Sea Swept, by Nora Roberts

This is a romance novel. It's a really good romance novel. 

It never once icked me out with weird gender-role stereotyping (except, okay, of course I got a little tired of all the "She was tall and gorgeous, with lips to die for..." narration). I think it might be because the main characters are three men, former foster children going back to take care of the new kid their foster-father had adopted before he was killed in a car accident. So there's lots of snotty teenagers with tragic pasts and boys punching each other to drown out all the wistful "Ain't small-town life the best?" stuff. (Been there. Done that. No, it's not.) I have only two complaints -- #1, sex just ain't like that. (He touches her, she has an orgasm. Seriously, that's it. He touches her, she comes. The end. The hell?) Second, the narration switches from character to character inside each scene, and it was confusing. 

Now I have to go buy the sequel so the quiet brother can hook up with the single-mom housekeeper. So good!

Grade B

originally posted 2006