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Blue Dahlia (In the Garden #1)

4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 · rating details · 31,365 ratings · 692 reviews

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts comes the first novel in the new In the Garden trilogy. Against the backdrop of a house steeped in history and a thriving new gardening business, three women unearth the memories of the past and uncover a dangerous secret--finding in each other the courage to take chances and embrace the future.

Trying to escape the gh...more

Mass Market Paperback, 372 pages

Published December 2nd 2004 by Piatkus (first published January 1st 2004)

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May 23, 2012 Patricia marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: source-borrowed-library

One review said that next to the ghosty atmosphere and romance, this novel also contains lots of gardening tips.

You see, I don't do flowers. I don't do nature. I like green. As.. maybe as wallpaper. Yes. I like green pullovers when children wear them. A friend of mine has a green bird, very sweet thing. I like all of these things. But I don't do gardens.

For f- sake, I'm probably the only one (next to the one husband of Bree in Desperate Housewives) who murdered a cactus. In cold blood, I might...more One review said that next to the ghosty atmosphere and romance, this novel also contains lots of gardening tips.

You see, I don't do flowers. I don't do nature. I like green. As.. maybe as wallpaper. Yes. I like green pullovers when children wear them. A friend of mine has a green bird, very sweet thing. I like all of these things. But I don't do gardens.

For f- sake, I'm probably the only one (next to the one husband of Bree in Desperate Housewives) who murdered a cactus. In cold blood, I might add. I let the cactus die of thirst.

I'm a cruel, evil person and I get crazy over people who buy flowers and act as if they like them. No, you don't like flowers. You just killed them! Now, they stand in your living room and die! It's like.. having a cat but eating chicken nuggets. At least, I admit that I'm a cactus-murderer. Except that maybe if it's just about gardening.. which isn't exactly flower-murdering, it might not annoy me as much? Although, I also get crazy over people who talk about flowers.. Like I do right now.. Um..

Wow.. this was such a deep, philosophical discussion. I'm amazed by my own brilliance and reflectiveness.

Update:

I now found the perfect example for my problem with flowers and gardens and where it comes from.

You see, when I was younger, 6 years or so, everyone at school started watching Pokémon. I liked it too and I bullied my mom into buying me a Gameboy Color. (She eventuelly bought herself one too and played Pokémon as well, by the way)

Now, the first time I played, I chose Charmander. I instantly didn't want Bulbasaur, because.. well I didn't think I'd be able to win with a green something. But back then, it was just a feeling.

Later, when I was in Celadon City (タマムシシティ or Prismania City) and had this big face-off with Erica, she seriously owned me. That b- killed me with her little stinky, green pokemon and then, selfrightously SMILED at me as if it was the best day ever. Can you imagine how I felt back then?

I was so pissed off.

So, now you know it. Dear reader, it was a traumatic experience, but I'm almost sure that no one else'll feel like that and you should definitely give books with flowers in them at least a try, although I won't take it against you if you wouldn't, now that you've heard this dramatic, desperate story of innocent longing, humiliation and loss.(less)

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May 24, 2008 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, romantic-suspense

This is a great first book in the triology. It has a bit of a ghost story, but not too gory, and lots of romance and gardening tips. I love flowers. I'll be reading the other two books next year. What a read!

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Aug 17, 2009 ♡KarLynP♡ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook, read-2009, genre-contemporary

Started off great, even made me cry after the first few chapters. Then the story moved ahead a few years and it went downhill from there. Just slow, touchy-feely fluff in a small southern town. That may appeal to many, but it became boring for me.

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Jul 07, 2008 Karen Syed rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: top-knotch, unabridged-audio

This one is a keeper. It's one of those books that I don't think I would have normally read, but I was going on a trip and needed an unabridged audio for a long trip. I am totally pleased with the end result. Blue Dahlia is a fun and invigorating read. Logan is a great hero, and Stella is a delightful thorn in his side.

When Stella's husband dies in a freak accident, she is forced to take on a new type of life. She moves back to her birthplace in Tennessee and takes a job at Harper House. Her ne...more

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Mar 11, 2008 Evaine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 22, 2013 Darcy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, audio-book, listened-to-at-work, romance, ghosts

I was surprised by how much I liked this one as there were some rough spots. I really liked the women's friendships. I liked the 3 decades that they spanned, each at a different spot in their lives, yet they could relate to the other and give support where needed. By the end I loved the little family that was built.

