Nora Roberts
November 2009, Contemporary Romance (New England)
Berkley Trade, $16.00, 368 pages, Amazon ASIN 0425230074 Part of a series
Grade:
B+
Sensuality:
Warm
Nora Roberts, please write contemporaries forever and ever amen. About a week before reading Bed of Roses, my aunt made me ‘old-time’ hot chocolate and it was such a delightful blast from the past to my taste buds that I just snuggled up into the closest sofa, closed my eyes and let the hot chocolate wine and dine my insides. Nora Roberts contemporaries, and in particular this second installment to her Bride Quartet, they completely romance me. I started to read about florist Emmaline Grant and architect Jackson Cooke in my car during rush hour morning traffic, but when their eyes met under the hood of a broken-down Cobalt and Jack lost the power of speech (and I grinned like an idiot), I realized the book had "car accident potential" written over every delightful word. So I put it in my purse to read during bathroom breaks.
Bed of Roses is non-existent on external plot. What we have here is three hundred and sixty-eight pages of two people falling in love and dealing – or not as the case may be (here’s looking at you, Jack) – with it. Emma is the Romantic One amongst the four women who are best friends and run an all-inclusive wedding planning service. She loves romance so much that she dates a lot, always looking for that extra spark or those indescribable ‘moments’ that she knows she deserves. Jack dates a lot as well, but he’s never looked beyond the sex and the good time to find any emotional depth in a relationship. This, and the fact that Emma should be like a sister to him, is why he’s hidden his attraction to her for years.
But the mojo swirling under the hood of that broken-down Cobalt proves to be too much for both of them, and soon after they share their first kiss (behind-the-scenes at a wedding, in appropriately romantic fashion, coming on the heels of a back and shoulder rub that even I felt down to my toes). Both Jack and Emma fear they have much to lose if they start a relationship with each other – their friendship and the friendship of others in their tight circle – but they continue to be drawn together, and the sexual anticipation of their email foreplay carries them along to the point of no return.
Before they fall into bed together, Emma insists that they not go forward unless they can remain friends afterward. I rolled my eyes at this; the Romantic One actually believing that she could step back from having sex with a man she’s known for most of her life and being ‘cool’ with the failed relationship. But both of them swear they’ll remain friends - then get busy proving they’re much more than that.
Of course, the writing’s on the wall for the obstacle in their romance: Jack’s a commitment-phobe and Emma’s dreaming of dances under moonlight and heartfelt I love yous. And it’s because the writing should be so very clearly written on the wall that my enjoyment of Bed of Roses ebbed when we approached the inevitable conflict. Emma, Jack, the three best friends and a brother all know each other very well, they’re constantly described as family and their camaraderie and love shines through clearly (which is one of the best aspects to this book) so I didn’t understand why Emma would really believe Jack would change his stripes so easily. Okay, let me rephrase. I understand why she believed it (love makes you believe all sorts of things) but I didn’t understand why her girlfriends let her believe it and then got angry with Jack for being who he’s been for thirty-something years.
Maybe because I’m somewhat of a commitment-phobe myself, or at the very least, a true believer in personal space, I fully understood what Jack felt when he came home from work one night and Emma was busy flitting about the place, making it homey and filling it with love and home-cooking. It’s the kind of thing to make a person cranky. I understand. But no one else did. Everyone couldn’t believe how insensitive he’d been to beautiful, loving, caring Emma. No one could understand why he wouldn’t just fall in complete and total "I’ll change every aspect of my life and personality" love after three whole months.
I would have rather seen a little more variation in their reactions, but at the same time, though I wanted Jack to get over his commitment hang-ups in his own time, I didn’t want him to take all day with it, so I didn’t fuss too much over how bad they all made him feel.
Apart from the romance in Bed of Roses, we have the dynamics between family and friends - which as most Nora Roberts fans will know, are her undisputed strengths. The conversations between the women in their home gym are quite funny and I actually laughed aloud at some points which is new to me with a Roberts book. In addition, the relationship between Del (the brother of Parker, the Planner) and Jack is sweet, though I’m sure they’d take issue with my description. They’re best friends, and it’s always been "bros before hos" up till now. Del’s words, not mine.
Now, whenever authors bring out trilogies – or quartets – inevitably, I get more excited about the character couplings to come than the characters on the main stage. Though I enjoyed Jack and Emma’s romance, when they hit their relationship snag my anticipation for the romance between Laurel and Del increased tenfold, especially because Roberts teased us with not one but two scenes featuring just the two of them. Mean, because their story won’t be out until May 2010 and that’s like, a million years away. The last romance between Parker and a recently introduced character doesn’t tickle my romantic bone as much but I’m sure, somewhere in rush hour traffic in May 2010, I’ll be wondering when Laurel and Del will just fall in love already so we can move on to the next.
Bed of Roses is my favorite type of romance. All available word count is spent discussing feelings, emotions and other touchy-feely things that make me grin like an idiot in traffic and risk accidents. Though I wish Emma had been a little less universally-acclaimed as perfect and Jack a little more impatient with that perfection, I enjoyed reading about them, and as a veteran re-reader, probably will again.
-- Abi Bishop
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