Tag: #noraroberts

ARC Feature Post and Book Review: Mind Games by Nora Roberts

Book Description

As they do each June, the Foxes have driven the winding roads of Appalachia to drop off their children for a two-week stay at their grandmother’s. Here, twelve-year-old Thea can run free and breathe in the smells of pine and fresh bread and Grammie’s handmade candles. But as her parents head back to suburban Virginia, they have no idea they’re about to cross paths with a ticking time bomb.

Back in Kentucky, Thea and her grandmother Lucy both awaken from the same nightmare. And though the two have never discussed the special kind of sight they share, they know as soon as their tearful eyes meet that something terrible has happened.

The kids will be staying with Grammie now in Redbud Hollow, and thanks to Thea’s vision, their parents’ killer will spend his life in supermax. Over time, Thea will make friends, build a career, find love. But that ability to see into minds and souls still lurks within her, and though Grammie calls it a gift, it feels more like a curse—because the inmate who shattered her childhood has the same ability. Thea can hear his twisted thoughts and witness his evil acts from miles away. He knows it, and hungers for vengeance. A long, silent battle will be waged between them—and eventually bring them face to face, and head to head…

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195791352-mind-games?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=E3m2MFm1v6&rank=2

Expected Publication: May 24, 2024

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

MIND GAMES by Nora Roberts is an amazingly rich and layered multi-genre story. It follows the young protagonist, Thea Fox, between the ages of twelve to twenty-seven from a traumatic family event to her ultimate battle and HEA. This book is a mix of family drama, romance, romantic suspense, murder mystery, generational paranormal psychic abilities all rolled together into an engaging story set in a small town in the Kentucky Appalachian Mountains.

School is out in Virginia and twelve-year-old Thea and ten-year-old Rem are on their way to spend two weeks with their Grandma Lucy in the Kentucky foothills. They always look forward to helping with the animals and gardens, helping with their grandma’s home-based company, and running free in the mountains. But this year, something terrible happened to their parents and they will be staying with their grandma in Redbud Hollow.

Thea has the gift of sight that has passed down through generations of women in her family and she is able to use it to help police capture her parent’s killer. But the killer has the same gift, and he uses it to stay tied to Thea. A mental battle wages between them over the next fifteen years until they are face to face and Thea is ready for a final game.

If you loved the sweeping story in Identity, you will love this story just as much. The parents’ murder is heartbreaking, but the family love between Lucy, Thea, and Rem warms and heals the break, at least partially. Then you get to read how Thea strengthens not only physically, but mentally and learns to deal with her gift as well as how to handle the intrusions and attacks from the killer. I fell in love with all the well-developed characters in this story, especially the son of Thea’s love interest. I loved the ending, not only because it ends on a HEA, but because of Thea’s solution and use of her gift to obtain it even if it could end her own.

I highly recommend this new multi-genre story from the author that never disappoints!

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About the Author

Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Hideaway, Under Currents, Come Sundown, The Awakening, Legacy, and coming in November 2021 — The Becoming — the second book in The Dragon Heart Legacy. She is also the author of the futuristic suspense In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.

Social Media Links

Website: https://noraroberts.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noraroberts

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/nora-roberts

Feature Post and Book Review: Inheritance by Nora Roberts

Book Description

Inheritance is the first in The Lost Bride Trilogy – a tale of tragedies, loves found and lost, and a family haunted for generations.

1806: Astrid Poole sits in her bridal clothes, overwhelmed with happiness. But before her marriage can be consummated, she is murdered, and the circle of gold torn from her finger. Her last words are a promise to Collin never to leave him…

Graphic designer Sonya MacTavish is stunned to learn that her late father had a twin he never knew about—and that her newly discovered uncle, Collin Poole, has left her almost everything he owned, including a majestic Victorian house on the Maine coast, which the will stipulates she must live in it for at least three years. Her engagement recently broken, she sets off to find out why the boys were separated at birth—and why it was all kept secret until a genealogy website brought it to light.

Trey, the young lawyer who greets her at the sprawling clifftop manor, notes Sonya’s unease—and acknowledges that yes, the place is haunted…but just a little. Sure enough, Sonya finds objects moved and music playing out of nowhere. She sees a painting by her father inexplicably hanging in her deceased uncle’s office, and a portrait of a woman named Astrid, whom the lawyer refers to as “the first lost bride.” It’s becoming clear that Sonya has inherited far more than a house. She has inherited a centuries-old curse, and a puzzle to be solved if there is any hope of breaking it…

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65213377-inheritance?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=2cRTKCtT9f&rank=2

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My Book Review

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

INHERITANCE (The Lost Bride Trilogy Book #1) by Nora Roberts is a wonderful ghost story that pulls you in immediately. The problem for my review is defining it. It is not a straight romance because you do not get the HEA in this book, but you do get a contemporary romance subplot and there are plenty of love stories told throughout the discovery of the family’s history. It is a historical suspense/thriller as well as a contemporary suspense/thriller. It also can be considered women’s fiction with the strong friendship between the main female characters and prominent secondary female characters. This story is all of the above.

