BOOK REVIEW: All The Little Raindrops

It’s senior-year spring break, and Noelle Meyer and Evan Sinclair have been kidnapped. Neither knows why they were chosen, only that they share a tragic past: Evan’s father got away with killing Noelle’s mother, effectively ruining her family when the death was ruled an accident.

Despite the connection that should have made them enemies, the teens instead unite to face their other common denominator―their abductors. Noelle and Evan survive one sadistic circumstance after another, eventually making a harrowing escape. But every happy ending comes at a price…

Years later, Evan, now a private investigator, revisits the crime when he learns it may be ongoing. He reaches out to Noelle for help, and they discover that the answers lie with a man known only as the Collector. To close their case and solve the ones that followed, Noelle and Evan must unmask this mysterious spectator―the only man who knows enough secrets to take their captors down.

Spoiler Free: 

When Noelle Meyer, wakes up in a cage where the bars don’t only sit parallel to one another, but perpendicular, she can’t stand, and the room is completely dark, it takes her a minute to gain her bearings. Once time passes, and a man drags another person in and shuts another cage door behind him, she has questions. When the lights come blaring on illuminating Even Sinclaire, son of her mother’s murderer, she battles to need to stay away and join forces. Because its either they join forces or allow these random men take whatever parts of them that they please. They can fix their problems later, now, a new enemy has shown itself and they must leave whole. Well, as whole as whole can be in this place.

Years later, Evan is a Private Investigator with always one finger on the opened case that he and Noelle escaped from. No closure, no accountability, no answers. That’s what keeps him up at night. But even more than that, why them? How did two enemy seniors from Northland High end up kidnapped in cages forced to work together? Evan calls on Noelle to help find answers in a man named the Collector, yet the answer might be more bone crushing than the actual torture.  

TW: Human Trafficking, Rape, Sexual Assault, Torture, Captivity, Kidnapping, Dismemberment, Abduction, and Blood.

Spoilers Full:

Okay here we go with spoilers.

Like usual I have lots of thoughts so proceed with cautions.

I will divulge in everything that happened.

We ready?

Three,

Two,

ONE.

Welcome to the danger zone.

                 This is a suspense/dark romance, written in 3rd person omniscient. Personally, I’m not a big fan of 3rd person omniscient. I believe that there are very few instances where it works. I don’t think this is a book where is worked out for the best. AS the reader we jump around a lot, Noelle, Evan, The Collector, Cedro, and the therapist. I think this would’ve been a stronger book had we only gotten maybe Noelle’s and the Collector’s POV. I definitely don’t think Cedro and the therapist was necessary.  With so many insights, I struggled to settle with one character and get connected to them. Because the book starts off in action, there already is little time for the reader to get to know the main character and the bouncing around from head-to-head just didn’t help in the situation.

                 With that, I think Sheridan left every door open that she could. What I mean by that is because there’s a “who’s the bad guy” question needing to be answered at the end, she made it seem like it could quite literally be every character aside from Noelle and Evan. I think in order to keep the reader reading and engaged you have to create some certainty for them to latch on to and metaphorically pull themselves through the pages. For example, in Colleen Hoover’s Verity, the reader is given insight into if the comatose wife really isn’t comatose, giving snippets of her being up and moving. And that’s what the reader holds onto throughout the book, finding out if this bitch was crazy or not. Was Verity awake? Did Lowen imagine everything? Is the husband behind it? In this book there are too many unknowns. Why did the dad die of a heart attack? Why is this hacker involved? And the jeweler? And the collector? Does he run the game? Has he been involved for a long time? Is he a vigilante? What’s going on with the relationship between their fathers? What’s going on with them? Trauma Bonding or just pushing each other away? Why was it that Noelle’s friend Paula was the one to realize she was missing before her father? There was nothing concrete for us to hold onto. Really the only thing we had was that Evan’s father killed Noelle’s mother while they were having an affair which started this enemy relationship between the two families, but even that later on becomes not completely true. If I had one big suggestion for this book, I’d say create some structure and certainty. That being changing the POV to create that dramatic irony naturally instead of throwing out information or if that is skimming down on the mass of information.

                 I was most entertained in the beginning of this book. I don’t read a lot of books of this subject matter (specifically human trafficking rings) and it was really interesting to me. It felt like a hybrid between Saw and The Hinger Games. This idea of uber wealthy people finding pleasure in the downfall of lower-class people is and interesting idea. It’s why shows like squid games was so popular. I think I only wish Sheridan would’ve leaned more into that. More into the darkness that that brings. More into the avenge/revenge plots that arise between these families. More on the trauma bond and how that actually affects Evan and Noelle’s relationship aside from the fact that they “can’t be together”. I will say I think the fact that they had a child that Noelle kept from them was completely unnecessary in the grand scheme of the plot. It didn’t make much of a difference to the bigger picture relating to them being captured and trying to live with the trauma. With that the ending felt completely. . . crazy? Unrealistic? Taken too far?

Why did the therapist have to be involved? Why is there a need to have a second plot line about a diamond and ruby dynasty in Belgium revolving around the therapist/collector and Evan’s father? Why can’t this just be fueled by the anger and need for revenge in two families that have so much animosity that they lose sight of right and wrong? Why can’t Evan’s father just be an evil man because he is, not because he has secrets including a dead diamond dynasty and massacre on his hands in Belgium. Sheridan completely lost me at the end. For something that is so real in our country today, this piece felt so. . . fictional? And that sounds crazy but even fake. I mean the last scene when the collector poisons everyone in the room as they watch Grim and Cedro escape is so reminiscent of the scene in squid games when they’re betting on players and wearing those elaborate masks.

                 I gave this book a 3.7. It’s not that I didn’t like it while reading, I just wish it did better on what it promised, leaned more into the themes associated with the plot instead of enacting cliches and troupes. I don’t know. . . I think maybe I’ll just take a break of Mia for a few. We’ll see what she comes out with next.

Ps. Not putting a trigger warning also went into my rating. I think when rape of a virgin happens so early on in a book you’re obligated to give people a heads up.

Mia Sheridan

Mia Sheridan is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author. Her passion is weaving true love stories about people destined to be together. Mia lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband. They have four children here on earth and one in heaven. Mia can be found online at www.miasheridan.com or www.facebook.com/miasheridanauthor.

ISBN-13:   978-1662514104

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