Cleansing Rain

By: Holly Ash

Narrated by: Ceci Garcia

Earth is dying and the only way to save it is to eliminate its biggest threat.

All Zoe Antos wanted was to make it home from work in time for date night with her fiancé Cole Wilborn, something her research had been preventing a lot recently. After managing to get out the door on time, all hope of making it home is lost when she is kidnapped by a man trying to steal files from her lab.

Zoe is thrown into a world of conspiracy theories as her kidnappers reveal that they are trying to stop The Arrow Equilibrium, a powerful eco-terrorism group Zoe has never heard of, from going through with their plan to restore balance to the environment. It doesn’t sound too bad until she realizes the only way to have a shot at doing that would be to eliminate the human factor from the scales. Zoe almost starts to believe them, until it’s revealed that her kidnappers believe the Wilborn family is the behind The Arrows, something she knows can’t be true.

Once rescued, Zoe starts to notice irregularities with her future father-in-law that makes her question if her kidnappers might have been right. Zoe must decide who to trust: her fiancé’s family or her kidnappers. Her life, and the fate of humanity, could depend on her making the right choice.

©2021 Holly Ash (P)2022 Holly Ash

Great story, quality performance

Cleansing Rain is clearly the start of an epic saga. So many apocalyptic series start after the inciting incident, but not here. We get to experience the drama driving towards a horrible future.
The vocal performance was enjoyable and engaging. The recording is the tiniest bit tinny, but easy to ignore to enjoy the story.

Very engrossing

This was an interesting concept novel that brings with it twists and turns you don’t see coming. The characters were fun with a down to earth Zoey who is engaged to rich boy Cole. She keeps it real and doesn’t fall into that money trap. As the main character she is very likable and easy to fall in love with.
As it turns out not everyone in Cole’s family is what they appear to be.
This is a series and book one keeps you wanting more.
I enjoyed the audio version and the narrator has a great voices.
I would recommend this for anyone who likes a little mystery in their reading materials.

Engaging story, Leaving you wanting more.

Cleansing Rain is a story about a woman named Zoe who is kidnapped at the beginning. While she is held by her captors they share information about her future in laws and an organization whose mission is to end the world as she knows it.
Not knowing what to believe and who she can trust, Zoe tries to uncover the truth and hopefully avoid a global catastrophe.
There are surprises and twists keeping the reader engaged throughout the story. I finished the book within 2 days and since the story does not come to a conclusion at the end, I am eager to listen to more.

Surprisingly engrossing listen.

When I started reading this book I thought: Oh great, another story with a supposedly practical, frugal girl dating a rich, over-protective loser. But I stuck with it, and somewhere along the way the author shattered those illusions and I found myself addicted.

I think the big difference that made the book work for me is that the relationship between the protagonist (Zoe) and her fiancé (Cole) is organic and fun. There is this unspoken tension between the lifestyle he grew up in, and the lifestyle she occasionally forces him to experience. But he doesn't talk it down, and she accepts that this is part of her life now. Together, alone, they are just two regular people, flirting, teasing, and loving each other.

By the end of the first chapter Zoe is kidnapped, and although it may not be stylish or trendy to have a down-to-Earth response in that situation, it works. She's scared, she takes calculated risks, she tries to get out of the situation. But it's not like she grabs the gun when she has the chance. I honestly thought the whole book would be about the kidnapping, so I was surprised when that resolved early on. In fact, that probably could have resolved earlier, but I understand why she needed the time in custody.

I would have liked a little more science, for a book that labels itself sci-fi, and one of the reveals wasn't much of a reveal because you're kind of hit over the head with it again and again before the reveal is actually made. I know mysteries are supposed to give you hints so you feel smart when you guess right, but I have to reveal that this was a bit much.

The book basically does not end, and at the time of my reading, there was a sequel, but not an audiobook sequel, cause I was ready to hit that immediately to see how things resolved. So, if you're not ready to dedicate yourself to the sequel, be prepared for disappointment. But given what a quick and engrossing read the first one was, I have high hopes.