Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts Published by Penguin on October 27th 2009
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts cordially invites you to meet childhood friends Parker, Emma, Laurel, and Mac—the founders of Vows, one of Connecticut’s premier wedding planning companies. Wedding florist Emma Grant gets to play with flowers every day and work with her three best friends in the process. She couldn’t ask for a better job. And her love life seems to be thriving. Though men swarm around her, she still hasn’t found Mr. Right. And the last place she’s looking is right under her nose. But that’s just where Jack Cooke is. He’s so close to the women of Vows that he’s practically family. Now though, the architect has begun to admit to himself that his feelings for Emma have developed into much more than friendship. And when Emma returns his passion—kiss for blistering kiss, they must trust in their history—and in their hearts…
Emma Grant is one of the four women of the Bride Quartet, who started the wedding business “Vows”, Emma’s special talent is the floral side of weddings. Emma has a love and passion for anything that grows, and to make anything beautiful for the bride. Emma is one of those women, that attract men like bees to honey. However she is pretty picky, and is looking for love and marriage and a family and the “happily ever after” that she has always dreamed of. When her close friend Parker, whom she has known close to forever, kisses her one night, and a passion flares up surprisingly between them, she knows in her heart that she could definitely fall in love with him. Parker has always had a woman on his arm, but never a strong serious relationship that lasts. Ever since his parents got divorced, he has a fear of a woman coming into his home and taking over. However he always has had a thing for Emma, and when he kisses her one night, he knows things between them will never be the same. For their is a pulling force that he can’t deny with her, and he knows he never would want to live a life without her, but the road is bound to get rocky with these two. One wanting a long term love, and the other wanting something just temporary; but sometimes love has different plans.
Well I have to say that I truly enjoyed reading the second one of the Bride Quartet of Nora Roberts, and if the rest of the series is as good as these two books that I have read so far, it will be no doubt my favorite series of hers. My heart just swarmed to this couple, especially to Emma. Emma is such a sweet loving woman, who only dreams of finding love and marriage and a happily ever after. Since her parents have had such a great marriage, she wants the same. However, she never thought that she would fall in love with the one person she knows is the least committed person when relationships are involved. However she just decides to enjoy the moment, and though she knows she is falling for him, she doesn’t want to ruin what they have quite yet. Parker however is totally opposite when a woman is involved, but with things progressing with Emma he denies to himself what he truly feels with her, and what he wants with her for the rest of his life. There is a bit of a rocky road ahead for these two, but its a enjoyable and satisfying story and very emotional especially toward the end, that I definitely had to get a box of tissues. I don’t know if its better than the first one, but I think they are on the same level, although I have to say that I love this couple a bit more. I also enjoyed the emotional side of this tender love story. I am so glad that I have finally read this one, and I recommend it to anyone that likes a good emotional love story.
About Nora Roberts
Eleanor Marie Robertson was born on October 10, 1950 in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. She was the youngest of five children, also the only girl, of a marriage with Irish ancestors. Her family were avid readers, so books were always important in her life. She attended a Catholic school and credits the nuns with instilling in her a sense of discipline. During her sophomore year in high school, she transferred to a local public school, where she met Ronald Aufdem-Brinke, her future first husband.
In August 17, 1968, as soon as she had graduated from high school, Eleanor married, against her parents' wishes; the couple settled in Keedysville, Maryland. Her husband worked at his father's sheet-metal business before joining Nora's parents in their lighting company, while she worked briefly as a legal secretary. "I could type fast but couldn't spell; I was the worst legal secretary ever," she says now. After their sons, Dan and Jason, were born, she stayed home. Calling this her "Earth Mother" years, she spent much of her time doing crafts, including ceramics and sewing her children's clothes. The couple ended up separating; they divorced in January 1985.
In February 1979, a blizzard forced her hand to try another creative outlet. She was snowed in with a three- and a six-year-old with no kindergarten respite in sight and a dwindling supply of chocolate. During the now famous blizzard, she pulled out a pencil and notebook and began to write down one of her stories. It was then that a career was born. Several manuscripts and rejections later, her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981 under the authorship of Nora Roberts, a shortened form of her birth name Eleanor Marie Robertson, because she assumed that all authors had pen names.
Eleanor wrote, under another pseudonym (Jill March), a story titled "Melodies of Love" for a magazine.
Eleanor met her second husband, Bruce Wilder, when she hired him to build bookshelves. They were married in July 1985. Bruce owns and operates a bookstore in Boonsboro, Maryland called "Turn the Page Books". Since getting married, Eleanor and Bruce have expanded their home and traveled the world.
In 1992, she adopted another pseudonym so as to publish a futuristic-suspense novel series. She first decided to use the pseudonym D.J. MacGregor, but discovered that this pseudonym was used by another author. In 1995, her first "In Death" serial novel was published under the pseudonym J.D. Robb. The initials "J.D." were taken from her sons, Jason and Dan, while "Robb" is a shortened form of Roberts.
Eleanor has also been known as Sara Hardesty, because when the "Born In" series was released in U.K. it carried that name instead of Nora Roberts. She has since changed publishers.
Eleanor has been plagiarized by another best-selling romance writer, Janet Dailey. The practice came to light after a reader read Nora Roberts' Sweet Revenge and Janet Dailey's Notorious back-to-back; the reader noticed several similarities and posted the comparable passages on the Internet. Calling the plagiarism "mind rape," Eleanor sued Janet Daily. In 1997, Janet admitted to repeatedly plagiarizing from Nora Roberts' work and that both Aspen Gold and Notorious lifted heavily from Roberts' work. Both of those novels were pulled from print after Janet's admission. She acknowledged the plagiarism and blamed it on a psychological disorder. In a settlement, Janet paid Eleanor an undisclosed sum, which Eleanor donated to the Literacy Volunteers of America.
A founding member of the Romance Writers of America (R.W.A.), Eleanor was the first inductee in the organization's Hall of Fame. She also is a member of several writers' groups and has won countless awards.
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