First Time Available!Following the USA Today bestseller, Lost and Found Sisters, comes Rainy Day Friends, Jill Shalvis’ moving story of heart, loss, betrayal, and friendship.Six months after Lanie Jacobs’ husband’s death, it’s hard to imagine anything could deepen her sense of pain and loss. But then Lanie discovers she isn’t the only one grieving his sudden passing. A serial adulterer, he left … one grieving his sudden passing. A serial adulterer, he left behind several other women who, like Lanie, each believe she was his legally wedded wife.
Rocked by the infidelity, Lanie is left to grapple with searing questions. How could she be so wrong about a man she thought she knew better than anyone? Will she ever be able to trust another person? Can she even trust herself?
Desperate to make a fresh start, Lanie impulsively takes a job at the family-run Capriotti Winery. At first, she feels like an outsider among the boisterous Capriottis. With no real family of her own, she’s bewildered by how quickly they all take her under their wing and make her feel like she belongs. Especially Mark Capriotti, a gruffly handsome Air Force veteran turned deputy sheriff who manages to wind his way into Lanie’s cold, broken heart—along with the rest of the clan.
Everything is finally going well for her, but the arrival of River Green changes all that. The fresh-faced twenty-one-year old seems as sweet as they come…until her dark secrets come to light—secrets that could destroy the new life Lanie’s only just begun to build.
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I always enjoy a Jill Shalvis book but Rainy Day Friends almost got me thrown out of a waiting room because I laughed loud and hard. What a great story! As someone of Italian heritage, Ms. Shalvis hit the nail on the head with the Capriotti family and how crazy a big, extended family can be. I felt like I was back in my hometown.
Simply put, the story is about Lanie Jacobs and Mark Capriotti. Lanie has been raised as a (let’s call it) loner while Mark has been a part of this big, nosy, noisy, loving family. Both of them have no idea how the other is handling life when their pasts catch up with them.
Mark is a single dad, with the most adorable twins, trying to juggle his daughters – his top priority – his job, and his family. Enter Lanie. She comes to the Capriotti Winery for short term work and to her it feels like she landed on Mars. Even though hilarity ensues, there is much loving and warmth and tension to work thru for these two. And the kids…they made me smile, and sometimes sniffle, but they always brightened the story.
I didn’t tell you much about the actual story because it has to be read to be enjoyed. I loved it and highly recommend. And totally identified with the crazy family.
Poignant
While there is plenty of the classic Jill Shalvis humor in Rainy Day Friends, this one hit me right in the feels. I’m a sucker for a strong single dad Hero, trying to keep it all together, putting love on the back burner. Single dad to 6-year-old twin girls, I might add. Oh, and did I say he was a Deputy Sheriff and veteran? Catnip city!
Mark is part of a sprawling family, by blood and by choice. A collection of strays, employees, and family that all live on his family’s winery compound in Wildstone, CA. What I wouldn’t give to hang out with them! Everybody’s all up in your biz every minute of every day, to the great chagrin of new temporary contract employee Lanie. Widowed, and on the run from the secrets she discovered after her husband’s death. Lanie just wants to get in and get out. Mark’s family has other plans for this reticent couple, though!
The cast of characters in this book is strong and varied, and as always, makes me yearn for their stories, also! Strong silent cowboy soldier, young pregnant single girl, feisty sister looking for love in all the wrong places, married with children sister in love with her husband since grade school, grandpa and grandma throwing out their witticisms at every turn, and at the heart of the whole family, Cora. Mother, grandmother, sister, friend, CEO. The heartbeat of the winery. Never overstepping, but always there. Constant and wise. One of the best secondary characters I’ve ever read.
If you’ve never read a Jill Shalvis book, I believe this is the perfect book to get your feet wet with! I loved it!
Not going to lie, I listened to Rainy Day Friends by Jill Shalvis shortly after listening to book 1 of this series (Lost and Found Sisters) and I feel like this is a testament to not being able to get enough of this author’s writing. This is a series but only in the sense that it is set in the same location, and we are dealing with a whole new set of characters in this book. The fact that it’s set in a winery only made me like it even more, and it was just as funny and heartwarming as the first book. Shalvis may write insta-romances but the WAY she writes is just fantastic. Even though there are heavier themes in the novel, the overall feeling is happiness, and this is a great book to read if you want a palate cleanser from heavier novels. The audiobook is a lot of fun and is narrated by Karen White who also narrated Lost and Found Sisters. The way she voices these books makes me smile every time, and she has done an incredible job with both of them.
Rainy Day Friends is very appropriately named even though I had to Google what it meant because apparently, I had forgotten. I was so confused until I read “Rainy day friends are the ones who listen to us when life is difficult and remain faithful in friendship and relationship when the rest of the world turns their back to us.” That is a beautiful way to describe the relationships between the women in this book and it is one of the things I loved about it. The characters all feel so real, and I adored Lanie and River as well as the love interests. The humor and characters make this such a wonderful read and I had tears in my eyes by the end. This series is full of standalone novels so you can pick up any one you want, and I highly recommend any of them even though I’ve only read 2 at this point. I know I am going to love the rest as well and Shalvis is a very talented writer that is really growing on me.
