Not a “Nice Guy”—A Kind Man
In which our heroine reads her first Beverly Jenkins novel and gets hooked.
To be a romance fan who has not read Beverly Jenkins is, I believe, something like a space opera fan admitting to never having seen Star Wars. Jenkins—often called “Ms. Bev” by her devotees—is the author of more than 50 novels focused on Black love, both contemporary and historical. All of this is to say that until a few weeks ago, I had a glaring omission on my romance shelf.
My first foray into Jenkins’ oeuvre was Wild Rain, her most recent historical novel, set in Wyoming Territory in the years after the Civil War. The heroine: Spring Rain Lee, a woman horse rancher who values her independence above all else. The hero: Garrett McCray, a journalist from Washington, DC, who has traveled west to interview Spring’s brother, a doctor, for his father’s sundown paper.1
Wild Rain opens with Spring rescuing Garrett—who has fallen off his horse—from freezing to death in the middle of a blizzard. She brings him back to her house to wait out the storm, and quickly shows her sharp edges. As he defrosts, she tells him: “Ruin my couch and I’ll feed you to a bear.”
The pair’s first encounter sets up their dynamic for the entire novel. Although Garrett is a capable man, who works as both a carpenter and a journalist, in Wyoming Territory it is Spring who knows the lay of the land and understands how to handle the weather, the horses, and the people. Spring bristles and draws very clear personal boundaries; Garrett respects those boundaries and meets her at every turn with unflagging kindness.
Throughout their burgeoning love story, Jenkins threads the politics of the reconstruction era, particularly in the sections told from Garrett’s perspective as he observes the difference between society in Spring’s hometown and the cities back east. Garrett sees that “Jim Crow was infecting the country like a disease, and more than likely would eventually show its ugly face in places like Wyoming.”
And though Spring’s Wyoming hometown is called “Paradise,” there is already ugliness there. Garret learns that Spring’s prickliness and desire for independence is in part a result of painful experiences from her past. When she was barely more than a girl, her grandfather stopped supporting her after she refused to marry a man closer to his age than hers, and she was forced to find an employment situation in which she faced physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her white employers, the Ketchums. She was eventually able to save up money to quit and buy her own land, but the trauma of her experience lingers.
And when Spring is threatened by one of the Ketchums and some shady characters he has brought to town, Garrett supports and defends her without encroaching upon her autonomy or questioning her ability to take care of herself. Spring realizes that it is his support and kindness that draws her to him: “Kindness seemed to guide his steps, and he offered that same kindness to her freely and without judgment.”
There are plenty of reasons to love this book: The historical and political setting, the steaminess of the love scenes, the descriptions of the natural surroundings, a wonderful sequence involving the taming of a horse, and Spring’s confidence when she wields a Colt Peacemaker in the local saloon. But for me, it is the kindness at the heart of Garrett’s personality and his respect for Spring’s adherence to her values (she is not sure about marriage and she does not want kids) that makes Wild Rain a remarkable, unmissable romance.
More from Beverly Jenkins
Jenkins has written more than 50 novels over the course of her career, and there are more coming, so the good news is there is plenty to read! As a newcomer to her work, I thought Wild Rain was a great introduction to her writing, and I’m definitely planning on reading more. Here are the next Jenkins books on my to-read list:
Tempest, which tells the story of the romance between Spring’s doctor brother, Colton, and his wife
Vivid, which is the book of hers that I’ve heard recommended most frequently
Rebel, the first book in Jenkins’ “Women Who Dare” series (Wild Rain is the second)
To Catch a Raven, the third book in the “Women Who Dare” series, coming later this year.
A Few Great Interviews with Beverly Jenkins
“Beverly Jenkins: A Trailblazer Episode” (Fated Mates Podcast, 11/17/21)
“The Queen Of Black Historical Romance Talks Race, Love And History” (NPR, 2/11/21)
“Beverly Jenkins Real Needs to Buy More Bookcases” (New York Times, 4/2/20)
Sundown papers were newspapers produced by editors with other day jobs. In her Author’s Note, Jenkins writes: “The history of Black newspapers is not well known outside of academia, but during the years between the 1827 birth of the first Black edited paper, Freedom’s Journal, and the end of the 19th century, there were over 500 nationwide. Most were sundown papers like the one owned by Garrett’s father, and others only published for a short while. But they were all dedicated to being true voices for the race, especially during the rise of Jim Crow.”