Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Book Blurb:
Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon: Ari Abrams has always been fascinated by the weather, and she loves almost everything about her job as a TV meteorologist. Her boss, legendary Seattle weatherwoman Torrance Hale, is too distracted by her tempestuous relationship with her ex-husband, the station’s news director, to give Ari the mentorship she wants. Ari, who runs on sunshine and optimism, is at her wits’ end. The only person who seems to understand how she feels is sweet but reserved sports reporter Russell Barringer. In the aftermath of a disastrous holiday party, Ari and Russell decide to team up to solve their bosses’ relationship issues. Between secret gifts and double dates, they start nudging their bosses back together. But their well-meaning meddling backfires when the real chemistry builds between Ari and Russell.
My Review: 3.5 stars – Guest Review
Weather Girl is an easy to read, lighthearted, warm, and charming office romance, that also tackles some more serious issues. This was a sweet, friends to lovers romance with a few comedic elements thrown in. Ari, a quirky and lovable heroine, and her love interest Russell, a quiet and reserved single father, were characters I wanted to root for. Russell was “real” and not your typical male romantic lead. I appreciated the fact that the characters represented diversity since Ari and Russell were both Jewish. I was not as drawn in to the matchmaking storyline with Ari’s and Russell’s bosses. I felt that part of the storyline was slightly contrived and predictable, however Ari and Russell’s relationship and chemistry were believable. There were some tender romantic scenes, but also some more graphic sex scenes that did not necessarily add anything to the story.
Ari suffers from depression, and has always tried to keep it from her boyfriends, because she is worried she will never be truly loved for herself. With Russell she risks being vulnerable by revealing all parts of herself and her struggles. In some romances the conflict between the characters can appear forced, but the issues that came up for Ari and Russell felt authentic and were handled in a way that mature adults would handle them. The depiction of depression was treated seriously and honestly, but was very gentle and did not go into a lot of detail, so it should not be triggering for anyone. I wish the book would have delved more into Ari’s neurodiversity and her troubled and complicated mother-daughter relationship. There was a lot of potential with the main character that I wanted to be explored more. Some of the themes included: depression, family dyamics, “toxic positivity”, mother-daughter relationships, teen parenting, and plus-sized bodies.
Overall, this was a sweet, engaging, easy read, with two interesting, diverse and realistic main characters that I cared about. I admire the author for incorporating and honestly handling the mental health issues that were depicted. Readers of contemporary fiction and friends- to- lovers stories will enjoy this book. Review courtesy of Guest Fairy Ronna.
Quotes I liked:
That’s the thing about depression. You can know it’s there, know it’s part of you, but you can go ages without seeing it. It lives with you, an invisible roommate, up until the time you start sinking, and then it sprawls itself across your couch and kicks its feet up on your coffee table and uses up all the hot water. Never pays its half of the rent either.”
“Sometimes I think parenting is a combination of doing things the opposite of how you were raised mixed with doing things exactly how you were raised and worrying that you’re becoming your parents.”
“The people who love us the most have the power to hurt us the most, too.”
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