Skin Deep

The O'Hurleys #3

by Nora Roberts

Film star Chantel O'Hurley has it all: wealth, fame, and adoring fans—including one whose adoration has turned to obsession. When her stalker resorts to threats, Chantel turns to hardened P. I. Quinn Doran, who soon discovers that the actress's beauty is more than skin deep...

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Audiobook, Romantic Suspense, Suspense

335 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1988

About the author

Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Hideaway, Under Currents, Come Sundown, The Awakening, Legacy, and coming in November 2021 -- The Becoming -- the second book in The Dragon Heart Legacy. She is also the author of the futuristic suspense In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.

Reviews

[SheriC · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. I am amazed at how such an awful character can be cast as the love interest in a romance novel. I waited it out long enough to see if Quinn's behavior was a ruse to gain information from Chantel, which would be assholish but at least explainable. But, nope his inner monologue matches his behavior. He genuinely is a misogynist butthead whose initial reaction to a woman being stalked is to dismissively assume that she's making a big deal out of nothing, and that it's no more than she should expect since she's a sexy actress who plays man-eating characters. I don't care how this guy may or may not change over the course of the novel, it makes me want to puke to think that I'm going to be expected to see him as a sexy romantic hero at some point in this book. WTF, no way.

Audiobook via Audible. Good performance by Marie Calliendo, who can't help it that she was given such putrid material to perform.

I gave this my full 20 minute minimum listening time before DNF.

I was attempting to read this for the 2017 Romance Bingo, for the Twins square (actually it's triplets), but I guess I'll have to try the last book in the series, Without A Trace, in hopes that it doesn't suck quite so badly.

[Geo Just Reading My Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Translation widget on The blog!!!
Volumul al treilea al seriei este povestea ultimei triplete: Chantel — starul de cinema.
Această tânără actriță extrem de talentată a atras atenția unui fac care depășește măsura și devine din ce în ce mai agresiv în scrisorile și telefoanele lui.
Astfel că Chantel se vede nevoită să angajeze un detectiv particular pentru a o proteja și a-l demasca pe acest fan.
Nora Roberts a reușit și de data aceasta să îmi capteze atenția și să îmi ofere o poveste de dragoste emoționantă și o acțiune cu puternice elemente de thriller. Suspansul a fost la cote maxime.
Dar, cea care m-a încântat a fost povestea de iubire dintre Chantel și Quinn — detectivul particular.
Cele două personaje sunt impresionante. Fiecare având o aparentă răceală și nepăsare, provenite din teama de respingere, luptă cu emoțiile lor și le este teamă să și le dezvăluie în fața celuilalt.
Dar, unde este iubire, nu este loc de ascunzișuri. Așa că, povestea celor doi aduce cititorului un zâmbet pe buze la final, cu toate că mi-aș fi dorit un final ceva mai dezvoltat.
https://justreadingmybooks.wordpress....

[Mara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - I wasn't totally sold on the romance because I found them both to be quite dramatic, but I liked the suspense element quite a bit

[Saly · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the past books my impression of Chantel wasn't that good, she came across as a sophisticated Hollywood actress and in this book she is that but as we find out it is all a facade, a carefully cultivated image to succeed in show-biz. I actually kind of found it a cop-out, that she isn't a man-eater instead before the hero she had only one lover, who she fell for badly, he was married and lied and deceived her and we are supposed to believe a sophisticated person like her fell for him and even became pregnant. Of course she lost the baby and changed, became hardened, I dunno I found it all so contrived.

The hero is a PI, we never really learn anything personal about him, his parents etc, who comes to protect her when she starts receiving some calls. Of course he is insolent at first, having bought her tabloid image.

The book didn't really wow me, I just kept reading it because I started it.
Don't get me wrong it wasn't bad but it was not something new, hero delves into the people in her life, she wants to bury her head in the sand, when he doesn't tell her things she gets mad, all very typical.

They do fall for each other fairly quickly, no dilly-dallying about commitment which you can see in NR books most of the time.

[Libbi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not care for this book as I did for the first two books in the series. Several things bothered me:

There was no basis for the love story. Nothing in the first half of the book established any actual liking of one another, let alone enough affection to define as love. That whole part was very contrived.

Nothing happens. Like nothing happens. For half the book. It's just a list of everything Chantel is doing, and no action. Boring.

The only reason I felt compelled to keep reading was to see if I guessed right about who the stalker was. It really irritated me that the author tried to trick the reader into incorrectly assuming who it was. Not only was it irritating, it was very disappointing when the actual stalker was revealed.

So, not at all impressed with this one.

[Emma Thingsted · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. No, no, no. This was without a doubt the flattest “Love story” I’ve ever read. If this putrid thrash even can be called that. Chantel could have been a great character. There were moments where she showed teeth and proofed that she had some spine. But Quinn... what a misogynistic asshole! Dismissing Chantel constantly, following her when asked not to, and grabbing her. I couldn’t deal with him!

[Analia · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5

EXCELENTE NOVELA!!! De los tres leídos, ésta y por su personaje masculino, se lleva el primer puesto. ¡No saben lo que es Quinn! Madre mia, desde el capitulo uno que conoce a Chantal, se sacan chispas pero hay una pasión que es.... maravillosa.
Pero brevemente, ésta es la historia de Chantal O´Hurley, la mayor de las trillizas y es una excelente actriz, que tuvo que trabajar muy duro y desde niña para llegar a tener el reconocimiento que tiene; Fue siempre su sueño ser famosa y ahora que es adulta tiene una gran casa y puede permitirse una vida de lujos; Pero claro, la fama y su belleza la exponen a que un admirador se obsesione con ella y tendrá que recurrir a Quinn Doran, un detective privado hozco, rudo del que me enamoré desde que dice:
"— De modo que éste es el palacio de hielo —comentó él con una voz sorprendentemente hermosa—. Y ésta es la reina".

Quinn me llegó al alma, quiero un hombre así en mi vida (jajaja) es terriblemente protector y mandón pero capaz de consolar a Chandal cada vez que ella entra en crisis.

Nada más que decirles. Es otra novela publicada en Harlequin que se deja leer de forma muy rápida y desde ya recomiendo ésta serie. El final es... para sufrir!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quinn and Chantel are very, very different people from very, very different worlds. I could believe in a strong physical attraction between the two of them, but everlasting love was a stretch. I realize opposites can attract and can complement each other, but I didn't really see anything to make me think this was the case. Chantel is a strong, independent woman, who has successfully navigated her way through the tricky world of celebrities and landed at the top. Quinn is the sort of man who thinks a woman walking past a construction site deserves the catcalls and harrassment she receives. (In fact, initially he tells Chantel the messages and phone calls she's receiving are her own fault for flaunting her beauty in the public eye.) Why do these two fit well together? I'm not sure, really. I'm not shown more than some passionate arguments before they hit the sheets. It could just be that Quinn doesn't "do it" for me, but I have to wonder what the two of them are going to talk about after the book ends, when the stalker is caught and the initial passion of a new lover begins to fade.

Prior to the mad, passionate lovings that go on in this book, Chantel has only had one lover. The story never mentions her age specifically, but she and her sisters are triplets, and one of her sisters has two kids and marries for the second time, so Chantel is decidedly a grown woman. She's also grown up in show business, and as a world famous actress, has more opportunity than most to hop in the sack now and again, even if she's more discriminate than most. Is it impossible for a woman like her to only have had one lover? No, but it's highly unlikely, enough so that it drew me out of the story.

Skin Deep was full of great details about working on a movie set, and I really liked Chantal's overprotective Irish parents. Her whole family were a cast of interesting characters, actually, and it was easy to see how Roberts could devote an entire series to this one family. I liked Matt the agent, too, and I really didn't want him to be the creepy stalker (being a man who works close with Chantel he's of course a suspect), so well handled by the author there.

