Nora Roberts – Bed of Roses

The second book in the Bride Quartet series, published September 23, 2009.
Genre: contemporary romance
Cover: Nice. My book has a standing bride with a round bouquet of red roses.



Since she was a little girl, Emmaline Grant has always loved romance. So it's really no surprise that she has found her calling as a wedding florist. She gets to play with flowers every day and work with her three best friends – Mackensie, Parker and Laurel - in the process. She couldn't ask for a better job.
Slim and sultry, Emma brings colour into every room she enters, just like the arrangements she creates. But though men swarm around her, she still hasn't found Mr. Right. And the last place she's looking is right under her nose.
But that's just where Jack Cooke is. He's been best friends with Parker's brother for years, which makes him practically family. But the architect has begun to admit to himself that his feelings for Emma have developed into much more than friendship. And when Emma returns his passion - kiss for blistering kiss - things start to get complicated at Vows.
Jack has never been big on commitment. Emma yearns for a lifelong love affair. And if the two are to find common ground, they must trust in their history - and in their hearts.


Emmaline loves her life and her job, working with flowers every day, and with her three best friends. But she is also looking for a lifelong love, her one true Love. She is gorgeous and vibrant, and she dates a lot. This does not mean she sleeps around a lot, she is sought after, but if there is no love in the air, she moves on gently. She has had feelings for their friend Jack Cooke for a while now, but the friends have a rule, not to poach on the other’s exes. And Emma thinks that Jack once had a fling with Mackensie. So he is of limits, and she also doesn’t want to ruin their friendship. He is Parkers brother’s best friend, and the architect working on Mackensie’s home. Now she is living with Carter, they need more space.

But Jack is feeling the attraction to Emma as well, and one evening, while being a guest at one of the weddings organized by Vows, he finds Emma alone outside, taking a break from Monster Bride. He brings her a glass of wine, and starts rubbing her tense shoulders. It all ends in a passionate kiss, until Emma’s pager goes off and she is urgently needed by Parker. Emma is confused for days, what is she to think of that kiss? And why doesn’t he contact her?

Talking to her friends makes her mind clearer, and she decides to go for it, and find out where the attraction will take them. But Jack has to agree to stay friends with her and all of them if things don’t work out between them. Jack has problems of his own to work through, she is his best friends’ honorary sister, he knows Dell will not like this. Jack is not the forever kind of guy, while Emma is that kind of lady.

But the attraction between Jack and Emma is real, and love soon grows between them, even though Jack does not want to acknowledge that. He likes today, and doesn’t much think of tomorrow. But Emma is hurting from his lack of commitment, they always go back to her place, and she doesn’t even have a key to his house. She has her parents’ great love as an example, and she will not settle for less. Jack will have to make room in his life for her, or they are better of as friends.


I was really in the mood for the next book in the Bride Quartet series, so I dug it up from behind three other stacks of Nora Roberts books. And I thoroughly enjoyed this story, especially because of the friendship between the four women. They know each other so well, and they are there for each other, having their backs but also telling the truth. I loved their interactions a lot.
It is also fun to see how much hard work a florist has to do. It is not just a bridal bouquet that Emma has to make, it is also boutonnières, and centrepieces for the tables, little things for the bridal maids and mothers of the bride and groom and so on. The decorations in the rooms and the hallways, the ballroom, the entrance. Nora Roberts all describes it so vividly, I can just see it happening.

It is a great romance, and a story about friendship amongst a wedding company background. I will certainly read the next two books soon. I do have an idea who will be their grooms … Lots of romance, lots of hard work, and yes I did cry along with Emma.

10 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian