Book Review: Dark Witch by Nora Roberts

ISBN-13: 9780425259856

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

Publication date: 10/29/2013

Series: Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy Series , #1

Synopsis:

With indifferent parents, Iona Sheehan grew up craving devotion and acceptance. From her maternal grandmother, she learned where to find both: a land of lush forests, dazzling lakes, and centuries-old legends.

Ireland.

County Mayo, to be exact. Where her ancestors’ blood and magic have flowed through generations—and where her destiny awaits.

Iona arrives in Ireland with nothing but her Nan’s directions, an unfailingly optimistic attitude, and an innate talent with horses. Not far from the luxurious castle where she is spending a week, she finds her cousins, Branna and Connor O’Dwyer. And since family is family, they invite her into their home and their lives.

When Iona lands a job at the local stables, she meets the owner, Boyle McGrath. Cowboy, pirate, wild tribal horsemen, he’s three of her biggest fantasy weaknesses all in one big, bold package.

Iona realizes that here she can make a home for herself—and live her life as she wants, even if that means falling head over heels for Boyle. But nothing is as it seems. An ancient evil has wound its way around Iona’s family tree and must be defeated. Family and friends will fight with each other and for each other to keep the promise of hope—and love—alive…

If you've read my blog, you know that I used to love Nora Roberts. But then, as I read more and more romance and romantic suspense authors, I started to get irritated with her books.

The last few books have been difficult for me to even get through mostly because of the stilted dialogue. I know she writes characters from a different part of the country, but her overwhelming lack of pronoun usage in her characters speech throws me for a loop. Instead of getting lost in the story, I want to scream "People don't talk like that!!"

BUT, this newest release, the Dark Witch, is more like the Nora Roberts I used to love to read. She's developing a three part series, her usual, with a magical suspense plot winding us through the romance. While some of the dialogue was still lacking in pronouns, I found I could still believe it because several of the characters are from Ireland. I don't know why that helps me, but it does.

The characters are very well developed, with unique personalities like in all her books. The romance plots for future books is set up nicely in this first of the series. This is where Roberts shines. I am hooked on the future characters. I really want to know what's going to happen with them!! So I will wade through the unrealistic conversations just to see the couples all get together. I'm a sap like that.

So, while this isn't the best book I've ever read by this author, it was a throwback to the books that propelled me into the romance genre. I look forward to the rest of the series.

Book Review: Nora Robert's Land by Ava Miles

 

ISBN-13: 9781490527512

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Publication date: 6/24/2013

 

Synopsis:

 

Journalist Meredith Hale's ex-husband claimed her Nora Roberts addiction gave her unrealistic expectations about marriage, and she believed him. All dreams of happily ever after or Nora Roberts Land as her mother calls it-went up in smoke. But when her family asks her to temporarily help their Dare Valley, Colorado newspaper, she decides it's time to change her life and prove her ex wrong. She's determined to find her own small-town Nora Roberts hero, prove that true love exists, and publish a story about her quest.

War correspondent Tanner McBride has just returned stateside to work for a major newspaper, and the last thing he expects is blackmail. Yet, before he can even unpack, he's headed to Colorado. His assignment? Make his boss's ex-wife fall for him and then break her heart. Her article about discovering love à la Nora might air dirty laundry about her marriage to the media mogul, threatening his senate run. The mogul wants Meredith stopped, and he makes sure Tanner has no choice in the matter.
When the two meet, the sparks between them are undeniable. Meredith, who vowed never to date another journalist, begins to succumb. Could Tanner be her Nora Roberts hero? As they work together to uncover the truth behind a suspicious death, the depth of their feelings unfolds and both realize they've kept their secrets for far too long. But before the truth can be revealed, their investigation takes a deadly turn, one that might make Meredith's personal Nora Roberts Land go up in flames. 

 

 

 

Guest Reviewer: Kathy Westerfield
I was excited to begin this book for the simple fact that it is about a woman who is a huge Nora Roberts fan. The concept of this book is what drew me in! I could totally relate to the heroine's way of thinking by the particular Nora book she referred to in each section. It was fun to see her hero take shape through the book and I know he looked just like Roarke!

 

The book started off really funny. The author had a great way of describing things, and giving us inner dialogue that showed her sense of humor. But about half way through, the book lost most of its humor and kind of fell flat.

I wanted to like this book way more than I actually did.

 

On the down side, there are a LOT of F- bombs dropped which I thought were for the most part needless and crass and made me uncomfortable-so much so that I sent the author an email stating exactly that. Probably wont change anything but if you are F-bomb sensitive, you might want to skip this one.

Upcoming Books for Fall 2013

I was looking around on Barnes and Noble's website (a very time consuming habit of mine).  And I started seeing a bunch of books that I'm excited to read this fall.  I thought I would make a list of a few of them.  This is by no means all inclusive.  And the selections are in no particular order.  If I had to pick, I would say I'm most excited for Allegiant in October!! 

And if you've read my blog, you know I have a love/hate relationship with Nora Robert's books.  But this one looks like it's a throwback to her earlier work.  I'm really excited to see how this series starts out.  I really don't want to be disappointed with another one of her books.

I'm sure there are a ton of books that I want to read that I didn't think to include in this list.  If I think of them, I'll just make another list to post:)

Are there any books you are looking forward to reading this fall?  If so, I'ld love to hear what they are!  Add your favorites in the comments below.

Run to you

Rachel Gibson

September 24, 2013

 

Blue by You

Rachel Gibson

September 3, 2013

 

Three little words

Susan Mallery

August 1, 2013

 

Rumor Has It

Jill Shalvis

November 5, 2013

Hunted

Karen Robards

December 31, 2013

 

The Sum of All Kisses

Julia Quinn

October 29, 2013

Allegiant

Veronica Roth

October 22, 2013

No good duke goes unpunished

Sarah Maclean

November 26, 2013

Dark Witch

Nora Roberts

October 29, 2013

Book Review: Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts

 

Author: Nora Roberts
ISBN-13: 9780399159893

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

Publication date: 4/16/2013

Synopsis:

For more than three hundred years, Bluff House has sat above Whiskey Beach, guarding its shore—and its secrets. But to Eli Landon, it’s home…

A Boston lawyer, Eli has weathered an intense year of public scrutiny and police investigations after being accused of—but never arrested for—the murder of his soon-to-be-ex wife.

He finds sanctuary at Bluff House, even though his beloved grandmother is in Boston recuperating from a nasty fall. Abra Walsh is always there, though. Whiskey Beach’s resident housekeeper, yoga instructor, jewelry maker, and massage therapist, Abra is a woman of many talents—including helping Eli take control of his life and clear his name. But as they become entangled in each other, they find themselves caught in a net that stretches back for centuries—one that has ensnared a man intent on reaping the rewards of destroying Eli Landon once and for all…

When I first sold my business and found myself with a lot of time on my hands, I picked up the Twilight series.  I became obsessed with it!  Much later than most.  I think most of the movies were already out by the time I picked up the first book.  But after reading that, I began searching out other books to read, preferably romance.  Never having been a big fiction reader, I relied on suggestions from friends and family to fill my to-be-read shelf.

That's when I discovered Nora Roberts.  I think in that first few months, I bought or checked out almost every book she had ever written.  I loved her story telling, how there was always a suspenseful feel to her books.  And I especially liked the ones that had a hint of magic or other-worldly elements. 

She is one of the major reasons I write what I write.

That being said, I did not like this book at all.  The more I read her books, the less I like them.  I really prefer her older books. 

Every thing she writes feels like it was written in 1980 (which was a fantastic year btw) and that was cool when I first started reading them, because they were older books.  But the book she just released has that exact same feel. 

And her dialogue drives me BANANAS!  The male and female characters sound exactly the same.  You could literally switch all their speaking parts and not notice a difference.  It makes it very hard to read because I'm constantly having to look back to see who is actually speaking.

And she writes with a very heavy New England influence.  All her characters are very east coast.  Which is great because that's her comfort zone.  But I just don't think people talk like that.

This book in particular fell very flat for me.  I really struggled to finish it.  The characters seemed to have the same conversation over and over again.  The suspense was borderline boring. 

In the end, I didn't really care who-done-it and I didn't care what happened to these characters.

If you've read Whiskey Beach, or any of Nora Roberts books lately, I would love to hear what you have to say!