Abandoned by Booklikes

Well this really should have been the last book in the series. Roberts finally gives us Phillip's story and it sucked. I think the main problem was that Roberts tries to juggle too many things, we have Seth's mother again in this one causing issues, and the truth about Seth finally becoming known. The romance between Phillip and Sybill didn't work at all. It didn't help that Sybill had a secret that Phillip was quite willing to shrug off when we have seen how the man carries grudges. Also I have to say that unlike with Cameron and Ethan, Phillip has zero relationship with Seth. I didn't see them understanding each other at all. Also Phillip reads like an earlier Roarke prototype at times and I wasn't a fan of the first versions of Roarke in the "In Death" series as it is so I was hard passing by a lot of the mess in this one. 

"Inner Harbor" follows Phillip Quinn who still wants answers about who was Seth to his father, and whether his father really committed suicide. When a woman named Sybill Griffin appears in St. Christopher, she claims she is writing a book about the town. However, Sybill has other intentions and it's quickly shown she is writing about Seth and the rest of the Quinns. 

Seriously that's pretty much the book. Readers quickly know that Sybill is up to something and then we get to "read" her research notes. Phillip is just in lust with her cause of the story. They have zero chemistry and their love scenes were boring to me. I already talked about this in another review, but I initially thought that Phillip was biracial and then it became apparent that he was white like the rest of the brothers in this story. I just felt disappointed that the Quinns who had no problem adopting problem children from the inner city of Baltimore somehow managed to pluck these three out. I would have probably enjoyed this series more if the Quinn brothers had been more diverse. Or maybe I have just been watching too much of "This is Us" lately. 

We now have Cameron and Anna, and now Ethan and Grace happily married and we get to see the couples interact with each other and get to see how much they all love each other. Seth is more settled with the Quinns and finally believes that they will keep him and he won't have to go back to his mother. 

The writing was so-so. Sorry after the reveal with Sybill I wondered at her supposedly being so smart. She's a moron and so is Phillip. The flow was awful honestly. The series making Seth's mother into this big bad was disappointing. She's nothing and why the family never just got a restraining order and went to the police about her terrible ass will continue to baffle me. 

The setting of this book and the time period it's supposed to take place in becomes more confusing after this book.  I am now realizing that Roberts doesn't really mark the book with dates, probably so readers can read it whenever and imagine it is taking place in the here and now. But since the last book has Seth in his early 30s we now that at least 18 years have passed from this book to the next one. I wish that we had more remarks made about what year it is.  

The ending to this book was so weird to me. I felt like there should have been a long epilogue to wrap things up. The last book in the series wasn't written until 2002 and this one was written in 2000. I guess that Roberts always planned on telling Seth's story so she didn't mind that the core story of the three brothers wasn't really finished.