Solid, well done romance with good relationship development. Racer gives up the fast life to help a foster child.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
College professors teaching romance-fiction courses assigned this book to their students (per Romantic Times magazine Sep 2009). For that reason I thought I’d try it. It has a different take on the romance formula which I liked. Many or most romance novels have a tough alpha male, single not wanting to settle down. Then he meets a female he can’t resist, falls in love and wants marriage. In this book, Cam races cars and boats and has a lot of women. He makes a promise to his dying father that he will take care of foster boy Seth. Yes Cam meets and falls in love with Anna, but the primary domestication of Cam was due to his relationship with the boy, not due to Anna. He had to leave his racing life behind and find a local job to be near the boy. Seeing Cam caring for Seth causes Anna to fall in love with Cam. I liked all the relationships in this story. It didn’t leave me with a wow feeling at the end, but I enjoyed it enough to recommend it and to buy the sequels. There was one fabulous making-love scene that stood out for me (page 286). It was much more about love than sex. Oh to have a man desire a woman that way.

A couple of other reviewers were bothered that Anna continued being Seth’s case worker after she started having an affair with Cam, Seth’s guardian. They felt she would lose her license, her job, etc. That might be true, but if you don’t mind setting that aside, it’s a good story.

STORY BRIEF:
Ray Quinn became the foster dad to three troubled teens, Cam, Phillip and Ethan. They grew up, left home and had their own lives. Then Ray died from a car accident. Just before he died he asked the three men to move back home and take care of Seth, a troubled 10-year-old boy that Ray was hoping to adopt. There are two stories happening. One story is the three men adjusting their lives to be near Seth. The second story is about Anna and Cam developing a romance. Anna is the new social worker assigned to Seth’s case. There is a minor amount of fantasy due to due to some conversations with a ghost.

QUESTION FOR SOMEONE?
On page 177, the author uses a conversation that I’ve read before – probably in one of her other books. Cam and Ethan are arguing while shopping for shoes for Seth. Phillip tells them to stop it. He says “I sound like Mom. Forget it. Just forget it. Kill each other. I’ll dump the bodies in the mall parking lot and drive to Mexico. I’ll learn how to weave mats and sell them on the beach at Cozumel. It’ll be quiet, it’ll be peaceful. I’ll change my name to Raoul, and no one will know I was ever related to a bunch of fools.” Seth asks Cam “Does he always talk like that?” Cam replies “Yeah, mostly. Sometimes he’s going to be Pierre and live in a garret in Paris, but it’s the same thing.”

Does anyone know in what other book this appears? Someone changing their name to Raoul and moving to Mexico, then Pierre in Paris? It’s a fun conversation and good enough to use more than once. If she has, that’s fine with me. I’m just being curious.

DATA:
Story length: 342 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: 4. Total number of sex scene pages: 11. Setting: current day Chesapeake Bay area in Maryland, Pittsburgh, Pa, and Monte Carlo. Copyright: 1998. Genre: contemporary romance with fantasy.

OTHER BOOKS:
This is the first of four books in the Chesapeake Bay series. The four books, main characters, and my ratings are:
Sea Swept (Cameron and Anna) 4 stars
Rising Tides (Ethan and Grace) 3 stars
Inner Harbor (Phillip and Sybill) 3 stars
Chesapeake Blue (Seth and Dru) 2.5 stars

For a list of my reviews of other Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb books, see my 4.5 star review of "Angels Fall" posted on 6-30-08.