Romance

Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts is one of my favourite romances!

I love wedding themed works - movies, books, art, pictures, clothing, dresses, make-up, hair, etc! I love all of it and I am totally obsessed with the beauty! At the time of reading this book, I was OBSESSED with wedding dress shows, so it was only fitting that I binged all four book in this fantabulous series!

Nora writes a beautiful contemporary romance novel that fits well within the series. It moves as a steady pace and is full of super sweet drama and romance that will make your heart melt. The plot is simple, yet it works so elegantly. Normally I'd get bored with a book like this, but this series just hit me the right way.

What really shines in this book is not the romance, but the friendship and companionship of the four women! While I do love the ooey gooey romance Nora provides, I love that the female friendship was such an integral part of the story. It's something that I feel is missing from literature these days! Good, quality friendships!

Nora has won me over and I definitely want to read more by her! I also hope to find more books like this, because it totally wow-ed my socks off! The cover was also stunning, which added to feel of this book.

If there is a negative about this book, it's that it is so simple and a relatively "typical" plot for a romance novel. To me, I loved it! Yes it's not mind blowing, but it was well written and was a lovely binge read. Additionally, the reader is bound to find certain girls more interesting than the others in this four part series. I definitely related to two of the girls more than the others, but all readers are different!

I'd definitely recommend this series if you want a super cute romance novel that isn't going to make you think hard. It's soft, sweet and fun! Plus, it's closer to a PG or PG-13 rating, so it's nice and calm!

Five out of five stars! ( )

Secondo libro e seconda vicenda che vede protagonista Emma, la fiorista del gruppo, la più seduttrice delle quattro amiche, da sempre alla ricerca del vero grande amore.
Jack è un bravissimo architetto, un latin lover con sempre una donna diversa al suo fianco.
I due sono amici sin dall’infanzia e quando scopriranno che tra loro c’è qualcosa di più le cose rischieranno di complicarsi.
Una storia in realtà tirata inutilmente per le lunghe che si perde tra le tante, anzi troppe, descrizioni di fiori e addobbi matrimoniali e che, nel complesso, poteva essere tranquillamente inserita nel primo libro regalando al tutto sicuramente più dinamismo e vivacità.
Effettive tre stelle e mezzo. ( )

1.5 stars

Emmaline and her three friends own a wedding planning business and Emma is in charge of the flowers. Fun, cute idea and I did think this second in the series had less of the annoying acronyms (MOB – mother of the bride, etc.) that clogged up the first but don't worry, they still pop up. Jack came into their friend circle through one of the women's older brothers and ever since college has been one of the gang.
Emma and Jack have peripherally found each other sexy over the years but neither wanted to mess with the friend dynamics, until they decide to.

I don't really have much to say to about this one because it bored me for the vast majority, I couldn't feel Emma and Jack's chemistry at all. Emma is a “marrying” kind of gal and Jack is a “good time” boy. Emma thinks she can just sleep with Jack and not feel anything and Jack is trying to delude himself into thinking their relationship isn't getting more serious. Great trope-y plot but the feelings weren't there for me.

What I'm going to remember the most from this is towards the end, Emma has a total and complete blow-up that made her seem like a psycho. She learns Jack's had a hard day so she decides to cook him dinner at his house, has to get his keys from his assistant, and is on a mission to finally tell him she loves him. Jack shows up shocked/surprised to see her at his house, has a pounding headache, and wants a shower. Emma doesn't like how he's reacting, he's a little standoffish but remember headache and not expecting her, and when I say she loses her shit, you all can't even imagine the level of wtf she starts spouting at him. She ends up breaking up with him and storming out and Jack barely knows what happened. It was such an over-the-top third act break-up, I'm almost in awe.

Anyway, apologies are made and kisses. The real reason I decided to put any thoughts down on this was because I wanted to quote this scene, pretty much the only highlight for me in this boring, wtf Emma, story:
“I asked you once before, and you didn’t answer. I’ll ask you again. Yes or no this time. Are you in love with her?”
“Okay.” He took a long drink of beer. “Yes. I guess it took an ass-kicking to shake it out of me, but yes. I’m in love with her. But—”
“Do you want to fix it?”
“I just said I was in love with her. Why wouldn’t I want to fix it?”
“You want to know how?”
“Goddamn it, Del.” He drank again. “Yes, since you’re so fucking smart. How do I fix it?”
“Crawl.”

I'm not sure Jack is the one who needed to crawl, not alone anyway but I loved the hit of that last word, crawl. ( )

Emma Grant and Jack Cooke have been friends for years, but when they finally decide to date one another, it's with the understanding that they can't allow what happens in their relationship to dissolve their friendship. Even though Emma recognizes that Jack has problems with commitment, her romantic nature gets the best of her, and it isn't long before she realizes that their differing needs may destroy more than just their friendship.

Bed of Roses is definitely a comfort read. The pace continuously keeps the story moving, but at a relaxing tempo that allows the reader to enjoy the descriptions of all of the lovely flowers used in many ways throughout the book. The deliberate build up of the relationship between Emma and Jack gives the impression of really following this couple as they navigate the ins and outs of a romance as it develops between these long-time friends. Although Emma seems to overreact toward the end of the story, overall Bed of Roses is another good entry in the Bride Quartet. ( )