Chesapeake Blue

by Nora Roberts (#4 in the Quinn Series)

Title with a Color (for ROR Winter Reading Challenge)

Rate 4.5 stars

Back Cover:

Seth Quinn is finally home!

After a harrowing boyhood with a drug-addicted mother, he'd been taken in by the Quinn family, growing up with three older brothers who'd watched over him with love.

Now a grown man returning from Europe a successful painter, settling down in Marylands eastern shore surrounded again by Cam, Ethan and Phillip, their wives and children, all the blessed chaos of the extended Quinn clan. Finally, he's back in the little blue and white house, where there is always a boat on the dock, a rocker on the porch and a dog in the yard.

Still alot has changed around St. Chris while he's been gone and the most intriguing one is the presence of Drusilla Whitcomb Banks. A city girl who has opened a florist shop in this seaside town, she craves independance and the challenge of establishing herself without the influence of her wealthy connections. In Seth, she sees another kind of challange, a challenge she can't resist.

But storms are brewing that put their relationship to the test. Dru's past has made her sensitive to deception and slow to trust. And Seth's past has made him a target of blackmail-as a secret he has kept hidden for years threatens to explode, destroying his new life and his new love...

My Thoughts:

This is the final chapter in the Quinn Legacy, (although, this reader would love to continue to hear about those Quinn's,) Seth has made a name for himself in Europe as an artist, and his mother in continuing her blackmail. Money, plain and simple is what she wants from him. He is now somewhat of a celebrity (in the fine art circles). Drusilla (Dru) has left her wealthy and influential family back in DC to start a life on her own in St. Chris. After a painful betrayal by her fiance, Dru finds the family style community a fresh breath from the circles of DC. She does find it difficult to fit in, in this laid back community, but tries. Seth is instantly attracted and she to him. I mean, who wouldn't be, he's a Quinn people!!!!

I've read this several time (maybe 4) and each time is different. This time for some reason, I had a better connection with Dru. And--And for some reason I'd always pictured her as having medium blond hair, (not exactly fair, but not brown either...) As it turns out our Dru has very dark (almost black) hair cut in a short almost severe fashion. Quel Exotique!!!! And that really gave me a cool new point of view. I love it when that happens. After 3-4 readings, you start to skim to your favorite parts, but for some reason I really connected. So for me, this book gets better with age. Yay!!!

Rising Tides

by Nora Roberts

Re-Read a Favorite.

Rated 5 stars

Love Grace and Ethan. Ethan is such a great Tortured Hero. Grace is a super Steel Magnolia. I've read this book so many times and it never gets old. I just LOVE it. I love the relationships between the brothers and Anna and Grace. It's perfection. When I die, they will have to pry this book from my cold dead hands. (thank you Charleton Heston)

The Pagan Stone

The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts

Rated 5 stars

Pages 305

Back Cover:

Shared nightmares, visions of blood and fire, and random violence plague the longtime friends and Quinn, Layla, and Cybil, the women bound to them by Fate. None of them can ignore the fact that, this year, the demon has grown stronger ---feeding off the terror it creates. But now the three pieces of the bloodstone have been fused back together. If only they could figure out how to use it.

A gambling man like Gage has no trouble betting on his crew to find a way. And though he and Cybil share the gift of seeing the future, that's all they have in common. Were they to take their flirtation to the next level, it would be on their own terms, not because Fate decreed it. But Gage knows that a woman like Cybil---with her brains and strength and devastating beauty---can only bring him luck. Whether it's good or bad has yet to be determined---and could mean the difference between absolute destruction or an end to the nightmare for Hawkins Hollow.

My Thoughts:

Ok! You all know that I love Nora Roberts and that I love her heroes. Gage, was that tortured alpha male! He made me cry in the first couple of chapters. His mother died when he was very young, and left him with an alcoholic abusive father. Cal's and Fox's moms became surrogates. Gage, not being the type of guy who is comfortable withe the ooey gooey emotional stuff, buys them flowers and tells them how much he loves them. He struggles to express that love and devotion to them, and I cried. Cybil, is the perfect match for him. She's not too needy, and she's strong and sassy! She gives as good as she gets. Tit for Tat!! I love a couple who are like that.

This is the final book in the trilogy and the climax between good and evil. Blood and fire and sacrifice. Someone has to willingly make the ultimate sacrifice and I could feel the raw emotion as the 6 stood together until the very end. That they understood that only through great loss could the ultimate destruction of great evil occur. I felt the resolve as they each came to terms with their grief and pain to ensure the greater good. I cried again. There are twists and turns and I loved how she writes the love and affection that all 6 have for each other.

