This is definitely one of those books where you will either love it or hate it, because the descriptive writing is poetic and beautiful, but also drags on in places and fails to provide a proper conclusion at the end.

As a lover of all things Paris, I loved the beautiful and chaotic way the city was portrayed and loved the premise of the city on edge as continuous rains threatened to flood the Seine and the entire city.

I also liked the awkward family dynamics between Linden, his sister, and their parents, Paul and Lauren. Each person has their own baggage and are coming together to celebrate Paul’s 70th birthday. The tense weather and the tense family situations really set the tone for the book. However, I was a bit confused my the sudden ending. I understand that not everything needs to be tied up in a pretty bow, but really?? That was it? Lots of positives for The Rain Watcher, but the negatives made this book mediocre when it had the premise and some details to be amazing!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book!

Unfortunately, I did not feel connected to this book at all. I think the style of the book is either loved or disliked, and I was one that felt the passages were extremely lengthy and felt like I had to trudge through. I am a lover of dialogue because of how it can help add breaks between long passages, though I think that this book will be great for those that like a different style of writing.
I also felt it was hard to be connected to the characters because there was so much telling going on instead of showing - again I think this has to do with the way the style is. It also felt really slow moving to me even though it seemed like it should've moved much quicker because of the panic about the flooding.

The beginning of the book was super slow, and I could just not get into it. This is not the book for me.

First of all, thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for my Kindle.
I loved "Sarah's Key," and I really wanted to love this book, too, but it wasn't a good one for me.
I had trouble staying interested in the story and thought it didn't flow well; I couldn't connect the dots.
The story line of the book was a family getting together for the father's 70th birthday with hopes that the family's issues will be resolved and the family unit restored. I was confused as to why so much emphasis was on the flooding of the Seine? Sorry, it was just an "ok" book for me.

The Rain Watcher by Tatiana de Rosnay is a contemporary story about a family and their secrets. The Malegarde family meet in Paris to celebrate the father’s 70th birthday. At the same time the Seine River is rising due to a monsoon like rain. During his birthday dinner the father, Paul, suddenly collapses with a major stroke. The main character in The Rain Watcher is Linden, the son, who is now famous and is a successful published photographer. Linden begins his painful life review as he deals with his father’s illness and tries to comfort his mother and sister. He is also trying to deal with the devastating flood waters in Paris. Each family member has their own secrets, as we all do.
I did find this book a bit slow and I really did not connect with any of the four family members. I absolutely loved the author’s first book, Sarah’s Key, and I was a bit disappointed with this story. The author’s writing style is good but for me the book lacked depth and just did not hold my interest. I received an ARC from the publisher and Netgalley and this is my honest review.

I loved Sarah's Key, so I was very excited to read The Rain Watcher. Unfortunately I did not love The Rain Watcher. The writing is full of wonderfully descriptive passages. I could smell the Seine and feel Linden's anguish. However, I tired of Talia's whininess and angry outbursts, and the ending left me confused and disappointed. I actually went back and reread the last couple of chapters twice to see if I missed something, but it just ends...abruptly.

I don't like to give a negative review, but in this case I feel that I cannot be positive. I am giving this book 3 stars because of the writing.

I will start by saying that the writing is wonderful. I loved Sara's Key and Manderlay Forever. They were both so well written and such wonderful stories. For these reasons I couldn't wait to read The Rain Watcher. I found it to be a huge disappointment. I felt that the family story was not explored as well as it should have been and even though it was extremely interesting to read and learn about the flooding in Paris too much time was spent on that. If all that was not enough, the ending in my opinion did not answer any of the questions about the family dynamics.

Captivating! I was quickly drawn into the family drama, then intrigued by the relentless rain and subsequent flooding in this present day story. The author beautifully explores family dynamics in complex relationships, love, hurt, regret, things said and not said...all within the context of a family gathering celebrating 40 years of marriage and a 70th birthday, all set in the magical city of Paris.

One section of the novel did initially confuse me. (I think this was an issue of a Kindle version - I would bet that the different narrator will be clear in print.) I had to reread, and when it came into the novel again I was able to figure out what was going on. The conclusion confirmed my reading. I’m still pulling together what it meant in the total story. I do like that I have finished reading but am still thinking about the book.

I am glad to have read this and will recommend this to our clients. This would be a wonderful work for book groups to explore - many discussion points and topics!
I appreciate the privilege of advance reading! Thank you

I’m giving this one 3.5 stars. The writing was extraordinary and very poetic. The characters were very developed.
Linden and Talia, two siblings dealing with their own struggles, natural disasters and the health of their parents.
The reason for 3.5 stars is due to a lot of unanswered questions. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I feel a little incomplete. I want more answers and more story with what was introduced throughout.
Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this heartwarming and heartbreaking novel.

I really enjoyed a previous book this author wrote, Sarah's Key, so I was excited to read another novel by her. I had quite a few issues with this book. First off, some of the chapters start with a sentence or two in french. My high school french class is just not enough to understand what the sentences say and it was not translated into english.
The story just didn't hold my attention; I felt it really dragged on and on, somewhat like the rain in the story! While the author painted a great picture of the son I didn't feel like I really knew the other characters, the mom, sister or dad. I have unanswered questions about the mom and her issues. When there was a flash back I wasn't sure if it was the dad or the son.
I also was quite confused by the ending, so much so that I went back and reread the first chapter. It helped to make a little more sense but I still did not like the way it ended.
The author is a great writer and this book is no exception. I just don't think the story itself was very interesting.

DNF at 62% due to the following reasons:

What should have been a fast-paced story about an intriguing event (Paris is flooding!) is made into a plodding overly-dramatic but also uninteresting family drama. I couldn't connect with the characters and don't love de Rosnay's attempt to write a gay male protagonist. The accident description was overwrought and completely out of place with the rest of the novel. Simply not for me at all.

