Falling for You

Rating:
Summary: Fun and witty!
Review: Aurora "Rory" St. Claire's family had always wanted to own the old mansion on Pearl Island. Marguarite's spirit, one of their ancestors, was said to be haunting it. When the bank put it up for sale, Rory came up with the idea of turning it into a bed-and-breakfast. Her brother and sister agreed to the idea. It just so happened that Oliver "Chance" Chancellor, who worked at the bank, was an old school mate. He was the obvious choice to go to for a business loan.

Chance's life had been mapped out long ago by his parents. He was destined to take his place within the family's bank and he had an almost fiancé named Paige. However, when bubbly and hyper Rory reentered his life, all his plans changed!

**** Full of humor with only a touch of the supernatural feeling! This is the first of a trilogy about the St. Claire siblings and the B&B they create. Very entertaining and well worth your time! ****

...

Rating:
Summary: Falling in love with Fall For You!
Review: Falling for You was one of the only books I've read that I couldn't put down. The story is just as cute as it's cover. The story has some very colorful characters. Ortolon did a great job in bring these characters to life. Chance is ever girl's dream guy, and Rory is a girl that all woman can relate too. Add in Adrian and Allison (her Rory's siblings), and Paige and Captin Bob, and the all star characters bring life to the book. I was actually dreading when I'd end this book because it was such a great adventure I never wanted it to end!!! Big props go out to this book. I definatly feel in love with Falling for You!

Rating:
Summary: The first of THREE wonderful stories!
Review: I heard so much about the "St. Claire" trilogy, I bought them all and read them in a row - - and boy am I glad I did!

Julie Ortolon knows how to write a terrific, heart-warming story. We have a less-than-perfect "nerd" who falls for a less-than-perfect-full-steam-ahead beauty and the combination is....well.....PERFECT!

Ms. Ortolon has done an amazing job in weaving a story so real, I'm ready to stay at the St. Claire's Inn on Pearl Island. (Can someone get me a reservation??) The story-line of sunken treasure is fascinating and the by-play between the characters is not only funny, it's very real and will leave you laughing and sighing. I love that this authors gives her characters insecurites that we see them struggle through...it makes them so believable and endears them to us! By mid-book you'll be cheering for the heroine, I guarantee!

Do yourself a favor and get the whole trilogy. They are terrific! Rock on....Julie O!

Rating:
Summary: The first of THREE wonderful stories!
Review: I heard so much about the "St. Claire" trilogy, I bought them all and read them in a row - - and boy am I glad I did!

Julie Ortolon knows how to write a terrific, heart-warming story. We have a less-than-perfect "nerd" who falls for a less-than-perfect-full-steam-ahead beauty and the combination is....well.....PERFECT!

Ms. Ortolon has done an amazing job in weaving a story so real, I'm ready to stay at the St. Claire's Inn on Pearl Island. (Can someone get me a reservation??) The story-line of sunken treasure is fascinating and the by-play between the characters is not only funny, it's very real and will leave you laughing and sighing. I love that this authors gives her characters insecurites that we see them struggle through...it makes them so believable and endears them to us! By mid-book you'll be cheering for the heroine, I guarantee!

Do yourself a favor and get the whole trilogy. They are terrific! Rock on....Julie O!

Rating:
Summary: The first of THREE wonderful stories!
Review: I heard so much about the "St. Claire" trilogy, I bought them all and read them in a row - - and boy am I glad I did!

Julie Ortolon knows how to write a terrific, heart-warming story. We have a less-than-perfect "nerd" who falls for a less-than-perfect-full-steam-ahead beauty and the combination is....well.....PERFECT!

Ms. Ortolon has done an amazing job in weaving a story so real, I'm ready to stay at the St. Claire's Inn on Pearl Island. (Can someone get me a reservation??) The story-line of sunken treasure is fascinating and the by-play between the characters is not only funny, it's very real and will leave you laughing and sighing. I love that this authors gives her characters insecurites that we see them struggle through...it makes them so believable and endears them to us! By mid-book you'll be cheering for the heroine, I guarantee!

Do yourself a favor and get the whole trilogy. They are terrific! Rock on....Julie O!

Rating:
Summary: A sucker for books with plenty of local color...
Review: I love books that are set in an area new to me and that evoke local color so dramatically that I feel that I am there or that I want to be there [in my case, now I want to go visit Galveston, Texas!].

This is a story with plenty of color, and one which takes a standard plotline - rich stuffy banker meets wild child - and sets it on its ear. Rich characterization helps, and the secondary characters are multidimensional living human beings who have their own life histories. There are some funny scenes, but what counted for me in this book was the wonderful evocation of a city in small-town mode, the twists and turns in the relationship between the banker and the "wild child", and the hints at family secrets between the two of them.

The plotline is simple - Oliver Chancellor "Chance" is a banker whose father has just sold his small family-owned bank to an East Coast group. He is still expected to spend his life with the bank, to behave suitably and to marry suitably. His intended bride Paige is the daughter of old family friends. However, Oliver finds himself attracted to the sister of a schoolmate. Aurora "Rory" St Claire comes from an unconventional and almost disreputable family, with a famous local scandal in their past. She is a tour guide, her brother is a chef, and her sister works for a gallery. Nothing particularly special about Rory, except her stunning looks and her bubbly personality. Rory has self-esteem issues (we soon learn why), but she desperately wants to run her own B&B. When a house belonging to an ancestor is up for sale (after foreclosure by Chance's bank), Rory tries to obtain a loan to buy the property and get the B&B started. Oliver helps out, as much because he wants to help start a new business and see what else he is capable of, as because he wants to spend time with Rory against his better judgement. However, the loan from Chance's bank falls through. [I am going to end here to prevent spoilers].

