Rising Tides by Nora Roberts Published by Penguin on 1998
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 339
Format: Hardcover
New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts presents the second novel in the dramatic trilogy of three men who return home to honor their father's last wish—to care for Seth, a troubled boy in need of a family. Coming home has taught the brothers more than they ever dreamed about the meaning of family and responsibility. Now it is time to learn the meaning of acceptance and love... Of the three brothers, it was Ethan who shared his father's passion for the Maryland shore. And now with his father gone, Ethan is determined to make the family boatbuilding business a success. But amidst his acheivements lie the most important challenges of his life... There is young Seth, who needs him more than ever. And a woman he has always loved but never believed he could have. But beneath Ethan's seemingly still waters is a dark and painful past. He must learn to see around the shadows to accept who he is. Because through Ethan's past lies the future—and his one chance at happiness...
Rising Tides is the second installment in the Chesapeake Bay Saga, where we begin with Ethan’s story. Ethan like his brothers came into the Quinn family with a difficult past that with the help of Ray and Stella Quinn was able to overcome and make a good life out of himself. Ethan has always had a secret desire for one woman, that has held his heart for many years, Grace. Grace, having to bear the responsibility of being a single mother to her beloved daughter, whom she sacrifces much for. Having been divorced, and enstranged from her father, times are tough on grace and wearing her thin. When she goes to work as a house cleaner for the Quinns, she is faced frequently with Ethan, whom she has always been strongly attracted to ever since she was young. As she struggles with trying to raise her daughter on her own, and stay independent, things heat up between Grace and the middle Quinn brother. As these two souls come together, and find a precious love they never expected to find, they also find a child, Seth, who needs love and guidance as Ethan bonds with him and finds that he and Seth have more in common than either of them realize, that will make them stronger to face a danger on the horizon, that could disrupt the fragile trust that Seth has built up on the Chesepeake Bay.
I just loved Ethan and Grace’s story, in Rising Tides, we see a romance blossom (finally) between Grace and Ethan whom both are lost in their own way, but find it in each others love. Grace, although circumstances should have left her broken, only have given her a inner strength, to raise her daughter on her own financially and emotionally. When things start to heat up between her and Ethan, she discovers that she has loved him much longer than she ever realized. She yearns to make him see that their love that they have found, will only strengthen them not destroy them. Ethan, having a difficult time in overcoming his past, realizes that he has fallen in love with Grace, but knows that he can never marry her and give her what she deserves. He doesn’t want his past to taint her and her future, but he will find that she will meet him with full on stubborness and fight like hell to give him hope and trust in their love to overcome any challenge no matter the difficulty involved. This was definitely a great book, and I loved it just as much as the first one. I admired both of these characters, they both have experienced pain and suffering, but they also find a way to rise above it. As we see a love grow between them, I found myself on their side, hoping that both of them would see reason, and learn to trust in their feelings for each other, which give them a strength they never expected to find within themselves. I also loved the bond that grows between them and the boy who has come into their home, who needs healing and laughter and love more than anything. I could see how much Seth grows just from these two books so far. It was truly a delightful adventure to discover in this saga.
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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