When the Rain Ends by Mary Ellen Taylor tells the story of Dani, an artist and mother who is going blind and trying to hide it; and Bella, her pre-teen daughter.

This book delves into the world of grief. Dani is still grieving the loss of her mother, whom she lost to cancer 20 years ago, and is currently dealing with the news that she is slowly losing her eyesight. Bella is grieving the unexpected loss of her father. Dani's love interest, Jackson, is holding on to some grief after his own daughter passed away several years ago. As we travel through these stories, we are given glimpses into their viewpoints and see their flaws, and loves, and struggles, and successes.

As full of grief as this book is, it isn't heavy or depressing. It is raw and honest, and beautiful.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This beautifully written book is about a mother and her daughter at a crucial point in both of their lives. It's a story of coping with grief and learning how to go on with life and how to rely on other people to help you through difficult times in life.

This is largely a slice of life, character driven story that mainly follows a mother/daughter duo who must navigate life and grief after the death of a loved one but there are many discussions/examples of loss and grief and how there are as many ways to deal with it as there are people. In the end I did not connect with any of the characters and the story didn't seem to go anywhere. I listened to the audiobook along with the kindle edition and the audiobook was well done but the story just seemed to drag on and I just wanted to get to the end, sadly.
I can see it having value for someone struggling with how to process grief especially a child as there is a healthy portrayal of child therapy which I appreciated.

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to review it.

This book is a sequel to The Brighter the Light and follows Ivy's best friend Dani. It develops several plot lines: grief, romance, growing up, parental love, dealing with change, health issues, and a touch of the supernatural. Dani is a single mother who is slowly losing her vision. Her ex-husband and the father of her daughter Belle has recently died and she has moved them several miles from where she grew up. Belle is not dealing with the changes very well. Dani is dating Jackson but hasn't told him or Belle about her vision issues. Wonderful touching story with believable characters. Loved it!!

This was a sweet story about a mother/daughter pair learning to live with loss. The character development was great. I really loved the setting and the storyline. It was such a beautiful picture of learning to live with the loss of a parent! I especially liked Juniper's character! This was a great, summery feeling read with substance. I would highly recommend this to fiction lovers!

4 stars!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher and the author for the advanced copy to review!

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

I’ve read several by this author, and like her other books, this is an emotional heart tug of a story. Dani and Bella are learning to deal with loss, a medical condition, and a love to a new place. They have several bumps in the road but the story leads them to a good place. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley.

Extremely simplistic story. Predictable. Very average writing. Nothing profound. But good enough and worth a read.

A heart-breaking story about a warming with a condition that is causing her to slowly lose her sight her decides to move to a farmhouse with her daughter after the death of her husband. There was a lot of grief and sadness to deal with in this book yet it was dealt with beautifully. I felt like I was on an emotional journey with this book but I loved seeing the characters heal and grow and I would really recommend this.

I usually love all the books by this author but this one I had a hard time finishing. A mother and her daughter are dealing with the loss of husband/father,. With a diagnosis of a serious eye disease that eventually will lead to blindness, the mother uproots she and her daughter to start again on a small farm near the Virginia/North Carolina state line. Will they find happiness again? I found myself skimming through the book to find out. A quick read for me.

If you read The Brighter the Light, you'll be delighted to know that is Dani's story, and we get just a little more of Ruth. It's another heartfelt, compelling read from a gifted wordsmith of women's fiction.


Dani Manchester is a single mom, and she recently received a medical diagnosis. The prognosis? Dani, an artist and gallery owner, is slowly losing her eyesight. She makes a decision to move away from the beach and across the sound to the mainland. In an act of spontaneity, Dani has purchased an old farm property on the sound and plans to open a new art gallery that will appeal to tourists traveling to and from the beach. 


Dani's thirteen-year-old daughter Bella is not on board with this plan. Not only is she leaving her friends and grandparents, she's leaving the only life she's ever known. And worst of all, it feels like she's leaving behind all the memories of her recently deceased father. She also may have been holding out hope that her parents would get back together because they've always seemed like such good friends in Bella's eyes.


The renovations for the farmhouse and the silo that will be turned into a gallery are a much bigger job than Dani and Bella, provided she's willing, can handle. This brings Jackson Cross into the picture, recommended to Dani by her realtor. Jackson is a quiet, solitary man and has experience building luxury boats, but he's taking a sabbatical from the boat business to help Dani.


If you've ever read a MET novel, you know this description barely scratches the surface. From here, so many surprising, poignant, touching events are revealed. Jackson has a painful past that eventually comes to light and through it he finds healing. Bella struggles with such drastic changes in her life, and with a little help from a mystery friend and kids she meets at camp, she learns that now to handle many of her jumbled emotions. Dani tries to navigate a new normal as her world slowly grows dim, but through glimpses of Ruth, Dani's mentor, Dani recalls words of wisdom that guide her and light her path.


