Nora Roberts – One Man’s Art

The fourth book in the MacGregor series, published in 1985.
Genre: contemporary romance
Cover: generic, and for once, it is the cover of my edition.



Her car had stalled on an isolated road in Maine, and Genviève Grandeau found herself pounding on the door of an old lighthouse. But the man who answered the door wasn’t the old seafaring gent she’d expected.
Grant Campbell was a loner – rude, surly and impossible. Gennie, however, was no pushover – she found the combination irresistible. Of course, Grand was also intelligent, sarcastic, tender, secretive, and extremely good-looking.
His appeal was tremendous, but to Gennie loving meant giving, sharing … trusting. She had o convince him that their love could be a beacon for the future, eliminating the shadows of their pasts.


I think I have read this book in Dutch once, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Genviève, Gennie, is a famous artist, a painter, but after a few years in the limelight, she has embarked on a tour. Her beloved sister died in a car accident a year ago, and suddenly she could not bear to stay in New Orleans any longer. The city is filled with memories of her sweet sister. So now Gennie is on the road, staying where the mood grabs her, and painting. In a different way though, no more veil of mystery over her work, but stark reality.
And now she has found an old small village in Main that has attracted her, and she wants to paint the views and the village. And so Gennie rents a small cottage from the post mistress, and sets out on the lonely drive to it. Only to have her car break down on her in a severe summer storm. Not wanting to stay in her small car, she sets out on foot, thinking the cottage cannot be far from her. Instead, she misses it completely in the dark, and lets herself be guided by the light from another house, the old lighthouse.
The man who opens the door would have just as happily tossed her back outside, but Gennie is not scared of easily. She refuses to leave again, and Grant relents and lets her inside where he even lets her use his shower to warm up again, and makes her something to eat. But Grant really doesn’t want her in his house, or in his life, he loves his solitude, he needs it for his work. Not that he tells anyone what he is doing, he is not after the limelight, he likes the anonymity.

Gennie doesn’t like how Grant is treating her, but she can’t complain, she did barge in on him in the storm. But she is determined to pay him back, and even though he doesn’t want her, she will paint the view at the lighthouse and surroundings on his land. The attraction between them is instantaneous, but neither of them want to give in to it. Grant thinks she is a flighty sociality, with dozens of men at her feet, if he believes all the newspaper articles about her. And Gennie does not know anything at all about Grant as he refuses to talk about himself. He doesn’t even want to tell her what he does for a living. Perhaps he is afraid that she will look down on him, as he uses his art to draw a hugely popular newspaper comic.

Grant’s only sister just got married Alan MacGregor, and to his own surprise, Grant enjoyed spending time with the family. So when Daniel MacGregor invites/orders him to come visit as he has just became grandfather for the first time, Grant accepts. Only, he wants to bring Gennie with him …

Of course Grant and Gennie fall in love, despite their misgivings about each other, but Grant refuses to see it through, Gennie could never be happy with him, living in his remote lighthouse as she is used to the big and noisy New Orleans. So he doesn’t even ask her, he just chases her off when she finally founds out what he does. It will take some serious grovelling to make her come back to him ….


I enjoyed this golden oldie a lot. As stated, I have read it before, but that might have been 20 years ago in Dutch. It was fun to reconnect with all those MacGregors. I have to admit, I don’t understand why Grant was so extremely secretive about himself. Sure, he wanted his privacy, but that does not mean you cannot share something from your past or present. Don’t you want the woman you love know who you really are inside?
Gennie was fun though, she did enjoy a challenge, and she certainly was no doormat, even though she was an innocent. I liked how they were drawn to each other, and fell in love so fast, even though they really did not want it.

A nice story, in a series I love. It is easy to read out of order if you want to. I don’t have them al in English yet, and some have been read so long ago I can’t remember any details, and now I will slowly read some more of those. I am in the mood again for oldfashioned Nora Roberts romances.

8 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian