Blue Dahlia [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Nora Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 2005

Book One of the "In the Garden" Trilogy

A #1 New York Times Bestseller

Against the backdrop of Harper House, a centuries-old mansion steeped in history, and In the Garden, a thriving new nursery business, three women unearth memories of the past and uncover a dangerous secret.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Flower metaphors run amok in this first installment of Roberts's newest trilogy, which focuses on a quaint nursery called In the Garden and the haunted estate neighboring it. The book starts out at a plodding pace, with the sudden death of Stella Rothchild's beloved husband and her subsequent move, with her two young boys, from Michigan to the outskirts of Memphis. Fortunately, the pace picks up after Stella plants her roots at Harper estate and secures a job managing In the Garden, which is owned by Roz Harper, the same blunt, self-assured woman who presides over the estate. Though strictly regimented Stella forms a fast friendship with Roz, she clashes with Logan Kitridge, the nursery's sexy landscape designer. Logan is the antithesis of Stella—brash and impulsive, he thrives on chaos—but their enmity inevitably gives way to love. The scenes between them crackle with wit, charm and sexual tension, and are rivaled only by the warm relationships that develop among Stella, Roz and Hayley, a distant relative of Roz's who comes to the estate seeking a fresh start. Less effective is a subplot involving a ghost who doesn't seem to approve of Stella's relationship with Logan. This thread provides a few spooky moments, but it would have been more effective without the prologue's clichéd setup. While this book isn't vintage Roberts, it's a promising start to a new series.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From Booklist

Stella Rothchild loves everything about her new job as manager of In the Garden nursery. She appreciates her new, no-nonsense boss, "Roz" Harper, and she doesn't even mind living with Roz at Harper House, despite the fact that the ghost of the "Harper Bride" reportedly haunts the historic mansion. When a young and pregnant Hayley Phillips, a distant relative of Roz's, shows up at Harper House, she becomes a valued friend. The only thing Stella doesn't like about her situation is the ruggedly sexy yet completely annoying landscaper, Logan. Despite Stella's best efforts to develop a professional working relationship with him, he seems to have little time and no patience for her efforts to reorganize the nursery. Then Logan completely disrupts Stella's careful plans for her future by asking her out. Roberts, the queen of romance, launches a new trilogy with a captivating tale in which her considerable talents at creating richly compelling characters and witty, spellbinding stories come into full bloom in a paranormal-tinged romance. John Charles
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 552 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; 1 edition (January 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786269324
• ISBN-13: 978-0786269327
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (152 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,378,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Off To A Great Start For Her New Series!!!, October 13, 2004

By 

Kristi Ahlers (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blue Dahlia (In the Garden, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Ms. Roberts is off to a great start with her latest "Garden Series" with the first of the books being "Blue Dahlia". This read offers the fan of the paranormal romance genre everything that Ms. Roberts is known for. Tears, Laughter, and a great cast of characters that tell their own story. Major and secondary characters are all important to the telling of this story and are not used as filler.

Sella Rothchild thinks that she has lost everything when her husband dies and leaves her a widow with two small boys to raise. What she needs is a change. A change comes with the chance of moving back to southern Tennessee in order to manage a plant nursery. She is going to work for Roz Harper and help her organize her already successful operation. One catch, she must live at Harper House, a wonderful old plantation manor that just so happens to have it's very own resident ghost. Oh, and one member of the staff does not want to be organized. This of course would Logan Kiteridge. Could a man be more madding???

It's not long before Stella is butting heads with garden designer Logan Kitridge and the sparks that fly from the first meeting only get brighter with each meeting there after. Soon Stella is florishing in her new situation, and she is even allowing her heart to open again to a new man, but someone on the plantation is not happy about it. Does Logan and Stella have half a chance at finding happiness that they both want, or will someone ruin their relationship before it even gets off the ground?

This was a fast-paced read that had this reader glued to the pages until the very end. Stella and Logan are a great couple, and the sparks they set off each other are fun to read about. As per normal when reading a Nora Robert book you will find both laughter and tears which is probably why she is a NY Times Bestselling author. I highly recommend this read and I look forward to the next in the series.

Official Reviewer for www.romancedesigns.com

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blue Dahlia, February 16, 2008

By 

Kelly "Reviewer for The Sinfully Sensuous" (Littleton, Colorado) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blue Dahlia (In the Garden, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Stella Rothchild widowed at a young age with two boys to raise, uproots her life and moves to Tennessee to take a job managing a thriving nursery. Almost immediately, she feels at home at the home her employer Roz Harper provides her and her sons. As they bring in another lost soul Hayley into the fold, Stella feels a bond with the other two women, and feels like she belongs at Harper House, and couldn't be happier about her decision to move.

When she meets landscape designer Logan Kitridge, sparks ignite, and as Stella finds herself drawn to Logan, things start to happen that she can't understand. It appears that the ghost living within the confines of Harper House doesn't like Stella and Logan exploring a relationship. While everyone admits to the ghost always being a presence, they have never suffered the ire that the ghost directs toward Stella.

This is a very well written mystery, and the characters are wonderful. While we are introduced to the key six main characters, the supporting characters like David are priceless. Only pieces of the story of the Harper bride are disclosed, and the rest of the story promises to be exciting.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Meh, November 13, 2004

By 

T. M. Wheaton "tmwheato" (Syracuse, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blue Dahlia (In the Garden, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Stella Rothschild's husband suddenly dies and she is left alone with two young sons. Devastated and afraid, Sarah grieves but eventually turns her attention toward the future. She moves from Michigan to start all over again in Memphis, the place where she was born and her father now lives. There she gets a job as a manager of a nursery/garden shop. She quickly becomes friends with Roz, the enigmatic owner of the shop, her new boss and owner of Harper house where Stella lives as a condition of her employment.. She also becomes friend with Hayley, a somehow cousin of Roz's who shows up pregnant on Roz's doorstep. The three women bond, Stella embarks on a romance with a landscaper and there is a ghost haunting the place.

You can always count on Nora Roberts putting out one of her JD Robb titles(Visions in Death), a single title (Northern Lights) and trilogy title at least once a year and usually around the same time. I used to be thrilled about this because there is no bigger bummer than a favorite author not being prolific enough to satisfy your need to read their new book(George R.R. Martin, I am speaking to you!). But this time around I am not as satisfied with the results that I normally am. I think "flat" is a very good adjective to describe this book. Stella, Roz, Logan, Hayley even the ghost are all such `meh' creatures that the I had a very hard time getting involved or excited about any of them. The romance between Stella and Logan wasn't very exciting and I can't even get worked up to anticipate the two follow ups. This is a major change from her most recent "Key" trilogy where each book was a page turner and I couldn't wait to see how the story ended. This one, I could barely get to the end of the first book.