RainShadow by Candice Gartzke is a magical tale about Rain, the daughter of King Black and Queen Mira. Rain had magical abilities that enabled her to influence the weather with her mood, and when Rain was happy, she supplied the land with all the rain it needed to remain lush and plentiful. All Rain’s life she had a loving panther protector named Shadow. Not only did he make Rain feel protected and happy, he too had amazing abilities that allowed him to transform himself from panther to human, human to panther, depending on certain conditions. When Shadow decides to propose to Rain and declare that he’d like to spend the rest of his life with her, he goes out into the world in search of the perfect token of his love…a sparkling diamond ring! On this special journey, he meets someone named ‘Trapper’ and things take a turn that could mean the end of Rain’s happiness, their future together, and Shadow’s very life!

Candice Gartzke’s RainShadow takes us from the pages to the jungle in this mystical, descriptive, beautiful story. A tale of love…as old as time and always a favorite to read. The story itself is captivating and imaginative but the unique illustrations bring the story even further to life and drew me in immediately. Rain and Shadow are delightfully rich in character and full of love and magic. Just the kind of characters we all root for! I truly enjoyed reading RainShadow and recommend this well-written fairytale to people of all ages. I couldn’t wait to see what happened in the end!

Rainshadow has the feel of an old folktale although it was just recently written by Candice Gartzke. The story begins in the rainforest where a king and a queen have a beautiful baby girl named Rain. Rain grows up protected by panthers, one of which is Shadow. Shadow can change forms from human to panther, except when he is in the light, then he is stuck as a panther. One night, Shadow decides to leave the rainforest to get a diamond ring to give to Rain. Unfortunately, he gets tricked by a man named Trapper and is trapped in his panther form. In the morning, Rain realizes something is wrong, and with a little help from a magical spiderweb finds Shadow and frees him. Of course, they live happily ever after.

Rainshadow has all the elements of an interesting fairytale with shapeshifting, a villain, magic, and a happy ending. Candice Gartzke has illustrated the story with muted colors that add a vintage look to the book. Fairytales are wonderful for a kid’s imagination. Shadow’s ability to change from human to panther form is intriguing, as is the spiderweb portal, which allows Rain to jump to where Shadow is being held captive. Another fascinating element is Rain’s ability to control the weather with her emotions. Rainshadow will stretch kids’ imaginations and take them away to a magical world where the unexpected can and does happen. Candice Gartzke has crafted a modern fairytale, perfect for sharing with kids who believe that magic exists.