Rating: 
Summary: Another endearing, heart-tugging tale
Review: As a Luanne Rice fan, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Safe Harbor and as usual, could not put this Rice book down either! Rice has the endearing quality of drawing the reader right into the world she is portraying and making the reader one of the family. One cannot help but become intensely involved with the character's lives. Rice also paints a realistic picture for the reader, and not some made-up fantasy world, where one cannot really relate to the experiences that they are reading about.Rice does a wonderful job portraying the deep bond of two sisters and the aftermath of Dana having to raise her sister, Lily's children, after her and her husband's untimely death. Family issues arise, centered on Lily's two girls, Quinn and Allie, and once again Rice portrays the intense emotions from the entire family, so that the reader can feel them and experience them. Throwing a bit of mystery into the untimely deaths, the reader is left wondering for a long time just exactly what is up. The themes of Rice's books seem to center around the family unit and how each member copes when tragedy enters into their lives. Yet it is done poignantly and with depth and sensitivity, that the reader is left with a renewed sense of hope, and that love can and will prevail. The romance angle woven into this story is not overwhelming or intoxicating, but has just the right dose of sweetness so that the reader is rooting for Sam and urging him to never give up on Dana! The reader comes to know the characters so intimately, that one cannot wait to get to the next chapter! I found this story to be endearing and touching and it is classic Rice at her best! Rice fans will not be disappointed, and I found this book to be one of her best!
Rating: 
Summary: Reading a Luanne Rice book is always a safe harbor!
Review: At a recent book signing I asked an author who were her favorite authors. She answered by saying Alice Hoffman and Luanne Rice and I shook my head in total agreement. From the first book I read by Luanne Rice, Crazy in Love in 1988, till now Ms Rice remains a very favorite author of mine whose books generally always make my top ten list at the end of the year. I even met my first online friends in a book folder on AOL when she mentioned an earlier Rice title, Blue Moon. And now my most recent read, Safe Harbor is a perfect example of why I love and look forward to any book by Luanne Rice. Combining the bonds of family life with personal needs, Ms Rice presents a portrait of characters finely etched in the minds of her readers. Characters we hate to leave at the end of the book and think about for some time afterwards. Returning to Hubbard's Point, Conn. the scene of an earlier book, Firefly Beach and the recently published True Blue, we meet the central character, Dana Underhill, as she returns home after many years living abroad. An artist living in Paris, she is still reeling from her husband's recent affair with a model and their subsequent divorce. She claims to love her independence and few family ties but fate has something else in store for her. Several months before, her beloved sister died with her husband during a boating accident. Her nieces are now being raised by their grandmother but now Dana realizes that her mother is no longer able to care for the girls especially Quinn, a difficult and unhappy 13 year old. While Dana expects to return home and then bring her nieces back to Paris to live with her, circumstances conspire against her plans. Dana's arrival at her family home, her niece's unhappiness and the appearance of a younger man from her past, may force her to make a decision she never thought possible. Ms. Rice captures the many moods of this book completely and perfectly. The longings of young children for their deceased parents, the needs of a woman unaccustomed to raising children and love between an older woman and a younger man. But Ms. Rice is always best at family relationships and in Safe Harbor, you will cry as I did when this authors writes about the relationship of Dana and her sister and ultimately Dana`s grief at her loss. We finish this book on a hopeful note as new relationships are forged and the characters become safe harbors for one another. And the best part is that we can visit with them once again in the third and final book in this trilogy, True Blue. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any reader who enjoys a wonderful story and characters.
Rating: 
Summary: An okay read
Review: Dana Underhill has just had an unexpected and totally traumatic life change. She must go from being a well known artist in France to become a mother to her two nieces in Long Island Sound. Tragically, Dana's sister and brother-in-law have been killed, and now Dana must take on, with the help of Grandma, two sullen and emotionally destroyed children, both girls. At first Dana plans to take Allie and Quinn back to France with her, to introduce them to a new lifestyle, to move them away from the tragedy. But a link with an old swimming student and fate steps in to change Dana's mind. Quinn is convinced her mother's death could not have been an accident, after all, it had been family tradition to take swimming lessons until the age of ten or so in the event of an emergency, and there was no way her mother, Lily, could have succumbed to a simple sailing accident. Quinn is determined to find out the truth, and she is the anchor that holds the story together. Well put and well written, not striking, but a good afternoon read.
Rating:
Summary: Good... but not memorable
Review: Having read all of Luanne Rice's books, Safe Harbor was not her best effort, in my opinion. There were times I found the storyline rather contrite, though it had some poignant, heartfelt moments. Plus the storyline overall had too many similarities to Firefly Beach, from which Safe Harbor was essentially a spin-off. If you want true vintage Luanne Rice, read "Cloud Nine" and "Follow the Stars Home."
Rating:
Summary: A Story of Grief and Slow Recovery-A+!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I do most of Luanne Rice.
Dana lived a great life with her talent as an artist over in France. But when a tragedy happens that totally shakes up her family picture; she heads back to home.
Dana's sister Lily, and her husband both drowned in a sailing accident, leaving their two daughters behind. So now Dana must take responsibilty for Allie, the youngest, and Quinn the oldest.
