Rain

By Amanda Sun

American Katie Green has decided to stay in Japan. She's started to build a life in the city of Shizuoka, and she can't imagine leaving behind her friends, her aunt and especially Tomohiro, the guy she's fallen in love with.

But her return is not as simple as she thought. She's flunking out of Japanese school and committing cultural faux pas wherever she goes. Tomohiro is also struggling–as a Kami, his connection to the ancient gods of Japan and his power to bring drawings to life have begun to spiral out of control.

When Tomo decides to stop drawing, the ink finds other ways to seep into his life–blackouts, threatening messages and the appearance of unexplained sketches. Unsure how to help Tomo, Katie turns to an unexpected source for help–Jun, her former friend and a Kami with an agenda of his own. But is Jun really the ally he claims to be? In order to save themselves, Katie and Tomohiro must unravel the truth about Tomo's dark ancestry, as well as Katie's, and confront one of the darkest gods in Japanese legend.

American Katie Green has decided to stay in Japan. She's started to build a life in the city of Shizuoka, and she can't imagine leaving behind her friends, her aunt and especially Tomohiro, the guy she's fallen in love with. But her return is not as simple as she thought. She's flunking out of Japanese school and committing cultural faux pas wherever she goes. Tomohiro is also struggling–as a Kami, his connection to the ancient gods of Japan and his power to bring drawings to life have begun to spiral out of control.

When Tomo decides to stop drawing, the ink finds other ways to seep into his life–blackouts, threatening messages and the appearance of unexplained sketches. Unsure how to help Tomo, Katie turns to an unexpected source for help–Jun, her former friend and a Kami with an agenda of his own. But is Jun really the ally he claims to be? In order to save themselves, Katie and Tomohiro must unravel the truth about Tomo's dark ancestry, as well as Katie's, and confront one of the darkest gods in Japanese legend.

American Katie Green has decided to stay in Japan. She's started to build a life in the city of Shizuoka, and she can't imagine leaving behind her friends, her aunt and especially Tomohiro, the guy she's fallen in love with. But her return is not as simple as she thought. She's flunking out of Japanese school and committing cultural faux pas wherever she goes. Tomohiro is also struggling–as a Kami, his connection to the ancient gods of Japan and his power to bring drawings to life have begun to spiral out of control.

When Tomo decides to stop drawing, the ink finds other ways to seep into his life–blackouts, threatening messages and the appearance of unexplained sketches. Unsure how to help Tomo, Katie turns to an unexpected source for help–Jun, her former friend and a Kami with an agenda of his own. But is Jun really the ally he claims to be? In order to save themselves, Katie and Tomohiro must unravel the truth about Tomo's dark ancestry, as well as Katie's, and confront one of the darkest gods in Japanese legend.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Apr 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781472055026

Amanda Sun

Amanda Sun was born in Deep River, Ontario, and now lives in Toronto. The Paper Gods series, which includes Ink, Rain, and Storm, was inspired by her time living in Osaka and traveling throughout Japan. She is an avid video gamer and cosplayer. Visit her on the web at www.amandasunbooks.com and on twitter @Amanda_Sun.

Reviews for Rain

[tarklovishki · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wish this book had gone on for years. I loved every moment of it. Can't wait for the third book!

[destinyisntfree · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had long anticipated this sequel, and I am so grateful to the publisher for allowing me to access it through Netgalley so that I could read and review the title.

That being said, my emotions feel raw and toyed with right now! There were many parts of this one that I enjoyed even more than the first one. I still felt a bit stupid because of some of the Japanese terminology, and I had to use my phone to keep looking things up as I was reading, but in a way, that felt good, too because I was learning about a new culture. The way the characters had developed and changed from Ink through the story of Rain, there was a beauty and a mystery to it, which was sometimes also very, very frightening.

This story was at once thrilling, beautiful, romantic, adventurous and horrifying. So many emotions, so little book. It really is impressive.

All of that being said, though, the last few pages were somewhat, well, irritating. The ending seemed way to open-ended. I mean, I know it is not the end of the series or anything, but I feel like instead of having any kind of closure, I am left with way more questions than the author will be able to answer in the one remaining book in the series that will be out next year. I am at once satisfied with the story, and yet very frustrated with the ending.

To have all of the turmoil, only to fall together in the end. It's the age-old story of forbidden love that we have seen over and over throughout the genre of YA Romance. It was good, but some parts of it were just too, well, expected.

[pussreboots · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rain by Amanda Sun is the sequel to Ink. Katie Greene has decided to stay until she can sort things out with her kami friends.Thinking she can take a breather and just enjoy being with her friends at a summer festival, things quickly get out of hand. Some of the fireworks aren't fireworks at all — they're made of ink. Her beautiful borrowed kimono is now covered in ink stains.Rain falls into the second book in a trilogy trap. In the first book, the uninitiated main character learns the world doesn't work as first thought. Then they learn that they have special powers or abilities or a blood right to it. By the second book, the character knows the big dark secrets, is initiated into the cult or whatever, and is now trying to get back to a "normal" life.To get everything moving towards an epic battle in the concluding volume, the second book often ends up having lots of random bad stuff, ever escalating right at the protagonists, even at the sacrifice of pacing within the book if it were to be read as a stand alone.Katie ends up tossed from one hair raising adventure to another, all the while trying to help her friends and sort out her enemies. Reading Rain was more of a chore than Ink. Katie in this book has a lot in common with Sam from season two of Supernatural and for many of the same reasons.I'm hoping Katie will be able to settle into her powers for the third book.