The Hollow

The Hollow by Nora Roberts

Rated 5 stars

Pages 318

Back Cover:

As the madness, which happens for seven days every seven years, prepares to descend upon the town of Hawkins Hollow, three men bound by blood and three woman bound by ancestry to a demon join forces to stop the terror from beginning again.

My Thoughts:

This is the second book in the Sign of Seven Trilogy. It is Fox and Layla's story. Cal and Quinn from Blood Brothers both shared a "gift". They were able to "see" some of the past. Fox and Layla also share a gift, the ability to "see" into the now. You might say Psychic, but it's not exactly that. To some degree they are able to understand others emotions, as well as their thoughts. Fox was born and raised in Hawkins Hollow and has dealt with "The Seven" since he was 10 years old. Layla managed a boutique in New York until she felt...compelled to come to a place she'd never heard of, for no reason. It was there that she met Quinn and then Cal, Fox and Gage. In this book, she comes to terms with her gift, and her part in defeating the demon that intends to destroy the Hollow and all those in it. It is also for Fox to come to terms with falling in love and having that love make him vulnerable to the evil force he's been fighting since he was a child.

I love that Fox comes from a hippie tree huggin family. I love that even though he loves that part of him, he's also a Coke and Little Debbie's man. **I think Nora Roberts has been watching my spending habits** I love that he has an F-word jar. That he puts a dollar in it even when there is noone to catch him saying it. I also like the inner struggle Layla has as she comes to terms with all the changes in her life.

Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts

Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts

Rated 5 stars ( I just love her!)

Pages 314

Back Cover:

In the small village of Hawkins Hollow, three best friends who share the same birthday sneak off into the woods for a sleepover the evening before turning 10. But a night of pre-pubescent celebration turns into a night of horror as their blood brother oath unleashes a three-hundred year curse. Twenty-one years later, Cal Hawkins and his friends have seen their town plagued by a week of unexplainable evil events two more times - every seven years. With the clock winding down on the third set of seven years, someone else has taken an interest in the town's folklore. Quinn is a well known scholar of local legends, and despite Cal's protests, insists on delving in the mystery. But when the first signs of evil appear months early, it's not only the town Cal tries to protect, but also his heart.

My Thoughts:

Ok, so I just love Nora Roberts. I did Cal and love the opening when they are 10 year old kids. I have a daughter who just turned 11, and would never let them go camping like that. I'm an over protective mother...sue me!! I do think that Cal and Quinn fall pretty darn quick, and that there is a lot of "set up" in this book. I expected that, cuz it's a trilogy, with the final climax in the final book. I can dig that. I also like that it's the sensible one who falls first and fast. It would've been too easy for the hippie lawyer to have done that. Ya know? I give it 5 stars cuz I love it. This trilogy has gotten mostly lukewarm reviews from non-Nora junkies. That's ok. Reading Nora's trilogies is like..."coming home" to me. It's like mac and cheese the perfect comfort food. It makes me feel warm, fuzzy, and ooey gooey on the inside. I can't wait to snuggle down with The Hollow.

Dangerous by Nora Roberts

Risky Business

She was a maddening combination of mystery and innocence. But Liz wa the key to finding his brother's killer, so cynical Jonas Sharpe had to stick close...too close for comfort.

Ok. Let the record show, that I am willing to admit that my review of this story is probably not entirely fair. If you read my previous post, I'm still in a bit of a funk. :{

That being said, I didn't love this. Dangerous is a collection of 3 previously released books, Risky Business, Storm Warning, and The Welcoming. I only read Risky Business. It is my suspense/romance for Read Around the Genres. I didn't read the others, because I knew I wouldn't love them now. So, I'll only review Risky Business. It was ok. I didn't love it, but I'm not mad I wasted time reading it either. She gave me the HEA, that I love and redeemed the characters that needed redeeming. All the strings were tied up, and I loved the emotion. She's great at that. Other authors, may be "hotter" but I feel the emotion, and even the conflict of that emotion more with her, than with some others. Even though I'm giving this a 3 stars, I have to defend Nora Roberts. I've read 70 some-odd books, many of which contain two or more previously released titles. So in the 100 + titles I've read by Nora, (I call her that cuz whe're like this**{crosses fingers}**)I've only rated 1 (this one) a 3 and only disliked 1 title ever.