My petty annoyances aside, it was a decent read. I'm not full of gushing glee, but the story was comfortable, like a bowl of hot soup, and sometimes, that's all you want out of a book.

[RomanceIsMyJam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh this is bad and tedious. The male MC, Quinn, is abhorrent. Nothing redeeming. This was such a disappointment for a story for Chantel. Wow, I actually feel cheated on her story because this was so bad.
There is a mystery here as Chantel is being stalked. Quinn is brought in to help ID the stalker. The stalker was predictable/obvious in my opinion. As someone else pointed out this seems like it was written by someone else compared to the first two books. This seems like early J.D. Robb exercise in story mechanics here and it sucks. It sucks like Sanctuary, blech.
Admittedly I stopped reading the story at page 73 because I couldn’t take the all the smoking, let alone Quinn’s gross/off putting characterization. Chantel deserved better. I want this story rewritten! So than I picked up the story at around page 200 something (start of a chapter) and finished the story from there. All predictable and dissatisfying. The ending is abrupt. Don’t recommend this read.
I’m not sure I’ll read Trace’s story as it is a mystery/crime thing also. After three stories of this family I’m not sure I care about Trace because he really has just been a ghost in these stories. Not leaving me with enough curiosity of why for me.
Update- after reading reviews of Trace’s story I’m going to pass.

[mary stuart · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m not even sure I’ve rated a book one star before, but there’s a first time for everything ahaha ... this book was so bad but like not even a good bad it was just bad bad lol

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another disappointment, though not as bad as Dance to the Piper. I at least liked Quinn and could see that he cared for Chantel. And deeply.

Unfortunately, it's the plot that bites in this one. Details would be spoiler-rich, so I'll sum up by saying that plot holes in a mystery are bad, bad, bad. Details: If Quinn is such a great investigator, don't you think that he'd have uncovered that writer-guy was seeing a shrink? And that he was unstable? He ran extensive background checks on everybody, we're told. Seeing a shrink isn't that secret. And if that shrink wants to institutionalize him, even more so. And that he's having marital problems, as well?!? Come on... And the red herring simply failed, as well. There was too much interaction with the agent, both by Chantel and Quinn, such that they've have known if the stalker's style was anything like his. Bad, bad, bad...

I'm pretty sure this is it for the series for me. I started Without A Trace and I'm just not interested, right now. Maybe later.

[Alisha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book did not feel like a Nora Roberts book, the settings and charaters were just a bit boring and I just really didnt care what happened to them.

[EliseBeethoven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nora Roberts is a skilled writer, but this is not my favorite book from her (that happens to be the “the witness”🤗).

First things first: there were quite a few elements I did like. I read it in one day, that’s saying something. Nora skillfully paints the picture of a warm family, and the pressure Chantel is under to put on a mask. The banter between Quinn and Chantel (and the smut) is quite entertaining. So is the thriller part of the story. Most of all, I liked the way she adressed Chantel’s insecurity about the possibility that she is infertile, and the fact that she was afraid to lose Quinn because of it (Quinn handled this like a champ). It moved me, and created an opportunity to talk about my own insecurities regarding my possible infertility with my partner. That alone, makes me happy I read this.

However, there is one element in the book that made me uncomforable: Quinn doesn’t seem to understand that no means no. And let go of her hair, man. Take an anger management class.
There is a little growth in this department: at one point he states that he doesn’t want to make assumptions about her wanting him, because it is possible that he sees what he wants to see. He checks if she truly wants this. He even learns how to console her emotions (men, take notes: validate her emotions and ask her what you can do for her, we don’t want you trying to fix everything.). At this point, I was cheering for Quinn, the good fella. But old habits die hard, and in another argument he kicks in her door, grabs her hair and them threatens her with his love. Oh dear.
There is a thin line between a protecting alpa male and a controling asshole with a short fuse, and unfortunately Quinn tended to be the latter. Sometimes.

I will read other books in this series; I am curious of her other sisters.

Favorite quotes:
“Of course, my aim is terrible. I’d point at your leg and end up shooting right through the brain.” /
“He wasn’t an easy man, nor would he often be a gentle one, but her daughter didn’t need an easy, gentle man. She needed one who would give her a run for her money.”

[Oliviana Georgescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A venit timpul să aflăm povestea celei de-a treia triplete O'Hurley, Chantel (prima născută, mai mare cu câteva minute decât surorile ei). Dacă Abby s-a retras din lumina reflectoarelor, Maddy (protagonista celui de-al doilea volum al seriei, ”Dansează în ritmul inimii”) și Chantel au devenit vedete - Maddy în lumea dansului, iar Chantel a devenit o stea de cinema datorită frumuseții ei extraordinare și șansei, e drept, dar și talentului și muncii asidue pe platourile de filmare de la Hollywood. Însă celebritatea are prețul ei, iar Chantel s-a trezit că este victima "atențiilor" unei admirator obsedat de ea. Dacă inițial nu și-a făcut griji, crezând că e doar un fan prea înfocat, după trei luni de hărțuială din ce în ce mai insistentă, tânăra a devenit de-a dreptul îngrijorată. Simțindu-se amenințată, a apelat la agentul ei de publicitate, Matt, având încredere că va găsi o soluție, altă în afară de a apela la poliție. Nu dorea să se afle, nu-și permitea o astfel de publicitate și nici nu dorea să-și îngrijoreze familia. Iar Matt a știut ce trebuie făcut: a solicitat serviciile lui Quinn Doran, un detectiv particular care avea o firmă de securitate. Doran, un tip dur și nesociabil (chiar necizelat, după cum o avertizase Matt în privința acestuia), acceptă să preia cazul în schimbul unei tarif piperat, nefiind convins inițial că e vorba de un pericol real și nu de fițele unei vedete răsfățate.
https://www.delicateseliterare.ro/cur...

[Megzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars

[Pripri · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Kafamdaki Makine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hiç bir şey anlamadım. Anlamadığım gibi sevmedim de, nereye gideceği belli olmayan bir kitap. Çok şükür bitirdim. ( Atladım.) ve rahatladım. Yazarın kitapları için heyecanlıydım ama Artık değilim.

[Luanne Fraer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best of Nora Roberts! A story in the series about the O’Hurley family with romance and mystery!! I have enjoyed all the stories about the O’Hurley triplets and look forward to the last story in the series about their older brother, Trace!

[Marie Christensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good

[Thenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beautiful Chantel O'Hurley is in trouble, when an overly enthusiastic fan turns into a stalker. Scared and not knowing what to do, she asks her friend and agent for help and he brings along Quinn Doran, a security expert who has little sympathy for her plight, until he reads one of the letters she's received.

He takes the job and sets out to find out who the stalker is, getting closer to her by necessity and setting sparks flying in the process. The two rub each other the wrong way and keep butting heads, that inevitably lead to an intense romance between them.

My suspicions on who the stalker was were confirmed, as it turns out the nervous writer had a few screws loose that had him confusing Chantel with the heroine she portrayed and almost taking her life, but although it took him some time, Quinn caught on as well and was just in time to save the day.

Enjoyable story with lots of banter between the protagonists. Last in the series comes the elusive Trace's story in Without A Trace.

[Frida Hemborg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ehm, where to start. This was my first experience reading a Nora Roberts book. It was for an assignment at univerisity, to, among other things, compare it to Pride & prejudice. I did not enjoy my time reading this book. I know it was released in the 80’s, so I can understand the blatant sexism and archaic gender roles, even if it was really gross to read some particular lines. But what I couldn’t forgive, was the fact that NOTHING happened until like the last 20 pages?? The first 290 pages was so freaking boring. This story was supposed to be about a stalker, and all we got was a few notes and a couple of phone calls, where the heroine just breaks down and our hero swoops in and says he will take care of it in a growling voice. After the first couple of messages we don’t even get to see or hear what it says?! God, this was just not good. I seriously hope her writing improved since she’s such a popular author, cause this was just not it boo. If it wasn’t for the paper, I would have DNF’d.

