Oh boy. I did not finish this book. I hate not finishing books – for a reference point, I even completed Fifty Shades of Grey, as much as I wanted to hurl it into the commode and flush it.
I started reading when I was two and a half, and I ran through all the “age-appropriate” books in my house and in the local library of my small Indian hometown by the time I was 10. So through my tweens and teens, I read the ones I wasn’t really supposed to be reading, and the library always had Nora Roberts in stock. By the time I was 17, I had read all of her ouevre (some twice). I moved on to more interesting things when I got to college, and haven’t dipped back in the fuzzy romance category that I dump her in.
So when this popped up on my GoodReads, I thought – hmm, it’s been a while since I read some NR, maybe I should give it a go. Ten minutes and a few hundred rupees later, I started it on my kindle. And an hour later, I stopped.
This was so obviously a paint-by-numbers piece that I couldn’t even bother investing any emotion in the leads. It helped that the leads themselves were Mary Sues, and Ms. Roberts had spent absolutely no words in character development. 6 magical people come together to protect the forces of good from the forces of evil (represented by one evil goddess-type power). Why are they magical? Why should we care about them beyond “they are destined to save the world”? How is this trilogy different from all the other Nora Roberts trilogies where 3 couples save the world from the forces of evil? Has NR actually ever had sex? Does she know that people don’t magically come together in a blaze of glory? How are all her heroes and heroines so fantastically perfect? WHy are all her men rich? Why do her characters never actually struggle or see consequences to their behaviour?
I knew going in that I was going to be bored, but I definitely did not expect to be so very bored. Sigh. Any good good-vs-evil-fantasy-romance-adventures out there that won’t make me turn to book burning?
I would give this -500 stars but I can’t. So it gets one star.
**edited to add the following*
I went back in and finished, because that’s how much I hate not finishing a book. And guys…. It’s not good. It’s not horrible, it never is. It’s just boring repetitive bs and magical virgin orgasming as soon as guy puts his lips on her clit. I guess upside is Roberts at least stuck to the fantasy genre when it came to sex too.
This is exactly why I stopped reading her a couple of trilogies ago. Same, same, same. I think she got tired of writing, but not tired of money.
Oh man, the magic-based trilogies are the worst Nora Roberts. Was there a single mother? There’s almost always a single mother who is just the most caring, wonderful person ever.
I agree that she’s just in it for the money now. Must be really good money or a really bad ghostwriter with a basic template. I mean, a bunch of monkeys on a typewriter would be better.
She has been accused several times of using ghostwriters, but I don’t think she does. There is such a uniformity and sameness to her books that no ghost writer could duplicate. I think her books might be better if she hired someone else to write them.
She used to be good right? Or I’d that my youthful lack of taste or judgement speaking? I remember actually finding some of her books charming. If she was always like this without ghostwriter, then young me had horrible taste.
I have absolutely no objection to romance novels. Just – art should imitate life at least a little bit.
She used to be reliably good. But I think the last book of hers I unreservedly liked was the one off set in Alaska. She can be good at characters when she puts her mind to it.
I had to read Whiskey Beach this summer for my book club and I felt the same way. She’s worn out every trope and is now just cashing in. I vow that I’m done with anything Nora Roberts (which is fine, she’s just something to read when I can’t find anything else). Nice review, sorry the book wasn’t good.
I’m convinced that Nora Roberts has a series of wheels for plots, names and locations that she spins then slots the answers into a template. I worked in a bookstore and she releases new books far too often to be actually writing them. They are big sellers though. Sometimes people like to know exactly what they are getting, I guess? No surprises EVER!
Do you remember when she wrote that BtVS rip off trilogy? I don’t remember the name, and I’m not sure I finished it. I think that was the last time she tried to vary from her formula, but she was “borrowing” from something too fresh and was too entrenched in her own formula for it to work.
OH wow. I do not remember that but I can just imagine.
We used to read the back covers to each other at work and just fill in our own names, locations and jobs into the plot. Daphne! Ancient Egypt! Lion tamer! It was more entertaining than the books I’m sure. More original at least.
I love that we’re all agreeing that she writes shit books. Moar Nora Roberts Hate plz.
She was good once upon a time, right? How much more money does she need? I fear she is trashing her own legacy.
Roberts at least stuck to the fantasy genre when it came to sex too
This is hilarious!
Oh man. Upon reading your title I went back to Goodreads to figure out the last time I read a Nora Roberts book… and it was March of 2013. It was the final of her Inn Boonsboro trilogy (talk about cashing in) and it was so lackluster I just stopped. Thankfully around here there are tons of romance readers who have lots of good suggestions. Because this once reliable author is not anymore.
I read 1 Nora Roberts Trilogy…scratch that, I read the first 2 books of a Nora Roberts trilogy, and the first book was good (it’s the Irish series one), the second was like “okay seen this….” and by the third I was so bored I literally stashed the book somewhere in anger and have never found it again. How has this woman made so much money writing the same story a billion times?
See the funny part is that you think there is only one Irish series… I feel like there are like, four Irishy series? Based on unpacking them from boxes at work, I’m pretty sure she’s churned out a bunch of vaguely Irish books. I think she wanted to buy a cottage in Ireland and set her books there so it could be a tax write off.
I’m somewhere in the mid-20s for the In Death books, which La Nora writes as J.D. Robb. I love dipping in and out of that series every so often, it’s like watching an episode of a well-known procedural and I love just finding out how many ways she can describe her characters, while still using the same stock phrases. Her other romances, with the exception of a couple of the Bride quartet have never really impressed me, though.
Oh my gosh. I cannot tell you how happy I was to find this post! I have finally found other people tired of Nora Roberts!
Hopefully we’ll help you find Romance authors to read instead!