Customer Reviews

The Night We Met (Harlequin Everlasting Love #6)

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THE NIGHT WE MET by Tara Taylor Quinn
April 9, 2007

Rating **** (4 Stars)

THE NIGHT WE MET is the story of a couple, Nate Grady and Eliza Crowley, and the love they shared from the day they met. At the time, she was studying to enter the convent at the age of 19, and he was already twice divorced and in his 30's. They could have been an ill-fated couple, but because of chances and circumstances, the two meet in a bar, a very unlikely place, and eventually marry. What makes this book special is that this is the fictionalized story of Tara Taylor Quinn's parents. Like her own parents, Eliza was disowned by her family because she chose to forsake her vows to enter a life with God, to marry a man that had been married and divorced twice. This caused great unhappiness with her parents, and for quite some time, her family would not have anything to do with her. But Eliza's heart told her to follow this path. For some reason, she could not walk away from Nate, a man she had just met in a bar. But after talking to him all night, she felt a connection to him and she fell in love.

Readers will enjoy the unusual love story that is told in THE NIGHT WE MET. They will share Eliza and Nate's triumphs and heartaches as they experience the birth and death of their children, infidelities, and other events that will threaten to tear their marriage apart. Eliza often wonders what would have happened if she had chosen not to follow through with Nate's wish to see her again all those years ago. But she also knows deep in her heart that she had made the right decision, that she was able to give her life to God in a different capacity, as a married woman, a wife and mother.

What this reviewer is finding with these EVERLASTING LOVE books is that often the stories themselves are anticlimactic. But once the reader has come to that last page, that reader will often feel a satisfaction from reading a great love story that spanned decades. In THE NIGHT WE MET, there are plenty of bumps in the road.

The EVERLASTING LOVE books are not traditional romances and often times they end with a death. As with nearly all the books this reviewer has read in this series, this one will have the reader grabbing for the tissue box. THE NIGHT WE MET is recommended. - Courtesy of Love Romances and More.

THE NIGHT WE MET is an innovative romance with a few shockers to those expecting a classic romance that adheres to prescribed genre conventions but will appeal to those wanting something unusual in their romance reads. Tara Taylor Quinn creates an emotional read that follows a marriage from the first moment a couple meets through til the end. In 1968 at the tender age of 19 years old, Eliza Crowley is two weeks away from becoming a postulant at St. Catherine's Convent when she enters a San Francisco bar to have a beer and ease her tension. She meets a much older man, Nate Grady. With little more than a conversation and a letter, Eliza agrees to marry Nate. In the beginning of their life together, Nate is the perfect man who touches her heart in all the right ways and creates a safe world. Then the unthinkable happens. Eliza no longer feels safe. Can their marriage survive loss, uncovered secrets and betrayal?

Stylistically, the author prefaces the stages of Eliza's life and marriage with descriptions of the arts (mostly music) and news of the year. Often these prefaces reflect the themes of safety and hope as well as moments that threaten one's sense of safety. The author develops this theme as it plays out in Eliza's heart and life.

Eliza is an intriguing heroine who chooses to be led by her heart. She is bad girl in the eyes of her church and family because she left her religious calling to marry a man --- a man who had been previously divorced. Since she is Catholic, creating a family with this man means not being able to take communion, one of the key sacraments, which cuts her off from her religious community. Eliza and and Nate's romance is not the typical we expect but rather a story of two flawed people who make bad choices andstruggle to keep love and marriage together. Some readers expecting a typical romance may not warm to the hero and heroine because of the betrayal. Eliza does the unthinkable and unforgivable in terms of romance genre conventions when she is betrayed.

Although THE NIGHT WE MET includes a few genre shockers, Tara Taylor Quinn, however, prepares the reader through her characterization of Eliza. Eliza understands a calling from God as emerging from the heart and she looks to her heart for steadfastness and choices. Her heart is not a wavering bundle of emotions but a principle that guides her. Some readers may not enjoy this book if they want to read a romance that adheres to rigid genre conventions but others may welcome an innovative romance guided by the heart and true to the character. Whether or not I would make the same choices that Eliza does seems irrelevant to me when the author so clearly shows the reader Eliza's character --- and why she makes her choices as well as how those choices make her heart grow beyond needing absolute safety. Tara Taylor Quinn provides perhaps the best ending to a marriage romance but one that will provoke tears in many readers.

Once Eliza chooses to marry instead of join the convent, the reader hears very little about any conflict, sorrow, or even nostalgia for the religious traditions and life she has left. From almost taking monastic vows to being excommunicated from her loved community is quite a large jump, even if motivated by love. Although this absence may bolster the rightness of her choice, some space given to this issue might have rendered her a more multi-faceted character for readers. Nevertheless, THE NIGHT WE MET is a highly recommended read that will deeply move the heart.

This was not a bad book. I finished it in one sitting, but I was never drawn into the story (I felt like I was reading about a life in fast forward--I mean, 40+ years were covered in under 300 pages) because I was never really drawn to any of the characters. This book was more plot-based than character-based, and I believe a book has to either be one or the other to be successful. The plot was like something out of a Richard Paul Evans novel, and that is not a good thing. The characters didn't have any depth, but then, we never really get to know them.

Though I found the author keeping her current, newsworthy events straight (as far as I know, which isn't all that much) was impressive, I felt most of them didn't really add anything to the book. Rather than feel she was adding authenticity to the time period at which certain paragraphs were set, I felt she was just trying to inject feelings of nostalgia, which didn't work on me. Even "Mr. Holland's Opus" (a pro-teacher's union propaganda piece) managed to do that. Sighs.

Now, I had read that the Harlequin company didn't publish romances where adultery was involved, and as soon as Nate cheated on Liza, I was like, what the heck? I thought Liza was a very weak woman for going back to him, acting like she just couldn't live without him. For some reason, the "hero" reminded me of Bill Clinton. His pathetic excuse for cheating on his wife was that instead of facing his weakness, he tried to hide it, just royally ticked me off.


These people were not soulmates--they loved each other, yes, but they were not soulmates. Because they were not interesting enough, their love story was not interesting enough.

This was my first time reading the Everlasting Love series (Love Inspired is too saccharine--you would think the characters only had feelings for each other from the neck up), because it made me think of "The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks, which is a simply written, but a good old-fashioned (true) love story that seems to flow, instead of feeling like a combination timeline and family tree.

I am typing this opinion as I have tears flowing down my face. The ending was just too much for me.

There is so many parts to this book that I didn't fixate on Nate's cheating although I would've liked to see him grovel a bit before Eliza took him back. I would sum this book up as a story about marriage and how life happens even if it's not all roses and sunshine.

Except for the ending, I loved it.

while i understand the underlying concept of the everlasting love series--i think harlequin may be missing its mark. the stories are designed to tell the "happily ever after" part of a relationship--how two people madly in love live their lives together. i'm not opposed to these long-term love stories (after all, my favorite book is the Thornbirds) but they've got to have GREAT stories. These books often lack for interesting stories, and they often end with the death of a character who has aged. and none of them feel like "epic love stories."

i turn to books like this to escape and read about things that would never happen to me...so this book was a chore. first, it's written in the first person, which always drives me a little crazy. the main character is boring and uninteresting and, worst, weak (the hero (who already has an illegitimate child) cheats on her midway through the book and she doesn't end the relationship). There's little to say about the hero--because the book is written in the first person, you rarely get a glimpse into his personality.

reading it, i felt like i was spying on my grandparents normal, everyday life. the intimacy feels weird and uncomfortable, and the last scene didn't sadden me as much as it kind of grossed me out. the book is filled with inane thoughts about the PTA and kids going to college, which are bad enough in real life...who want's to read about them too?

In 1968 San Francisco Nineteen years old Eliza Crowley plans to enter St. Catherine's Convent where in six months if God is willing she will become a novice. Eliza stops at a pub across the street from the convent where she meets much older Nathaniel Grady. She is stunned by her attraction to the twice divorced ski resort manager because no man has ever hooked her before. Still she knows she is no longer suited for a convent life as her heart belongs to Nathaniel. He feels the same way about her though he feels he is robbing the cradle. They marry.

Over the years they remain married and raise children who give them grandchildren. Their relationship remains strong through their time together has dented some of the luster. Still Nate and Eliza are an entry although the ardor has cooled over the years somewhat.

THE NIGHT WE MET is the first event of many years together for Eliza and Nate. However, Eliza is the only fully developed character as each escapade unfolds it is from her point of view. Thus the audience sees Nate and their offspring through her filter. In some ways more of a series of vignettes than a saga, this is an interesting relationship drama of a couple through the decades.

Harriet Klausner