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Bluebell: Constancy

Call it constancy, fortitude or just plain pigheadedness—reporter Lee Radcliffe never gave up. But enigmatic author Hunter Brown was just as stubborn. He'd grant her an interview, but on his turf and on his terms—and they wouldn't be easy to meet.

218 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1985

2009 people are currently reading
1926 people want to read

About the author

Nora Roberts

1,217 books60k followers
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.

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5 stars
2,425 (36%)
4 stars
2,123 (31%)
3 stars
1,557 (23%)
2 stars
415 (6%)
1 star
127 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 286 reviews
Profile Image for Cyndi.
2,452 reviews123 followers
July 27, 2017
Although this book is great I didn't like either of the main characters a whole lot. He is controlling and lies to her a lot. She keeps forgiving him. Once again if I was the main character in a novel I'd never get to the happy ending she gets to. But, I'd get ice cream. 😊🍦
Profile Image for Mojca.
2,132 reviews169 followers
January 12, 2010
I loved Ms. Roberts’ "newer" Sign of Seven trilogy, but this one left me rather cold. It’s fascinating how much Ms. Roberts’ style changed in the past two decades.

This book was just like its hero. Frustrating.
I didn’t know what to think about the hero – he was alternating between being a jerk, tenderness, creepiness, anger etc. I never read about a more mercurial personality.
The heroine mostly got on my nerves, because she thought one thing and did the other. Her actions around the hero are perfect examples.
I just didn’t "feel" the pull between them, they severely lacked in chemistry, and seemed to resent the fact they were actually attracted to each other.
The pacing was inconsistent – it started very, very slow (and rather uninterestingly), picked up pace sometimes around the camping trip, slowed down yet again, and just breezed by at the end.

Once the reader gets over these hurdles and just goes with the flow, forgets about the hero’s snarly nature, forgets about the heroine’s insecurities wrapped in a power-suit package, and just resigns to the pacing, this turns out to be quite a solid story. Nothing to write home about, though.
Profile Image for Bithi.
Author 4 books15 followers
January 25, 2018
This book shows so clearly the pleasures and hardships of writing and writers.
Profile Image for Cassandra Doon.
Author 57 books83 followers
May 19, 2023


My beautiful late nan owned every single one of Nora’s books.
So when she moved in with us for her last few years we spent the time reading our way through every single one together.
Granted they are not the type of books I like to read, but they were still really good and sweet.
Profile Image for Omaira.
900 reviews230 followers
August 23, 2021
Decepcionante. Con Nora Roberts casi siempre tengo mis más y mis menos, y en esta ocasión ni siquiera me han caído bien los protagonistas. Lo mejor de la historia es su brevedad, pues no alcanza las 200 páginas, y el hecho de que la narración es fluida.

Lee trabaja en una revista de éxito y dedica la mayor parte de su tiempo a ese empleo. Es una mujer a la que le gusta el lujo y que desea conseguir la admiración de todos los que la rodean. Hunter es un reconocido escritor de novelas de terror del que apenas se sabe nada, ya que siempre ha querido mantener su anonimato y no quiere que se metan en su vida privada. Si no fuera porque Lee quiere ser la periodista que haga la exclusiva del año sobre él, sus caminos no se habrían cruzado, pero ella no se rinde ante nada y un malentendido hará que incluso él sienta curiosidad por ella…

Pintaba bien, pintaba maravillosamente bien, yo ya me veía enamorada de Hunter por ser un tío tan serio y aparentemente hosco, y encima creía que iba a ser genial ver cómo ella iba derribando sus barreras… pero no, nada de eso, lo que me encontré fue a dos engreídos con una complicidad nula y que como mucho tuvieron una ligera atracción física.

No les vi carisma a los protagonistas ni nada que justificara el encaprichamiento que sienten el uno por el otro. Es más, apenas tienen gustos en común y suelen menospreciarse el uno al otro por sus profesiones. Él se cree el listo de turno que sabe lo que es mejor para ella y ella considera que él desperdicia su inteligencia escribiendo simples bestsellers. Si no fuera porque la propia Nora Roberts es una escritora de este tipo, creería que el libro es un ataque contra determinados escritores, ya que en varias ocasiones hay frases descalificativas contra el género romántico y el de terror. Supongo que Nora Roberts quería criticar lo de que se considere que un tipo de literatura es mejor que otra, pero le quedó un poco raro el mensaje.

La historia avanza sin pena ni gloria, es ver a los protagonistas soportándose para conseguir lo que quieren y conteniéndose para no desatar la supuesta pasión que les embarga con solo mirarse. Sus conversaciones carecen de emoción y no se sabe jugar ni con el humor ni con la tensión sexual.

Debido a un trato, los protagonistas deben pasar varios días juntos en un paraje aislado, pero apenas se hace hincapié en lo que ocurre y es como si se limitaran a pasar el rato. Por tanto, ni se le sabe sacar partido al hecho de que ellos dos estén solos casi todo el rato y que nos ahorremos intervenciones de relleno por parte de otros personajes.

A ver, me he leído el libro en apenas dos o tres sentadas, y por eso no le doy solo 1 estrella, pero me da rabia ver cómo un romance que podría haber tenido encanto se quedó en nada. Solo lo recomendaría si lo que se busca es una lectura ligera.
Profile Image for Yvonne.
308 reviews5 followers
July 10, 2019
Vintage Nora Roberts. Good story!
Profile Image for Thenia.
4,406 reviews181 followers
May 14, 2019
One of the older Nora Roberts romances, but still her distinct vivid characters and writing style.

This one is about Hunter, a reclusive horror writer and Lee, the reporter determined to get an exclusive interview. The two have a "meet cute", where Lee doesn't realize who she is and mistakes him for her driver, and Hunter, intrigued by her, doesn't disabuse her of the notion but goes along with her, studying her all the while.

The two meet again, and intrigue each other even more, but when Lee discovers who Hunter really is, she's furious with him. He has a very strong personality, something that balances her own people-pleasing one, and by the end of their story they're both better because of one another.

A bit dated but still quite enjoyable, with realistic, flawed characters with great chemistry and a satisfying happy ending.

The next book in the series, One Summer is Lee's best friend Bryan's story.
Profile Image for Michele.
86 reviews4 followers
November 15, 2018
I am a Nora Roberts fan and have been forever so when I saw this book she published in 1986 I was very excited to find one I hadn't yet read. It didn't matter to me that it hadn't been updated, that they still wrote articles and books on typewriters and that there no cell phones. My big problem with this book- the one problem that I couldn't get past to like the book is this- he is a world famous author (think Stephen King) who lives life off the publicity grid. No one knows what he looks like, where he lives- he is a total unknown except for best sellers. Then you find out he has a daughter and he says he keeps his life his own to prevent his daughter from being stalked by paparazzi- to make sure she has a normal childhood away from the public eye. You also found out that prior to his best sellers he made a decent living writing romance books under a female pen name. So here is the problem- how does this child of his function under the radar when he uses his real name as a parent? Do the parents of the kids she plays soccer with, goes to school with, play with not recognize his name is the same as a famous author? Its not a common name- no John Smith- its Hunter Green. He doesn't work at a job, is home raising his daughter on his own-- so are the people in his town stupid? Are they oblivious to his name being the same? Does his daughter never say yes,my dad stays home and writes books? Its just ridiculous and could have been dealt with by him using a pen name again but this glaring error would not leave me alone while reading and ultimately ruined the story for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Melodie.
589 reviews79 followers
April 30, 2014
I love Nora Roberts. She is one of my go -to authors for romance and chick-lit. I have been discovering her earlier work, as until recently I was just familiar with her trilogies.
Second Nature revolves around a reclusive horror author and the reporter determined to get him to talk. They are both serious contenders in the game of cat and mouse. Eventually, romance becomes the new name of the game.
Neither of the protagonists are particularly likable, to me at least. But Roberts is skilled at her craft, and the pages just kept turning. She requires you to keep reading. You are invested in finding out how it ends.And of course, we all know how it ends. This is Nora Roberts after all.
Profile Image for Bona Caballero.
1,614 reviews68 followers
November 16, 2025
En un suspiro me he leído esta novelita, que viene a ser novela rosa tradicional, o sea un harlequín de los de toda la vida, aunque este en concreto fue un Silhouette. Me maravilla la capacidad de contar algo tan bien en un formato breve.
Lenora «Lee» Radcliffe (unos 27 años, le calculo yo) trabaja como reportera para la revista Celebrity. Quiere hacer un artículo sobre Hunter Brown (36), un escritor misterioso (lo suyo son los superventas de horror, algo así como Stephen King). Para ello, acudirá a un taller para escritores, fingiendo ser una de ellos. Se supone que él va a hacer una de sus pocas apariciones públicas, dando una conferencia. Lo conocerá a poco de llegar, sin saber ella que él es el escritor a quien busca. Hay una tensión fantástica (y bastante humor) en toda esa parte inicial en que ella no sabe con quién está hablando. Luego, para conseguir su entrevista, y averiguar los secretos del autor, tendrá que aceptar hacer excursionismo con él.
Second Nature fue el Silhouette Special Edition n.º 288 y salió en enero de 1986. Me deja impresionada lo eficaz que era ya entonces la escritura de Nora Roberts. Para ser simplemente un producto con destino a una vida efímera en las baldas de kioscos y supermercados, está rebién: los personajes son atractivos y se caracterizan a través de sus actos y sus palabras, la ambientación es la justa para trasladarte a otra vida, sin perderse en demasiadas contemplaciones. Pero lo que yo destacaría son los diálogos, no hay en ellos nada anodino o prescindible, sino que cada uno de ellos contribuye en algo al avance de la novela o al retrato de los personajes. Roberts es para mí, junto con Sandra Brown, de las mejores escritoras de romántica que saben presentar la voz masculina. Se ve claro que son señoros, y hablan y piensan como tíos, y no la bestie de la MFC.
En realidad sería un tres estrellas, porque el formato no da para más. Pero le añado una estrella adicional por lo que tiene de vidas en el exterior, acampando junto a un río, en un cañón de Arizona.
La he leído en inglés, dentro de la antología Summer Pleasures que unía las dos novelas de la serie Celebrity. Así que no sé cómo estará la traducción al español que hicieron años después.
Profile Image for John Mirmina.
50 reviews4 followers
March 1, 2021
Not her best book for sure. Too many typos, a plot that starts off decently that’s character driven, but then quickly crumbles. It has some redeeming qualities up until the end. I mean...3 weeks and marriage proposal? What?

