Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts

Parker Brown's favorite game as a girl was Wedding Day. As an adult - and on the wake of the sudden death of her beloved parents - she started a wedding planning company with her best friends Mac, Laurel and Emma.

For Parker, VOWS was her sink or swim moment, when she chose to step away from her grief and start making her mark in the world. While her best friends take care of flowers (Emma), photos (Mac), and cake (Laurel), Parker takes care of the details.

She's good at smoothing ruffled feathers, managing crises and making every wedding as beautiful as possible. On the side, Parker has seen her best friends find the love of their lives and she can't help to want a little of that for herself.

It so happens that the only guy she currently finds interesting is Malcolm Kavanaugh. Mal is not at all like any guy she has ever dated before, and she's not even sure she wants to. He unsettles and confuses her.

Mal has always liked to know how things work - hence his job as a mechanic - and he wants to figure out Parker. However, he's not so happy when she tries to figure him out. There are things of his past he doesn't like to talk about, period.

But hey, no one said the road to Happy Ever After ran smoothly, right?

Happy Ever After it's the final book in the Bride Quartet, and I truly enjoyed it. The book was nice, the series was nice. For this book specifically, I think it suited Parker's personality beautifully. The problems she and Mal face are inherent to the way they are and I was surprised because it was quite non-cliche.

I liked them both as individuals and could understand why two such different people would want to be together. Parker is very giving and loving, for all that she's a bit of a control freak. Mal is very down to earth and understanding of what makes Parker who she is. And they are both so accepting of each other, even if they stumble a time or two.

My only disappointments are that I didn't see as much of the other girls as I expected to see. And that we only saw Mac's wedding and we were left hanging with Laurel's, Emma's...etc. Maybe Nora Roberts will write a novella with the rest. I don't know. I hope. 'cause this was not only nice romance, it was also wedding porn at it's best - the flowers! the cakes! the dresses! - to suit my wedding obsessed inner self (the one that doesn't want to get married but loves watching at wedding shows).

Favorite Quote: “It’s hard to resist a bad boy who’s a good man.They’ll knock the legs right out from under you.” - Mrs. G.
1/2

Cover Love #6 - Happy Ever After

Isn't it gorgeous? Happy Ever After is the fourth book in the Bride Quartet, and seriously, all covers have been lovely but this one is my favorite.

Happy Ever After comes out November 2 of 2010

Ps - Here are the other covers for your enjoyment

Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts

Running Icing at Vows, Laurel McBane is happy -working and living with her best friends Mac, Emma and Parker - and successful. A gifted pastry chef, Laurel gets to create wonderful wedding cakes for all sorts of brides and helps dreams come true.

Now that Mac and Emma are engaged, Laurel can't help but to think of the man she loves - the one she has loved all her life, and whom she is sure doesn't feel the same for her: Delaney Brown. Otherwise known as Parker's older brother, Del has been a main part of Laurel's life almost as long as Parker herself.

Laurel knows Del loves her... as a sister, he thinks of The Quartet as his girls, which truly infuriates Laurel from time to time. One of those times leading to a passionate kiss that changes the group's dynamics forever.

Certainly, Del isn't thinking of Laurel as another sister anymore but just as some crushes last more than others, some insecurities run deeper than others and they often get in the way.

This is the third story of the Bride Quartet, and it's a lovely addition to the series.

The story itself would fall into the "Slice of Life" catergory if we were talking anime, here nothing big happens -other than weddings - and no sudden, awful tragedy strikes, it's just a story of people dealing with their daily lives as friendship turns into romance. It takes skill to write a book like this and make it interesting, but it was interesting and funny and sweet.

Not all love stories have to be fraught with tragedy and difficulties, that doesn't make them less real or less exciting and Savor the Moment shows that.
1/2

Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts

Bed of Roses (Book 2 in the Bride Quartet)

Once upon a time, friends Mac, Laurel, Parker and Emma (the Quartet) loved playing Wedding Day, and now, as adults, the four friends have turned their childhood game into a lucrative wedding planning business but, more than that, they get to work together doing the things each of them love.

For Emma Grant it was always about the flowers, she loves playing with them and creating magical bouquets and decorations for each bride, bringing life and color to everything around her. Always the romantic - and with parents that are still together and have a really romantic love story of their own - she can't help to long for the love that lasts forever.

Jack Cooke is no strange to the Quartet, since he has been friends with Parker's older brother Del for over a dozen years, he has always been aware of the girls as if he also were an older brother until he realized not ALL of the Quartet's members are like sisters to him. The problem is that he's not really into commitment and he knows that Emma is the type of woman you commit to. Still, as they decide to take their attraction, run with it and see where it takes them they can never know where they'll and.

I loved this book so much. I really liked Vision in White but I think that in Bed of Roses the series has hit it's stride. Emma and Jack - and Del, Parker, Lauren, Mac and Carter - feel like real people and I was rooting for them all the way. The romance is down to earth but magical at the same time.

And, the relationship between the Quartet is one of the best parts of the books, these are the type of women you wish to have as friends, no one is perfect but they are smart and accomplished and love each other so much. Plus, their scenes together are just a delight to read.

Also, can't wait for the next book in the series Savor the Moment, coming out April 27th.

Grade

1/2

Vision in White by Nora Roberts

As a girl, while playing her friend Parker's favorite game - Wedding Day - Mac Elliot discovered her calling in life: photography. As an adult, Mac still takes pictures and still plays Wedding Day with her three best friends florist Emma, baker Laurel and organization wiz Parker. Together they own and run Vows, an all inclusive wedding planning business.

Even though Mac doesn't exactly believe in love and marriage - and with a careless father who has been married three times and a nutcase of a mother who always looking for her next husband, no one could blame her - but she does believe and loves capturing the happy moments of every wedding, because once she does those moments truly are ever after.

But then, of course, there comes the guy who wants to prove her wrong about love and marriage: Carter Maguire, who has had a crush on Mac since high school -though they weren't exactly friends back then - and who's now back in her life because Vows is planning his little sister's wedding. Carter is a nice guy, he puts the B on Beta, he's an English high school teacher who likes his life, loves his job and has a great family and he wants Mac to be part of all of that.

Okay, so, this is the first Nora Roberts book I have ever read but I can tell it won't be the last, I'm definitely going to keep reading the Bride Quartet (Vision in White is book #1) which will continue to tell the stories of the rest of Vows owners: Emma, Laurel and Parker. The Prologue alone is a jewel, I loved it.

As for the story itself, there were parts where it lagged a bit but I was loving the pace toward the end. Mac has a lot of baggage and her mother is, at times, right down unpleasant but you can see a lot of who Mac is by her relationships with her friends and that makes you like her. I do believe a big part of why the book works is Carter, because you can believe he's the right guy for Mac.

And I can already tell this is going to be a series that praises friendship - kind of like Lisa Kleypas' Wallflower books but in a contemporary setting - and I love that in a book.

Grade:

1/2