Hey y'all - I'm trying something new today by shifting my "Never Enough Bookshelves" series to a Friday posting. We'll see if I do this consistently in the future. Right now it's an experiment for my posting schedule LOL.
So, it might come as a surprise considering I rarely mention her, but I am a pretty major fan of Nora Roberts. I’ve read almost all of the titles she has out under her main name, and I’m working my way through her JD Robbs books slowly but surely.
Roberts writes comfort books for me. I know some people knock her for them becoming semi-formulaic, but honestly, that’s why I enjoy them a lot of times. I know there will be a happy ending, and during my most down periods, I need that.
I will say that lately her trilogies haven’t been quite as fun (I think she’s trying to throw too many elements into a single trilogy – she’s at her best when there is a single paranormal element and she builds on that, ala The Three Sisters Island trilogy and the Seven trilogy), but her solo titles still have the feel I associate with her books.
Her most recent title, THE OBSESSION, definitely kept true to what I hope for in a Nora Roberts standalone – we had a fantastic female lead in Naomi, a murder mystery with ties to her past, a rough around the edges male lead in Xander, and a delightful cast of side characters that I cared about and who felt real.
This particular book hit even more of my buttons with the additional “characters” of the old house Naomi has bought to rehab (my addiction to Fixer Upper has never been so close to the surface in my readerly world LOL) and the dog she finds on the side of the road and absolutely is not going to keep (spoiler alert – she keeps the dog, but not such a spoiler as every person who’s ever rescued a pup knew immediately she was going to keep it!).
Be warned, the start of this book is definitely on the rough side as far as topics – Naomi discovers her father is a serial rapist and murder as a child and deals with even more tragedy later that’s directly related to his crimes. She goes through some shit, y’all, but she pulls through and doesn’t let it break her. She is a survivor and a hero, and I really felt for her through all of those scenes.
Honestly, I think this is my fave of Roberts standalones is a while – it was right up there with THE SEARCH which had ALL THE DOGS and thus was going to be a fave no matter what. J
Are any of y’all Nora fans? Do you have a fave of hers to recommend or chat about? What about a fave comfort book or writer? Let me know over at the Twitter verse! @C_L_McCollum