Nora Roberts

Red Lily (In the Garden, Book 3)

Celeste Richardson

Full review now posted!

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

This was my favorite installment in the series! Hayley is Roz’s distant cousin from Little Rock, who packed up her life and moved after her dad passed away and she found herself “in trouble” from getting too cozy with a friend. When she showed up on the doorstep of Harper House, she was six months pregnant and banking on family ties to give her and her baby a chance at a fresh start. But she wasn’t looking for charity. Hayley is a hard worker, determined to earn every opportunity she’s given. 

Now, Hayley’s baby, a gorgeous girl named Lily, is fourteen months old and has never known a home outside Harper House. Hayley has built herself a life here, and a family. She couldn’t be happier, except for the fact that she’s been celibate for almost two years and can’t seem to focus her attentions on anyone but Harper, Roz's son and Hayley’s coworker and semi-boss. Turns out the feeling is very, very mutual. But neither will act because they both assume that their not just alone in their feelings, but wrong to even have them. Thankfully, something changes, and we get my favorite of the three romances that make up this series.

We also get a lot more of our crazy, angry ghost. We finally find out who she is, what she wants, and how she died. And we find out all of these things in large part from Hayley, who the ghost has decided makes a perfect vessel. So, in the course of this trilogy, our haunting goes from mainly benign spirit with an almost singular interest in singing children to sleep, to a poltergeist with rage issues and a serious hatred for any male above the age of twelve and any women who develops a romantic interest in one of said males, to a sly, conniving entity who has discovered the fine art of possession, but with an even bigger heaping helping of lunacy that seems to be expanding all the time. 

Like all Nora stories, we have a happy ending, with the mystery element neatly tied up. Which is why I enjoy her novels so much; I always know exactly what I’m getting, and sometimes predictability is a nice change of pace. Nothing is more comforting that sitting down with a book you already know you’re going to love.

Original review can be found at Booknest.

Tina Rawls

Ainhoa Marcos Camps

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Michaela Lee

Tameka Young

Neisha Gabrysiak

London Lynn

Carol Bailey

Three women learn that the heart of their historic home holds a mystery of years gone by, as #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts brings her In the Garden trilogy to a captivating conclusion. A Harper has always lived at Harper House, the centuries-old mansion just outside of Memphis. And for as long as anyone alive remembers, the ghostly Harper Bride has walked the halls, singing lullabies at night… Hayley Phillips came to Memphis hoping for a new start, for herself and her unborn child. She wasn’t looking for a handout from her distant cousin Roz, just a job at her thriving In the Garden nursery. What she found was a home surrounded by beauty and the best friends she’s ever had—including Roz’s son Harper. To Hayley’s chagrin, she has begun to dream about Harper—as much more than a friend… If Hayley gives in to her desire, she’s afraid the foundation she’s built with Harper will come tumbling down. And that wouldn’t be the only consequence, since her dreams are tangled up with Roz and the nursery. Hayley will have to put the past behind her to know her own heart again—and to decide whether she’s willing to risk it… Don't miss the other books in the In the Garden Trilogy Blue Dahlia Black Rose

Red Lily (In the Garden, Book 3)

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