Weather Woman

By: Cai Emmons

Narrated by: Dara Rosenberg

30-year-old Bronwyn Artair, feeling out of place in her doctoral program in Atmospheric Sciences at MIT, drops out and takes a job as a TV meteorologist, much to the dismay of her mentor, Diane Fenwick. After a year of living alone in Southern New Hampshire, enduring the indignities of her job, dumped by her boyfriend, she discovers her deep connection to the natural world has given her an ability to affect natural forces. When she finally accepts she really possesses this startling capability, she must then negotiate a new relationship to the world. Who will she tell? Who will believe her? Most importantly, how will she put this new skill of hers to use? As she seeks answers to these questions, she travels to Kansas to see the tornado maverick she worships; falls in love with Matt, the tabloid journalist who has come to investigate her; visits fires raging out of control in Los Angeles; and eventually voyages with Matt and Diane to the methane fields of Siberia. A woman experiencing power for the first time in her life, she must figure out what she can do for the world without hurting it further. The story poses questions about science and intuition, women and power, and what the Earth needs from humans.

©2018 Cai Emmons (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Wonderful: Entertaining, moving, and so timely

Cai Emmons' Weather Woman is one of the most engaging and enjoyable novels I've listened to in quite a while, and one of the most unusual. It transcends traditional genres. The title character, Bronwyn Artair, is a scientist turned TV personality turned superhero: A meteorologist and TV weather woman who learns she can control the weather. Reading the plot description, you might understandably expect to find a clever tale of fantasy or science fiction.

But start listening to the book - narrated with spot-on delivery by Dara Rosenberg - and you soon see that it is so much more than that (and I say that as a science fiction fan). The main characters - Bronwyn, her love interest Matt, and her mentor Diane - are fully realized, conflicted, and sympathetic human beings, while even the smallest characters sparkle vividly as they come and go through the pages. Bronwyn's ambivalence about her supernatural gift, and her struggles to integrate it with her sense of self, her relationships, and her role in society, are very real. And her superpower itself is described with both scientific precision and lyricism. The author brilliantly makes Bronwyn's power both a believable natural phenomenon and a metaphor for our desires to control the earth's forces in this time of terrifying climate change.

Cai Emmons has written a funny, compelling, and profoundly moving book. She unflinchingly confronts the flaws in human character and relationships, in science, in society, and in our fraught relationship with the earth, yet writes about it all with a great generosity of spirit and ultimate sense of hope. The ending gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes. Listen and see for yourself.

Beautifully written and narrated

I loved this book, for both its writing and narration. I prefer literary fiction, which this is, with a twist of magical realism. The story is so unique and interesting. Since I don't generally read fantasy books, I do occasionally enjoy intriguing stories laced with magical realism. To me the quality of the writing and narration is essential to an audible book worth reading and this novel has both. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel to Weather Woman, which I believe is entitled Sinking Islands, hopefully soon to be on Audible,

Outstanding book, well-read

I really enjoyed this. Emmons has an amazing grasp of language and uses it to great effect. Bronwyn's story is intriguing and she is a fascinating character. The experience is enhanced by excellent narration. Recommended.

Juvenile in the worst way

Rather than portraying women in a positive light, the main character is a mess ( and I don’t mean that in the Southern sense). She is also boring and whiny. Yuk. Couldn’t stand to get thru more than the 1st chapter.

High hopes, but Disappointed

I’m a meteorologist and love reading weather-related stories. I realize this book was a fantasy, but the story was just not good. Very disjointed with a lot of different storylines, none of which really amounted to anything appreciable, especially the third part taking place in Russia. The author used a lot of big, fancy words too, some of which weren’t even used correctly. Sounded like it was written with those big words just for the sake of using them. Extraneous descriptions and strange metaphors as well. Also, the narrator’s voice was quite irritating, especially her faked men’s voices. I wanted to like this book so bad, but was very disappointed.

Don’t waste your money

I kept hoping it would get better but no such luck. There goes allot of hours I won’t get back.