What Grows In Heavy Rain by Lisa Martens // So many plots, so little time

Item: What Grows in Heavy Rain
Rating: 2
Author: Molly's Book Nook

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

What Grows In Heavy Rain by Lisa Martens // So many plots, so little time

What Grows in Heavy Rain by Lisa Martens
Genres: Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 177
Goodreads

Two Americans, two Costa Ricans and two Nicaraguans struggle through the rainy season in a small gated community in La Garita, Costa Rica. Through the rain and budding fruit, they battle through terminal illness, poverty, boredom, ex-husbands, theft, and sexual assault. The Costa Rican air has a way of turning even the most logical mind wild with passion. - From Goodreads

The story follows a variety of guests staying at a small bed & breakfast type of lodging in a small town in Costa Rica. It simply goes through the motions of their day-to-day lives as tourists or locals, most of them trying to escape from reality. Their stories all intertwine with each other in some way, some are significantly impacted by another’s story while others are more in the background.

The story could have been so much more. There’s theft that happens at the lodging facility, but the culprit is never discovered. There’s a murder, but it’s just briefly discussed then let go. There’s a jealous wife trying to practice witchcraft, but the only time you hear about it is when she asks for a lock of hair. There’s a wife who is terminally ill and a husband who decides to have an affair. All these plot lines that could have been a main focal point, while still telling it from different perspectives, were just forgotten.

The author put a lot of time into building the characters backgrounds. You learn a lot about where they were before they came to Costa Rica and what struggles they are dealing with. Usually, it is great to read background information because it helps develop the character. However, this book just overdid it. There was too much background and very little plot. There were pages on pages of what the gardeners life used to be like with his previous wife. It became lengthy and considering this is only a 177-page book, that shouldn’t happen.

The writing style was peculiar and left me a little lost throughout. It’s told from many point-of-views, but these aren’t organized in any way to keep the reader on a smooth path. There are chapters, but they are not used to determine whose perspective you are reading. Instead, it alternates the point-of-view abruptly – you will be reading one POV, then unexpectedly it goes to another in the next paragraph. Sometimes it even jumps back and forth between times in order to establish what two characters were doing simultaneously. It causes the story to be very choppy and hard to follow.

I really hate giving negative reviews for books, but this one just did not live up to its potential. There were many missed opportunities to really build a successful plot. As a reader, I got lost in the timeline and separation of events. The characters fell flat, with no characteristics to really connect with. You may enjoy this if you want to read a story with very little complexities or stories that follow simple lives in a foreign country. Overall, it just was not my cup of tea.