Like every one of Nora Roberts books I have read, the characters all come to life and are memorable. Her storytelling and pacing are always engaging, and I find I always finish her books in only one or two sittings which is what happened with this book. This book has a lot of character development necessary to bring the lost brides to life and set up the background for the mystery/suspense plot. The only reason I did not give it a full 5-star rating (4.5 gets rounded up on the review sites anyway) is because it ends on a giant cliffhanger…and I do mean giant. This is a personal pet peeve for me and yes, I do realize it is a trilogy, but there is not even a partial wrap-up. And then, the next book in the trilogy does not come out for ten more months. Not one, but ten! AAGH!

The setting is a gothic historical Victorian mansion called Lost Brides Manor in small town Maine which has a ghost maid who cleans everything and one of the brides communicates with a wonderful playlist of songs for every occasion that always left me laughing. The witch ghost is menacing, and I am looking forward to her being banished. Since Sonya is a graphic designer and Cleo is an illustrator, both can work from the mansion, and it is through their jobs that they meet and interact with the town’s business owners and occupants. The dog that Sonya rescues, and the dogs of the male main characters, Trey and Owen are a great addition for a dog lover like me.

I do highly recommend this multi-generational family mystery/suspense/thriller with paranormal/supernatural ghosts, strong female characters, and developing romances even though it is killing me to wait for the next two books in the trilogy.

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About the Author

Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Shelter in Place, Year One, Come Sundown, and many more. She is also the author of the bestselling In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than five hundred million copies of her books in print.

Social Media Links

Website: https://noraroberts.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noraroberts

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/nora-roberts

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B000APK6EU/about?ingress=0&visitId=f17bfd48-bcdf-4c07-a31e-af012a2e7ad9&ref_=ap_rdr

Feature Post and Book Review: Identity by Nora Roberts

Book Description

A new thriller about one man’s ice-cold malice, and one woman’s fight to reclaim her life.

Former Army brat Morgan Albright has finally planted roots in a friendly neighborhood near Baltimore. Her friend and roommate Nina helps her make the mortgage payments, as does Morgan’s job as a bartender. But after she and Nina host their first dinner party—attended by Luke, the flirtatious IT guy who’d been chatting her up at the bar—her carefully built world is shattered. The back door glass is broken, cash and jewelry are missing, her car is gone, and Nina lies dead on the floor.

Soon, a horrific truth emerges: It was Morgan who let the monster in. “Luke” is actually a cold-hearted con artist named Gavin who targets a particular type of woman, steals her assets and identity, and then commits his ultimate goal: murder.

What the FBI tells Morgan is beyond chilling. Nina wasn’t his type. Morgan is. Nina was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Morgan’s nightmare is just beginning. Soon she has no choice but to flee to her mother’s home in Vermont. While she struggles to build something new, she meets another man, Miles Jameson. He isn’t flashy or flirtatious, and his family business has deep roots in town. But Gavin is still out there hunting new victims, and he hasn’t forgotten the one who got away.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61885098-identity?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=vR0GFawbku&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

IDENTITY by Nora Roberts is a perfectly balanced romantic suspense that I read straight through in one sitting. This is a standalone story featuring a young, vibrant professional bartender who becomes “the one who got away” from an obsessive serial killer who steals his victims’ identities, drains their accounts, strangles them, and then robs all their valuables.

Morgan Albright has been uprooted her entire life as an Army brat, but now outside of Baltimore, she works two jobs and has a roommate to own her own home. Morgan and Nina have become very close and are more than just roommates, they feel like sisters. When they decide to have a dinner party at their home, Morgan does not realize the charming man she has met at the bar she works at is not an IT executive but a conman and killer, who targets a particular type of woman.

Morgan comes home from work to discover her home robbed, her car gone and her roommate dead on the floor of her office.

Morgan learns from the FBI that the man she knew as Luke, was not, but is a serial con artist, thief, and murderer. Morgan moves home to Vermont to live with her grandmother and mother as she begins to rebuild her life. Her new job introduces her to an interesting new man who helps her enjoy herself again as they build their relationship, but there are messages sent to her from all over the country reminding her that she will not get away forever.

I always look forward to a new Nora Roberts or J.D. Robb book because they just never disappoint. I fell right into this story, the characters lives, the suspense and the romance and I never looked up again until ‘The End’ very late at night or very early in the morning, depending on how you look at it. Morgan is a wonderful heroine with an upbeat attitude towards her customers and life itself. She worked so hard, not once but twice in her life to make her personal dreams come true. I also love how she worked to make herself physically stronger. The generational household showed the deep connections the women had and their love for each other. The dialogue between them was very entertaining. Miles was a swoon worthy alpha hero who shows his love for family and Morgan through what he does for them even when he seems a little overbearing, Morgan stands up to him. The cat and mouse suspense plot between Morgan and Gavin kept me turning the pages.

I highly recommend this great romantic suspense and author!

