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Once More for Love: Blithe Images / Search for Love
Take a journey to find your heart…
Blithe Images
Beneath her sophisticated beauty, fashion model Hillary Baxter is still just a small-town girl from Kansas. So it's impossible for her to resist the devastating charm of her new employer, magazine mogul Bret Bardoff. Bret knows all the right things to say to a woman, but as he discovers the alluring innocence behind Hillary's world-famous face, it's Bret who is left defenseless…against the pull of his own heart.
Search for Love
Arriving at her long-lost relatives' Brittany estate, Serenity Smith is greeted with cold politeness by the Comtesse de Kergallen and her darkly handsome grandson, Christophe. Refusing to believe their scandalous tales about her late parents, Serenity sets out to find the truth about her family. But getting the enigmatic Christophe to change his mind about her turns out to be an equally worthy challenge…
Blithe Images
Beneath her sophisticated beauty, fashion model Hillary Baxter is still just a small-town girl from Kansas. So it's impossible for her to resist the devastating charm of her new employer, magazine mogul Bret Bardoff. Bret knows all the right things to say to a woman, but as he discovers the alluring innocence behind Hillary's world-famous face, it's Bret who is left defenseless…against the pull of his own heart.
Search for Love
Arriving at her long-lost relatives' Brittany estate, Serenity Smith is greeted with cold politeness by the Comtesse de Kergallen and her darkly handsome grandson, Christophe. Refusing to believe their scandalous tales about her late parents, Serenity sets out to find the truth about her family. But getting the enigmatic Christophe to change his mind about her turns out to be an equally worthy challenge…
345 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
8 people are currently reading
165 people want to read
About the author
Nora Roberts
1,179 books59.2k followersNora 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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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 6, 2023
I love Nora Roberts.
That being said, this reprint was obviously a cash grab from her previous publisher. Nora, not immune to the literature standards of the time she was writing for Harlequin, was a victim to the tropes of the early 80s romance genre: the overly taciturn hero, bordering on criminally abusive behavior towards the heroine, ... And the innocently-virginal heroine who spends 90% of the novel telling the Hero "no", while getting man-handled and berated, only to find out she was "in love" with him the incredibly short time they've known each other (all of that while being verbally, and sometimes physically, abused, and definitely sexually assaulted.) While these stories DO highlight that we have come far culturally, on the issue of consent, that doesn't negate how angry these old stories make me: reminding me that a generation of women reading these were learning that not only were the behaviors novelized acceptable, they were to be sought. Instead of being republished for a copyright grab, they should have been left in the past, where they belong.
That being said, this reprint was obviously a cash grab from her previous publisher. Nora, not immune to the literature standards of the time she was writing for Harlequin, was a victim to the tropes of the early 80s romance genre: the overly taciturn hero, bordering on criminally abusive behavior towards the heroine, ... And the innocently-virginal heroine who spends 90% of the novel telling the Hero "no", while getting man-handled and berated, only to find out she was "in love" with him the incredibly short time they've known each other (all of that while being verbally, and sometimes physically, abused, and definitely sexually assaulted.) While these stories DO highlight that we have come far culturally, on the issue of consent, that doesn't negate how angry these old stories make me: reminding me that a generation of women reading these were learning that not only were the behaviors novelized acceptable, they were to be sought. Instead of being republished for a copyright grab, they should have been left in the past, where they belong.
May 4, 2020
Once More for Love features two stories of finding love in unexpected places.
Overall average rating — 3 Stars
Blithe Images — 2.5 Stars
Fashion model Hillary Baxter is still a small-town girl at heart, so the charms of NYC still get to her. When she begins a new campaign under Bret Bardoff, owner of Mode Magazine, she finds herself falling for her enigmatic new boss. Blithe Images definitely isn’t one of my favorite stories by Nora Roberts. While the setting still reads as fairly modern outside of a few references, the romance itself is a bit dated. Bret has a tendency to just take over and doesn’t let Hillary handle things in her own way. Plus there’s a terrible other woman sub-plot that could have easily been taken care of with an honest conversation between the main couple. Overall, Blithe Images is one I’d say skip when reading this author’s backlist unless you’re trying to read everything she’s written.
