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Black Rose
(In the Garden #2)
by
A Harper has always lived at Harper House, the centuries-old mansion just outside of Memphis. And for as long as anyone alive remembers, the ghostly Harper Bride has walked the halls, singing lullabies at night...
At forty-seven, Rosalind Harper is a woman whose experiences have made her strong enough to bend without breaking--and weather any storm. A widow with three grown ...more
At forty-seven, Rosalind Harper is a woman whose experiences have made her strong enough to bend without breaking--and weather any storm. A widow with three grown ...more
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Paperback, First Edition, 303 pages
Published
May 31st 2005
by Penguin USA
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Katie Mansfield
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Start your review of Black Rose (In the Garden, #2)
The second book in the trilogy. Of course it’s excellent. It’s Nora.
Although Mitch is a great character his story steps back from Roz and the ghost. I think its a delicate balance when so many strong characters are in a story. Roz’s strength seems to take center stage. Enough so that I was a bit intimidated at times. I mean she raised three sons, started a business and jogs every day. When my three kids were growing up I sometimes had trouble finding time to shower. 🤷🏼♀️
Although Mitch is a great character his story steps back from Roz and the ghost. I think its a delicate balance when so many strong characters are in a story. Roz’s strength seems to take center stage. Enough so that I was a bit intimidated at times. I mean she raised three sons, started a business and jogs every day. When my three kids were growing up I sometimes had trouble finding time to shower. 🤷🏼♀️
I nearly always enjoy this author's trilogies and this is no exception. I like getting to know a group of characters and then focussing on a different couple in each book but with all the familiar people on the peripheries. This book was centred around the developing relationship between Mitch and Roz with a fair bit of ghostly intervention along the way. It actually got a bit too creepy to read at home alone at one point. All very entertaining and highly recommended !
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I was interested to see that the romantic couple in this one were both in their late 40s. Are people with adult children allowed to start relationships?
I liked both Roz and Mitch very much and their romance was a fun one to experience. You could see how they came together from a need for companionship but with a stability of having secure family relationships as well. This gave them space to parse their desires and the opportunity to act from a place of strength from already having healthy, esta ...more
I liked both Roz and Mitch very much and their romance was a fun one to experience. You could see how they came together from a need for companionship but with a stability of having secure family relationships as well. This gave them space to parse their desires and the opportunity to act from a place of strength from already having healthy, esta ...more
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Mini review:
This installment was just as sweet and funny and enjoyable as the first. Rob has hired Dr. Mitchell Carnegie to dig into her family’s history, in hopes that he can help them find out more information about the ghost haunting Harper House and lay her to rest. Mitch is a cutie, absentminded and obsessive over his work and completely suited to Roz. The romance was fun and a bit unique for Nora due to it being between two middle-aged people, instead of the late 20s to mid 30s set that sh ...more
This installment was just as sweet and funny and enjoyable as the first. Rob has hired Dr. Mitchell Carnegie to dig into her family’s history, in hopes that he can help them find out more information about the ghost haunting Harper House and lay her to rest. Mitch is a cutie, absentminded and obsessive over his work and completely suited to Roz. The romance was fun and a bit unique for Nora due to it being between two middle-aged people, instead of the late 20s to mid 30s set that sh ...more
The Harper Bride Ghost is back and this time she is preying on Rosalind Harper, the owner and proprietor of Harper House and in the Garden Nursery. When Rosalind Harper slowly falls in love with Dr. Mitch Carnegie who is helping her find out the identity of the Harper Bride Ghost, she is attacked violently by the ghost who hates men with a passion. Will the ghost be able to tame this black rose or will Rosalind snap back with thorns? Read on and find out for yourself.
This was a great second inst ...more
This was a great second inst ...more
Book two of the In the Garden trilogy. In this story we meet Roz & Mitch who fall in love while working over a genealogical project. They're in search of the Harper Bride Ghost who has been haunting Roz's family home for generations.
I was slightly surprised to see Roz take the lead heroine for book two. With Nora's trilogies you get a certain formula to them. The first heroine (in this trilogy Stella) goes through some sort of transformation and finds herself. The second heroine holds a tough as ...more
I was slightly surprised to see Roz take the lead heroine for book two. With Nora's trilogies you get a certain formula to them. The first heroine (in this trilogy Stella) goes through some sort of transformation and finds herself. The second heroine holds a tough as ...more
This was not a favourite, but still a good read with a few spots that put a big grin on my face and made laugh. There were also bits where I was enraged and ticked off with all the things that Rob goes through. Nice to also know more about the history of the house she lives in and the resident ghost. Can't wait to have all my questions answered in the next, and final book of this trilogy.