I loved all the action around the garden center. It really made me itch to get outside. However in my part of the world right now, Mother Nature is being cruel and sending inches up o...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Vânia Nunes rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Normalmente as histórias da tia Nora têm algo a ver com o passado. Os seus prólogos trazem algo da família ou de algum personagem em questão.
Neste a fantasma que já fazia parte da lenda familiar, começa a causar um certo rebuliço desde a chegada da personagem Stella e seus dois filhos pequenos. Algo sempre tinha a ver com crianças e finalmente agora, a partir de uma série de acontecimentos, Stella, a dona da casa Roz e mais uma nova moradora grávida, Hayley, decidem investigar qual foi a triste...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Kara Jorges rated it 4 of 5 stars

Stella Rothchild's world comes apart the night her husband dies in a plane crash, leaving her to raise their two boys alone. When Stella makes a fresh start a couple years later, she moves to the city of her birth, Memphis, Tennessee, to be closer to her father and stepmother. She takes a job at In the Garden, a garden center run by Roz Harper, an admirable woman 10 years older than Stella. Roz stipulates that Stella and her children must live in Harper House, her ancestral home, for the first f...more Stella Rothchild's world comes apart the night her husband dies in a plane crash, leaving her to raise their two boys alone. When Stella makes a fresh start a couple years later, she moves to the city of her birth, Memphis, Tennessee, to be closer to her father and stepmother. She takes a job at In the Garden, a garden center run by Roz Harper, an admirable woman 10 years older than Stella. Roz stipulates that Stella and her children must live in Harper House, her ancestral home, for the first few months of her employ, but that is no hardship, as Harper House is beautiful, big, and gracious. Stella also soon finds it's haunted.

The ghost, known as the Harper Bride, likes to sing children to sleep, and she appears to Stella's boys almost immediately in this manner. She also starts appearing to Stella to warn her against falling in love with Logan Kitridge, In the Garden's landscaper. Logan and Stella don't get along at first, Logan being artistic and disorganized and Stella being the type to make lists for everything, but sparks soon fly, and before they know what hits them, they fall in love.
In addition to Logan and Stella, we also meet several other engaging characters. There's Roz Harper, fortysomething mistress of Harper House who raised three boys on her own and built In the Garden; her eldest son Harper, the scientist behind her plant growing operations; Hayley, a distant cousin by marriage who shows up pregnant on Roz's doorstep; and David, Roz's gay housekeeper. They are all delightful characters you can't help but love. They also add Mitchell Carnegie to their group when they hire him to research Harper family history to find the identity of the Harper Bride.
This book has Nora's distinctive stamp all over it. Once again, she has given us a big, diverse, noisy family to love. I also particularly enjoyed the story of the Harper Bride, which had me rushing to pick up the next in the trilogy, "Black Rose," as soon as I finished the last page.

I highly recommend this book, though I'd advise buying the whole trilogy before you start. I can't imagine having to wait to read the next installment.
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Nov 04, 2012 Catherine Chant rated it 3 of 5 stars

If I could I would actually give it 3.5 stars. While not a terrible book, it got much better toward the end. I picked it up because of the ghost story implied on the back cover blurb. Then discovered that the ghost story is really only a tiny part of the overall story AND the ghost story spans the entire trilogy, so if you are looking for it to be resolved in this book, you're out of luck.

The part with the ghost didn't start to gather steam until around page 170 (half way) so that's one of the...more If I could I would actually give it 3.5 stars. While not a terrible book, it got much better toward the end. I picked it up because of the ghost story implied on the back cover blurb. Then discovered that the ghost story is really only a tiny part of the overall story AND the ghost story spans the entire trilogy, so if you are looking for it to be resolved in this book, you're out of luck.

The part with the ghost didn't start to gather steam until around page 170 (half way) so that's one of the reasons I felt the book ended more strongly than it started.

On the plus side, the story has likeable and interesting characters so although I did find myself setting it down on a table and not picking it back up for days at a time, I did keep coming back to it and never really wanted to abandon the book. I was determined to finish it and I think the characters helped me feel that way. I enjoyed the characters, I was just looking for more "ghost" in the story and more tension I guess. I'm a big fan of suspense and thrillers, so the slow pace wasn't what I'm used to. This book really felt more like a women's fiction book than suspense or romance, at least at the start. But that part (the lives of the 3 women involved) grew on me. Again, because the characters are well done.

For the romance, I found it enjoyable and plausible. Once it got going, it moved at a good pace that didn't come across as unrealistic. I liked the conflict between Stella and Logan and the children in the story were cute and added to it rather than being distracting or annoying as some children in romance novels can be.

And because it did end so strong (and left the ghost part unresolved), I am planning to read the other 2 books in the trilogy. Initially, when I started this was I was convinced I wouldn't bother with the other 2, but by the end, Blue Dahlia won me over and now I do want to finish the trilogy and see the whole story through. So it gets points for hooking me in the end. 3.5 stars.

Oh, I should probably also mention that there is a lot of gardening info in the story (it being part of the Garden Trilogy and all). I personally like gardening, so I didn't mind it too much, but I could see how this could cause a reader less interested in gardening to skim through some sections. (less)

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Sep 03, 2012 Jeanne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Would've easily given it 3.5 stars if it was possible.

From the first chapter of Blue Dahlia, Nora Roberts' writing grips your heart as she relates the moment when Stella Rothchild, a mother of two, learns that her husband died. A widowed mother: such is a romantic heroine according to Ms. Roberts. And not the kind who struggles until she is rescued by a man ready to marry her again, either: Stella is the perfect single mom, brave, willful and competent, and she experiences her budding love for c...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Bertrand Brasil rated it 5 of 5 stars

Após um período sem lançamento das famosas séries românticas de Nora Roberts, chega ao Brasil, unindo romance e mistério, Dália Azul, primeiro volume da Trilogia das Flores. Assim como todos os títulos da autora, vendeu centenas de milhares de cópias nos Estados Unidos e figurou nas principais listas de mais vendidos.

Stella Rothchild tem compulsão por planejar tudo em sua vida, o que, segundo ela própria, a mantém longe de imprevistos. Quando se apaixona perdidamente, o leitor verá a luta dela p...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Maria rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: in-2012

This was an interesting beginning to the series. And pretty foreshadowing as to who's going to fall in love with whom. I guess I'm a bit tired of reading romances, though, because I couldn't seriously enjoy this one. I'm actually glad I'll be getting back to the really depressing Oliver Twist. At least, it was depressing where I left off.

I like Stella and I like Logan. They're interesting people. And I loved meeting these new characters and getting to know them. Roz is fantastic— when I turned 4...more

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May 20, 2011 Cyndy Aleo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance

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 Ashb...more 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_D...(less)

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Jan 03, 2010 KindleKay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle-read, 2010

In keeping with my "resolution" for 2010 to read more and keep track of it all on Goodreads, along with a review (mostly for my benefit but perhaps someone else will gain something) I have started my New Year off with a new book series, although I am familiar with the author.

Firstly, let me point out that I learned the other day by doing a book comparison, that I am remarkably like another cyber-friend from many forums including this one: My4BRATS or LoveMy4BRATS. I have been blessed to "meet" t...more

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Apr 16, 2013 x0unerthanlater rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, contemporary-romance

Let me start off by saying that I absolutely LOVE some of Nora Roberts novels. There are a ~~few~~ that I did not like though. THIS however was definitely one that I did enjoy reading! The story starts off with a prologue that happened a century prior to the present time, 2001. It all involves Harper House. The house that is mainly the background for this trilogy series, "In The Garden". "Blue Dahlia" is a story about Stella, an unfortunate single mother of 2 boys, who ends up at Harper House lookin...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Jacob Proffitt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, owned, steamy

I'm not real big on gardens and really don't get the effort people put into them. Personally speaking, I mean. So the gardening aspect of this series isn't really much of a draw. Also, the Harper family ghost really bugs me, not least because we, the readers, are told her origin well enough to know her motives—and they aren't nearly benign.

Still, this is a relatively recent (in the last decade) Nora Roberts, so it was a good read and an enjoyable romance. Stella and Logan are the kind of opposit...more

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Nov 11, 2010 Marley rated it 4 of 5 stars

“Blue Dahlia” by Nora Roberts is overall a good book. This is book one of the In the Garden Trilogy. “Blue Dahlia” starts off quick and full of excitement. Many events happen in the beginning of the story that grabs your attention. By the middle, the book slows down and gets a little boring. Soon towards the end, “Blue Dahlia” picks up and becomes interesting again.