I really looked forward to this book since I loved Sarah's Key, but this one just didn't pull me in.

I can see where this book was going, and I thought it would be wonderful; however, the pacing was so off. The story and the flooding made me believe that there was an urgency to this story, but the progression lagged behind. I felt like it was just a constant loop and it sometimes wasn't a coherent loop. The detail and imagery poured into this was beautiful, but the pacing, repetitive nature, and overall lag really pulls the whole novel underwater so to speak. I really wanted to enjoy this more than I did. I was physically sick during the details of the car accident, so I would advise a trigger warning for people with blood sensitivities, car wreck trauma, and gruesome detail.

I have really enjoyed the author's other books, especially "A Secret Kept" and "Sarah's Key." Unfortunately, The Rain Watcher is not up to that standard, in my opinion.

At about halfway point in The Rain Watcher, I was ready to give it up out of complete disinterest in the story or characters, but continued as I was reading a free copy from NetGalley. This is the story of adult children having a reunion with their parents, and we know how that can often go. Resentments, words unspoken, dysfunction and more creep into this sad tale of a well-known family. But this was a plodding, convoluted story, most characters were not particularly likable. At the 98% point of the story, the author introduces a completely new character and the story does not resolve itself. Is the author trying to set up for a sequel? That's the only thing I can think of.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a free advance ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. This book had me from the very beginning. I love that it kept me engaged the entire time. I couldn't wait to see how it ended. I would highly recommend to all my fellow readers. Thank you for the chance to review this book!

"Why did "just the four of us" sound both so cozy and ominous?" from The Rain Watcher by Tatiana De Rosnay.
On the surface, it was a celebratory family gathering. The patriarch of the Malegarde family, Paul, was turning seventy; he and his wife Lauren had achieved 40 years of marriage. Their children Linden and Tilia were joining them in Paris, France.

Except...heavy continual rains had the Seine rising to a record flood stage. Paul, a world famous arborist, suffers a stroke while his wife falls ill. Their daughter Tilia still struggles with PTSD from a horrendous accident that killed her best friends and left her with a limp after reconstructive surgery. She is in a failed marriage to a drunk. Her daughter Mistral is her one bright happiness. And Linden, a world famous photographer, left home at age sixteen and can't tell his father he is engaged to another man.

Each character has their secret pain which they must face during this devastating reunion, and which is revealed to each other by the end of the story, showing their growth and resilience.

Linden has to keep the family afloat, visiting his father in the hospital while Tilia tends to their mother. He explores the flooded streets with his professional peer Oriel, camera in hand. As he revisits places from his past, all the pain and regret returns to overwhelm him in a flood of memories. The apartment where he lived with his beloved aunt. Places where he spent happy hours with his first lover before they were brutally torn apart.

Nature's destructive force is a constant presence in the novel, the rain and cold, people fleeing Paris and those who stay in cold and lightless apartments, all impotent to stop the advancing water.

And yet it was also nature, in the form of a lime tree, that saved the child Paul, informing all his choices and activities throughout his life, and giving his children their names.

The novel is a love song to Paris, and for those who know the city will feel agony as the floods overwhelm. The city has faced recent flooding, the worse in fifty years.

For all the emotional and natural chaos going on in the novel, I felt distant, the events not affecting me as strongly as I would have thought. I realized that the narrator tells readers what is happening when I would have liked scenes played out in action and dialogue. Readers are being told a story, a quite good story, much of which takes place in the internal lives of the characters. I liked the characters very much.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The author's previous books include the bestselling Sarah's Key and an excellent biography on Daphne Du Maurier, Manderley Forever.

This was almost a "did not finish." I skimmed through the last three quarters of the book, finding interesting passages here and there. There was no dialogue throughout making it very difficult to keep my interest. And, if I could create an apt song title, it would be "The Rain on the Seine Mostly Drove Me Insane."

Thanks to NetGalley (I think) for the opportunity to read and review.

Set against the backdrop of Paris during relentless rain and a flooding Seine, Linden Malegarde is struggling against memories, fear and yearning as his family meets for his father’s birthday.
I may be way off base but I found so much symbolism in this touching novel that, to me, was significant. The statue of Zouave, a colonial soldier and the indicator to the city of the level of the Seine, measures the water like the rising memories of Linden from his childhood and from his former life in Paris. As the water rises, so does the number of memories Linden experiences and has to face. The unrelenting rain contrasts a family with unrelenting regrets. The isolation of the family in a safe hotel points to the isolation of the emotions each family member holds internally. The devastation of the city from the swelling and destructive river mirrors the devastation of a mother’s betrayal, of a father’s illness, and of a sister’s inability to come to terms with a harrowing car wreck.
Threaded through this story is Linden’s need to fully define himself and his relationship to his partner, Sacha, to his father. It is something Linden has avoided his entire adult life but feels circumstances give him the opening he has feared yet longed for.
I found the novel to be breathtaking and achingly beautiful as the family struggles are brought to the surface and explored.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Tatiana de Rosnay for an ARC of this book.

This is my first Tatiana de Rosnay book, and I really liked it. I love stories that take place in Europe, and this book was so beautifully written. I will be reading more books by this author, very soon!

St. Martin's Press, thank you for this review copy.

I was so excited to have the chance to read this book, and it was as good as I'd anticipated. I loved the development of the family's relationships throughout the story. My favorite books are the ones in which the character development plays a big role in the story, and this was definitely one of those books. It's a completely different type of story compared to Sarah's Key, but it's every bit as lovely. I loved this book!