If the Fates Allow

A Short Story

By: Rainbow Rowell

Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman

Length: 1 hr and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

After a long, lonely year, two people stumble toward each other in this holiday short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park and Fangirl.

Social distancing came easily to Reagan. Maybe a little too easily. She’s always liked people better from afar. But Reagan doesn’t want her grandpa to be alone for Christmas this year - he’s already spent too much time on his own in 2020. So she heads back to her hometown with a dish of holiday Jell-O salad, hoping they can have a little normalcy. Hoping it will be safe...

She isn’t expecting to run into the boy next door. Mason is all grown up now. He’s considerate. He’s funny. He doesn’t mind how prickly Reagan is - he maybe even likes it. And it makes Reagan feel like her defenses are falling. She needs her defenses, doesn’t she? In a time when six feet is close enough, how long can they keep their distance?

©2021 Rainbow Rowell. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Narrator Rebecca Lowman captures common feelings of uncertainty and dread in her narration of Rowell's pandemic romance, set in Nebraska. Lowman's husky, drawn-out voice creates a memorable portrayal of Reagan (from Rowell's FANGIRL).... Lowman faithfully reproduces Reagan's pugnacious, resentful thoughts about her pandemic-ignoring extended family and her interactions with her grandfather's neighbor, Mason, who turns out to be Reagan's high school acquaintance.... Lowman captures Rowell's tone and spotlights the surreal encounter that jumpstarts Reagan and Mason's romance.” (AudioFile Magazine)

Loved the little update on Cath and Levi!

3.5 stars
I was super excited for If the Fates Allow and was excited to listen to the audiobook too. Narrator Rebecca Lowman has also narrated some of my favorite Rainbow Rowell books (Fangirl, Attachments, Landline) and I love how her voice and pacing pair with Rowell's words. Reagan was such an interesting character in Fangirl and I was intrigued to see present day Reagan. I was slightly disappointed to see how fearful Reagan was of Covid- she was such a badass in Fangirl that I expected to more of a "Damn the man" attitude and some eye rolling from her. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed listening to this, and especially enjoyed getting a little Levi and Cath update.

amazing picture of life during covid times

I love rainbow novels didn't expected to be an short story with covid times as setting. I related with Reagan in so many levels.

I’m a fan!

I will read and/or listen to anything Rainbow Rowell writes and have yet to be disappointed. This so eloquently captured a dire time during the pandemic and left me wanting to hear more about the two main characters.

Fun Pandemic

A story for the times. Real fears and worries and struggles to know what the right things to do.

cute

This was a cute COVID romance.

I enjoy Rainbow Rowell's works, so reading this was a given, but for some reason I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. 😹

Ok, but would've preferred less Covid

This was a nope for me. The writing wasn't bad and I actually liked the characters and the premise, but having the story be 100% focused on Covid wasn't something that appealed to me. After living in this world for nearly 2 years, I wanted more of an escape. The heroine was too fixated and anxiety ridden with the state of the world, which was understandable, but like I said before I would prefer more of an escape.
With that said, I would've appreciated more of the characters and less of Covid. Still appreciated the performance of the narrator.

cathartic

this was the most relatable listen in a cold world. I want more time with these characters.

oh my god

rainbow rowell can make me fall in love with anyone and she did it again. another story of hers to add to my christmas reread pile along with Landline and Fangirl <3

I loved this!

This story was great! I love that there is a story that keeps the characters from Fan Girl alive. My only complaint is it was much to short.

It’s cute

At first the narrator was a bit harsh to listen to. But then she sort of softened. Or I got used to her. The audiobook is short and sweet. I like it.