Heart of the Sea

I don’t believe in “guilty pleasure” reading because: hello, I don’t feel guilty about anything I read. But I bet anyone that uses the term frequently would definitely say The Irish Trilogy by Nora Roberts classifies…

Seriously you guys, I have reread these books so. many. times. Mostly when I was in high school, but still. They are constant fall-back comfort reads to this day.

Jewels of the Sun brings Jude Murray to Ireland. She is recently divorced and in need of a break from her life. She certainly finds that in the little Irish village of Ardmore. She quickly begins to settle into her cottage (borrowed from a family member) and make friends. Many of those friends stem from the Gallagher family’s pub around which our show more trilogy is centered (especially the oldest brother in this case…).

Besides Jude’s growing relationship with Aidan, the biggest part of the book focuses on how Jude learns to fit in her own skin and appreciate herself. I don’t think she ever had the right people around her in her ‘old life’ for that to happen. The book definitely makes it seem like Ireland is her perfect fit! I loved watching her character figure out what it feels like to have real friends and a real relationship, both of which she can depend on.

Tears of the Moon is my favorite of the three, and the one I’ve – by far – read the most often. Brenna O’Toole, tomboy extraordinaire, has loved the other Gallagher brother basically forever…but he never noticed. But really, why does the man always have to make the first move? (Answer: he doesn’t.)

Brenna shocks Shawn to no end with an intriguing proposal (not of the marriage kind), but the longer he thinks about it the better it starts to sound.

Brenna is seriously one of my favorite characters ever – funny, smart, loyal and above all: really really brave about fighting for what she wants. I don’t know how anyone could read this book and not absolutely fall in love with her.

Heart of the Sea is, in my opinion, the weakest link. Probably because the heroine, Darcy, appeals to me the least. She is the only sister of the Gallagher trio and she is pretty darn self-confident. She is also seemingly very shallow. She does have a lot of depth to her, but I think the shallow card is played a little too well.

Trevor comes from America as the owner of a large company building a theatre addition to the Gallagher’s pub – Darcy is always up for gallivanting around with a rich man so things heat up for them pretty quickly. (See? Shallow!) When they both start feeling attached, things start getting a little rocky…

Okay, so now we’ll get to the crazy-cheesy part of the whole thing that I’m not so fond of. The books all feature an old legend surrounding the town of Ardmore about two doomed lovers from the past (the guy was the prince of the faeries who didn’t know how to properly show the woman he loved her). Her ghost haunts Jude’s cottage and he constantly shows up in the graveyard where she is buried and where our trilogy’s heroes constantly turn up. It turns out that once all three of our happy couples fall in love the curse will be broken.

Now, I’m obviously by no means a paranormal/fantasy hater but in my opinion, these books don’t need this element. There is something timeless and mystical about both the characters and the setting without bringing actual magic into the mix.

Jewels of the Sun, Tears of the Moon and Heart of the Sea are fantastic contemporary romance reads in their own right, and to be honest I usually skip the scenes that the prince of faeries shows up in when I reread them. Does anyone else that has read these books agree with me?

Anyway, that being said – I obviously still think The Irish Trilogy is worth reading, weird paranormal elements and all. These characters will grow on you quickly and you’ll want to see them all through to their happy endings!

If you’re a fan of contemporary romance, you’re probably already familiar with Nora Roberts. But if you haven’t read The Irish Trilogy, I definitely think you’re missing out! show less

Every time I read this, I think that maybe at previous times, I've misjudged Darcy and so I try to see her in a better light. And every time, I dislike her more than ever. Nora dropped the poetic/Irish style for this one, and the writing's fine, but that doesn't make up for a thoroughly unlikeable, materialistic heroine. At the very end, she says she'd have taken Trevor if he didn't have any money, but we see zero evidence of that up until that one statement, and there was plenty of opportunity to show that in her thoughts--we get all sorts of angst from her about having fallen in love before she could manipulate Trevor into falling in love with her, but just saying she's in love doesn't necessarily mean much. At one point, Trevor show more describes Darcy as being ambitious, but she's not. She's just greedy. Her entire ambition is to have money and luxuries, preferably by having a man give them to her, and when he gives her the chance to make her own money by singing, she's not sure she wants to do that. GAH. Add to that the fact that I couldn't see any evidence of why Trevor would fall in love with her, except that he thinks it's cute that she's so openly materialistic. Once again, neither of them really respects the other. Perhaps my biggest objection to this book, though, is that the entire message of the book seems to be that it's not shameful to be a golddigger. I disagree. show less

Heart of the Sea - Nora Roberts (8/10)
Romance; book 3 of the Irish Trilogy.
I liked this one more than number two and about the same as number one. I hadn't particularly liked Darcy in the first two books (not that I disliked her, I think I just didn't get her) and wasn't sure what I would think of this one. But Roberts did a lovely job with her and I loved Trevor. Their romance was easy and nice to read and my main complaint is that the story stopped as soon as they had admitted to each other that they loved each other. So many other things outside the romance had been set up, particularly the building of the theatre and the Gallaghers singing Shawn's songs, and I felt cheated that these weren't resolved. I would have liked an epilogue show more showing the opening of the theatre in order to tie up those threads and I felt the book was weaker without it. show less

A satisfying conclusion to the Irish Trilogy, this one being Darcy's story.

Although unsurprisingly predictable (who didn't call Darcy's match in book 1 when the idea of the theater was originally mentioned?), I liked that Darcy and Trevor began with an acknowledgement of their mutual attraction rather than dance around it. Despite this, there was enough interest and tension to match the other installments in the trilogy. The weak point for me was what seemed to be an unnecessary obtuseness regarding the part about them actually falling in love (and a bit confusing - there were times I had a hard time following Darcy's train of thought); I also didn't like how Trevor seemed to suddenly lapse into the I-know-everything He-man type show more towards the end despite an ability to read Darcy and everything around her perfectly up until that point. (Although his botched handling of everything at the very end came off quite believably -- and humorously -- I have to say.) Oh, and Carrick was just too cheesy for my taste, though Gwen hit the perfect note.

But I have no problem overlooking the weaknesses for what was, once again, an enjoyable and reliable HEA with wonderful characters and, a Nora Roberts specialty, an incredible sense of family. This is going on my seek-out-to-own list. show less

Nora Roberts is an author I like but her books can tend to be pretty cookie cutter and similar. For me her books are the best when they are part of a series and have an interesting set of characters. This series is one of my favorites that she wrote because the story is engaging and the characters are intriguing.

This one, though I still love Roberts' writing and how she weaves a story, I scored lower because I hate Darcy's character. It's hard to read a book if you can't relate to a character at all. I'll stick with Roberts' male POV for romance novels, in the future.

Publishers Weekly Review: Veteran romance writer Roberts is known for her ability to deliver a rich and satisfying story, and this conclusion to her Irish trilogy (following Jewels of the Sun and Tears of the Moon) is no exception. The final installment begins when wealthy builder Trevor Magee arrives in the Irish village of Ardmore. There he meets Darcy Gallagher, who aspires to the more lavish lifestyle that only a wealthy husband can provide. Immediately attracted, the two begin to negotiate an arrangement uncomplicated by the messiness of love. Their hearts have other plans, however--and so does Carrick, a brooding faerie prince who uses them to plot a reunion with his long-dead and long-lost lover, Lady Gwen. Although she could show more have limited her bold, beautiful and wealth-conscious protagonists to 1980s glitz-and-glamour superficiality, Roberts is triumphant in realizing fully developed characters, as both Trevor and Darcy turn out to be vulnerable human beings with appealingly ordinary hopes and dreams. (Dec. 5, 2000) show less