Chesapeake Blue
Nora Roberts, 2002
★ 4.21 from 38.1k ratings on Goodreads
A painter comes home to the Chesapeake, to four brothers, a porch rocker and a florist who has sworn off being charmed. Warm, unhurried and full of family noise, with easy banter, a painter's eye for the Eastern Shore, and a gentle romance running underneath.
Feels like tenderness, nostalgia and joy. About family, love and memory.
Who it’s for
You may enjoy this if you like big families, returning-home stories and couples who bicker before they soften. Be aware that some readers find the suspense thin and the romance predictable, so don't come expecting much tension.
Why read it
A good pick when you want comfort rather than surprise: a homecoming, a porch, and people who know each other well enough to tease.
A page from the book
The porch light stays on for the person you became while you were gone.
Now a grown man returning from Europe as a successful painter, Seth is settling down on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, surrounded once again by Cam, Ethan, and Phil, their wives and children, all the blessed chaos of the extended Quinn clan. Finally, he’s back in the little blue-and-white house where there’s always a boat at the dock, a rocker on the porch, and a dog in the yard. What readers say
Readers often feel warm and nostalgic about returning to the Quinn family, and many enjoy the banter and emotional family moments. Some find the romance and suspense weak or predictable, and a few think the finale was unnecessary.
Nora Roberts.Nora Roberts writes the In Death series as J.D. Robb, was the first inductee into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame, and with her husband runs a bookstore in Boonsboro, Maryland.
Books that feel like this
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Tribute
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A former child star trades Hollywood for a ruined Virginia farmhouse — her grandmother's — and the small town that remembers the screen legend better than she does.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Chesapeake Blue for me?
- You may enjoy this if you like big families, returning-home stories and couples who bicker before they soften. Be aware that some readers find the suspense thin and the romance predictable, so don't come expecting much tension.
- What is Chesapeake Blue like?
- Warm, unhurried and full of family noise, with easy banter, a painter's eye for the Eastern Shore, and a gentle romance running underneath. Feels like tenderness, nostalgia and joy. About family, love and memory.
- What should I read after Chesapeake Blue?
- If you liked Chesapeake Blue, try The Hotel New Hampshire (John Irving), Just for the Summer (Abby Jimenez) and A Day Late and a Dollar Short (Terry McMillan).
A taste of the feed
Some families begin with a wedding; this one begins with a bear.
The summer my father bought the bear, none of us was born — we weren’t even conceived: not Frank, the oldest; not Franny, the loudest; not me, the next; and not the youngest of us, Lilly and Egg. My father and mother were hometown kids who knew each other all their lives, but their “union,” as Frank always called it, hadn’t taken place when Father bought the bear.
The Hotel New Hampshire · John Irving
Some people spend years being told their needs are too many.
You’re not asking too much,“ he said. ”You were just asking the wrong person. Ask me instead.
Just for the Summer · Abby Jimenez
What it feels like to be the last two people awake in the world.
Stars flickered around us, sweet darkness sweeping in. As if we were the only souls in a galaxy.
A Court of Frost and Starlight · Sarah J. Maas
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