Audio book.
Who needs to watch drama on the television when you have a Jill Shalvis book? Today that book was Rainy Day Friends. Family Drama was off the charts. The Capriotti Winery is the center of much of the drama. The Carpriotti family collects misfits, loves them, and makes them their own. So if the Capriotti family wasn’t drama enough, they add even more.
Lani is one of the misfits. She is running from her past, landing at the winery as a graphic designer. She keeps her past close to her chest. She sees no romantic future.
Marcus has run home to family after his wife walked out on him and the twins. He keeps his heart guarded. That won’t stop family from meddling, pushing him and Lani together.
Another great book by an awesome author.
Kept me on my toes, I laughed and cried through it all loved it
A wonderful, heartfelt story about love and friendship! I adored Lanie and Mark — fantastic characters and a charming romance.
I am blown away by how much I love this series. Jill Shalvis’ ability to get me emotionally invested into these characters and utterly sucked into their lives is astounding. The only thing missing was more cameos from some of the characters I grew to love in the first book, but I do truly love the fact that the small town they live in, Wildstone, is the connection in the series. I love the Capriotti family and I wish we could have a series just about them! I don’t think there was a single aspect of this book that I did not enjoy – even the angst was realistic, yet not unduly drawn out (which was a relief to my poor heart because I couldn’t take any more than there was). All of the relationships that were developed were so important and vital and real and I love that Lanie’s story made me look at myself and ask some hard questions. I also really loved that while Lanie is flawed, she’s also strong, intelligent, capable, and loving. I can not wait to continue on with the series (in fact, book 1.5 just arrived in the mail so it looks like my day is booked)! 4.5 out of 5 wine glasses.
Love her books!
Piper Manning’s about as tough as they come, she’s had to be. She raised her siblings and they’ve thankfully flown the coop. All she has to do is finish fixing up the lake house her grandparents left her, sell it, and then she’s free.
When a massive storm hits, she runs into a tall, dark and brooding stranger, Camden Reid. There’s a spark there, one that shocks her. Surprising her further, her sister and brother return, each of them holding their own secrets. The smart move would be for Piper to ignore them all but Cam unleashes emotions deep inside of her that she can’t deny, making her yearn for something she doesn’t understand. And her siblings…well, they need each other.
Only when the secrets come out, it changes everything Piper thinks she knows about her family, herself…and Cam. Can she find a way to outrun the demons? The answer is closer than she thinks—just as the new life she craves may have already begun.
Loved Camden & Piper’s story! Their story was flawlessly written and heartfelt. Their relationship wasn’t an easy one and as different as they were they totally worked! Loved every page of their story!
This is the second book set in Wildstone, but with different characters. I loved the first book in this series and this book was even better! I loved the story and the characters. They made me laugh, cry and hope for their future. I loved the Cipriotti family and how they included all of their employees and treated them like family. They weren’t perfect and many characters had flaws which made me love the book so much. This is a must read!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. You will pick it up at every opportunity. The characters reached out and grabbed you as they interacted. The connection is instant and the story pulls you in. If you haven’t read Jill Shalvis before, start here and you’ll be hooked.
I love all of Jill Shalvis’ work that I’ve read. One of the few authors that I prefer to buy paperback so I can have the collection.
Great characters with depth!
I loved, loved, loved this book! GREAT read! I highly recommend!
Just a fun book to ready, reading goes fast it is so good
MY REVIEW OF “RAINY DAY FRIENDS ” BY Jill Shalvis Kindle Edition William Morrow Paperback June 19, 2018
“Rainy Day Friends” by Jill Shalvis is an entertaining, captivating, emotional read. The Genres for this story are Fiction, Women’s Fiction and Romance. The timeline of the story is in the present and goes only to the past when it pertains to the events or characters of the story. The story takes place mostly at the Capriotti family run Winery.
The author describes her characters as complicated and complex possibly due to the circumstances in their lives. This is novel about betrayal, heartbreak, second chances, family, friends, love, and hope
The Capriotti family is an outgoing, boisterous, and friendly family. One of the things that I like best in this story, is that the Capriotti’s seem to be a family that believes in second chances and being kind and helpful to others.
Lanie Jacobs takes a graphic design job at the Winery after she finds out that her deceased husband holds a deep dark secret that embarrasses and torments her. Lanie tries to keep to herself but finds it is very hard to do so with this family. River Brown also arrives at the Winery, pregnant, and under false pretenses takes a job there as well. Little does Lanie realize that Riley has some dark secrets that can cause a rippling effect.
I would recommend this novel to those readers that enjoy Women’s Fiction, Romance, second chances, with a touch of suspense.
As usual, Jill writes the most swoon-worthy heroes. But this book is more than a romance, it’s about overcoming a tragedy and how you can grow and learn from the worst mistakes of your life.
Never read this author before but I so enjoyed this book I will be reading more. There were many moments where I just laughed out loud and I read late into the night so I could finish it. Jill Shalvis has created relatable characters in very believable situations that were just wonderful.