Ravens in the Rain: A Noir Love Story

By: Christie Santo, Jeff Santo

Narrated by: Jeff Santo, Christie Santo

Ravens in the Rain is an unconventional noir love story between a woman with a past and a man with no future where love is no fairy tale, fantasy is foreplay, and sex is had on second dates.

Carney and Pru, down on luck and down on love, meet over a game of chance, and the mystery of the other's intentions, compounded by their overwhelming attraction toward each other, compels them into a game of cat and mouse. They ante up and play this game of love or survival that has you wondering who's the villain and who's the hero and how it will all play out. When murder is brought to their doorstep the game gets serious.

A psychological tale between a poet and a filmmaker that has even the cat wondering if it's really the mouse, what is real, and who is telling the truth. Is love on the table? Or is it life?

©2021 Christie Santo & Jeff Santo (P)2021 Christie Santo & Jeff Santo

Felt like I was there!

Great story. I felt like I was there the whole ride. The writing, storytelling, sound design and originality were excellent. If you are not familiar with the landscape and era when this story takes place, you will be now! I'm from both era and landscape so it was a fun ride! No details overlooked.

Noir like storyline

Ravens in the Rain is not your typical love story. Carney is a former filmmaker who has hit bottom; Pru is a woman with a sordid and dangerous past who captivates Carney. The foreplay is a cat and mouse game between the two as they dance around one another. The true test of their new relationship centers on a murder.

New authors, Christie Santo and Jeff Santo weave a noir-like romance story with mystery and murder. Each character is well-developed and fully integrated into the story. Each plot twist adds to the storyline keeping the listener off-balance. The story flows smoothly and plot twists are unexpected and cleanly executed. The dialog is well done and keeps the story moving forward.

The narrators (also the authors), Christie Santo and Jeff Santo give a good performance. They both seem to assume their role and wear them well. So much so that their interaction seems smooth and natural. They spoke clearly and projected the appropriate amount of emotions.

The production and sound were of good quality. This is an interesting storyline that those who enjoy noir-like stories will enjoy this book.

Disclaimer: This Audiobook was provided free of charge by the author, narrator, and/or publisher in exchange for a non-bias, honest review.

Gritty and real

Good character development. You felt like you really got to know them.

Every time I thought I knew which direction the story was going it took an unexpected turn.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Wonderful novel by new writers

Lucky me, new authors, Christie Santo and Jeff Santo reached out to me via email and asked me if I'd be interested in reading and reviewing their recently released novel, Ravens in the Rain: A Noir Love Story for my blog.

After reading more about Ravens in the Rain: A Noir Love Story, I said, yes, to their offer as their novel sounded intriguing to me. I was able to download the audio version of Ravens in the Rain: A Noir Love Story by Christie Santo and Jeff Santo for FREE from Audible and finished listening to it in two days time!!

Listening time for Ravens in the Rain: A Noir Love Story by Christie Santo & Jeff Santo is 5 hours, 41 minutes and is narrated by the authors.

Below is my honest, unbiased review for Ravens in the Rain: A Noir Love Story by Christie Santo & Jeff Santo.

If you are a fan of mysteries, love stories, and noir fiction, then I think you'll like reading Ravens in the Rain: A Noir Love Story by Christie Santo & Jeff Santo. The writing is solid from the beginning through to the very end. I felt the authors developed the main characters really well and made them pop. The plot kept me captivated and wanting to see the story through to the end.

I urge readers to listen to the audio edition of Ravens in the Rain: A Noir Love Story by Christie Santo & Jeff Santo. The audiobook feels like listening to a noir film and is well read by both authors. Jeff Santo reads most of the book with Christie Santo reading the lines for the female main character... And the dialogue between characters is fun!

Morality, Loyalty, Friendship and Love?

I thoroughly enjoyed Ravens in The Rain. It’s a pager turner to be sure. From the moment we meet Carney and Pru you know they are meant to be together, you want them to be together. However, the more I learned about them, I had to wonder, do they deserve each other or anyone for that matter? Neither character lacks emotional baggage nor dark secrets to lead us to believe anything substantive can happen between them. And then, literally, out of nowhere a tragedy strikes which forces them both to confront their individual ghosts while attempting to foster their better angels. The authors kept me off balance, I wasn’t quite sure if Pru and Carney were capable of a healthy, reciprocal relationship.

In addition to the main characters, the book is loaded with an array of personalities ranging from fun and quirky to despicable and gross. Christine and Jeff bring all these characters to life while providing a variety of complimentary backdrops; from Vegas to Venice Beach and in between, locales that extenuate the gray foreboding mood and mystery surrounding the two lovers.

The authors don't leave it there; exploring the complications of two people falling in love intertwined with a few untimely deaths, they go broader, providing a sometimes brutal, sometimes subtle assessment of morality, loyalty and friendship.

Husband and Wife team Nail it.

My wife read the book RAVENS IN THE RAIN, and I bought and listened to the Audible version. Jeff Santo is a gifted writer/director who has been successful with male oriented tales of baseball and motorcycles. This book, though, is different. Jeff partnered with his wife Christie to take the writing in a new direction, Noir. And they nailed it. It was like watching a black and white film on Turner Classic Movies. Their combined writing skills nicely blended a male/female perspective with deep character development. So, for the book, I gave it a rating of 5 for its clever story and brilliant writing. Then there is the Audible version which, of course, earns a 5 for story. Jeff and Christie Santo are independents, are self published, and they narrated the Audible version themselves. For those of us Audiblites who are used to performances by world class actors, like Tom Hanks reading “The Dutch House”, authors reading their own works is a challenge, but this couple did an exceptional job. For the Audible Audio book ratings, I gave the story a 5, performance a 4, with a 4.5 Overall.

Great Story!

I have always loved Jeff's writings for movies 🎬
His collaboration with his wife Christie was wonderful.

I enjoyed This Story

Audiobook Boom

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. I enjoyed the story and some of the narration was ok, but it did take away from the book. This being their debut novel, I think they will create some other interesting stories. The story had some unique theme's. It sounded like there was something in the background echoing sometimes, Still, I am glad to have had the opportunity to listen to it!