 Allmusic's Tim Sendra also named the song a standout on the album, calling it "catchy" and "well-sung". Megan Vick of Billboard said that while Gomez did not have the vocal power of Demi Lovato, she "makes a strong effort to attack the high notes as she croons the chorus". Vick stated that the song "is compelling enough to separate the singer from other Disney-groomed pop stars." Wairarapa Times-Age writer Kim Gillespie named "A Year Without Rain" one of the album's highlights. David Welsh of musicOMH noted Gomez ' mature performance and wrote that the song "reaps rewards with an impressively heartbroken stab at euro-dance". In contrast, The Washington Post critic Allison Stewart was unfavorable of the lyrical content of the song, commenting that it was "the sort of exercise in teenage co-dependence ... that should be long extinct."
