Book Review: Thicker Than Water

Thicker Than Water is the last book in the The Grayson Trilogy. I read the first book, a Single Step, and enjoyed it. I had not read the second book before accepting this one to review, but I took the advice of the author and read that one, too.

Georgia Rose is quickly becoming the queen of romantic adventure. All of the characters that her readers have come to know are back, along with some great, semi-explicit sex, and the gradual revealing of answers to questions left from the previous two books: where did Emma spend her childhood? Who are her real parents? Who saved Emma, Grace, and the children in the attack on the manor? Can the Poltzin organization be eliminated without putting Emma, Trent or any of the other characters in imminent danger?

In Thicker Than Water, Emma and Trent are married and life has settled into a calming routine compared to the tension and turmoil of Before the Dawn (book two). Trent and Cavendish are still trying to close down the Polzin organization, which requires weeks away for both of them. Returning home from one of these trips, Trent is overjoyed to find that Emma is pregnant. For Emma, the emotion is not so much joy as the reemergence of the pain she felt when she lost her first child, pain that drove her to take the job as the manager of the horses and stables at the Melton Estate. Her fear that she will lose this second child can paralyze her.

Told mainly from Emma’s point of view, the reader becomes immersed in her emotions and the feelings she has for Trent and the entire staff of the estate. This book has more romance and more discussion of emotional turmoil than book two, and the reader has to wait a bit for the action because of it.   As the reader becomes engrossed in the day to day events of Emma’s life, the narrative slows, but the author more than makes up for it in the last third of the book. I can’t say more without giving much of the plot away!

I am a stickler for all things medical (and the wife of an obstetrician) and found a few of holes in the description of Emma’s birth of her baby. The baby’s umbilical cord needs to be tied in two places to prevent bleeding from one end or another. Most important, after the baby is born, there is no description of the delivery of the placenta, which takes anywhere from five to thirty minutes. Emma starts nursing her baby with breast milk right after the delivery. Breast milk often takes a week to come in.

Having said that, I doubt most readers would notice these gaps, and as I said, I am probably being a bit fanatical about these details. The story is very well written, develops smoothly, and fans of romantic adventure will love this book. It is a well-done finish for this trilogy, and I know the readers will be sad to say good-by to Emma, Trent and the other characters.

I recommend you read this book, especially if you’ve read the first two!

About the author (from Goodreads):

Georgia Rose is a writer and the author of The Grayson Trilogy books: A Single Step, Before the Dawn and Thicker than Water. Georgia’s background in countryside living, riding, instructing and working with horses has provided the knowledge needed for some of her storylines; the others are a product of her overactive imagination! Following a long stint working in the law Georgia set up her own business providing administration services for other companies which she does to this day managing to entwine that work along with her writing. Her busy life is set in a tranquil part of rural Cambridgeshire where she lives with her much neglected family of a husband, two grown up children and two dogs.

You can find the Grayson Trilogy and the individual books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Grayson-Trilogy-3-Book/dp/B016DDW6U4/ref=sr_1_1_ha?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1448552372&sr=1-1&keywords=georgia+rose

And Georgia Rose at:

https://www.facebook.com/thegraysontrilogy/

@GeorgiaRosebook