Rowena’s review of Inner Harbor (Chesapeake Bay Saga #3) by Nora Roberts.
Hero: Phillip Quinn
Heroine: Dr. Sybil Griffin
Third in the sweeping Chesapeake quartet, about three brothers who come together in a time of need. They honored their father’s wish to raise young Seth as their own. And with all of the brothers home again, the Quinn family has never been so strong. But in the months to come, their strength is tested–once again.
Phillip Quinn has done everything to make his life seem perfect. With his career on the fast track and a condo overlooking the Harbor, his life on the street is firmly in the past. But one look at Seth and he’s reminded of the boy he once was…
Phillip intends to fulfill his father’s dying request and considers Seth to be a duty. But he never expected he would grow to love Seth, and soon his promise to his father has become more than just an obligation. Seth’s future as a Quinn seems assured–until a stranger arrives in town. She claims to be researching St. Christopher’s for her new book, but the true objects of study are the Quinns. Her cool reserve intrigues Phillip. He is determined to uncover her motives, but she is holding a secret that has the power to threaten the life the brothers have made for Seth. A secret that could tear the family apart… forever.
Inner Harbor is Phillip Quinn’s book and in this book, we find a whole bunch of things out. This story ties everything up from the previous two books and it answers a lot of questions we had from reading the other stories. Questions we had about Ray’s ties to Seth and what happened there. It also brought up a whole set of new problems with the arrival of a stranger in town who claims to be in town to do some research for a book. The research is actually a problem to the Quinns and the tenuous hold they have on little Seth.
Phillip Quinn is the brains of the brothers. He’s got a big city job and he lives the big city life. He loves his life in Baltimore. Even though he loves his family, he does what he can for them but still maintains his life in the city. Phillip is close with his brothers and has grown to love the new addition to the Quinn family. When Dr. Sybil Griffin shows up in town and throws all of their security up in the air, it wasn’t easy for me to not like her.
Actually, Sybil did a great deal to piss me off. So when her identity is made known, she’s already close to Phillip and Phillip is up in arms about it. That’s not what pissed me off, what pissed me off was for someone as smart as Sybil was, she thought that Seth should be with his mother. After everything that Sybil went through with Gloria and everything that Seth went through when he was with Gloria, she still thought that Gloria was a good choice for Seth.
WTF?
I mean, I get that she didn’t see the way that Seth was when he first came to town and she wasn’t around to see how messed up he was and everything but still, she knew what kind of person Gloria was and for her to think that Seth was better off with her instead of these random strangers made me want to smack her around. Of the three books so far, this book was my least favorite. That’s not to say that this book was bad, it’s good but it wasn’t my favorite. Sybil had a lot of making up to do for me to be okay with her pairing with Phillip and eventually, she got there but through a whole chunk of the book, I wanted to smack her around. See how she liked it.
What I really like about Nora Roberts writing (especially in her trilogies) is that there are always multiple stories being told and she spends good pages tying everything together. I loved the way that she brought all of the loose ends together and I really liked the way that there was no leaf left unturned. Everything comes together nicely and my love for the Quinn brothers was only strengthened in this book. Nora Roberts writes really good trilogies and this is one of my favorites.
Phillip and Sybil’s story came full circle and I was happy with the way that their happy ending came about, it got my emotions up and running but it didn’t leave me hanging so by the end of the book, I was a happy camper.
Grade: 3.5 out of 5
This book is available from Jove. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.
You are too funny, wanting to smack Sybil around! I have this series, but haven’t gotten to read it yet. There is a 4th book, about Seth – Inner Harbor. Someone in another blog thought this was one of Nora’s best series. Hopefully I will get to it by the summer. LOL!
Definitely one of my fave trilogies by her.
I say trilogies because the 4th Chesapeake Blue was written under pressure from the readers who wanted grown Seth’s story and for me it didn’t quite mesh as well.
Ethan’s story was my fave ☺
@Sharlene: I highly recommend this series. It was really good. The first book in the series is my favorite. Cam Quinn is delicious.
@Willa: This book was actually my least favorite but I can see why Seth’s book wasn’t as well received as the others. Ethan’s book was a good one. Cam’s book was my fave. Can Quinn…yum!