Left with more questions than answers on this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Vanessa.
289 reviews20 followers
May 28, 2019
Este livro foi-me oferecido no mês de Novembro do ano passado, sendo que acabei por me decidir a lê-lo finalmente durante este mês por forma a poder, enfim, saciar a minha curiosidade acerca do mesmo.

Este é um livro repleto de tensão, amizade, mistério, atracção, romance, amor e desejo do princípio ao fim, com um enredo descomplicado mas apelativo e com personagens fortes e carismáticas. Como é habitual, a escrita da autora mostra-se clara e fluida e proporciona uma leitura agradável e descontraída.

Tenho a dizer que gostei bastante deste pequeno livro que, apesar da sua reduzida dimensão, tem uma boa narrativa que se mostra interessante para o leitor - claro que gostaria de ter visto algumas situações a serem mais e melhor exploradas mas, no geral, acho que a história está óptima da maneira que está.

Este é um cativante romance que promete prender a atenção do leitor sem qualquer dificuldade - sem dúvida que recomendo que o leiam!
Profile Image for Yukino.
1,125 reviews
August 22, 2021
SERIE CELEBRITY N. 1

libro preso su una bancarella al mare.
È stato scritto nell’86 e devo dire che non si sente assolutamente. Storia dolce e romantica come solo Nora riesce a scrivere.

Leenore giornalista a caccia di scoop, cerca di intervistare lo scrittore del momento Hunter Brown, di cui nessuno sa nulla e che nasconde un piccolo segreto.

Divertenti i loro battibecchi iniziali e dolcissimi loro due insieme ❤️
Peccato che sia davvero corto. Letto in un giorno sotto l’ombrellone.
È stata una boccata d’aria e d’amore.
Spero di trovare il secondo della serie da qualche parte.
Per le inguaribili romantiche.
Profile Image for Maria.
313 reviews
August 3, 2019
I have a shelf full of Nora Roberts books that I read between other books. Often her books are quite boring and quite tedious. This was no exception.
The main male character needs a good slap to the face. How dare he think he can take advantage of a woman!
Mind you, half way through the book the male becomes rather boring once he loses his 'dark and brooding, and mysterious ways'. I won't give too much away, if you like Nora Roberts, suffice to say, the woman is suddenly turned on by him and realises the error of her ways in being so stand-offish!
Personally I do not know why I keep bothering but I suspect many a woman would go weak at the knees to be 'persuaded' that the man is for her.
I had thought there would be some kind of paranormal moments in the book. It alluded to them, but alas, nothing happens. It almost read like a Nora Roberts falls in love with Stephen King book.
I will persevere with her books since every now and then a gem actually does arise.
Profile Image for Aurelia Rowl.
Author 4 books113 followers
July 9, 2015
I loved this story! This one just clicked with me, though I accept that the main characters being a novelist and reluctant aspiring novelist could have something to do with it. As fictional book boyfriends go though, Hunter certainly works for me.
Profile Image for Barbara "Cookie" Serfaty Williams.
2,705 reviews5 followers
July 30, 2019
Second Nature

