Rowena’s review of Black Lily (The Garden Trilogy #2) by Nora Roberts.
Hero: Dr. Mitchell Carnegie
Heroine: Ms. Rosalind Harper
Roz is a woman of independent means who thinks love is all in the past-but she’s about to be taken by surprise.
Number-one bestselling author Nora Roberts presents the second novel of her In the Garden trilogy, as three women discover the secrets from the past contained within their historic home.
Book #2 was more enjoyable for me than Book #1 was. I’m sure it had to do with me liking Roz more than I liked Stella. She was an older woman who had lived a great life which was sometimes hard, sometimes good. It was great to finally meet people that were mentioned in the first book, like Harper’s brothers and Roz’s other sons, Mason and Austin. I enjoyed meeting and seeing them interact with their mother, it was a treat.
I loved reading about Mitch and his son and their little weekly date night. He’s so cute. What I loved most about Mitch was how honest he was. That may have had to do with the fact that he’s no longer unsure of what he wants and he’s a lot more mature than most heroes, being almost 50 and all but I really, really liked Mitch. I loved how honest he was about his first marriage and taking his part of the blame in it and owning up to it. I loved how much he wanted to stick up for Roz but let her do it on her own because he knew it was what she wanted.
I loved how he understood Roz and still loved her anyway. She was a complicated woman, a hardheaded woman at times (which sometimes drove me up the wall) but I loved how he stuck by her because she was the one for him. What I loved most about him is that he didn’t back down from Harper when Harper went over to his house, itching for a fight. I loved how even though he was pissed at Harper, he let him rant and rave at him and then let him sit and finish watching the game with him.
I loved when he said this line:
“I’ll hold your coat, then you can hold mine.”
I thought that was the most perfect thing to say to Roz’s son after finding out the latest catastrophe that happened. It was so cute and made me fall in love with Mitch for Roz. I got all gooey inside for Mitch after reading that line.
It was fantastic!
Roz was a very strong, capable and admirable heroine. Being that she was older than your average heroine, I guess that was the only way to go but I really liked Roz. She was smart, funny and just great. It did grate on my nerves a bit that she just wouldn’t lean on Mitch and her family the way they wanted her to, the way she just HAD to do and handle everything herself. But what I liked about her is that she didn’t run away from calling herself an idiot after all was said and done.
The storyline was great, the flow of the book was a bit slow on the pick up but for the most part, this book was a great read.
Grade: 4.25 out of 5
This book is available from Jove. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
This has always been my favorite of the three, and it’s all because of Roz. Finally a heroine over forty (eye to eye with fifty, in fact)!
But more, a heroine who doesn’t feel the need to be either asexual or brittle because of her age. Seriously, Roz is just awesome.
I havent read this series of Nora’s, but have enjoyed many other ones. Always enjoy seeing a review to tempt me.
patoct@yahoo.com
@azteclady: I agree, Roz was awesome in this book and was definitely my favorite heroine of the series. So full of awesome.
@Pat L: I enjoyed this series, it’s not my favorite but its still enjoyable.