I had the pleasure of reading Chaser (#1) back to back with Raining Men (#2) and Rick R. Reed has a great, compelling story to tell.

Bobby isn't an awful person- he's just misunderstood. That's where we start in this second book. Okay, he was just plain awful in the first book. The stereotypical, 'bad gay friend'. I don't normally recommend the necessity of reading books in a series that are also meant to be read as a stand alone as well-- but both books are really good and #1 helps set up the incredible transformation that takes place in this book.

Redemption. Can Bobby make things right with his best friend Caden? Can he truly change? Can he find love and give up his endless sting of one-night stands?

Raining Men is satisfying, entertainment from beginning to end.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I tried to keep an open mind about Bobby and I tried to feel sympathetic toward him as his story unfolded but I just found him too unlikable to enjoy the story. I can somewhat appreciate his journey and how he healed and became a better man but I was waiting for it to mean something to me and it never really happened. I guess when you start with a character that you just find disgusting it is hard to find a way to love him even when he grows into a decent human being.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I so didn’t want to like Bobby… and I certainly didn’t expect the character that readers met in Chaser to bring me to tears… Trust me, no one was more surprised by the fact that I actually liked Raining Men more than I liked Chaser. At the end of my review for Chaser, I mentioned that this author had his work cut out for him if he could turn my loathing of Bobby into love, turns out he was up to the task.

You could probably read Raining Men as a standalone, but you’d miss out on how bad Bobby really treated his best friend, Caden. That book sets the stage for Bobby’s transformation in this book. And, as much as I always tell myself not to judge others, Bobby’s actions made it really hard not to, from Caden and Kevin’s perspective especially. Getting things from Bobby’s perspective didn’t make what he did forgivable, it just gave readers a sense of how broken he truly was. There were times in Raining Men that I really got aggravated with Caden, but to be fair, I never really sided with him in Chaser, so it wasn’t much of a surprise.

There were a lot of supporting characters in Raining Men that really made the story for me. From his family, his support group, his therapist to his new-found friends (including Johnny Wadd) – they all shed some light on who Bobby really was. I think what I liked most about this book was that it wasn’t really a romance centered book. Strange, I know, because I do like a good romance. I think it would have been a disservice to Bobby though to have everything “fixed” for him by finding the right person. He had a lot of soul searching, growing and even set-backs to go through to even think about finding his HEA. When he did though, it was perfect and I walked away from Raining Men a lot more satisfied than I did when I finished Chaser.

First off, I did not read the book in this series Chaser. Though, after reading Raining Men, I might sometime in the future. But, this book was full of surprises and you do not need to have read Chaser to understand what is happening. This can be considered a standalone novel.

For the first few chapters, I was worried that I might DNF this book. But it was around chapter three or four of Raining Men that he really came into its own. After that, I cruised right through the book. But just note the chapters are a bit bigger in size.

Bobby is a sex addict and Raining Men chronicles his journey. There several cringe-worthy moments throughout the book, but hey you can find those in a lot of other books too. But for some reason, maybe because we know what Bobby is thinking, these seem deeper.

We see throughout the book Bobby’s rise and falls, all of which make him a better person. It really touched me how he took care of his mother after his father’s death. Oh and the moment he got so mad at his sister for not checking in his mother.

The reason I am rating Raining Me four stars is I feel like the ending was rushed. Personally I would like to have seen more of how Aaron and Bobby evolved. Oh, and the epilogue confused me for a bit, and it was super short.

But other then those points, Raining Men is an enjoyable book. There are a good amount of sex scenes, but they add to the importance of the book. I recommend this book to those who enjoy LGBTQ+ books and romance.

This is not a love story. It's the journey of a man. There is a romance of sorts but it more than takes the backburner to Bobby's growth, in fact it all but happens off the page.

If you read Chaser and hated Bobby for his actions, then you have to read this book. There are numerous sex scenes but Rick R Reed in no way included them for titillation. They will leave you hollow and empty inside.

I know you won't believe me, those of you that still hold on to the memory of Bobby's actions in Chaser, but your heart will ache for the man that you thought you hated. Not once but time and time again.

Rick R. Reed’s ‘Raining Men’ could easily be used as a primer for dealing with sexual addiction. It’s all in there - the holy trinity of: (1) The Serenity Prayer, (2) Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings, and (3) the caring guidance of an established mentor.

In addition to the holy trinity, the novel’s principal character, Bobby Nelson, is also helped by an understanding therapist; his mother; four men who were intermittently in and out of his life; and a stray Chihuahua Bobby found one night after an unfulfilling seedy bathhouse orgy.

Bobby named the stray dog that he immediately adopted, Johnny Wadd. If you’ve ever owned a dog, you’ll definitely recognize the experience Bobby described when he noted that more neighbors knew the dog’s name than his.

Mr Reed’s novel unflinchingly describes the negative effects of sexual addiction not only on the person dealing with it, but on everyone with whom he comes into contact.

‘Raining Men’ was hard to get into and painful to read as Bobby continually used sex as a way to avoid the pain of rejection. It certainly didn’t start as a ‘feel good’ novel. By the second half of the book, set in Chicago and Seattle, I was glad I'd stuck with it.

It was tantalizing to speculate as to which of three men would ultimately become Bobby’s life partner. I won’t give that away, but, as promised, the book does have an upbeat ending.

To paraphrase one of the men Bobby pursued, ‘You can only love someone for who he is and not for who you hoped he would be.’

This was the first novel by Rick Reed that I’ve read. I look forward to reading many more.

I received a Review Copy of this re-released version of ‘Raining Men’, the second book in the Chaser series, from NineStar Press in exchange for an honest review.

#RainingMen #NetGalley