I never would’ve learned about Rainbow Rowell had I not joined Cannonball Read. Hell, I probably wouldn’t have read her if I wasn’t doing the database, and seeing her name pop up more than any other author except Stephen King (432), Neil Gaiman (269), and Robert Galbraith (243) with 238 reviews. You guys absolutely love Rainbow Rowell (average review had 4.3 stars, compared to 3.7 for King, 3.9 for Gaiman, and 4.2 for Galbraith).
This love, I feel, is fully deserved. Rainbow Rowell is glorious. I wish I could read Eleanor & Park and Attachments again for the first time. Those books touched my soul. They were so good, I had to rethink whether or not I’d ever really enjoyed a book before. Those books are so good, I wish I could live in them and be friends with the characters.
So when I saw that this book was being offered for free on Kindle Unlimited, I knew I was going to read it immediately.
If the Fates Allow is a short story about the character Reagan, from Fangirl. It covers Christmas in 2020 and 2021, and deals with the anger, isolation, confusion, and loneliness of COVID, and the frustration and despair of living in a place where people simply aren’t taking the whole thing seriously. Reagan does take it seriously – but it seems that no one else is.
I can relate. I still wear a mask at work. Out of about 30 employees, I’m the only one doing so. Hell, I work with a guy who, through most of 2021, was wearing a hat that unironically said, “No more bullshit, Trump 2020” emblazoned across the front in red, white, and blue. And this is normal.
I feel Reagan’s suffering, here. I live about 1,500 miles from Nebraska – but I know this world.
There isn’t a whole lot to this story. It’s about two people trying to connect in a world that is inherently antiseptic towards connecting with other people. But this doesn’t need a lot of plot. For starters, it’s a short story. Beyond that, though, this story is about the emotional truth of these characters.
And that truth is not only handled very deftly, but I think it’ll resonate with a lot of readers.
Give it a try, if you haven’t already. It’s Rainbow Rowell.