Search for Love — 3.5 Stars
With the passing of her parents, Serenity Smith thought she lost the last of her family. But when she receives word from a long-lost relative, she discovers that’s not the case. However, upon arriving at the Comtesse de Kergallen’s estate in Brittany, Serenity instantly feels unwelcome by the Comtesse’s handsome grandson Christophe. The French setting of this novel was wonderful with lush descriptions of the countryside and I found it quite charming. Serenity was a wonderful character and I loved her loyalty to her parents after her grandmother accused them of theft. I enjoyed her quest to clear their names and find out what really happened. My main complaint about the romance in this book is that Christophe has some terrible behaviors prevalent in 1980’s romances. He speaks of punishing Serenity when he doesn’t get his way and talks about taking what he wants from her. Definitely not great qualities in a romance hero. Overall though I enjoyed Search for Love primarily for its charming setting and the mystery sub-plot.
Overall while Once More for Love does not contain two of my favorites from the author, it was still a pleasant read.
Overall average rating — 3 Stars
Blithe Images — 2.5 Stars
Fashion model Hillary Baxter is still a small-town girl at heart, so the charms of NYC still get to her. When she begins a new campaign under Bret Bardoff, owner of Mode Magazine, she finds herself falling for her enigmatic new boss. Blithe Images definitely isn’t one of my favorite stories by Nora Roberts. While the setting still reads as fairly modern outside of a few references, the romance itself is a bit dated. Bret has a tendency to just take over and doesn’t let Hillary handle things in her own way. Plus there’s a terrible other woman sub-plot that could have easily been taken care of with an honest conversation between the main couple. Overall, Blithe Images is one I’d say skip when reading this author’s backlist unless you’re trying to read everything she’s written.
Search for Love — 3.5 Stars
With the passing of her parents, Serenity Smith thought she lost the last of her family. But when she receives word from a long-lost relative, she discovers that’s not the case. However, upon arriving at the Comtesse de Kergallen’s estate in Brittany, Serenity instantly feels unwelcome by the Comtesse’s handsome grandson Christophe. The French setting of this novel was wonderful with lush descriptions of the countryside and I found it quite charming. Serenity was a wonderful character and I loved her loyalty to her parents after her grandmother accused them of theft. I enjoyed her quest to clear their names and find out what really happened. My main complaint about the romance in this book is that Christophe has some terrible behaviors prevalent in 1980’s romances. He speaks of punishing Serenity when he doesn’t get his way and talks about taking what he wants from her. Definitely not great qualities in a romance hero. Overall though I enjoyed Search for Love primarily for its charming setting and the mystery sub-plot.
Overall while Once More for Love does not contain two of my favorites from the author, it was still a pleasant read.
November 30, 2018
Did not like how the women were treated and turned it into love.
February 23, 2022
I have mixed feelings about this book. It doesn't seem to fit in with our current standards of this time period, there is a lot of forcing sexual advancements on women, and too much emphases on both of the protagonists being virgins. Very outdated love story.
June 23, 2025
Omg, what horrible stories. So glad I only picked this up at a free library and didn’t pay for it. The publish date is 2016, but the plots are from the ‘80s. Do these women not have any self-respect???
March 3, 2018
Another great one by Nora Roberts. Makes me want to read it again and again !!!
June 27, 2025
3.5
Blithe Images: 3
Search For Love: 4
Blithe Images: 3
Search For Love: 4
October 10, 2016
This was two books in one, both re-released from the early 1980s. It was fun to read about the characters doing things in what is now the old fashioned way. No cell phones--and other things. For me, it was memory, I'm sure for some it's quaint. I enjoyed it. I liked the Search for Love better. I like the way the author developed her characters and the family situation/mystery.
August 26, 2016
Enjoyed Hillary and Bret! Good story!
January 30, 2017
I enjoyed both of these stories but felt the endings in both were a bit rushed and generic.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews