The Chesapeake Bay Saga

A series by Nora Roberts that follows the trials of three adopted brothers on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, as they struggle with raising their father's final "stray". Cam, Ethan, and Philip Quinn are called home after their father, Ray Quinn, is injured in a car accident. After extracting a promise from them to take care of Seth, a young boy he'd recently adopted, their father dies.

Titles in the series:

 * Sea Swept
 * Rising Tide
 * Inner Harbor
 * Chesapeake Blue


 * Badass Family: The Quinn family.
 * Big Brother Instinct: The Quinns in general, and Cam in particular, especially towards Seth in the early days.
 * Blue Eyes: Seth's are a very important plot point.
 * Disappeared Dad: Several examples.
 * Ethan's biological father is never mentioned.
 * Philip's dad went to jail and never bothered coming back once he made parole.
 * Seth's father ran off, though probably with good reason considering who he married. He's still an ass for letting Gloria hold onto Seth though.
 * Cam averts the trope by being a disappeared son, having run away from his abusive father.
 * Mama Bear: Seth has three, none of which are his actual mother.
 * Meaningful Name: Grace wanted to be a dancer.
 * Missing Mom: Anna's mom was murdered by drunken hicks... Not making that up.
 * Papa Bear: Cam from the start, even when he didn't like Seth. Ethan and Philip came into it later.
 * Promotion to Parent: Cam is this with Seth, despite not meeting Seth until after Ray's death. Made somewhat ironic considering Seth's connection to Ray Quinn.
 * Rape as Backstory: Let's see.
 * Ethan's mom pimped him out against his will, making him so messed up that he decided to go for a swim off the Quinn's pier without actually knowing how to swim. Luckily his dog distracted him with a game of fetch. And it's also the reason he refused to pursue Grace despite having liked/loved her for years before the series started.
 * Anna was raped when she was ten by the same guys who killed her mom. This might be the reason she keeps her dates at arms length until Cam. It does help her empathize with Ethan in Rising Tide and convince him to stop being an idiot about Grace.
 * Seth barely managed to avoid it, though a big emphasis is put on the fact that the near misses was deeply scarring and it would have happened eventually if he'd stayed with his mom. In Chesapeake Blue, Gloria tries to claim she protected him from this, though Seth doesn't believe her. She immediately agrees that she would have started pimping him out eventually.
 * Social Services Does Not Exist: Averted in the form of Anna, who honestly is just looking out for Seth. Also played straight in Chesapeake Blue, when Seth acknowledges that he rarely spent time in areas the the police or Social Services took interest in.
 * Son of a Whore: And not the Hooker with a Heart of Gold type either. Ethan's mom pimped him out, Philip's denied any responsibility for him after he was shot, and Seth's mom spends most of the series blackmailing anyone who cares about him and generally trying to use him to make a quick buck. It's not surprising that Ethan and Philip considered Stella Quinn to be their mother rather than the women that gave birth to them.