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Eden: Keeper of the hearth, mother confessor to a thousand whispered secrets, solid as the good earth of Louisiana. Eden. Too much of a woman not to crave a man, and too proudly female not to wait a lifetime for the right one.
Nick: Seeker of truth and refugee from it, weary vagabond held freedom's captive. In Eden he found a sanctuary from the past, a bridge to the future.
In one another's arms they found the ever-present, everlasting home for each other's hearts.
Nick: Seeker of truth and refugee from it, weary vagabond held freedom's captive. In Eden he found a sanctuary from the past, a bridge to the future.
In one another's arms they found the ever-present, everlasting home for each other's hearts.
298 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
About the author
Penny Richards
74 books73 followersPenny Richards also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym of Bay Matthews, and as Sandi Shane with the writer Sandra Canfield.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 14, 2019
Great book
August 27, 2020
Quite soapy.
Nice setting: TexLaArk.
Liked Eden.
Nice setting: TexLaArk.
Liked Eden.
August 20, 2014
This one was a lot more soapy than the previous entries, with the various misadventures of a rich, morality-free logging empire/family, and more tension in the Calloway family.
I liked the main pair, Eden and Nick, but they were oddly young, and were written as if they were way older (i.e., at one point, Eden stops to admire the crinkles around Nick's eyes - he's 29; I know he spends a lot of time in the sun, but that was strange). The story might have worked better if they were as old as they were written, anyway, as they both seemed a bit too world-weary and desperate for marriage to be only 29 and 33. Maybe mid-to-late 30s would have been better?
The worst part of the book for me was how the sisters totally betrayed their personalities from the first three books. While Jo was more defeatist here than in her book, she wasn't too off here, though having EZ conveniently broke was ridiculous considering how rich he was before. In this one, Mariah is a stick in the mud who has the audacity to lecture Eden about "having to live in this town" and stirring up gossip - what the hell, Mariah? I guess being married to a preacher and impending motherhood will kill a person's soul, huh? (Eden quite rightly told her she was the last person to sermonize on that one.) The worst was Tess, who I genuinely liked through the series so far; her compassion completely gone, she became a narrow-minded, gossipy b*tch in here. I should think, considering her own husband's background, she might have had some sympathy for Nick. Nope. She was just awful. (And her husband Seth just ends up looking like an ass in this one.) I understand conflict was needed, but I wish these people hadn't been sacrificed for that sake.
It soured me how quickly all these sisters got on Eden the moment she stopped being their house-keeper/pushover. It made me feel like everything in the series was wrong, and, really, the sisters (and BILs) only like each other when they are getting something from them. Ugh.
We get a nice epilogue in here giving us updates on all the couples from the four books, which would be great had this book not forced me to stop liking them. Except Ford and, to a lesser extent, EZ - those guys come out of the final book still looking okay.
Eden, however, was a pleasant surprise. She seemed awfully dull in the first three books, but really managed to pull it off here.
In the end, I wish this book had not wrecked the characters from the previous installments, but I still enjoyed it, even with its 1980s-soap flare for the melodramatic. It was less entertaining than the first and second books, but about on par with the third. I think it will be less memorable than the others, though.
A solid series, all in all. It's dated a bit, but worth reading if you like older style contemporary romance.
*
NB: This book contains fictional discussion of rape (in flashback form), and also has more mentions of weight/dieting than the previous books in the series.
I liked the main pair, Eden and Nick, but they were oddly young, and were written as if they were way older (i.e., at one point, Eden stops to admire the crinkles around Nick's eyes - he's 29; I know he spends a lot of time in the sun, but that was strange). The story might have worked better if they were as old as they were written, anyway, as they both seemed a bit too world-weary and desperate for marriage to be only 29 and 33. Maybe mid-to-late 30s would have been better?
The worst part of the book for me was how the sisters totally betrayed their personalities from the first three books. While Jo was more defeatist here than in her book, she wasn't too off here, though having EZ conveniently broke was ridiculous considering how rich he was before. In this one, Mariah is a stick in the mud who has the audacity to lecture Eden about "having to live in this town" and stirring up gossip - what the hell, Mariah? I guess being married to a preacher and impending motherhood will kill a person's soul, huh? (Eden quite rightly told her she was the last person to sermonize on that one.) The worst was Tess, who I genuinely liked through the series so far; her compassion completely gone, she became a narrow-minded, gossipy b*tch in here. I should think, considering her own husband's background, she might have had some sympathy for Nick. Nope. She was just awful. (And her husband Seth just ends up looking like an ass in this one.) I understand conflict was needed, but I wish these people hadn't been sacrificed for that sake.
It soured me how quickly all these sisters got on Eden the moment she stopped being their house-keeper/pushover. It made me feel like everything in the series was wrong, and, really, the sisters (and BILs) only like each other when they are getting something from them. Ugh.
We get a nice epilogue in here giving us updates on all the couples from the four books, which would be great had this book not forced me to stop liking them. Except Ford and, to a lesser extent, EZ - those guys come out of the final book still looking okay.
Eden, however, was a pleasant surprise. She seemed awfully dull in the first three books, but really managed to pull it off here.
In the end, I wish this book had not wrecked the characters from the previous installments, but I still enjoyed it, even with its 1980s-soap flare for the melodramatic. It was less entertaining than the first and second books, but about on par with the third. I think it will be less memorable than the others, though.
A solid series, all in all. It's dated a bit, but worth reading if you like older style contemporary romance.
*
NB: This book contains fictional discussion of rape (in flashback form), and also has more mentions of weight/dieting than the previous books in the series.
September 25, 2011
TBR 208
Nick is Mariah's friend and every time he visited before Eden was away
She has been feeling lonely
All her sisters are married
Nick is hamesome and more than willing.....
He is feeling the pressure of his family imploding
Eden's family timber mill is failing - his family is in the timber business and thriving
Nick's sister was raped by her step brother - but she surpressed it
Nick loves Eden but he has to reconcile with his father
Nick and Nicole create their own company and save the Callaway's Timber mill.
Nick is Mariah's friend and every time he visited before Eden was away
She has been feeling lonely
All her sisters are married
Nick is hamesome and more than willing.....
He is feeling the pressure of his family imploding
Eden's family timber mill is failing - his family is in the timber business and thriving
Nick's sister was raped by her step brother - but she surpressed it
Nick loves Eden but he has to reconcile with his father
Nick and Nicole create their own company and save the Callaway's Timber mill.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews