DIK Reading Challenge Review: Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts

I decided to read Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts this month for my DIK Challenge read.  Amanda has it on her list and since I’d already planned to read it and it was already loaded on my ereader there just wasn’t much reason to not read it. 🙂

Since she was a little girl, Emma Grant has always loved romance. So it’s really no surprise that she has found her calling as a wedding florist. She gets to play with flowers every day and work with her three best friends in the process. She couldn’t ask for a better job.

And on the surface, Emma’s love life seems to be thriving. Slim and sultry, she brings color into every room she enters, just like the arrangements she creates. Men swarm around her, yet she still hasn’t found Mr. Right. And the last place she’s looking is right under her nose.

But that’s just where Jack Cooke is. He’s been best friends with Parker’s brother for years, which makes him practically family. The architect has begun to admit to himself that his feelings for Emma have developed into much more than friendship. And when Emma returns his passion – kiss for blistering kiss – things start to get complicated at Vows.

Jack has never been big on commitment. Emma yearns for a lifelong love affair. If the two are to find common ground, they must trust in their history – and in their hearts…

Though Emma never wants for dates she’s finding that lately the men look good but they rate nothing on the sizzle scale.  Until Jack, her longtime friend, kisses her and the scale hits red alert.  She can’t stop thinking about Jack – especially because she’s had a thing for him since she first met him.

For Jack’s part he’s wanted Emma since he met her in college.  He finally kisses her and the sparks fly.  He wants more but both he and Emma are leery to let things go further.  They finally give in to their desires and decide to give it a try – but insist that no matter what happens they will always be friends.  After 3 months together Emma decides to take their relationship to the next level and tell Jack that she loves him, but it doesn’t work out the way she plans.

This was a very sweet book.  For the most part the story left a really great smile on my face while I was reading.  Between the emails that they pass between them and the witty banter that they shared it was just a  romantic read.  Jack and Emma seemed really great together and having known each other for so long they were very comfortable with each other.  Yes they learned new things about each other but the relationship just seemed to flow.  Until…near the end.  Now the ending was still very romantic but Emma took a turn in the book that I really didn’t appreciate.

Emma wanted to do something nice to Jack – just because.  That’s totally ok by me – even while I was anticipating Jack going a little nutty over it but that’s not what happened.  What Emma did was completely fly off the handle on Jack.  Went a little ballistic in my opinion and it just left a bad taste in my mouth.  Did she have valid points about Jack and his lack of, for lack of a better word, acceptance of Emma into his life?  Absolutely.  Did he make mistakes?  Certainly.  But she took a bad situation and made it worse.  She flew off the handle and then ran out without really giving him a chance to gets his thoughts straight after being attacked and talking like adults.  I actually was on Jack’s side in the argument which was kind of strange! lol

Besides that one issue I really liked the book and am looking forward to the next installment in the Quartet series, Savor the Moment, that comes out on April 27th.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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