Rowena’s review of Red Lily (The Garden Trilogy #3) by Nora Roberts.

Hero: Harper Ashby
Heroine: Hayley Phillips

A Harper has always lived at Harper House, the centuries-old mansion just outside of Memphis. And for as long as anyone alive remembers, the ghostly Harper Bride has walked the halls, singing lullabies at night…

Hayley Phillips came to Memphis hoping for a new start, for herself and her unborn child. She wasn’t looking for a handout from her distant cousin Roz, just a job at her thriving In the Garden nursery. What she found was a home surrounded by beauty and the best friends she’s ever had – including Roz’s son Harper. To Hayley’s delight, her new daughter Lily has really taken to him. To Hayley’s chagrin, she has begun to dream about Harper – as much more than a friend…

If Hayley gives in to her desire, she’s afraid the foundation she’s built with Harper will come tumbling down. Especially since she’s begun to suspect that her feelings are no longer completely her own. Flashes of the past and erratic behavior make Hayley believe that the Harper Bride has found a way inside of her mind and body. It’s time to put the Bride to rest once and for all, so Hayley can know her own heart again – and whether she’s willing to risk it…

I really enjoyed this book. But for the sake of I’m too lazy to really get into a long winded review on this book, I’m going to just tell you the good, the bad and the ugly about this one…

The Good: The characters and the friendship. This book was filled to the brim with great characters and great friendships. The friendship between Roz, Stella and Hayley was fantabulous. I loved reading about how much they cared for each other, how they all had each other’s back and how they were all quick to let each other know when they were being dumb asses. The patience Roz and Stella showed with Hayley was what really made me like them because had I been in their places, me and Hayley would have been fighting all throughout this book. She got on my nerves.

I loved the friendship between Harper and David. I loved how well they understood each other, I loved the bond between them and just the way they were with each other. Steady and strong, they both were and I just loved the friendship factor, Nora Roberts writes her best stuff when she’s writing about strong friendships and family.

Another good is the overall story. I loved how the romance took a backseat in most of these books but was still there. I loved the bigger story being told, the mystery behind the ghost and I loved watching the crew getting closer and closer to finding out who she was and what happened to her and then righting the wrong. I thought the story about the ghost was most interesting and it definitely had me intrigued from the jump. Good stuff.

The Bad: All the plant talk. I guess it sort of fits in with what they’re about, being gardeners and all but all the plant talk was wasted on me because I skimmed most of it. I could have planted my own garden from the descriptions in this book, but like Mitch, I can’t plant a Chia Pet…so I’ll leave all the plant business to Roz and Harper.

The Ugly: Hayley. Can the girl get on my nerves or what? With all of her mood swings, her bitchiness and just her I-got-through-this-on-my-own-and-don’t-need-a-man-to-help-me attitude drove me absolutely bonkers! I’m still debating on whether she’s a candidate for the TSTL heroine title. She got on my hot damn nerves and throughout a whole lot of the book, I kept thinking, “Are you sure you love her, Harper?”

As a whole, I really enjoyed this book and this series. It was a little slow to pick up but when it did, it took off. I enjoyed these books a great deal and this book in particular. This story closed out the series on a perfect note, everything was tied up in a neat and tidy bow and I was one happy camper!

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Jove. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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.

Rowena’s review of Blue Dahlia (The Garden Trilogy, Book 1) by Nora Roberts.

Hero: Logan Kitridge
Heroine: Stella Rothchild

A Harper has always lived at Harper House, the centuries-old mansion just outside of Memphis. And for as long as anyone alive remembers, the ghostly Harper Bride has walked the halls, singing lullabies at night…

Trying to escape the ghosts of the past, young widow Stella Rothchild, along with her two energetic little boys, has moved back to her roots in southern Tennessee – and into her new life at Harper House and In the Garden nursery. She isn’t intimidated by the house – nor its mistress, local legend Roz Harper. Despite a reputation for being difficult, Roz has been nothing but kind to Stella, offering her a comfortable new place to live and a challenging new job as manager of the flourishing nursery. As Stella settles comfortably into her new life, she finds a nurturing friendship with Roz and with expectant mother Hayley. And she discovers a fierce attraction with ruggedly handsome landscaper Logan Kitridge.

But someone isn’t happy about the budding romance…the Harper Bride. As the women dig into the history of Harper House, they discover that grief and rage have kept the Bride’s spirit alive long past her death. And now, she will do anything to destroy the passion that Logan and Stella share…

Man but it took me a long time to read this book.

I liked the book but for some reason it was a trial to get through. I think it had more to do with my slump that I seem to be in. I just can’t concentrate for very long on any book. But anyway back the review.

So we’ve got Stella Rothchild who moves her family to Tennessee to be closer to her father and step mother. She lands a great job at the In The Garden where her new boss, Roz Harper offers her and her boys rooms in her ginormous house so that she could keep her close since the job she was being hired for had crazy hours. When Stella saw the gardens she would be working in, she would have agreed to anything, so she accepted Roz’s hospitality and the job and her new journey began.

Enter Logan Kitridge.

Logan Kitridge is the landscaping manager guy who also works for Roz. He’s in charge of all of the landscaping and he’s tough as nails, irritable but oh so sexy. I heart Logan, seriously. He’s got this messiness about him that I absolutely love and well, he’s the hero so of course I hella loved him, it’s what I do. He is smitten with the uptight smart ass manager who won’t get off his ass about some damn invoices and inventory. They get closer and closer and soon he’s imagining his quiet house, filled with noise made by two young boys.

Stella’s boys.

I thought it was cute to read about Stella and Logan falling for each other. Stella got on my nerves throughout some of the book but by the end I wasn’t mad at her, she was just looking out for herself and her boys and I actually admired her for that. She put her boys first and that was cool.

What I really liked about this book was the friendship that blossomed between the three women in the book. I can’t wait to read the other books to read more about their friendship, more about the ghost in the house and I’m itching to read Harper’s book…man but he’s a dorky loveable character. I was intrigued.

The ghost part of the book was a whoa dang. Home girl has got some issues that’s for sure but still, this was an enjoyable read.

Grade: 3 out of 5

This book is available from Jove. You can buy it here or here in e-format.