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Feb 06, 2010
Shelby *trains flying monkeys*
rated it
liked it
Shelves:
read-2010,
is-this-a-kissing-book
Another book I enjoyed. I love gardening so these books are cute from that point of view. I'm still not sure how much I like the character of Roz. I like that she's a strong woman but somehow she just seems to rub me the wrong way.
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2.5 stars - is it just me, or are all of Nora Robert's stories starting to sound the same?
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Jan 22, 2020
Carolyn
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
re-read,
roberts-nora
Re-reading.
The first book in this series, "The Blue Dahlia" sets up the whole story line and it was good. However, this one was outstanding and continues the mystery of the ghost named "The Harper Bride." The characters introduced in the first book are much more developed and fleshed out and it was a treat to see. I love the Southern lifestyle and flavor of the book. There were some killer lines, delivered with panache and style, that reminded me of Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess Violet Cr ...more
The first book in this series, "The Blue Dahlia" sets up the whole story line and it was good. However, this one was outstanding and continues the mystery of the ghost named "The Harper Bride." The characters introduced in the first book are much more developed and fleshed out and it was a treat to see. I love the Southern lifestyle and flavor of the book. There were some killer lines, delivered with panache and style, that reminded me of Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess Violet Cr ...more
Another one where I'm debating between 3.5 and 4 stars, but think I'll come down on the side of 4. For one thing, the heroine is 46 or 47, and how often do you see a romance heroine of that age? Huzzah for middle-aged representation! Review to come.
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2020
This book is a great second installment from the In the Garden trilogy. And, of course it's a great book, it's Nora Roberts. There have been very few experiences with her stories where I have been left disappointed. And I've never been disappointed in her trilogies. She writes characters that I want to spend the next thirty years hanging out with.
Roz, our heroine, is a widow with three grown boys. She remarried (and regretted it) and that comes back to haunt her just as much as Amelia do ...more
This book is a great second installment from the In the Garden trilogy. And, of course it's a great book, it's Nora Roberts. There have been very few experiences with her stories where I have been left disappointed. And I've never been disappointed in her trilogies. She writes characters that I want to spend the next thirty years hanging out with.
Roz, our heroine, is a widow with three grown boys. She remarried (and regretted it) and that comes back to haunt her just as much as Amelia do ...more
I want to be just like Ros ;-)
The second installment of the In the Garden trilogy is easily the best of the bunch. This book picks up where “Blue Dahlia” left off, in terms of the mystery of the Harper Bride, a ghost who haunts historic Harper House near Memphis Tennessee, and the personal lives of the living characters, as well. In “Blue Dahlia,” Roz Harper, fortysomething mistress of Harper House, hired Mitch Carnegie to do some family research in order to find the identity of the Harper Bride. Mitch and Roz were attracted
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Ok, I don't know what to say about this. I really enjoyed the first installment in the series, but this... not that much. And it would really be a star 1/2, not even 2.
I was bored the whole time, even wishing for it to end. I must admit that it has been the worst romance book I had ever read. I didn't like a thing about it.
First, Robert's writing style in this book is horrible. You never get to really understand how the characters feel because she uses a very impersonal way for describing the ev ...more
I was bored the whole time, even wishing for it to end. I must admit that it has been the worst romance book I had ever read. I didn't like a thing about it.
First, Robert's writing style in this book is horrible. You never get to really understand how the characters feel because she uses a very impersonal way for describing the ev ...more
I was going to give this a 4 or 4.5 but thought how much I liked reading this and thought, eh 5 stars will do just fine.
Anyway, I'm liking these new covers for this trilogy. Its just so beautiful and cozy and garden like, which makes sense.
I like how with each book, you get the know the characters as the book focuses on them, with the Harper bride ghost and of course the romance.
I don't read that much romance books. Except maybe now and then. This is one of those that I like to read when I'm eit ...more
Anyway, I'm liking these new covers for this trilogy. Its just so beautiful and cozy and garden like, which makes sense.
I like how with each book, you get the know the characters as the book focuses on them, with the Harper bride ghost and of course the romance.
