Review: The Scent of Rain by Anne Montgomery

The Scent of Rain

by Anne Montgomery

Publisher: Treehouse Publishing Group

Pages: 386

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Rose Madsen will do anything to keep from being married off to one of the men in her Fundamentalist Mormon (FLDS) community, even endure the continued beatings and abuse of her mother. But when her mentally handicapped baby sister is forced to strangle the bird she loves at the behest of the Prophet, Rose frees the bird and runs away. 

Adan Reyes will do anything to escape the abusive foster care system in Phoenix, even leaving his good friends and successful high school athletic career behind him. Ill-prepared for surviving the desert, Adan hits the road only to suffer heat stroke. Found by a local handyman, he catches a glimpse of a mysterious girl--Rose--running through town, and follows her into the mountains where they are both tracked and discovered by the men of the FLDS community.

With their fates now intertwined, can Rose and Adan escape the systems locking them into lives of abuse? Will Rose be forced to marry the Prophet, a man her father's age, and be one of dozens of wives, perpetually pregnant, with no hope for an education? Will Adan be returned to the foster home where bullying and cruelty are common? Is everyone they meet determined to keep them right where they belong or are some adults worthy of their trust?


Kritters Thoughts:  With multiple perspectives going on, the first few chapters felt a little short and bouncy, but once they are established it makes the book move so quickly.  Rose is a young woman in the FLDS community and is probably on the bring of being married off and come another wife to a man who already has a collection of them.  Adan has run away from his foster home in Phoenix and the reader doesn't know why he was put into the foster system and what made him run.  

I have a weird fascination with the FLDS community and all the books both fiction and non-fiction that take me into that community.  When I was pitched this book, it had been awhile since I had read a book that took me into the FLDS world so I was excited to read another one.  I liked most about this one having quite a lot of characters that are outsiders to the community instead of being completely surrounded by FLDS members - their reactions and inquisition into them and their customs was the most interesting.

If you are like me and like to read a lot in and around and about FLDS then I would add this to your TBR pile, it was different in the best ways possible.  


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2017 Challenge: 13 out of 50

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from the author.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.