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About the Author

Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Hideaway, Under Currents, Come Sundown, The Awakening, Legacy, and coming in November 2021 — The Becoming — the second book in The Dragon Heart Legacy. She is also the author of the futuristic suspense In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.

Social Media Links

Website: https://noraroberts.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noraroberts

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/nora-roberts

Book Review: Nightwork by Nora Roberts

Book Description

Harry Booth started stealing at nine to keep a roof over his ailing mother’s head, slipping into luxurious, empty homes at night to find items he could trade for precious cash. When his mother finally succumbed to cancer, he left Chicago—but kept up his nightwork.

Wandering from the Outer Banks to Savannah to New Orleans, he dons new identities and stays careful, observant, distant. He can’t afford to attract attention—or get attached. Still, he can’t help letting his guard down when he meets Miranda Emerson. But the powerful bond between them cannot last—because not all thieves follow Harry’s code of honor. Some pay others to take risks so they can hoard more treasures. Some are driven by a desire to own people the way they own paintings and jewels. And after Harry takes a lucrative job commissioned by Carter LaPorte, LaPorte sees a tool he can use, and decides he wants to own Harry.

The man is a predator more frightening than the alligators that haunt the bayou—and when he strongarms Harry into robbing a Baltimore museum, Harry abandons Miranda—cruelly, with no explanation—and disappears. But no matter what name he uses or where he goes, LaPorte casts a shadow over Harry’s life. To truly free himself, he must face down his enemy once and for all. Only then can he hope to possess something more valuable than anything he has ever stolen.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58724963-nightwork?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=hv4JgTG1H2&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

NIGHTWORK by Nora Roberts is a unique romantic suspense with a young hero who grows up to becomes a gentleman thief with his own set of rules and moral code. This is a standalone that that is mainly told from the viewpoint of the hero.

Harry Booth never knew his father, but he always had the love of his mother and aunt, Mags. When Harry is 9 years old, his mother has her first fight with cancer. The sister’s cleaning company cannot keep up with the bills and Harry begins to pick pockets to help with money. By the age of 12, he was breaking into homes, only taking a few things of value and never with a weapon. When Harry graduated from high school, his mother died after two remissions, he set out on his own. He went south and his aunt went west.

This is the start of a tale that follows Harry, Silas, Booth, Sebastian (different identities) all over the U.S., Europe, South America and then back to the U.S. I loved the flamboyant family of thieves and cons he kept as a pseudo family in New Orleans even though that is where his trouble with the antagonist, LaPorte in this story meet. I also loved how he always stayed in touch with Mags no matter what. When he first meets Miranda Emerson, you just knew it wouldn’t last, especially if you remember his taro reading, but when they come back together as adults it works.

This is a very enjoyable book. Booth’s travels and escapades are interesting, Miranda is his perfect match, and all the other secondary characters are colorful and entertaining. The sex scenes are explicit, but not gratuitous and quick. There are ups and downs in the plot that keep you turning the pages.

I enjoyed Harry and his story very much.

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About the Author

Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Hideaway, Under Currents, Come Sundown, The Awakening, Legacy, and coming in November 2021 — The Becoming — the second book in The Dragon Heart Legacy. She is also the author of the futuristic suspense In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.

Book Review: Shelter In Place by Nora Roberts

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

SHELTER IN PLACE by Nora Roberts had my emotions all over the place, but isn’t that what a good book does? Part psychological thriller, part romantic suspense and part coming of age for a group who survive one of the horrors of present day life, a mass shooter event.

This book starts with a mass shooting perpetrated by three teenage males at a suburban mall.

Simone Knox and her two best friends are in the movie theater. When Simone starts to leave the restroom, she hears screams and gunshots. She returns to a restroom stall and is the first to call 911 as she shelters in place.

Reed Quartermaine waits tables in an Italian restaurant in the DownEast Mall. On his way back from his break, he is confronted by people running the opposite way and pops of gun fire. He picks up a bloodied little boy who appears to be alone and runs for cover.

Essie McVee is a police officer with her partner, dealing with a minor traffic accident in the mall parking lot when they receive the call of active shooters. She is the first on the scene at the movie theater and is able to take down one of the shooters.

From this point on, the story follows the intertwining lives of these three main survivors and how all of the survivors dealt with the trauma of that day and death of their family or friends throughout their lives. What becomes apparent though as time goes on is there is one person who is not finished with that day and is seeking revenge against all of those who survived.

I loved all of these characters! Reed and Simone had such differing ways of coping with their lives after the shooting. Reed is such a strong hero who refuses to let evil win. Essie is the mentor Reed needs at just the right time. Simone runs from the memories at first, but through her art she begins to heal and then begins to memorialize the loved ones lost on that day in the mall. Even all of the secondary characters bring such life to this book. I absolutely loved CiCi, who was the best grandmother character ever.

This book is written covering many years. Ms. Roberts has the characters growing stronger and coming together to fight the evil that has tracked them for execution. I found this book difficult to put down. I love Nora Roberts’ books and characters.