The View from Rainshadow Bay was an implausible tale with bits of great story telling sprinkled within. It’s the story of a recently widowed woman who gets dragged into a mystery with multiple deaths and a scary killer after her. There are deep buried secrets to be uncovered and a romance quickly building.
I was drawn to the main character, Shauna, for several reasons. I admired her strength to move on after her husbands death and I liked how fiercely she loved her son, though I think the author used that as a bit of a crutch sometimes. Shauna would do just about anything if she was reminded that it was best for her son and I got a little tired of that same technique.
I also liked Zach as a character. He’s flawed but completely likeable. He has a lot to carry on his shoulders but he does it well. I felt like his actions and reasoning where inline with what I expected of his character. The other supporting characters, Alex and his grandmother, were well done as well.
Now, that being said, the book was just too far fetched for me. I can’t really get into here without giving it away so I’ll try to stay clear of specifics. Part of the issue I had was that there were too many twists in the story. While the authors does tie them all together, by the end of the story I kept thinking “that would never happen”. There are a few other inconsistencies that really bothered me. One character is murdered in a way that would really never work. The killer seems like a vicious psychopath one minute and the next he is hesitant and regretful.
The other issue I had was that the romance seemed way too quick for me. This is supposed to be the start of a series and yet the book wraps up as a standalone and didn’t really seem to leave a lot for the rest of the series.
My overall thought is that I probably won’t continue on with the series. I give it 2.5 Stars.
*I received this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Colleen Coble is the master of Christian romantic suspense, and The View from Rainshadow Bay is no exception. It starts with a murder in the Prologue, and the pace never lets up.

It’s been a year, but Shauna McDade still blames Zach Bannister for the death of her husband. Unfortunately, she needs his help as a father-substitute for her son’s class trip. Two murders and a mysterious box later, she needs Zach’s help for more than just the class trip.

One of the items in the box is a unique necklace that belonged to Shauna’s mother—one that was supposed to have been buried with her. Shauna and Zach chase clues together, but there are no easy answers. It’s a detailed plot, with lots of seemingly insignificant events coming together in an unexpected end twist (no spoilers, but I really hope this is fiction!).

And that makes it kind of hard to review—pretty much anything I might want to say could be giving away a significant plot point. So I’ll keep it simple and say that if you’re a fan of Colleen Coble, Christian romantic suspense, or both, then you’ll want to read this book.

The View from Rainshadow Bay is the first in the new Lavender Tides series from Colleen Coble, so it’s a great place to start if you’ve never read her books before. Recommended.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

The stunning locations and well written characters, along with the interesting mysteries, made this book so enthralling. I literally could not put it down because I needed to know what was going to happen next.

Shanna is still healing from her husband's accidental death when her friend is murdered after telling her she may be in danger. As the bodies start piling up she turns reluctantly to the man she blames for her husband's death in a climbing accident, for help. Together they set out to solve the mysteries and perhaps repair their broken friendship.

I look forward to reading more in this series.

Shauna is a young widow with a little boy to raise. She has faced her husband's death in a climbing accident with courage but she knows she has a long way to go facing life on her own.



When her mentor and close friend is also murdered in a planned explosion, Shauna knows that there is danger around. When his wife too is killed, investigations then begin to find whether there is a link between Jack's death and these two deaths along with the death of the couple's daughter which had been ruled as a drug overdose. What is driving the murderer and what is he looking for.

Zach was Jack's friend and partner but the one person whom Shauna has avoided since she blames him for Jack's accident. He is however the only person she can trust with her son and her own life because everything she has known now seems to have hidden secrets. Unraveling the lot is time consuming not knowing what they are looking for and each accident that happens brings Shauna and her son more and more into danger.

The plot was fairly predictable and men being overly protective of their womenkind was a little too pronounced but generally it was a pleasant read. Shauna herself was a helicopter pilot so was no shrinking violet herself but the impression given was that she needed protection. This was the bit that I found a bit too over the top!

The element of romance was inevitable and predictable as well.

Goodreads and Amazon reviews posted on 17/3/2018. Review on my blog end of April 2018

Another exciting suspense from Colleen Coble.
This was that I just didn't want to put down!
I had a suspicion about who might be the villain, but I sure enjoyed the journey.
There were numerous plot twists and completely unexpected events.
I also enjoyed the characters, especially Shauna and Zach.
I look forward to reading the next in the series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Fun romantic, dangerous story with hidden secrets. Shauna is a likable character and this book is lots of fun.

This was a very enjoyable mystery/romance by one of my favorite authors. It was a bit of a tangled web and kept me guessing almost until the end who the villain was and why. I thought the main characters were developed quite well and there was good chemistry between them. The difficult situations they found themselves in were believable and the suspense kept me reading long into the night.

After her husband, Jack, dies in a climbing incident, Shauna lives to provide for her five-year-old son by continuing with her helicopter charter business. This is definitely a novel of escapism and unreality but as you read on you are thankful for that. A great holiday read!

