Dance To The Piper by Nora Roberts ***

This is the 2nd in the O'Hurley series of 4, the triplets and their older brother Trace. I read this one and the last 2 (listened to them I mean) on my trip to Egypt, and didn't write anything in my trip journal about them - I just remember that they were all pretty mediocre.

This one is Maddie's story. Maddie is the happy triplet - everything is good and nice and pleasant and cheerful in her life. One thing positive I can say for this narrator, ok - two - her Maddie voice does show that optimism, and two, she is consistent in all 4 books with her character voices.

The problem is, she's just not that good an actor - (the narrator I mean) so her readings are not very credible. Maybe I wouldn't have liked the stories any better if I read them, but now I'll never know.

Maddie meets hero Reed Valentine when she spills the contents of her dance bag on the New York sidewalk after leaving the rehearsal hall of the musical in which she is starring. Reed is the son of the founder of Valentine Records and he is currently in charge since Dad retired. Reed is stuffy, rich, and completely put off by Maddie's scatter-brained approach to life. Wait, later we learn he wanted to boff her from that first meeting, so maybe he wasn't as put off as he indicates in his POV narration.

So the story is all about her falling for him and him trying not to fall for her. She keeps putting herself in his way - her offstage persona just is so different from the women he thinks he's attracted to, while her onstage persona (hello, stripper) knocks his socks off. Blah blah blah, she's so totally optimistic she just keeps after him til he finally acknowledges his Issue: his mother was a two-timing bitch who broke his father's heart, so he can't commit to a relationship. It's not really a spoiler because NR sorta lays that issue out early on, if you're paying attention.

Mediocre, 3 stars. Blah. It paled in comparison to Judith Ivory's The Indiscretion which I listened to right before it. But it was better than the next 2 in the series...