Red Lily: In the Garden Trilogy: Book 3 [Paperback]

Hayley and baby Lily are doing fine at Harper house, although they are still no closer to discovering the past of the mad Harper bride ghost who walks the house and has crooned lullabies to generations of Harper babies within its walls. Hayley finally realises how drawn she is to Harper, but in true romance style spends a lot of time procrastinating because he's the boss. Hayley who I liked the best after Roz of the female cast is slightly whiny and not as fun in this installment, which was a great shame.

Luckily, the best parts of the story are the truly creepy portions where the ghost manifests, especially when she possesses Hayley for short periods of time. One of the drawbacks of Robert's trilogies is that by the time you reach its conclusion you have a very good idea who the final character will end up with; this remains true here. Hayley and Harper's romance is sweet but never reaches full blooded passion, ironically despite having two books to build the tension, their romance also feels the most forced.

However, the shenanigans of the Harper ghost more than make up for that as she possesses Hayley and we get a creepy, tense look into an unravelling mind. I won't give too much away but the final third of the book and the ghost related creepiness strongly reminded me stylistically of the Harrison Ford film, What Lies Beneath. Leave the light on when you read. Trust me. You will thank me later.

I give this three stars for lukewarm romance, it's just a shame that Nora felt that what the world really needed was a gardening themed supernatural mystery. Something to keep her supernatural fans happy until her new series is released this September.

Hayley as we all know, came to Roz's home pregnant and alone, she came looking for her very distant family her only family now that her father has died. What she found was a place to make home for herself and her daughter Lily. She has also found love with Roz's son Harper, only neither of them know it yet.

As with the previous two stories, we have a ghost who we now know is called Ameila and who might have had a child here,and who might have lived here, nobody's really sure of that yet.

All the other charactors are here, Stella her two boys and Logan her new husband. Roz and ner new husband Mitch, who also happens to be investigating the ghost and of course there's David,surrogate son to Roz and cook extraudinare(!).
I love all these charactors and have really enjoyed their stories.
But Red Lilly was lacking that certain something.I didn't really like the way in which Hayley had developed,she has become miss goody two shoes, and she's always feeling sorry for herself. " she really shouldn't have feelings for Harper,as he's her boss's son". Blah Blah.
I also didn't enjoy the way in which the ghost had become so menacing, she's inhabating Hayley's body,a little bit of possession going on there, and i hated the fact that Harper and Hayley keep going around in circles before one of them admits to the other that they are in love.
The previous two books had some light comedy as well as being a seriously well written book. This book feels lost.

And last but not least, JD Robb has invaded this story, there was quite a bit of dialogue from which i would expect Dallas to sprout off.
All in all, this was not the best that i have read and it's a shame to finish such a good series on such a poor note.
I enjoyed reading this book and the conclusion to the harper family ghost and i will probably keep this book and read it again and again, because if like me you are a fan of Ms. Roberts, even her lesser works always seem to be enjoyable.

I think it was because you were teased with the two main characters in the two books before. However, relationship development between Harper and Hailey was a bit hurried and forced and could have been better.

But Nora Roberts is such a good writer that you are not left too disappointed.