The beginning of the book introduces you to the main character, Stella Rothchild, who is busy, pretty, and a single young woman. S...more “Blue Dahlia” by Nora Roberts is overall a good book. This is book one of the In the Garden Trilogy. “Blue Dahlia” starts off quick and full of excitement. Many events happen in the beginning of the story that grabs your attention. By the middle, the book slows down and gets a little boring. Soon towards the end, “Blue Dahlia” picks up and becomes interesting again.

The beginning of the book introduces you to the main character, Stella Rothchild, who is busy, pretty, and a single young woman. Stella’s love is described and later she gets married. Later on in the book Stella’s husband, Kevin dies in a plane crash. Stella is devastated and so are her two boys, Gavin and Luke. Gavin and Luke are young and Stella ends up taking the boys down south to where her dad lives. Stella finds a new job in Tennessee and she is ready to start a new life.

Other characters that are important in the book include: Roz Harper, Hayley Phillips, and Logan Kitridge. Roz Harper is the owner of the Harper House and is Stella’s boss. Roz hired Stella to organize her businesses income and how much they sell. Roz has a garden and a nursery. People always stop by to buy plants. Hayley Phillips is a distant relative who comes to live with Roz when her parents die.

To continue, and important character who is mentioned toward the middle of the book is Logan Kitridge. Logan helps Roz by planting trees and flowers for customers. Basically, Logan is a landscape designer. Logan and Stella fall in love and the book describes the problems between them. Logan and Stella also work together which creates some problems in the book.

I enjoyed reading “Blue Dahlia” by Nora Roberts. This book kept my attention and was interesting. I would rate this book a four out of five because it was very confusing and you couldn’t tell who was speaking at some parts of the story. Other than that, I would recommend this book to other readers because it increases your vocabulary since it is more of an adult book and it is a good read. I might continue reading the In the Garden Trilogy so I can see what happens next in the series.
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Nov 12, 2010 Kathy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance-mystery, romance

Harper House - in Tennessee - a long legacy... including the Harper Bride, a ghost that visits and hums to the children of the house... until..

the story begins at the turn of the century, with a woman, a mistress (knowing it was better than a common whore) who was set up in her own home by a rich man - who has at least 2 other mistresses, and a wife... she becomes pregnant, he wants the baby, she starts to want the baby too when it moves within her... a hard delivery, she heard a cry, but then w...more Harper House - in Tennessee - a long legacy... including the Harper Bride, a ghost that visits and hums to the children of the house... until..

the story begins at the turn of the century, with a woman, a mistress (knowing it was better than a common whore) who was set up in her own home by a rich man - who has at least 2 other mistresses, and a wife... she becomes pregnant, he wants the baby, she starts to want the baby too when it moves within her... a hard delivery, she heard a cry, but then was given laudum, and when she awoke she was told her baby was stillborn... and she doesn't believe it...

and then we have Stella - and a loving mother/wife with two young, typical boys... she gets the news that her husband died in plane crash... 2 years later, under the tutelage of her father & stepmother, she applies to Harper House - to Roz - for job as manager of her gardening store/business... Roz, who also raised 3 boys without their father, and is a strong, southern woman (a la Designing Women), hires her and requests that she & the boys live at Harper House for awhile as they get to know one another - David, her housekeeper (who is gay) is a wonderfully colorful addition, who watches over the boys after school...

Stella is very organized, and as she gets started she rubs Logan the wrong way... Logan is a landscape designer, and very unorganized with postits as his way of life... and in spite of their differences - control vs laize faire - they fall in love... Logan loves her son... and....

story also introduces Haley, a remote cousin of Roz's, who is 5 months pregnant, and looking for a new start... she is young, and infectious, and the birth of her baby girl wonderful... Roz's son Harper, who is a bit absent minded, and works in the plant development part of the business is tongue tied around Haley (yes, we know what that means), and managed to be there when Haley's water broke and subsequently in the hospital with her for the birth of the baby...

and the story very minimally introduces Mitch - a professor, author, and geneologist - whom Roz hires to help figure out who the Harper Bride is... and he is astonished to find out that the ghost is real, on his 1st visit to the house...

and the Harper Bride, after Stella has a bedtime conversation with her sons about Logan, and they all agree she should marry him, becomes angry, and puts up a wall that prevents Stella from going into their room... all come running, Logan bruises his hands trying to get to them... Stella reasons with the bride, and finally they can get to the boys... hmmm.. the ghost is taking things up a notch...(less)

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Jan 15, 2009 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Romance readers

Recommended to Megan by: Debi Seymour

Shelves: fiction, romance-novels

I really enjoyed this, as far as firsts in trilogies go. It threw me right in, and got me caught in the story with very little pages under my belt. I liked the juxtaposition of cautious, careful Stella and reckless, careless Logan, and that they both had a protective streak. I related to Stella a lot in that I have a flair for organizing, myself, and most of the time I love when Nora writes about children. They do say the darnedest things :)

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Sep 12, 2012 Krissy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Speed always irritates me in relationships. Stella & Logan were speed racers with how they fell in love. It didn't feel believable. Though really, it's a romance novel...about ghosts who sing to children, and two people falling in love. Believable isn't necessary. Stella's mother is outrageous, and I'd like to make note that frequently, a bad mother or father (usually mother) in a Nora book is someone who has a bitter tongue and multiple marriages.

Just the same, I liked this book. I read No...more

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Jan 16, 2010 Rebecca T rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 50-book-challenge-2010, romance, ghost, widow, flowers

I love my fluffy romance novels. I can’t read them too often, but it is essential for me to read one every now and then, Nora Roberts being one of my favourites in this genre. I have a huge interest in all things supernatural, and I loved the subplot of the Harper Bride. The prologue at the beginning set the scene and mood for the Harper Bride’s actions throughout the book. It’s heart-wrenching to think that she was most likely cheated out of getting to love and care for her child. I can’t wait...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Theresa rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Blue Dahlia is the first of the "In the Garden" Trilogy. Stella is making dinner one evening and arguing with her boys waiting for her husband to come home from a business trip. She hears on the news that a commuter plane has gone down and there are no survivors. The husband she loves and the father of her children are gone forever and her whole life turns upside down.

She moves back home with her father and stepmom in the hopes of starting over. Her stepmom introduces her to Rosalind Harper,...more

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Sep 08, 2010 Amber rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Blue Dahlia is the first book In The Garden trilogy. There are three important characters Stella, Roz, and Hayley. The first book gears towards Stella's character. A mother of two who looses the love of her life and the father of her two boys at a young age of 31. Two years later she moves down to the South to start over and gets a job working at a place called In The Garden owned by Roz. Roz, a 41 year old with three older boys who also lost the love of her life at a young age comes from a fami...more Blue Dahlia is the first book In The Garden trilogy. There are three important characters Stella, Roz, and Hayley. The first book gears towards Stella's character. A mother of two who looses the love of her life and the father of her two boys at a young age of 31. Two years later she moves down to the South to start over and gets a job working at a place called In The Garden owned by Roz. Roz, a 41 year old with three older boys who also lost the love of her life at a young age comes from a family of wealth and is well known in the area. She owns a mansion which is referred to as the Harper House and the way it's described it is just beautiful. Roz and Stella have a few things in common. They both realize that they lost the love of their lives at a young age. When Stella goes for her interview with Roz Roz insists Stella and her boys move in with her along with their dog Parker. She has plenty of room and wants to know Stella on more personal level, since she will be managing her business. Stella moves in and starts her job at In The Garden. She is very organized and has a new system going at In The Garden and everyone is getting use to this, except the landscaper Logan. Logan and Stella butt heads from day one about Stella's "requirements" but of course this leads to something else….
Then Hayley, a 24 year old shows up to Roz's house six months pregnant. She left her home town where she was talked about, because of her situation. She also wants to start her life over so she goes to Roz looking for a job. Roz gives her one, but again insists this woman also lives in her house. They all bond together over how they got to this place in their lives. Since both have moved into the Harper house there seems to be an unexplained guest living among there...A Ghost! Stella and Hayley both think they have imagined it, but finally start to talk to one another and Roz fills them in on the “Harper Bride”, as she calls her. The Harper Bride has been then at the house since before her time, but no one really knows anything about her. The Harper Bride is usually seen by young children and mothers or expecting mothers. However The Harper Bride is getting too involved with Stella’s personal life. So the woman along with Logan, Roz’s son Harper, and David who is the cook of the house but also considered another son to Roz, decide it’s time to find out who this ghost really is. Along the way a romance blooms for Stella and that is what gets the ghost angry.
Blue Dahlia is a great start to this trilogy and leaves you wanting more and to find out what happens in the second book.
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Jan 29, 2013 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I purchased the trilogy as a set. Blue Dalhia, Black Rose, Red Lily. With my Kindle I prefer all three at once; as I know I will read them anyway. For me Nora Roberts is comfort food. Macaroni and cheese, roast beef, using a recipe you have used for many years. Occasionally you change it up a little for various reasons. Certainly three women who become close as sisters is pretty regular stuff for Nora. Substitute three men again brothers or close enough as friends to consider themselves brothers...more