The love story of Hunter and Lee. This is a early book of Nora Roberts. This is set in the 1980s, where everyone smoke, woman just start to enter in to the world and typewriter are use. Fun read .
Profile Image for Angela Austin.
142 reviews2 followers
October 12, 2018
Great read as always from this author. Nice light reading with some twists and turns.
28 reviews2 followers
September 6, 2023
This book was incredibly boring. Nothing was happening and I gave up half way through.
Profile Image for Kay Gentile.
391 reviews1 follower
October 4, 2023
Tive de ler, esse livro lembrando o tempo todo em que ano foi escrito, em 1985. Então achei que, apesar de ter muitas coisas legais o livro envelheceu mal. A premissa é a seguinte, uma repórter, Lee, quer uma entrevista com o maior escritor de terror e suspense dos últimos anos, Hunter. Só que ele é um recluso convicto e a única coisa que sabem sobre ele é seu gênero e seu nome. Mas ela, boa reporter que é, consegue uma informação que ele provavelmente estará em um encontro de escritores no Arizona, EUA. E lá vai ela…
O primeiro encontro entre eles é bem legal e divertido, sem que nenhum saiba a identidade do outro.
O resto é a história, com coisas legais e outras nem tanto para os tempos atuais, de como eles irão se apaixonar e ficar juntos.

É legal? É. Mas muita coisa me incomodou e não consegui curtir o livro tanto assim. 🤷🏻‍♀️
Profile Image for Leah.
180 reviews3 followers
October 28, 2020
Romance trope involved: forced proximity

This book is filled with stuff I'd find problematic in an actual relationship, but just love to read. For instance, a hero who knows the heroine's mind better than she does.

The protagonist is so "girly" that she's practically helpless camping and that gets a little annoying.

I have a feeling this was one of Roberts's earlier works because there are only two characters for the majority of it. Usually she shines in creating side characters. It's not my favorite of her works, but I did enjoy it.
Profile Image for Carolyn.
2,233 reviews
November 16, 2017
Older Nora Roberts book. I really did not like either of the lead characters. It was more like a verbal battle with each of them trying to figure the other one out, with sex thrown in. My least favorite Nora Roberts' book to date.
Profile Image for Marly.
23 reviews
November 25, 2017
Eh

Like all of Roberts’ books, she really captures the essence of a person and makes the romance seem alive. This book seemed like it was rushed and unrealistic in some parts though where the characters could’ve used more time to develop.
Profile Image for Chloe Hughes.
90 reviews3 followers
March 4, 2018
The lead protagonists Hunter and Lee are intriguing, complex and the story I didn’t know where it was going. At first I was reading from Lee going to Flagstaff to the writer’s retreat to to interview the enigmatic horror writer Hunter Brown as she interviews him, he turns the tables.
Profile Image for Judy Churchill.
2,567 reviews31 followers
March 5, 2019
Interesting insights into writers and their motivations. Nice interactions between characters. First published in 1985.
Profile Image for Monserrat Maxfield Markov.
569 reviews
September 9, 2020
¿Quieren una lectura rápida y sencilla mientras leen algo más pesado? Esta podría ser su lectura.

Me lo leí en dos sentadas, el problema fue que la primera vez que lo empece me aburrió por lo romántico y algo cliché que es... y ahora que leo el de “La guerra no tiene rostro de mujer” me pareció buena idea proseguirlo, por el respiro que me daría.

PD. Si llego a encontrarme el segundo lo compro, sino pues no es su destino, jeje.
Profile Image for Bess.
101 reviews
April 26, 2021
This hasn't aged well, I think. The romance has some problematic moments. But there are a few redeeming features.

You can almost hear the stiff swish of shoulder-pads in the description of the ice-blue suit. Everyone types on typewriters (and, ok, I know some writers like to be retro, but you'd get fired if you did your high-pressure, deadlines/demands job on a typewriter). But the really dated thing is the general attitude in the first part of the book that a successful career-driven woman is a ball of nerves that needs a man to complete her life. And apparently all the man can see is her fragility under the mask of poise. I lost count of the number of times "fragile" came up. Ugh. And the author didn't do much to explore either why she might be fragile or why this man is into that kind of thing.

On the positive side, I really enjoyed all the exploration of why and how writers write, the different kinds of writers, and the tension of aspirations vs. reality of getting published, genre fiction writing not getting enough cred, what it means to be a story teller. There's even some great sketches of wannabe writers at a conference that just charmed my socks off. The prose was quite lyrical at times, and I feel like the author really had fun writing this ode to the soul of a novelist.
Profile Image for Cruth.
1,656 reviews146 followers
September 9, 2016
Author: Nora Roberts
First published: 1985
Length: 2628 locations
Setting: Contemporary. LA and Sedona.
Sex: Reasonably explicit. Infrequent.
Hero: Writer.
Heroine: Reporter for gossip-y magazine.

A shorter, earlier Nora Roberts which was pretty much what I was looking for, but not what I expected.

Strong, independent heroine who is still a strong, independent heroine at the end of the book.

Stoic, dark hero with a gentle heart who knows who he is before the book starts, and finds a way to accept, respect and support the heroine in joining his life.

Easy romantic story that focusses entirely on the two MCs.

It hit the spot.

3 stars.

Celebrity Magazine:
Book 1 Second Nature - Lenore (Lee) Radcliffe and Hunter Brown
Book 2 One Summer - Bryan Mitchell and Shade Wilder

References:
Author: http://www.noraroberts.com

(ISBN 9781460800195)

-CR-
Profile Image for Laurel-Rain.
Author 6 books257 followers
May 4, 2014
Lee Radcliffe has found her niche, or so she believes, as a journalist for Celebrity magazine. Her life in LA suits her, and all she really needs at this moment to boost her career is an interview with the elusive horror novelist Hunter Brown.

When she discovers that he will be speaking at a writer's conference in Flagstaff, she signs on.

From the very first moment she lands in Flagstaff, everything is slightly askew. Nothing is quite the way it seems, and over the next two days, she discovers for the first time that life often requires adjustments. Conditions.

For two weeks, Lee joins Hunter on an adventurous camping trip in the Oak Creek Canyon near Sedona. And as she tests herself physically, she discovers the lengths to which she will go to achieve her dreams. But she hadn't counted on what could happen to alter everything.

"Second Nature" is a romantic journey that kept me turning those pages, wondering what would happen, while enjoying the setting that I have personally experienced. A fan of the Sedona area, I couldn't wait to revisit it in this novel. And I loved the push-pull of the relationship between Lee and Hunter, as they fought the powerful attraction between them. Until they didn't. 4.0 stars.
Profile Image for Sofie.
33 reviews1 follower
January 13, 2017
Ik was meteen mee in het verhaal. Ja, dat verwacht ik met een boek dat ik begin te lezen en geen moeite moet doen om door te gaan. Dit boek zorgde ervoor. Ik las hem heel vlot uit en was continue benieuwd en geïntrigeerd door het verhaal. Vooral de antagonist was heel erg boeiend. Het samenspel tussen de protagonist en de antagonist kan mij boeien.

Ik heb al veel boeken van Nora Roberts gelezen en deze zit bij mij redelijk hoog. Ik kon zonder veel moeite in het verhaal zitten en de gevoelens overnemen van de personages. Ik was continue benieuwd naar wat zou komen en wou telkens verder en verder lezen. Ze blijft je nieuwsgierig maken naar meer. Hier en daar gooit ze een visje op dat iets teweeg kan brengen. Zo blijf je geboeid verder lezen.

De plot was niet schokkend of geheel vernieuwd maar dat zoek ik ook niet in een boek. Ik wil een boek lezen met boeiende personages, het liefst over de liefde en ik wil mij kunnen ontspannen. Als je dat ook zoekt in een boek, zeker lezen.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 286 reviews

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