Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts

Trying to escape the ghosts of the past, young widow Stella Rothschild, along with her two energetic little boys, has moved back to her roots in southern Tennessee-and into her new life at Harper House and In the Garden nursery. She isn't intimidated by the house-nor its mistress, local legend Roz Harper. Despite a reputation for being difficult, Roz has been nothing but kind to Stella, offering her a comfortable new place to live and a challenging new job as manager of the flourishing nursery. As Stella settles comfortably into her new life, she finds a nurturing friendship with Roz and with expectant mother Hayley. And she discovers a fierce attraction with ruggedly handsome landscaper Logan Kitridge

But someone isn't happy about the budding romance...the Harper Bride. As the women dig into the history of Harper House, they discover that grief and rage have kept the Bride's spirit alive long past her death. And now, she will do anything to destroy the passion that Logan and Stella share...

After a couple of years of being by herself after the death of her husband, Stella decides to move to Tennessee so that she can be closer to her father and her stepmother. Having made the big move, the book opens with her attending an interview with Roz Harper, who is the owner of the In the Garden nursery. As an added bonus, Stella and her family get to live in magnificent Harper House, a home that has been in the Harper family for generations. Of course, there are stories that are hidden within the house, but one of the biggest one is the identity of the Harper Bride ghost. Over the years, the Harper Bride has been almost a guard over the family that have lived in the house, particularly the children. When Stella starts to fall in love with Logan Kitridge, the ghost starts to behave in strange ways...the question is why?

I haven't read that many Nora Roberts books yet (especially considering how many she has written), but of the ones that I have read I have come to realise that what she seems to do best, is to take normal people, in normal situations and then bring them together and write very touching and real romances, and this story is no exception. Stella is a woman who is passionate about her family and her career, who is strong and determined and who wants to do the right thing by those around her. The sparks and the tension between Stella and Logan was very well written and realistic (even if he did go on about her hair a bit too much).

Also very much in evidence in this book is the dynamic between the three main female characters, and it is clear that their friendship will be one of the ties that binds this trilogy together.

With a good romance, just a hint of the supernatural, and a great friendship storyline, this book manages to not only have different threads to it, but Nora Roberts has managed to do it without any one part of the book feeling less polished or less developed than the others.

I am really looking forward to reading the other books in this series, and have already been to the library to pick up Black Rose.

Rating 4.5/5

Other Bloggers Thoughts:

The Bookworm - Naida