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Jan 18, 2009 Bookworm rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book starts off in Tennesse 1892, where the mistress of Reginal Harper, Amelia Ellen Conner, finds herself pregnant. She gives birth to a stillborn daughter and becomes mad with grief.
Then fast forward to Michigan 2001, where Stella Rothchild, thirty something mother of two young boys, becomes a widow when her husband is killed in a plane crash home from a business trip. A few years later, Stella and her kids move to Tennesse. She got a job working for Roz Harper's 'In the Garden' nursery,...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, romance

This was the 1st book I read this year in 2013. I hope the rest of the books I read this year are this good.

I was completely enthralled into this book after I retried to read it twice because after I got past the first two chapters, I was reading this book as fast I could manage to.

One of the best things about this book was the fact I liked the fact that I could relate to both main characters and actually liked them both. To be honest, I like characters like Stella and Logan since I rarely see...more

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Aug 10, 2011 D.G. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, contemporary-romance, snoozefest, reviewed

**2.5 stars**

Like the Bride Quartet, this book is more about women running a business and their friendship. Even the ghost was more important than the romance, which was lukewarm and not very exciting. I never got the impression that the hero and heroine even liked each other, so I'm not sure how they fell in love.

I'm not that interested in gardens so all the talk about plants bored me to death. If I had liked the main character, maybe I could have enjoyed the book more, but Stella was a control...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Mairi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: español, my-home-bookshelf, pink-literature, non-fiction, reviewed

Dalia Azul… ¿Qué pensar después de leer este libro? Simplemente me encantó.

Primero que nada, y admitiendo que no soy una (gran) fan de la literatura rosa, considero este libro como sumamente dulce. Si, no puedo calificarlo con otro adjetivo. De una lectura extremadamente fácil y rápida, con personajes sencillos y trama (aunque también simple) solida.

Roberts no se equivocó al optar por los clásicos personajes que intentan no caer en una relación relativamente “difícil” por circunstancias similar...more

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Nov 30, 2012 Kayla Wagner rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Stella was a mother of two little boys and had a wonderful husband, who was like an angel and helped her with half the house chores and with the boys. One day she was cooking dinner and was trying to make her husbands favorite food when all of a sudden there was a bulletin on the news that a plane crashed. From that moment further her world crashed.

After trying to get her life back together she moved to tennesse where her father and stepmother Jo lived. She got a job as a manager of a Nursery th...more

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May 01, 2013 Darlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a very good book. The first in a trilogy-which I did not know when I picked this book up at a sale. The story takes place in the south-Tennessee. It bring three women together, Stella, Roz and Haley. None of them knew each other. Stella, was born in Tennessee, but moved away with her mother. She settled down, married and had two children. Tragically, her husband was killed and she decided to move back to her roots. She applied to work for Roz in her greenhouse/garden center as a manager...more This was a very good book. The first in a trilogy-which I did not know when I picked this book up at a sale. The story takes place in the south-Tennessee. It bring three women together, Stella, Roz and Haley. None of them knew each other. Stella, was born in Tennessee, but moved away with her mother. She settled down, married and had two children. Tragically, her husband was killed and she decided to move back to her roots. She applied to work for Roz in her greenhouse/garden center as a manager. Roz also moved Stella and her two boys into the Harper house. Sometime later, Haley shows up, 6 months pregnant and tells Roz that she is a distant relative of her late husbands. Roz, also moves her into the house. The women form a bond with each other. During all this, Stella butts head with one of the landscapers, Logan, that works there too. After a couple of "dates" they realize it is much more. But Stella is afraid to love again for fear of it not working out, and her and the boys getting hurt and also fear of losing him like her first husband. As if this wasn't enough, there is the history of the Harper Bride Ghost that lives in the house too. She sings to the children that live in the house, shows herself rarely to the adults-but when she does it is usually to women. They want to learn who this is to help her move on. They do research themselves but don't find any information. Roz enlists the help of a professor that writes books to look into her family history for more information then she has. He was skeptical of the ghost story but the night he came to the house for dinner to find out what information Roz already has, he witnesses the ghost and what she is capable of when she thinks the children are going to be hurt. He then agrees to look into the family history. At the end of the book, Stella realizes that she does love Logan and agrees to marry him. The end of the book included an excerpt from the next book-Black Rose. I can not wait to read it to see where the story takes these three strong women.(less)

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Memory in Death
by J.D. Robb

About Nora Roberts

aka
J.D. Robb
Sarah Hardesty

Eleanor Marie Robertson was born on October 10, 1950 in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. She was the youngest of the five children, also the only girl, of a marriage with Irish ancestors. Her family were avid readers, so books were always important in her life. She attended a Catholic school and credits the nuns with instilling in her a sense of discipline. During her sopho...more aka
J.D. Robb
Sarah Hardesty

Eleanor Marie Robertson was born on October 10, 1950 in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. She was the youngest of the five children, also the only girl, of a marriage with Irish ancestors. Her family were avid readers, so books were always important in her life. She attended a Catholic school and credits the nuns with instilling in her a sense of discipline. During her sophomore year in high school, she transferred to a local public school, where she met Ronald Aufdem-Brinke, her future first husband.

In Augusy 17, 1968, as soon as she had graduated from High School, Eleanor married, against her parents' wishes. The marriage settled in Keedysville, Maryland. Her husband worked at his father's sheet-metal business before joining her parents in their lighting company. While, she worked briefly as a legal secretary. "I could type fast but couldn't spell, I was the worst legal secretary ever," she says now. After their sons, Dan and Jason, were born she stayed home. Calling this her "Earth Mother" years, she spent much of her time doing crafts, including ceramics and sewing her children's clothes. The marriage ended separating, and they obtained the divorce in January 1985.

In February 1979, a blizzard in forced her hand to try another creative outlet. She was snowed in with a three and six year old with no kindergarten respite in sight and a dwindling supply of chocolate. During the now famous blizzard, she pulled out a pencil and notebook and began to write down one of those stories. It was there that a career was born. Several manuscripts and rejections later, her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981 as Nora Roberts, a shortened form of her birth name Eleanor Marie Robertson, because she assumed that all authors had pen names.

Eleanor wrote under the pseudonym Jill March a story for a magazine titled "Melodies of Love".

Eleanor met her second husband, Bruce Wilder, when she hired him to build bookshelves. They were married in July 1985. Her husband owns and operates a bookstore in Boonsboro, Maryland called "Turn the Page Books". Since that time, they've expanded their home, traveled the world.

In 1992, she decided adopted other pseudonym so to publish a futuristic-suspense novels, she first decided to use the pseudonym D.J. MacGregor, but she discovered that this pseudonym was used by another author. In 1995, her first "In Death" serial novel was published under the pseudonym J.D. Robb, the initials "J.D." were taken from her sons, Jason and Dan, while "Robb" is a shortened form of Roberts.

Eleanor has also been known as Sara Hardesty, because when the "Born In" series was released in U.K. it carried that name instead of Nora Roberts. She has since changed publishers.

Eleanor has been plagiarized by another best-selling romance writer, Janet Dailey. The practice came to light after a reader read Nora Roberts' "Sweet Revenge" and Janet Dailey's "Notorious" back-to-back; she noticed several similarities and posted the comparable passages on the Internet. Calling the plagiarism "mind rape," Eleanor sued Janet Daily. In 1997, Janet, admitted to repeatedly plagiarizing from Nora Roberts' work, and that both "Aspen Gold" and "Notorious" lifted heavily from Nora Roberts's work. Both of those novels were pulled from print after Janet's admission. She acknowledged the plagiarism and blamed it on a psychological disorder. In a settlement, Janet paid Eleanor an undisclosed sum, which Eleanor donated to the Literacy Volunteers of America.

A founding member of the Romance Writers of America (R.W.A.), she was the first inductee in the organization's Hall of Fame. She also is a member of several writers groups and has won countless awards from her colleagues and the (less)

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“Oh, for heaven's sake, Harper, I didn't just pee on the floor. My water broke.'
'What water?' He blinked, then went pale as a corpse. 'That water. Oh, God. Oh, Jesus. Oh, shit. Sit. Sit, or... I'll get-'
An ambulance. The marines.
'My mother.” — 13 people liked it

“Don't 'honey' me in that southern-fried twang.” — 8 people liked it

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Blue Dahlia (In the Garden #1)

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