Brimming with emotion and heart, these characters learn about trust, leaning on others and being someone's soft place to land. Their journey is fraught with fear and uncertainty, but they learn that taking a chance and opening one's heart is its own reward. Beautifully written and masterfully told, this story of hope, faith, and healing is sure to please readers of every kind.

Mary Ellen Taylor never disappoints. This is a wonderful book about loss, letting go, and moving forward. We met Dani and her daughter Bella in “The Brighter the Light”. As they embark on a new life away from the Outer Banks, they learn to let go of losses in their lives. As Dani, with the help of Jackson, opens up to love and healing, she helps Bella through the loss of her father. It is a summer of discovery and love.

This is a poignant and heart-tugging story of a mother and a daughter and the other people who touch their lives at a vulnerable time. Dani Peterson is losing her vision. Her husband died four months before the story begins and Dani is struggling to find her footing with their pre-teen daughter Bella. Bella was very close to Matthew and is having a hard time with her grief. When Dani decides to leave her beautiful home on the Outer Banks to move inland to a farmhouse in Virginia, Bella is less than thrilled and her anxiety comes out in mini-rebellions against her mom. Dani decides to send Bella to a grief camp and that camp and dealing with grief is a central focus of the story. Bella makes a new friend, Reggie, at the camp and gradually learns to do the activities without too much difficulty. Both Dani and Bella are dealing with terrible losses—Dani, her vision, and Bella, her beloved father. Both of them have to come to terms with their love for each other as well as letting new people into their circle. The mother-daughter relationship is in the center of the well-woven and intricate plot, but there are so many developing relationships as Dani establishes a new home and a new business in a new place. There are also the farewells that have to take place, the letting go that is never easy and the author portrays well the grief that lingers and overtakes you when you least expect it. The plot moves at a good pace for the content, neither too fast nor too slow, but ebbing like the tide that rolls in and out. The characters are well-developed and likable, dynamically portrayed as they grow from bitterness and anger towards acceptance and moving on. I enjoyed every part of reading this book and was sad when the story ended but I’m delighted to report that it is one of my top books for the year, with all of the emotion that can be packed into the pages of a really good book.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Family drama, Snarky pre-teen and dogs….Mary Ellen Taylor at her best. The emotions in this book are so realistic from my point of view. Uprooting her daughter after a sudden loss, devastating vision diagnosis and moving/renovating a silo into an art studio are just a few of the things on Dani’s plate, then she goes and falls in love. Her life is so full and then we have grief camp for Dani’s daughter Bella. So much going on in this book it was very entertaining and also educational. Great visit to the “Outer Banks” region. Would love to read additional stories about this group of folks.

This is a story about loss and grief management and how both adult and child manage it. Mixed in is also a potential love story.  It is a very well written story with great character development.

Dani Manchester and her daughter Bella desperately need a new life that would be free of heartbreaking memories.
At the age of eight Dani lost her mother to a fast growing cancer. When she was eighteen she got pregnant and got married.Eighteen months later she got divorced. Not long ago her ex-husband had been killed in an automobile accident on the way home from work. To add to her and her daughter's distress, she was recently diagnosed with a genetic disease, retinitis pigmentosa, which would render her blind in the future.
On one of her frequent trips to an eye center in Norfolk, Dani noticed a for sale sign in front of a farmhouse she had admired for years. She put a bid in and they ended up moving. "When the Rain Ends" is the story about their new life and how resilient the two of them become when they up and move to the old farmhouse and everything changes!

WOW! How I loved this book. This Author has such talent. This book deals with loss, grief and moving on. It pulled at my heartstrings. Everything this Author writes is amazing. This book already sits at the top of my list for 2023. If you haven’t already, read this Author. I highly recommend her and all her books. Thanks to NetGalley, Montclair and the Author for the privilege of reading and reviewing this book.

First, I have to say; I loved this book. After reading The Brighter the Light, I wanted more of Dani’s story. Well, this book gave me plenty. It tells of the strength and conviction of a mother to help her daughter manage the grief of losing her father while dealing with a devastating personal tragedy of her own. As an artist and business owner, she now has to face the fact that she is losing her sight. How does she manage her new life and protect her daughter from more trauma?. Losing her mother to illness at a young age left an impact on Dani. She watched how her mother handled her illness, always smiling and showing an optimistic attitude for others. She tries to portray that same positive outlook to her daughter to protect her from what is coming. Her sunny disposition isn’t working this time. She needs help and must learn to accept it from not only her family, but from a man who might add a permanent light back into her life. This story isn’t just about dealing with grief. It shows how to find hope and love even during the most difficult times of your life.