[Gail G · Rating 2 out of 5]

1988 publication date

I checked this out of the library. The kindle said it was published in 2020. It is a typical dated romance. The hero is abrupt, a take charge kind of guy, and he has preconceived expectations of the heroine. They get angry a lot because each raises the passion of the other. He pushes her multiple times because she tempts him and they both melt because the kisses are so amazing.

I skimmed through it to see who the stalker was. I will return the last book of the series to the library without reading it. The extra star is just out of loyalty to the author.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chantel is my least favorite triplet, but she seems to come into her own in this book as Ms. Roberts explains why she is the way she is. Quinn was almost too stern and gruff, yet he, too, comes into his own. Mostly the book gets by on the suspense of trying to find Chantel's stalker, although the book has its share of "real" moments, those small details that Ms. Roberts throws in that her readers cannot fail to recognize at a gut level.

[Fernanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

:)
Mais uma historia da familia O'Hurley, desta vez com Chantel como a principal personagem.

Uma historia que ao mesmo tempo é sofrida tambem tem alguns momentos de misterio que nos prende a atenção para o desenrolar da acção.

Uma reviravolta interessante e inesperada deu um bom contributo ao final que se prevê meio insipido.
Em termos de conclusão os personagens no seu todo são crediveis apesar de não mutio elaborados.
Uma historia que nos proporciona um bom momento de leitura.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Narration & Story, it's a higher level of harlequin but still a harlequin. But I found I enjoyed it. Higher level because a stalker was involved, a harlequin because it resolves itself to neatly and easily. But much better than sum. Certainly good enough to read the prior two in the series.

[Titinha Scaeiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gostei... Gostei!!! Gostei de ver como estas personagens se completavam, só quero que ela... Hum!
Vamos agora para a história do irmão que pouco se sabe!!! ^_^

[Kelly Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very unlikeable characters. I only kept reading because I hate to leave a book unfinished.

[Mara Corduneanu · Rating 5 out of 5]

### **Recenzie – *Curajul de a iubi* de Nora Roberts**
📚 Traducere: Irina Stoica

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**„Curajul de a iubi”** este un roman romantic scris de binecunoscuta **Nora Roberts**, o autoare prolifică, renumită pentru poveștile sale pline de emoție, conflicte de familie și dragoste care vindecă. În stilul său clasic, Roberts îmbină tandrețea cu tensiunea, construind o poveste în care iubirea nu este doar un sentiment – ci un act de curaj.

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### 🔹 **Rezumat (fără spoilere)**

Romanul urmărește povestea unei femei puternice care, după o perioadă dificilă marcată de pierdere sau trădare, se retrage într-un colț mai liniștit al lumii – fie într-un orășel pitoresc, fie la o fermă moștenită. Acolo, în mijlocul unei comunități aparent simple, își regăsește echilibrul și întâlnește un bărbat care, deși pare la început distant sau încărcat de propriul trecut, devine cheia unei posibile vindecări.

Relația dintre cei doi nu este ușoară – fiecare poartă răni mai vechi, frici și o lipsă de încredere în iubire. Dar, treptat, prin momente de apropiere și conflict, învață că iubirea adevărată presupune nu perfecțiune, ci **vulnerabilitate și curaj**.

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### 💫 **Teme centrale**

- **Vindecarea prin iubire**
- **Încrederea și redescoperirea sinelui**
- **Comunitatea și legăturile familiale**
- **Femininitatea puternică și autonomia personală**

---

### 🖋️ **Stilul de scriere**

Nora Roberts scrie într-un stil **clar, cald și emoțional**, cu descrieri vii, dialoguri autentice și personaje care par să aibă viață proprie. Chiar și într-o poveste aparent simplă, ea reușește să redea complexitatea emoțiilor umane cu finețe și empatie.