Allie is taking her grief in her stride; but Quinn is killing mad and angry at the whole situation. So besides Dana's own grief she must deal with, she has to deal with the challenge of Quinn as well.
Sam Trevor was a lost love many years ago of both Dana and Lily. He shows up, and is a form of support to both Dana and the girls.
Sam starts to really fall in love with Dana, but Dana won't let herself get too close to him. So time will tell what happens between the two.
Quinn is also angry because she is convinced something else happened to her parents other than the way it appears to be. So since Sam is an oceanographer, Quinn puts him to work at the bottom of the sea to find out what secret might lie in deep waters on the boat where the drowned.
Tru;y a good read. I highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Anything and everything ocean and sea!!!!
Review: I was torn about whether to give this four or three stars. It's probably a three star novel at best; however, I just love anything to do with sailing, nautical themes, water, fish, etc.. and "Safe Harbor" is all about that. I really felt like I was on that sailboat right along with Quinn and Allie Grayson, two teenage sisters recently orphaned, as they sailed from Long Island Sound to Martha's Vinyard in stormy weather......as the boat capsizes!!!! Do they survive? Read on! Luanne Rice's writing about ocean and sea is so wonderful that you do feel right there, even though there's nothing particular urgent in terms of actual plot twists. That's ok, because Luanne Rice is really a writer for whom you visit to check in with good friends and their day-to-day life, which is what this book is. This book is important if you are going to be reading Luanne Rice's "True Blue" (which came after "Safe Harbor") as the character of "Quinn Grayson" is featured extensively in both "True Blue" and here, "Safe Harbor". Luanne Rice does very well going inside the mind of a teenager in grief from her parent's death, and being raised by her Aunt "Dana" Underhill. And, all of this takes place on the wonderful "Hubbard's Point", an idyllic seaside Connecticut town that author Luanne Rice began setting about the last 7 of her novels in.
Rating:
Summary: Anything and everything ocean and sea!!!!
Review: I was torn about whether to give this four or three stars. It's probably a three star novel at best; however, I just love anything to do with sailing, nautical themes, water, fish, etc.. and "Safe Harbor" is all about that. I really felt like I was on that sailboat right along with Quinn and Allie Grayson, two teenage sisters recently orphaned, as they sailed from Long Island Sound to Martha's Vinyard in stormy weather......as the boat capsizes!!!! Do they survive? Read on! Luanne Rice's writing about ocean and sea is so wonderful that you do feel right there, even though there's nothing particular urgent in terms of actual plot twists. That's ok, because Luanne Rice is really a writer for whom you visit to check in with good friends and their day-to-day life, which is what this book is. This book is important if you are going to be reading Luanne Rice's "True Blue" (which came after "Safe Harbor") as the character of "Quinn Grayson" is featured extensively in both "True Blue" and here, "Safe Harbor". Luanne Rice does very well going inside the mind of a teenager in grief from her parent's death, and being raised by her Aunt "Dana" Underhill. And, all of this takes place on the wonderful "Hubbard's Point", an idyllic seaside Connecticut town that author Luanne Rice began setting about the last 7 of her novels in.
Rating:
Summary: A big fan
Review: I'm a big fan of Ms. Rice. I think she's officially my new favorite author (I needed an update from Danielle Steel...)Anyway, it did take me a little while to get "into" this story. Where as some of her books I'll be immediately enthralled. But once the story really got going, I enjoyed it. I don't think it was boring. Maybe yes, not her best book, but I'd definitley recommend reading it. I thought there were a lot of great scenes. Very sad story and the suspense kept the pages turning to see what would unfold.
Rating:
Summary: Predictable Romantic Novel
Review: Safe Harbor is a continuation of Luanne Rice's Firefly Beach. Ms Rice takes up the story of the younger brother. The story is well written. The Heroine finds herself in her early 40's suddenly a mother figure to her two nieces who have been suddenly orphaned. This follows her younger lover betraying the older artist with a model. The Hero has had a 'thing' for the heroine since childhood, and spends the course of the novel attempting to overcome her defensiveness against love with a younger man as well as trying to resolve the problems of the children of the family. Worth your time and money, if you like modern romance novels.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Beginning But...
Review: This book is fine as a beach book, but don't look for more than that. But if that's what you're looking for, then you'll enjoy this story of an aunt who is forced to become the guardian of her two young nieces after the death of her beloved sister. I liked the change of pace romance - when we first meet the romantic leads, he is eight years old and she is twenty. She's his sailing instructor and saves him when he almost drowns. The story is then resumed twenty-one years later. The aunt is an interesting character because she is clearly not maternal, and is used to living a life as an artist, most recently in France. While she loves her nieces, it's obvious that being forced to take care of two children and live in a place where she is surrounded by memories of her sister is not her idea of happiness. The two nieces, while precocious, were believable as children who had been orphaned. The book provides a nice image of a New England coastline summer, and the references to Newport brought back memories. The romance perked along nicely, with the usual conflicts brought upon by the aunt's insecurity due to a recent disasterous romance. My only problem with the book was that the denouement of the problem in the parents' marriage didn't match the tension that had been built up, and was rather disappointing because the reason was rather silly. But the rest of the book was enjoyable enough to make up for that, so I ended up liking the book.
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