Two Years, No Rain by Shawn Klomparens384 pages
Published June 2009 by Dell Publishing
Andy Dunne is a weatherman in San Diego County where it hasn't rained in nearly two years. His career has stalled, his cheating wife is divorcing him and he has a secret love. When the satellite weather service he's been working for let's him go, he tries out for an wins a job doing voice over work for a children's program on a fledgling television station. But then things start changing fast. But Andy soon finds himself the star of the show with a big salary and a quickly growing fan base. Soon Andy is struggling to deal with his newfound stardom, a niece that moves in with him, and a relationship with a married woman (Hillary) that is becoming more intense.
This book has been called "guy-lit" and "dude-lit" and that seems to be an apt description. But this is not strictly a book for dudes. Klomparens does a terrific job of drawing the reader into Andy's life and relationships. Andy is a guy that just is letting life take him along until a medical condition and his new job force him to start looking more closely at what he wants his life to be. The book built up nicely and I was really looking forward to seeing how Klomparens would wrap things up. And that's where it started to fall apart for me. Andy had a twin brother who died and the book makes much about how his feelings about this have really held Andy back. But I felt like this was solved much too easily and it didnt' seem to me to be Andy's biggest problem. Hillary and Andy's relationship was interesting in the beginning but I came to like her less and less and the explanation for the major event in their relationship didn't ring true for me. Andy has a drinking problem that's not fully addressed. A coworker that plays a part in the early part of the book just disappears and a problem with Andy's brother-in-law is never addressed after it is brought into the story.
I liked the book...I just didn't love it. I did like Klomparen's writing style, very straight forward and the dialogue rings true. I'll definitely pick up his other book, "Jessica Z."
I enjoyed this book, too. I have heard that Jessica Z is even better.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this book mostly I think because it was kind of cool to read about a guy's problems instead of a girls. lol. I did like Andy although, upon thinking about it, you're right a lot of issues he had were never solved. I'd read another by Klomparens too.
ReplyDeleteI had a tough time with Jessica Z.... ended up not liking it mainly because it seemed like all his really good plots frittered away to nothing when htey should have gone somewhere. the characters had weak personalities... just wasn't very good i didn't think. I had wondered about his other book and after reading your review i think it might have the same problems as jessica Z. Let me know what you think about that one once you read it!
ReplyDeleteI've read other reviews, like yours, that were positive, but not glowing. Great review!
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