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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
mysterious
sad
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
This was a good one. I liked the characters and the ghost and it is fun to see them all start to come together.
10/22-23/19
This has achieved comfort reading status. I really do love this book.
2023
Always a good read.
10/22-23/19
This has achieved comfort reading status. I really do love this book.
2023
Always a good read.
Roberts has a habit of changing narrator perspective for brief and unexpected (and unannounced) interludes mid-chapter and sometimes mid-paragraph. The majority of a chapter might be voiced by one character, with the exception of a paragraph somewhere in the middle. It’s disorienting, and ineffective. Typically those characters who piped in randomly were the male love interest(s), whose perspective we were given only during those brief moments. It’s a strange tactic, really; to hear nothing but dialogue from a character and then suddenly be privileged to know a piece of their inner monologue is whiplash-inducing for the reader.
I can see why this book is so popular: it features no less than three female protagonists, all of whom are whip-smart and fiercely independent. And, of course, they’ve seen their share of hard times. I’m not saying that this work is clichéd— how could I, when it throws in such an unexpected (and also unresolved) plot twist—but I will say there’s little about it that is unexpected. On the other hand, its ladies are refreshingly frank and forthright in ways that I enjoyed. Not a hint of cattiness is to be found at Harper House!
However, the setting and all of the talk about plants was pleasant.
I can see why this book is so popular: it features no less than three female protagonists, all of whom are whip-smart and fiercely independent. And, of course, they’ve seen their share of hard times. I’m not saying that this work is clichéd— how could I, when it throws in such an unexpected (and also unresolved) plot twist—but I will say there’s little about it that is unexpected. On the other hand, its ladies are refreshingly frank and forthright in ways that I enjoyed. Not a hint of cattiness is to be found at Harper House!
However, the setting and all of the talk about plants was pleasant.
Nora Roberts books are a not-so-guilty pleasure of mine. Sure, she technically writes romance novels, but her books are always so well-researched you feel like you are actually learning something. Blue Dahlia is the first novel in her In the Garden series, and the gardener in me LOVES all the references she weaves into the story.
::: In the Garden :::
Blue Dahlia is the introduction to the story of three women who all work at a gardening store called (you guessed it) In the Garden. Roz Harper Ashby is the Southern belle who came from an established family, was widowed at an early age, raised her three boys alone, and opened her own gardening business where she works with her eldest son, Harper. Tired of spending so much time on the nuts and bolts of her business, she hires a newcomer to the Memphis area, Stella, recently widowed herself, and raising two young boys. To get a better feel for whether or not she can trust her business to Stella, Roz has her move into the sprawling old home she lives in with her assistant (and Harper's best friend), David.
Not long after Stella moves in, a distant cousin, Hailey, shows up pregnant and looking for a job. Roz takes her in as well and gives her a job at In the Garden as well.
Soon after being hired, Stella begins to butt heads with Roz's landscaper, Logan Kittredge. Logan is everything Stella is not: abrasive, unorganized, and above all, resistant to change. Of course, you know the two will be attracted to each other; after all, this is a romance novel.
Of course, there's more to the story than gardening and romance; Harper House, Roz's family home has a ghost. And the ghost's story is a mystery that the women are going to need to solve.
::: Planting the Seed :::
Once you get past the extreme set-up, what with the women sharing a house and all, Blue Dahlia is actually one of Roberts' better "first" books. Many times, the first books in her trilogies seem rushed, with too many characters and too much set-up information crowding out the relationship that's supposed to be the central point of the plot.
Roberts does a good job balancing things here, introducing the players, yet still giving Stella and Logan enough attention so that you feel like the relationship is actually developing in a normal time frame. They aren't rushed, and their arguments and differences seem very natural in their interaction.
Blue Dahlia is a good book on its own, and does an excellent job setting the reader up for the rest of the trilogy, which is one of the better ones.
This review originally published on Epinions: http://www.epinions.com/review/Blue_Dahlia_by_Nora_Roberts/content_413299019396
::: In the Garden :::
Blue Dahlia is the introduction to the story of three women who all work at a gardening store called (you guessed it) In the Garden. Roz Harper Ashby is the Southern belle who came from an established family, was widowed at an early age, raised her three boys alone, and opened her own gardening business where she works with her eldest son, Harper. Tired of spending so much time on the nuts and bolts of her business, she hires a newcomer to the Memphis area, Stella, recently widowed herself, and raising two young boys. To get a better feel for whether or not she can trust her business to Stella, Roz has her move into the sprawling old home she lives in with her assistant (and Harper's best friend), David.
Not long after Stella moves in, a distant cousin, Hailey, shows up pregnant and looking for a job. Roz takes her in as well and gives her a job at In the Garden as well.
Soon after being hired, Stella begins to butt heads with Roz's landscaper, Logan Kittredge. Logan is everything Stella is not: abrasive, unorganized, and above all, resistant to change. Of course, you know the two will be attracted to each other; after all, this is a romance novel.
Of course, there's more to the story than gardening and romance; Harper House, Roz's family home has a ghost. And the ghost's story is a mystery that the women are going to need to solve.
::: Planting the Seed :::
Once you get past the extreme set-up, what with the women sharing a house and all, Blue Dahlia is actually one of Roberts' better "first" books. Many times, the first books in her trilogies seem rushed, with too many characters and too much set-up information crowding out the relationship that's supposed to be the central point of the plot.
Roberts does a good job balancing things here, introducing the players, yet still giving Stella and Logan enough attention so that you feel like the relationship is actually developing in a normal time frame. They aren't rushed, and their arguments and differences seem very natural in their interaction.
Blue Dahlia is a good book on its own, and does an excellent job setting the reader up for the rest of the trilogy, which is one of the better ones.
This review originally published on Epinions: http://www.epinions.com/review/Blue_Dahlia_by_Nora_Roberts/content_413299019396
I enjoyed all the gardening, romance in mystery in one.
Just what I needed this week. Nora Roberts always tells a good story. I like her characters and there are enough plot twists to keep the books from being too formulaic. This the first in a trilogy of novels about a family unit and the ghost that haunts them. I read it after the second book, Black Rose, so I knew things I wouldn't have known had I read it in order. But it really didn't matter. There's romance, conflict, resolution and some kind of happy ending. Well, maybe not for the ghost, yet. I am already deep into the third of the trilogy, Red Lilies. Kind of wishing there was a fourth book waiting in the wings. In times of stress, there's nothing like a book for escaping reality!
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
