Kelsey Kingsley

The Spider and the Storm – Kelsey Kingsley

The Spider and the Storm was recommended to me by a friend and I just had to read it because I love a loner hero. I don’t know why, but something about a solitary, isolated man who finds the right partner to finally love, to finally have a person, just melts my cold heart every time. 

Much like Saving Rain, this is also told just from the MMCs POV. Charlie also had a rough childhood but at least he always had his brother. He was an anxious kid, to the extent they had to pull him from school for his mental health and because of bullies, and we follow his story, which is full of tragedy and heartbreak, into adulthood. 

It’s told in dual timelines with the present, where we find Charlie has become a fully isolated adult, living alone in the cemetery where he’s also the caretaker. One day he bumps into the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, a woman who likes him for him, even if he’s quiet and anxious. He’s also tall, tatted, bearded, and drives a motorcycle so I’m sure that helped. 

Also much like Saving Rain, the romance is the lesser plot but I still really enjoyed it. Charlie and Stormy were pretty much instantly into each other, and I was so glad he finally found someone who loved him in return. 

This one is a whopper of a book (691 pages) but please don’t let that deter you. I binged both Saving Rain and The Spider and the Storm in about two and a half days and was entirely captivated the entire time. I love the extra time we got to really root around in the Spider’s head and honestly could have kept reading.

I really just thought this was a great story, it is angsty and sad but never TOO angsty and sad for me. Just the right amount! I really enjoyed pretty much everything about this book (and Saving Rain) and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. 

*This book can 100% be read as a standalone but if you think you’re going to read both books, I would start with Saving Rain since the characters do overlap and you’ll really appreciate seeing Soldier from Saving Rain here. 

Saving Rain – Kelsey Kingsley

Oooh did I love this book.

This is a beautiful story of redemption, told in dual timelines but only one POV, which was his. I really liked the uniqueness of the single POV being the MMCs. And what a great MMC he was!

Soldier was born to a young mother with a drug problem, leading a very unstable upbringing and a series of bad decisions as a teen led him to be in prison in his early twenties. He did not always make the best choices but we can see the desperation that brought him to that point. We get his whole story from childhood to adult as we move through the first past timeline. 

We also get his present day story, being released from prison years later and trying to fit in back in the outside world. He ends up living next to a single mother and her son, whom he befriends and eventually starts a romance with the mom.

Truth be told, the romance is somewhat of the lesser plot here, and I didn’t mind at all. I loved Soldier, his strength and inherent goodness despite his difficult upbringing was beautiful. His journey was hard at times but I genuinely loved it. There is not much I love more than a true story of redemption and this one just really hit the spot for me. 

We do however definitely get a romance, and a beautiful, tender one at that. Soldier and Rain saved each other in multiple ways and their love felt meant to be. I also loved Soldier’s other relationships, with his former prison guard who helped him reestablish himself, with the townspeople as he won them over, and especially with Rain’s son who was the first person to befriend Soldier and not treat him any differently. 

I do have to say, it’s pretty long. It’s around 500 pages, and it’s very character driven so you spend a lot of time with Soldier. I personally enjoyed every second and flew through the pages. I loved the author’s writing style so much I immediately picked up the next (loosely interconnected) book and binged that one as well (review to come!)