ParaNormalRomance.org

"This author can't write a bad book"

In Southfield, Michigan Stella Rothchild is making dinner when strangers arrived to tell her that her beloved husband Kevin died in a freak accident. Stunned, not long afterward, she leaves Michigan with her two young children for Memphis to get away from the memories.

Two and a half years later in Memphis, Stella has become manager of a nursery on the grounds of the Harper Mansion. Owner Rosalind Harper persuades Stella to move into the large house with her two boys. The work is fine and Stella enjoys her spirited battles with landscaper Logan Kitridge, which slowly brings her back to life. As they begin to fall in love, the angry lunatic ghost The Harper Bride haunts the mansion as she has for over a century seeking children especially infants. Stella wants to know why in order to protect her offspring, but the truth goes back to 1892 to one of Roz's ancestors and his mistress.

BLUE DAHLIA, the opening of Nora Roberts' paranormal trilogy is an exhilarating ghost story that grips the audience throughout the tale. Though Ms. Roberts writes more novels than rabbits breed, somehow she always makes her cast seem genuine regardless of the milieu she places them in. This tale is no different as the audience will appreciate the powerful secondary cast that for the most part reside at the Mansion; accept the realistic changes in Stella that keep the tale focused, and enable the audience to believe in ghosts.

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted November 15, 2004

Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted December 4, 2006

A Harper has always lived at Harper House, the centuries- old mansion just outside of Memphis. And for as long as anyone alive remembers, the ghostly Harper Bride has walked the halls, singing lullabies at night...

Trying to escape the ghosts of the past, young widow Stella Rothchild, along with her two energetic little boys, has moved back to her roots in southern Tennessee—and into her new life at Harper House and In the Garden nursery. She isn't intimidated by the house—nor its mistress, local legend Roz Harper. Despite a reputation for being difficult, Roz has been nothing but kind to Stella, offering her a comfortable new place to live and a challenging new job as manager of the flourishing nursery. As Stella settles comfortably into her new life, she finds a nurturing friendship with Roz and with expectant mother Hayley. And she discovers a fierce attraction with ruggedly handsome landscaper Logan Kitridge.

But someone isn't happy about the budding romance...the Harper Bride. As the women dig into the history of Harper House, they discover that grief and rage have kept the Bride's spirit alive long past her death. And now, she will do anything to destroy the passion that Logan and Stella share...