The plot is complicated by secrets in Rory's families, the long-term effects of their family scandal (the most famous in Galveston), and by the contradictions within Oliver and Rory themselves. Oliver knows that he desires Rory, but he considers her an unsuitable wife for a small-town banker (which she is). He is prepared to marry a woman he does not love, simply to meet the expectations of their families, friends and the community. Rory often acts without thinking and creates trouble down the road for herself. But her vision of a B&B helps her to stumble along, discovering much of her hidden potential. If you are looking for a modern romance where a heroine makes a go out of a demanding new career (i.e does not downsize), this is a great book.

There are some scenes of lovemaking (including one rather sudden burst of passion, with the aftermath described in funny detail), but these do not take up very much space. The passion, the sexual attraction between the couple is described through other means - the first kiss (when you just have to compare Rory's reaction to Paige's), the fact that Chance keeps thinking about Rory at work and with other people, the reactions of other people to their relationship.

What I loved about this book was the quirky relationships between the protagonists and the secondary characters, the way in which local history and geography was incorporated into a romance, the fact that secondary romances (past and present) existed but did not detract from the relationship between Chance and Rory. I also loved the fact that the author was clearly setting us up for at least one sequel, with major changes to Chance's lifestyle by the end of the book and a hinted-at romance for Rory's older sister.

I did have mixed feelings about Chance and Rory. I was annoyed with him for being so blind about his true love, for not really wondering earlier what he wanted to do with his life. I also criticized Rory for keeping her secret, a secret. But these were minor problems.

If you like books about strong modern (or post-modern) characters with plenty of local color and with some quirky humor, try this book.

Rating:
Summary: I FELL IN LOVE WITH FALLING FOR YOU
Review: If your really looking for a great book I think Falling For You is the best and one of the few choices.This book took me head-first into Rory and Chance's exciting love tale. And the setting was so pleasent I could just picture all the details this great author explained. Just everything about the book made me unable to go one night without reading a little more.This book was one of the few that I hadn't ,in any point, lost interest.And as I got nearer and nearer to the end I found myself not wanting the story to stop.This is now one of my favorite books!I hope Ms. Ortolon makes many more as good as this that I am hoping to read.

Rating:
Summary: Well worth the time
Review: In "Falling for You," Julie Ortolon has written a smart, amusing and engrossing novel.
It's the first of what will become a trilogy about three siblings, two women and a man, and their romantic and professional adventures on Pearl Island, an imaginary spot near Galveston in Texas.
Rory St. Claire, beautiful, impetuous and yet uncertain, has a dream. She wants to buy the family home and turn it into an inn. But she has to find solutions to external problems, and conquer internal doubts to try to make that dream come true.
Ortolon's characters are convincing -- fully realized people with strengths and weaknesses who grow into a new understanding of themselves and their world -- and her plot arises and develops naturally.
But it's Ortolon's wit and her ear for dialogue that make this book a stand out.
I am looking forward reading her next effort.

Rating:
Summary: Well worth the time
Review: In "Falling for You," Julie Ortolon has written a smart, amusing and engrossing novel.
It's the first of what will become a trilogy about three siblings, two women and a man, and their romantic and professional adventures on Pearl Island, an imaginary spot near Galveston in Texas.
Rory St. Claire, beautiful, impetuous and yet uncertain, has a dream. She wants to buy the family home and turn it into an inn. But she has to find solutions to external problems, and conquer internal doubts to try to make that dream come true.
Ortolon's characters are convincing -- fully realized people with strengths and weaknesses who grow into a new understanding of themselves and their world -- and her plot arises and develops naturally.
But it's Ortolon's wit and her ear for dialogue that make this book a stand out.
I am looking forward reading her next effort.

Rating:
Summary: lively delightful contemporary romance
Review: In Galveston Bay, Texas boat tour guide Aurora "Rory" St. Claire notices a "For Sale" sign on the Pearl Island property once owned by her ancestor. She wants the place to open up a bed and breakfast. She asks the son of a local banker, Oliver "Chance" Chancellor, for information. He tells her that the national bank that bought out his father has foreclosed on the property. Rory tells Chance about her dream. Feeling as if a whirlwind has engulfed him, Chance agrees to help her though he worries over his feeling of lust for Rory as his family expects him to marry childhood friend Paige Baxter.

Rory enlists her siblings Adrian and Allison to join with her as their desires can be met too. Adrian can become his own person and Allison can work on decorating. Over the next few weeks, Rory and Chance work on her dream even as they fall in love. However, Chance has always been the dutiful son and Rory is forbidden fruits. Paige is expected to be his wife even if his own mother demands he marry for love not a misguided obligation.

Rory and Chance make FALLING FOR YOU a lively delightful contemporary romance of two opposites falling in love. The story line is fun as the readers are caught up in the frantic activity led by Rory, a dynamic perpetual machine. Though some of the secondary charcaters seem inconsistent, the fact that Paige is a nice person not a nasty witch adds depth to Julie Ortolon's charming vivacious tale.

Harriet Klausner