's about it other than one discussion of a belief in life after death.

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute cover, right? I love it.

This book has a weightier feel to it as most of the book Georgie is struggling to connect the pieces from an accident that haunts her. She cannot remember exactly what happened leading up to the accident but she remembers enough to know that it wasn't good. Georgie is haunted by all sorts of what-if's and guilt over poor choices she feels she made. She doubts her judgement, her abilities and herself. While the physical effects of the accident are fading, the mental and emotional ones remain.

Jace is also a bit haunted. He's had a couple rough breaks but all in all he is paving a way for himself and reaching for his dreams. Jace has quite a task ahead of him trying to win Georgie over. Trust just doesn't come easy for either of them.

I enjoyed the growing friendship between Jace and Georgie. They were both fantastic characters who I cared about and liked. The supporting cast was great as well. I loved the setting and the way things revolved around the restaurant and food - yummy sounding food like the chocolate cake Jace makes. It had my mouth watering.

All in all this one was really good. It is squeaky clean. This is an LDS fiction book so there are some religious themes of forgiveness and seeking God's help.

[Heidi Robbins (Heidi Reads...) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that this book made me feel the emotions of the characters! Not only Georgie and Jace, but even the minor characters were portrayed in such a skillful way that it was so easy to put myself in their shoes. The setting is evocative with the weather, locations, and travel giving the scenes a definite vibe. I especially enjoyed the fast pace and intensity of the interactions in the restaurant kitchen. It provides a contrast to the slower scenes and creates a nice flow throughout the story. The friendship and subsequent chemistry between Georgie and Jace builds slowly but steadily as they move past first impressions and bring light into each others' worlds.

I was drawn to Georgie's struggles with overcoming depression, sifting through painful memories, finding her true self again, and trusting new friends and people in her life. Her quirky-clever sense of humor, often self-deprecating, balances the heaviness of her introspection and also creates fun banter with Jace since he never knows what she is going to say :) Oh yeah, and I had to wipe away some tears at one point... and that afterglow feeling after finishing the book was wonderful!

The characters in this book are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There are some brief references specific to Mormons, but the overall themes are universal to all Christians and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys contemporary romance.

(Thank you to Covenant Communications for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review)

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Georgie has moved to Camano Island, near Seattle, to live with her aunts while she is recovering from an automobile accident. She's broken and keeps to herself at first. All we know for a while is that she had a finance (Ian) that was controlling and she broke off her engagement to him. He died in the accident and she feels guilty for what happened, even though she doesn't remember details from that night.

Jace's girlfriend recently got engaged to another man while they were dating so he was in a bit of a mood when they first met. Georgie started working in his restaurant and, being somewhat terrified of men, she avoided him at first. He's a sous chef that enlisted Georgie's help on an assignment he was given so they started cooking together.

I loved their interactions with each other and how their relationship slowly grew. Their shopping trips were incredible and their recipes sounded amazing. Some of the cooking scenes were intense and their chemistry was definitely sizzling. They were both afraid of taking the next step, though, since they each had reasons not to trust the opposite sex.

I liked how Georgie was able to work with a therapist to get through the guilt she felt about the accident and how she was able to cope with Ian's death in the end. Something happened that threatened to undo those feelings and take her back to square one and it was interesting to see how she dealt with that as well.

Jace and Georgie had some challenges to overcome from external forces and I was hoping they would be able to figure it all out in the end. I loved their story and had a hard time putting it down! There are some mild religious references in this book (mostly church attendance). It's a clean romance that anyone will enjoy! This is the first book I've read by this author but I've had my eye on some of her other books, so I'm looking forward to reading more of her work!

I received a copy of this book to review. My opinion is 100% my own.

Mel's Shelves

[Kathy * Bookworm Nation · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was initially drawn to this because of the super cute cover. I love it! I've also read and enjoyed this author before so I knew it was one I would like. I couldn't remember what it was about when I picked it up, decided to just dive in and see where the story took me. It's kind of fun to just start a book without reading the synopsis or others reviews.

Anyway, Jace and Georgie are both getting out of relationships that ended badly. They are not looking to meet anyone and probably want to avoid dating actually. Georgie was in a recent car accident and is struggling with healing physically and emotionally. She doesn't trust easily, but is trying to get back to her old self. Jace is upset about his breakup and doesn't make a great first impression with Georgie.

