Fairly Disappointing

One admission: I haven't read the rest of the series (or any other Nora Roberts, for that matter), so I can only review this as a stand-alone novel, not as part of the saga.

Without the benefit of knowledge of the family background, I found Seth's big "conflict" to be totally ludicrous and unbelievable. It just did not make sense that he would find himself in such a thin predicament. Perhaps if I understood the history I would feel its gravity differently.

To compound matters, I also simply did not find Seth very likeable. His arrogance and overbearing nature (particularly during interactions with Dru, the leading lady) were extremely unappealing, and made me fully doubt the plausibility of the romance. It just seemed totally forced and absurd. Seth was ok when alone with family members, but when with Dru, I found him to be fairly revolting.

The pacing of the novel also seemed off. Despite all reason, the couple found themselves together fairly early on. There was no tension to sustain me to the end. I kept waiting for a "real" conflict, but none ever materialized. The story as a whole felt hollow and fairly pointless to me.

Again, if this fulfilled a burning desire to read about Seth, I might feel more positive about it. Yet it's equally possible that I would feel even more cheated.

Worst Nora Roberts Book

I've read many of Ms. Roberts's books and this is not just the worst book of hers that I have read, but one of the worst books that I have read in my lifetime. The earlier three books in the series were charming and romantic, if occasionally trite. The conflict in this book makes no sense whatsoever. It is the same major conflict from the previous three books - that is, the appearance of Seth's birth mother. This was resolved in Phillip's story (Inner Harbor), and it makes no sense that Seth would not seek his brothers' help in this matter. With any creativity at all, Ms. Roberts could have come up with a new and different conflict, or simply have concentrated on the love story, which needed work.

The two main characters have little chemistry and no reason to be together other than they are both attractive and single and in the same town.

Also, Ms. Roberts should avoid tackling subjects on which she is not even remotely educated, such as the art world (not to mention the world of child and family services). Her writing and description of Seth and his work are elementary and baseless. She obviously has no idea what she is talking about, and should have taken a simpler approach to the description of Seth's work as Jennifer Crusie did to her character's work in "Faking It."

Overall, I was much disappointed especially for paying for this book in hardcover. It was certainly not worth my hard earned dollars, even in paperback. If only I could give it less than one star...

Great book to end the quinn series

LOVE LOVE IT. The book was a great way to end the series; I wish she would write about Aubrey though. Seth in the book was so sweet and how he stood up for his family in front of Gloria. But I do wish something else happen to Gloria then what she got, but I loved how it end and how it begun so all in all it was great book