I don't read that much romance books. Except maybe now and then. This is one of those that I like to read when I'm eit ...more
This is, by far, my favorite of all the Nora Roberts books I have read. I adore the ghost story intertwined with the story of the protagonist's family and personal life. All too often ghost stories only have the characters as they are in death, but this book, the second installment in a trilogy, shows who the woman was when she lived and before she died and became a spectral being. Can't wait to see how the author will conclude this storyline!
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All I can say isi want to be Roz Harper when I grow up. She is sucha strong woman and mother. Very straight forward and confident in who she is and in her abilities. Mitch is precious. An honest man who has made mistakes and takes responsibility for it. And an awesome father. Who doesn't love that?
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This series just isn't coming alive for me like most NR works. I know they are formulaic, but that's not my problem here. I'm really just not finding the characters interesting. There are sparks of interest, but nothing lasting.
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Actual rating 4.5 stars
A wonderful read: I loved the characters, the love story and the ghostly element. The whole trilogy was a delight, I couldn't wait to return to the story every time I had to put it down.
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This book was awesome and i loved the romance in it and the mystery also i gave this book a 5 stars i liked everything about this book
Part 2, didn't feel as engaged with this part, although Roz is my age. Good to see other aspects from part 1 be built on.
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Another good book in an interesting series. Colorful characters, intense moments, emotions, strength, courage and a perfect ending that still leaves you wanting to know the rest. Enjoy!
Over one hundred years ago, a young woman on the brink of insanity...or just beyond it...disappeared without a trace. Her ghost haunts the house and grounds of the Harper household and has for as long as anyone alive can remember. Most who have seen or heard her speak of the care she shows to the children of the house, singing lullabies to the young and offering a comforting presence to young mothers. But there is a darkness, too, and when lullabies become edged in madness and comfort turns to t
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It is refreshing to see a heroine who is almost fifty. Roz's enjoyment of Mitch, the absent-minded professor, starts off as a mutal attraction that she thinks is only that, but both, with their children all grown-up, are thrown off-course by the depth of their liking for each other when both feel they are past that point in their lives. The parts with the ghost are a little overwhelming, but the rest of the book is both fun and painful, complete with an -ex showing up to make trouble and that na
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Book 2 of In the Garden trilogy.
Roz is a very strong character. I love her! Raised 3 boys, built a business, no nonsense kind of woman.. she is passionate, hard headed, moody, and lovely. As with any woman, it just depends which way the wind blows lol
Mitch is also a great character to read about. Although, you don't get an in depth character like with Roz, you learn a great deal about him. And he enjoys simple, just as Roz does.
I enjoyed Black Rose greatly. ...more
Roz is a very strong character. I love her! Raised 3 boys, built a business, no nonsense kind of woman.. she is passionate, hard headed, moody, and lovely. As with any woman, it just depends which way the wind blows lol
Mitch is also a great character to read about. Although, you don't get an in depth character like with Roz, you learn a great deal about him. And he enjoys simple, just as Roz does.
I enjoyed Black Rose greatly. ...more
Average Roberts, but an extra star for a believable post-menopausal romance. I suppose I ought to get over that every hero/heroine in every Nora Roberts book is ravishingly lovely, but the depiction of beautiful flowers and the ghost story at the heart of this one do kind of compensate. After reading one of her books for the fast paced narrative the first time, there is so much excellent depiction of the milieu that re-reading is a different kind of pleasure.
I love how this series is not the typical fall in love and then some secret comes out or cold feet or more blah blah blah and they have a big blow up. Not that I mind that. The characters live story isn't easy tho. It's a build to get to happily ever after. The angst comes from other aspects of the story. I have really enjoyed these so far.
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Play Book Tag: (Poll Ballot Tally) Black Rose by Nora Roberts - 3 stars | 1 | 6 | Aug 25, 2020 10:24AM | |
| Similar books | 8 | 63 | Apr 19, 2020 09:31PM | |
| Play Book Tag: Black Rose / Nora Roberts. 3 stars | 6 | 18 | Dec 19, 2019 11:03AM | |
| Goodreads Librari...: Page number request | 1 | 12 | Apr 13, 2018 02:47PM |
Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Hideaway, Under Currents, Come Sundown and coming in November 2020 -- The Awakening -- the first 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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Other books in the series
In the Garden
(3 books)
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“That woman doesn't have the sense God gave a retarded flea.”
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“Roz to Amelia (the house ghost): How considerate of you, after trying to kill me, to see that I don't catch a cold.”
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