I liked this one, I wish we could have seen Georgie when she was more back to normal. We kind of meet her when she is in the middle of dealing with her grief and other issues. We get
hints of her "fun" side and I would have liked to see her more when she was a little more healed, I guess. I liked her though, she went through a lot, but she was a fighter and determined to figure out her mess and move on with life. I liked Jace, he was a good character and good for Georgie. I thought they were cute together. I was excepting a more lighthearted story, it was a little more serious than I anticipated, but not in a bad way.

I loved the small town charm, the atmosphere of the restaurant and the overall story. It was a nice escape for a bit and an enjoyable read. I'd easily recommend it to fans of the genre.

Content
Romance: Clean, just kissing
Language: None
Violence: None, mention of car crash
Religious: None-mild, characters are Christian and attend church, etc. but no preaching


This has been nominated for a 2015 Swoony Award, you can vote for it here.

[Lisa (Bookworm Lisa) · Rating 4 out of 5]

***4.5 stars***

Georgie Tate leaves her home and family to re-discover herself after a life altering accident. Her fiancee was killed and she was severely injured. Now she just wants to remember the accident, make peace with the past, and find happiness and contentment in her life. Her best course of action is to visit her Aunts in Washington State.

Jace has his own issues that leave him a little broken. It doesn't help that his girlfriend just became engaged to another man WHILE they were dating. His father is controlling and left issues for Jace to face and come to terms with.

Two broken people find themselves working together and helping each other on a project to create new recipes for work. It becomes more as time progresses. Not only did they find a great friend to help them, they found a little bit more. The problem is overcoming the past and finding a new future with someone special.

The fun relationship that Jace and Georgie have in this book is very humorous. They are so cute together and the banter makes for a fun book to read. There are underlying issues of hurt or neglect, but the way they build each other up is entertaining. The issues are not discarded, they are real, but dealt with in a very sensitive manner.

This book is clean with kissing. There is religious references, but they are not the main factor in the book. The book looks at healthy relationships and two people trying to find one.

[Charissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this romance. The characters are Georgie and Jace. The setting is a small ‘island’ in the Pacific Northwest in Washington on Puget Sound. Georgie is recovering from a tragic accident that killed her fiancé months ago. She’s almost physically recovered, but has a long way to go emotionally, especially since there are big gaps in her memory where she can’t remember what happened the day of the accident. She moves away to live at her aunts’ house to try to recover and find her ‘new’ self, since her old self seems to be destroyed. She is frightened of men, realizing she broke up with her fiancé on the day of the accident because of his controlling angry tendencies that she didn’t want to deal with. As she starts working at a restaurant in the little island town as a expediter, she is terrified of the grumpy and angry Jace, the sous chef. Jace has just been dumped by his long-time girlfriend, and she got immediately engaged to her ex-boyfriend, so he’s not a happy camper. As the two get to know each other, Georgie realizes Jace isn’t the jerk she thinks he is. But she still doesn’t trust herself after dealing with her ex-fiancee and his controlling-charming personality. This story delved deep into emotional abuse and how it affects a person in a relationship, and how long-term it can continue even after they get out of the relationship as a victim heals and learns to trust again (if they can). I loved Georgie. She’s amazing. And Jace was a true hero, flawed but doing his best to be a good guy. Once I started this story, I couldn’t put it down. I found it fascinating to journey with Georgie on her recovery from her emotional abuse, trying to find herself again—her new self, since her old self will never be the same. I can’t say enough positive about this book. It’s a romance, but one that covers a meaty subject that needs to be addressed in this day and age. I highly recommend this.

[Mindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! This book is beautifully written. Each page is a treasure. Many of the characters have issues they are dealing with, and the way Krista has written each character is perfect. Georgie is recovering from an accident that took her memory, and claimed the life of her fiance. Jace is also recovering from heartbreak of his own. I loved the gradual improvement of them both and how they realize what they need. The aunts were a favorite and Uncle Dar as well. In Kisses in the Rain, there is heartache and pain, but also triumph and happiness. I have read some of the other reviews of this book, and each say close to the same thing, the story is so real. It's funny, because that is the exact word I would use. I loved the restaurant scenes. It was where Jace and Georgie were in their elements, but I also loved it when they were getting to know each other away from work. I also loved the setting. This book takes place in a beautiful area, which is a character all its own.

5 out of 5 stars. I have read most of Krista's books, and I really think this is my favorite so far. Very well done.

Received a paperback copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Kacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alright that was adorable. Maybe not the best writing, but I can forgive that. I think Kisses in the Rain has delayed my oncoming reading slump, hopefully stopped it. Thank goodness for easy, mushy (clean yay!) Romance books to keep me sane ☺️

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how this dealt with a heavy topic (abusive relationship) without going overboard on the drama. Right away I was pulled into how Georgie was going to deal with her PTSD of her accident/relationship. I also really loved the connection between Georgie and Jace.

[Carol Nicolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a car accident claims her fiancé and her most recent memories, Georgie Tate moves in with her aunts, who live on a small island outside Seattle. She begins to reshape her life as she struggles with the knowledge that something bad happened, and she can’t trust a man ever again. When she finds work at a local seafood restaurant, she meets the grumpy cook, Jace Lowe, who has just been dumped by his girlfriend. Both of them are wounded, angry, and confused. But they can’t deny the attraction between them either, and they gradually form a friendship as they work on a project together. Georgie must remember what happened with her abusive fiancé and work through her issues, and Jace must resolve his pain and family issues before they can find the courage to love again.
I loved this book! The imagery is so vivid and stunning that it made me want to visit the island and walk on the shore, and eat the foods they cooked. I love the way their lives and hearts are gradually revealed -- two people who are real and down to earth, who struggle with their problems, yet find positive ways to overcome them. They are both good people of faith, but their religion is part of their background, and the book doesn’t preach. Georgie is dealing with the effects of abuse, and her healing is insightful and helpful to the reader. The romance between Jace and Georgie is sweet and clean. I closed this book with a smile, and then I went back and read the whole thing again. Thanks, Krista, for a beautiful story!

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

To put it simply, I loved this one. Kisses in the Rain drew me in from the first page and never let go. Both main characters, Jace and Georgie, were very sympathetic as they both had some tough challenges to face. Jace has just been dumped by his girlfriend who was just using him to get her old boyfriend back. Understandably he feels betrayed and as a result makes a bad first impression on Georgie who starts working at Peter & Andrew's restaurant with him. Georgie is also struggling with major heartbreak having been in a serious car accident in which her fiance died. But it's more than that as she struggles to remember what happened and to find herself after her fiance's extremely controlling behavior.

All the food details were fun. Even though I don't enjoy cooking myself I do enjoy reading about it, or maybe it's just the yummy sounding food. In any case, I found it enjoyable to read about the glimpse of what it's like behind the scenes in a restaurant. It was interesting the way Jace and Georgie came together over food. I think what struck me the most about this book was how real it felt, the way the relationship developed with plenty of ups and downs. This is definitely going on my favorites shelf with the other clean contemporary romances that I love. I normally prefer historical romances so that tells me just how good this one is.

[Mackenzie L, 5 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kisses in the rain Krista Lynne Jensen, this book is about Georgie and Jace. They both live on a Island in Washington. Georgie came to live with her aunts trying to start over, and trying to find her old self after the accident. Jace is A sous Chef at the restaurant but when is girlfriend beranna breaks up with him for another guy he is no fun to be around. As Jace is given an assignment to come up with four new items for there menu Jace turns o Georige for help. I liked this book because it was a book that you weren't sure of the outcome so you want to read it to know. It was a little hard at fist u once i got into it, it is a very enjoyable book. I liked the setting of the book to because I love rain , and it rained almost every day in the book. It's hard not to love the personality of each character especially Aunt Tru. Aunt Tru always spoke her opinion so it was fun to see what she was going to say. My connection to this book is that I like to cook, but I'm also LDS so when it referenced the church I knew what it was talking about. The theme I got from this book is that it's hard to trust when the trust has been broken but sometimes when need to take chances.

[Shauna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how real this story is!

Two people feeling broken from their past--coming together to work on a common goal--And while in each other's company they relax and find a peace and a happiness and a completeness...

But yet the past still haunts them and they still have much to work on--yet isn't that how life is?

This story was written with a passion that expresses the plot beautifully.

A roller-coaster of feelings and awkward moments and saying the wrong thing and hurtful moments and trying to live up to someone else's expectations and finding strength of oneself and finding love with someone else.

I LOVED each page!
I HIGHLY recommend this book!

[Jenny Proctor]

Another great read from Krista. I'm maybe possibly tempted to say this is my favorite of hers... Great characters, beautiful setting and a believable conflict that kept the main characters apart, with no insta-love. (Insta-love makes me batty!)

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Georgie suffers big time guilt from breaking off her engagement and then getting in a car wreck and her financee dies. She blames herself. Jace has had a bad break-up with Breena and is a bear to work for at the restaurant and Georgie gets the brunt of it. Jace tries to apologize but Georgie goes ballistic when Jace just touches her arm. A very nice book about trauma and loss and to learn to let someone into your heart again. Jace is patient with Georgie. I loved the day they spent together on the motorcycle eating different foods and seeing the flowers. My heart broke for both of them as Jace leaves to go to Nevada to run his family restaurant and Georgie is left wondering if he'll even be back. She gets brave and slowly starts to text him. Then when Andres comes into the restaurant and holds Tyler at knife point, Georgie remembers all about the crash and that it wasn't her fault. As she sees herself going over the edge to crash in the car, she screams and that distracts Andres enough that they get the knife out of his hands and the cops are there to save the day. Georgie is free of guilt and tells Jace she's not afraid anymore. Jace ends up back with Georgie at the Tulip Festival where he gives Georgie a tulip and declares his love for her. Fun to read about a guy being so patient to gain the trust and love of a girl. I enjoyed this romance.

[Segullah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Georgie moves to Washington to stay with her aunt and uncle to finish recovering from the car accident that seriously injured her and killed her fiancé. She takes a job in the kitchen of a local restaurant, where she meets Jace, who is just getting over a bad breakup. Their first week working together is a disaster and she never wants to talk to him again. Then he ends up in her ward and befriends her family—and despite the fact that neither one wants a new relationship, they can’t deny their mutual attraction to each other.

The part of this book I enjoyed the most was the setting. It takes place on an island in Washington and the characters both work in the kitchen of a restaurant. I had a major craving to take a vacation to Puget Sound after reading this. It was an enjoyable little romance, but like too many LDS fiction books I read, it felt a bit thin and superficial to me. I wanted deeper conversations between the characters, more time spent developing and resolving the conflicts, and richer language. This book touched on some great themes, but it just didn’t quite do enough with them for me.

[Holly Potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Georgie survived a terrible relationship which ended in them being in a car crash, Georgie being the only survivor. Georgie has a hard time recovering from this because she feels as though the death of Ian was her fault. She comes to Washington to visit her aunts and try and find herself again. There she meets the sous chef at the restaurant she works at, Jace. Jace had just been broken up with when he met Georgie so he is very rude and cold towards her and Georgie decides she definitely doesn’t like him. Jace apologies to her after realizing he was wrong, they become really good friends and cook together and ride on his motorcycle places. There are also many scenes in the rain which I love

[NaDell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that Georgie starts working in a kitchen to get her life back together after a car crash that killed her controlling fiance. I loved hearing how the dishes got their inspiration from the things going on in the story and I really enjoyed the evolving relationship and how she took time to remember and recover before making big decisions and worked things out first with how things happened in her previous relationship.
LDS faith mentioned throughout, but not any real doctrine, mostly just church attendance and missionary experience as a background.
Clean and easy to read, although I'd recommend it more for a high school and older audience.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE LOVE LOVED this book! Totally had me sucked into the storyline the whole time. I loved getting to switch back and forth between the perspectives of both protagonists. It was also significantly less over-the-top-cheesy than many other books in this genre (which I still also love). I find myself wanting to go back and read it again already!

[Lauren Wilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. The characters had real problems (not superficial ones that so any books in this genre have), the conflict was real (not just stupid misunderstandings. I hate those!), and even the side characters developed well. I loved the descriptions of life in western Washington, and I felt the descriptions of a busy restaurant were well done.

[Barbara Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten stars

This is the third or fourth book I have read by Krista Jensen. I am amazed at how complex and well developed her characters are. They brow and blossom as the story is revealed. It is such a satisfying read. She is a pro. I will keep reading her work as lo g as she keeps writing.

[Shae Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may come as a shock to you but I am a pretty busy woman. That being said, I read this book in 3 days. What does that tell you? It tells you that if you love a great novel, with a great story, that teaches you more than you ever thought it would, all the while making you think, laugh and stay glued to the pages, then this is a book you MUST READ! Well? What are you waiting for?? GO!

[Laverne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good book that really plays on my emotions. It's sometimes a fine line though. Sometimes bad things happen to good people and the results are either depressing or sad, yet hopeful. This story was definitely in the latter category. Georgie has gone through some really tough things and the hardest thing is, she doesn't remember everything that resulted in a horrible accident.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just your average LDS romance- I cared enough about the characters to keep reading. The setting was good, but there was a lot of unnecessary descriptions telling me every little thing the characters did, and not much development in the other characters.

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sweet and sappy book. It moved a little slow and the resolution at the end was a bit too contrived but overall I enjoyed the book. The bit characters were almost better than the main characters. Tru was my favorite of the bit characters.

[JulesQ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This lived up to my expectations for a no-thinking-required sick day novel. But I've already forgotten most of what happened.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't get enough of this book...and when I was done, I wanted more! I really enjoyed reading this one. Jace is perfect! I really like Georgie too. This was a great read!