Traducerea semnată de **Irina Stoica** păstrează tonul sensibil al originalului, cu o română curată și cursivă, care contribuie la imersiunea în poveste.

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### ✅ **Puncte forte**

✔️ Personaje credibile, cu traume reale și evoluții coerente
✔️ Atmosferă familiară și reconfortantă – perfectă pentru lecturi de relaxare
✔️ Emoție sinceră, fără artificii dramatice excesive
✔️ Un echilibru plăcut între romantism, introspecție și conflict

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### ⚠️ **Puncte slabe**

➖ Rețeta este una clasică pentru gen – previzibilă pentru cititorii veterani
➖ Unele pasaje pot părea idealizate, în stilul "lumea e bună dacă ne iubim destul"

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### ❤️ **Concluzie**

*Curajul de a iubi* este exact ceea ce promite: o poveste caldă despre oameni răniți care învață să se deschidă din nou. E o carte perfectă pentru cei care caută emoții autentice, o doză de romantism reconfortant și o lectură care să-i facă să zâmbească, poate chiar să lăcrimeze puțin.

🔹 **Recomandat pentru:** iubitorii de romance contemporan, fanii Norei Roberts, cititorii care vor o evadare emoțională într-o poveste cu final fericit.
🔹 **Nu este pentru:** cei care caută thrillere sau povești cu ritm alert și suspans intens.

📖 **Verdict:** Un roman blând și emoționant despre ce înseamnă, cu adevărat, să ai **curajul de a iubi**.

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I love you, Quinn, more than I thought it was possible to love. It scares the hell out of me." - Chantel O’Hurley

Imagine a life bathed in that dazzling glow of Hollywood fame, red carpets, and devoted fans - this carefully curated image of effortless glamour. But what happens when that glow casts some really chilly shadows?

Chantel O'Hurley, the oldest of the O'Hurley triplets, has always wanted to become a star - and she knew she was born to be one. Now, living her dream, there's a terrifying reality check coming with the territory of being a successfull actress - a stalker. Someone is shadowing her steps, always watching her. In a last ditch effort to get rid of the problem before going to the authorities, she hires Quinn Doran, a cynical private investigator. Quinn is the epitome of misogyny wrapped in macho protectiveness and thinly-veiled insults and accusations. But as they grow closer, they each see sides of the other they never expected to find.

Honestly, I was very conflicted with this one. Chantel is my favorite of the triplets - she takes shit from no one, yet does so in such a dignified manner. People always think of her in many negative ways, when she was this sweet, hardened-by-life woman who cared for her family and worked her ass off to get what she wanted. So, you can imagine how ticked off I was every time Quinn made assumptions. It seems a staple in the O'Hurley triplets' love life to find men that initially think the worst of them...



Quinn was very hard to deal with as a male lead. From the get go he was rude. At first he assumed that Chantel was being paranoid - oh, yeah, because that's exactly what a victim needs to hear when she's terrified to even pick up a phone. Then he kept thinking that this was her fault - another classic male line - because what else does a beautiful woman who plays sexy roles expect from life? It was her fault she starred in male fantasies and men would do anything to have her.

Even later in the story, when he was being a jerk in order to protect her, he started making plans for her life and just thought that the only reason she wouldn't want to follow through was her public image. Dude, you've lived with her for a while now, you see what she's really like! Really?!



That being said, you might be wondering about the stellar rating, if the male lead was getting on my nerves. Well, that's easy. This was an extraordinary book, focusing on a mystery quite hard to solve. Even when the culprit was exposed, his reasonings behind everything were bone-chilling. Nora Roberts managed to write a kind of thriller and I focused on that instead of the romantic part of the story.

Next up is Trace's book, and let me tell you, I have been waiting for ages for this one!

Read this and other reviews at: http://cupcakesandpopcorn.wordpress.com/