This book was hard to put down!! I'm adding Colleen Coble to my list of authors to look for online and at my library. Shauna, Zachary, and Alex quickly reveal themselves as the type of people one wants to know or even have as family. Coble creates believable characters lucky enough to live in a truly beautiful area. I was intrigued by her use of science as the basis of the mystery. She also added enough plot twists to keep the reader guessing about the cause of all the violence in such a small town. I don't read a lot of "Christian" fiction, but I found Coble's approach relatively low key until the end. At that point, it was a bit too preachy for me, and I removed a star from my rating. I look forward to seeing where Coble will go next with this series!

The View from Rainshadow Bay was the first book I’ve read by Colleen Coble. I really enjoyed it and will be reading her books in the future. I mus mention that the cover was stupendous! It caught my eye immediately. I love the lavender fields which are included in the story.

If you love mystery, murder and a little romance in the mix this book is for you. Shauna is a widow who is raising her son, Alex, with the help of her mother in law. Zach, her nemesis, was her husband’s best friend whom Shauna has not forgiven and blames for his death. Shauna who has no one else to turn asks Zach to help her and Alex when her life is in danger. They work together to figure out who is trying to kill Shauna and who has killed others she is close with. Meanwhile becoming close. I love a good mystery that I can’t figure out before the author discloses it. This story offered that and who doesn’t love a good romance in addition?

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I’ve expressed in this review are honest and entirely my own.

This is the first book I read from this author and I really liked it.

The story was intriguing and kept you engaged. The main characters were likesble and the romance wasn't inyout face but was introduced slowly and gave the reader time to focus on the actual issue. I would certainly recommend the book. Thanks for the ARC.

I have to say that the cover caught my attention right away. The author always has appealing covers that gravitate readers to her books. Her writing style keeps readers coming back. The story is a very intricate and decisive plot. I loved the cat and mouse type theme with the main characters trying to stay one step ahead of the killer. The author pulls out all the stops to give a well written intense story that proves her skill of details that keep readers guessing.

Shauna was a well thought out character. Her burdens seemed overwhelming with the death of her husband while trying to juggle work and raising her son. The author gives subtle hints of underlying questions surrounding her husband’s death. Not everything is as it seems when houses explode and vandalism follow Shauna. Is there anyone she can turn to for help? I really enjoyed learning more about her childhood and a mystery that could answer a lot of questions about her family. The author had me hooked right from the beginning and continued till the very end.

Zach was a complex person to me. He blamed himself for his friend’s death but was willing to do anything to help his widow out. There wasn’t a warm reception between Shauna and Zach at first. I understood her hesitation in trusting him and enjoyed reading how they tried to let go of bitterness . With Zach being a daredevil it seemed to be his outlet for guilt. Sometimes guilt can eat you up if you aren’t careful. The story is filled with mystery that puts lives in danger and a need to protect loved ones. I highly recommend this book to readers who love a great mystery with non stop action that leads to an ending you won’t forget.

I received a copy of this book from The Fiction Guild. The review is my own opinion.

This book has more turns than a meandering country road, and though I figured out who the murderer was midway through the book, the mystery was worth the journey. The storyline is complex and quite detailed and Zach and Shauna’s complicated history plays a huge part in the book as this murder mystery evolves. My problem with the book is that while the author told me about the hate that Shauna feels toward Zach because of her husband’s tragic death, both characters seemed emotionally disconnected from the action throughout much of the story. As a result I didn’t feel an emotional connection to the characters until the last few chapters of the book and, for me, the sudden revelation of Zach and Shauna’s feelings for each other came out of the blue. This may just be a matter of personal taste, but I thought this was just an okay reading experience. I read a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley and all opinions expressed in my voluntary review are completely my own.

A widow still trying to move forward, a friend who feels at fault for the death and some quick mysterious deaths start this book in an interesting spot. A mystery/thriller with a complete women's fiction turn, this book is perfect for a reader of women's fiction who wants a little more in their books.

Shauna was such a great character. I loved having her as the guide through this story, she was such a real character and I loved the range of emotions in this book. My favorite thing is when I wish that a character were real and I could become friends with her, I felt this way about Shauna.

I have read quite a bit of Colleen Coble and whether you like the story or not her writing is nice and easy to read. It is easy to get into the story, but also the perfect read if you have a few distractions to easily put down and pick back up again later. Her writing time and time again is just smooth and makes me enjoy an afternoon with her story.

After finishing this book and thinking about it, I have to say I felt as though the book revved up really fast. It almost went from 0 to 80 in 2 seconds and I felt a little out of control. It took a bit for me to settle in and enjoy, almost like too much happened too quickly! In the end, I would say I loved it, but I would have loved a little more in the beginning.

Besides the very lovely front cover, this book ultimately left me pretty disappointed.
I’ve not read a Colleen Coble novel before, so I picked it up with curiosity- it’s a romantic suspense novel with some murders thrown in, which promised to make for an exciting read- and indeed, it starts with a bang. Murders start happening left, right and centre: 15% of the way through I think at least three people had died, and the main character, Shauna, has even more to contend with, looking after her little son Alex after her husband died in a freak accident.
You’d think there’s a lot going on here, but the truth was that the book was slow. It took a long time to get going, and even with a knife-happy psychopath on the loose the murders were quickly skimmed over in favour of delving into the angst-ridden relationship between Shauna and Zach, the man who is responsible for her husband’s death. A lot of time is spent fretting over their relationship, whilst in the meantime spending hardly any time on the rather pressing murders- it felt a bit like Twilight, especially the thinly-veiled plot machinations designed to throw them together, and get Shauna moving into Zach’s house within the first couple of chapters.
The characters, too, were rather too one-note for my tastes: they were drawn with very broad strokes, and had no character development or personalities to speak of. Shauna is supposed to be an ex-Navy woman- a badass, right?- and yet Zach ends up saving the day, and her, like a stereotypical macho hero, as she cries and panics. That stuck in the throat, as did the inconsistencies within the novel: the killer’s bizarre behaviour, for one, and the fact that he could go around merrily killing people so blatantly without anybody figuring out who he was. The plot twists weren’t so much twists as extremely well signposted roads.
I did enjoy reading about the town, though- Coble populates it with quirky, colourful characters, like the ageing sheriff, an Elvis impersonator with a much-younger model wife. If she could bring the same passion to her plot then I’d be happy: for now though I don’t really think this is for me.

I liked the premise of the book. At its core, the idea for this book was solid. I really wanted to know the backstory between our two main characters, and I wanted good things to happen for them in the end. However, the execution just wasn't there. I felt like I was reading a book written for adults but at the high school level. Everything we were supposed to know or feel, we were told outright. We didn't have to figure it out for ourselves. There was no mystery or suspense to the relationship between our two main characters. Even though they were adults, the writing made them feel immature. In addition to this, somehow the plot devolved from a murder mystery into some sort of terror plot where people were creating earthquakes? There was a lot going on, and the complexity of the plot didn't jive with the simplistic writing style. There is absolutely potential here, but I wouldn't recommend this book in its current writing.

First time I have read Colleen Coble. Loved the book. I haven’t read a mystery in a long time. I always figured the ending out too soon. Not that with this book. Twists and turns kept the pages turning. The romance was a given, but I am giving four stars.

This was my first read from Colleen Coble. While the book wasn't my favorite, I did enjoyed it and I plan to read more by this author. The story itself was good but I felt that some parts were choppy, some parts rushed, and other drug on too long for my liking. There was a 'character' who was already deceased and I felt the draw-out of what happened went on for too long. The two main characters were good and I liked them but I wasn't a fan of them as a couple. Shauna went from hating Zach to being in love with him within a week. I think my favorite character in the book was 5-year-old Alex! He was adorable.

Like I said, I did enjoy the book and gave it 4 stars.

Shauna lost her husband, Jack, in an unfortunate accident while he was scaling a cliff of ice with his best friend, Zach. She has blamed Zach and held him responsible for goading Jack into doing a host of dangerous things which ended in his death. She was struggling to make it as a single mother, making money to keep their lives afloat and being both mother and father to their son, Alex. Flying chartered trips in her helicopter just wasn't cutting it. When tragedy strikes the life of a dear friend, she is thrust into danger.

Zach lived with the guilt that he challenged his best friend, Jack, to a race up on ice slope which ended in his fall and death. He tried to numb the pain by doing the next crazy adventure... skydiving... BASE jumping; he had scheduled a volcano surfing trip next month. Unfortunately, the adrenaline wears off and doesn't dull the ache inside. When Shauna and her son, Alex, are in danger, Zach feels that he owes it to them and to Jack to protect her with his own life.

The View from Rainshadow Bay is a Colleen Coble romantic suspense novel. The characters were easy to like, and the story was sweet and redemptive. Both of the main characters had gone through an immense loss and were living with grief and bitterness, angry at themselves or others. Brought together because of the danger, both Zach and Shauna began to work through their issues, forgiving themselves and others. That is a beautiful part of the story. The story is suspenseful and I didn't want to put the book down so I could find out how it ends. I was less impressed on the suspense part of the novel. The villain was creepy and unpleasant, but I was totally surprised at who the culprit was. I like a good twist as much as the next reader, but I went back through the novel and looked at all of the conversations that included that character, and I couldn't find any clues pointing me to him/her. I'm of the opinion that there should be some small clues and hints pointing me towards the villain, so I was disappointed to have this person identified as the culprit all of a sudden. To me, it felt like a random choice without good background and motivation. I enjoy Colleen Coble's novels, but I would not say that this is one of her best.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for an electronic copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions above are my own.

A wonderful story filled with suspense, intrigue, and love. Wonderful charecters, very well written, a book I would read again. I wpuld enjoy more stories written about the other charecters in the story.