Starlit Winter Nights by Nora Roberts

I hadn't read the Cordina series in awhile and this book reminded me of why. This series didn't age well and this book is definitely a product of its time with Hanna supposedly being a kickass secret undercover agent (we learn this pretty quickly) but she is helpless against Prince Bennett and his ... charms(?).

Bennett is worried about his family. An old enemy is about to be released from from prison and he knows that his family is going to be a target. He is even more worried about the fact that he seems to be falling for a woman who is not his normal type. He usually dates models and striking women but this one is... not. but she's captured his attention.

Lady Hannah Rothchild is drab and tends to be overlooked. That is because she has cultivated that personality. It allows her to melt into the background becoming the perfect bodyguard for people like Princess Eve. She has the background and she has the skills. Hannah is about to take down the Big Bad but is apparently distracted by Bennett and his forceful (emphasis on force...) ways.

Two stars

This book came out October 1, 1987

Follows Command Performance

Followed by Cordina's Crown Jewel

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Inheritance by Nora Roberts

Is it trite to walk in on your fiance having sex with someone else right before the wedding? Yes, but that doesn't mean it's not happening to Sonya. It's just too bad that he takes the breakup badly and that she works with him. So she quits her job and branches out on her own.

Sonya's able to get even a little more space when she finds out that she's inherited a large house from the uncle she never knew she had. It's in Maine and she has to live in it at least 40 weeks for the next three years. Though trepidatious, Sonya's ready to take the leap. It doesn't even take three weeks for her to decide she's going to go for it. It takes a little longer for her to convince her best friend Cleo that she should move there too. 

Roberts is a master and this book just shows it once again. You think you've read books similar to this one -- old ghost angry about life and taking it out on the living; two friends moving to a new place and finding handsome men; playful and adorable dogs. But this book has enough of a twist and some nuances in the characters that make it worth reading to see what happens next. 

Four stars

This book comes out November 21, 2023

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Montana Sky by Nora Roberts

Willa Mercy didn't grow up with her two half sisters but now they're all together for their father's funeral. She's the only one who grew up on the ranch so she's astonished to learn that the ranch has been left to all of them equally as long as they all stay for a year. None of them are excited about that thought.

Tess is a Hollywood screenwriter so she is, of course, not excited to stay. But the family lawyer, Nate Torrence, a long drink of water, is making her rethink that stance.

Third sister, Lily, is glad to be at the ranch for the year as she is running from her abusive ex-husband. She's finding herself falling in love with Willa's (maternal) half brother, Adam.

I did read this book when it came out but think it held up fairly well. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 12, 1996

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts

Rowan Tripp is a smoke jumper in Missoula, Montana, like her famous father before her. She loves her life and isn't ready to open her heart to anyone. But this is a romance novel so... Gulliver Curry is one of the new recruits and even though Ro doesn't want to be attracted to him, Gulliver worms his way into her heart. 

Of course, the course of true love can't run smooth. Last summer, Rowan's jump partner died in a jump. This year, his lover, Dolly is back with his child. And so is his brother. And most of the rest of the crew. Which is bad, because somebody has it out for the crew this year. And then the bodies start to pile up and Rowan has to be fast on her feet to avoid being dead.

Three stars

This book came out April 12, 2011

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts

Declan Fitzgerald's family is decidedly northern, which makes it so strange that he's drawn to buy a

supposedly haunted plantation house. One where a a woman died many years ago, killed by her husband's twin. He's also drawn to Angelina Simone, local bar owner. She is mysterious and gypsy-like and she's drawn to him as well. They'll have to battle their own attractions as well as threats both parental and supernatural.

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 15, 2001

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Identity by Nora Roberts

Okay. Definitely a book that is terrifying to read if you are a single woman. Not only does our main character have her identity stolen by a man she meets in a bar but he also sticks around and does much worse things. I can't say much more without plot spoilage but it is alarming. 

Morgan Albright is finally setting down roots. She's been able to buy a small house which she shares with her roommate and good friend, Nina. And she's met a charming man at the bar. One who will change her life forever.

A lot of this book is Morgan moving back home and trying to build back a life after a major devastation but we get to see her relationship with her mom and grandmother as well as her romantic relationship grow. 

Four stars

This book comes out May 23, 2023

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Less of a Stranger by Nora Roberts

Megan Miller (who the hero calls "Meg" throughout the book though the narrator and her grandfather both use her full name) is twenty-three and an artist. Well, she's an artist when she's not working at her grandfather's amusement park. The same amusement park that Katch is interested in. Oh, but now he's interested in him as well. But she's not interested in him. Now she is. Now she isn't. But he's going to control the whole relationship. Just... blergh. One of Roberts's early romances that just didn't age well. 

Two stars

This book came out June 1, 1984

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Nightwork by Nora Roberts

Roberts is an amazing writer and has moved slowly from strictly romance, to romance with some bigger story, to some bigger story with some romance. As the books have gotten longer, they've often gotten a little more meandering with a slightly slower pace. I think this book is written just as well as many of her others, it just didn't hit as well for me at this time. 

The book opens with nine-year-old Harry Banks starting a life of thievery. His single-parent mother is sick with cancer and he needs some way to help the situation. Well, in the options of what a child can do to earn big money, this is maybe the least damaging for his psyche.

We follow Harry as he really starts to hone his craft. He is incredibly intelligent, learning languages and picking up social queues as he goes through life. Of course, he picks up some romances but he also picks up one very big enemy who threatens his love and then even his life (though he's more concerned about the former.)

Three stars

This book come out May 24, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

The Art of Deception by Nora Roberts

Ufda. This book really did not age well. The hero leans close to alphahole and our heroine tends toward an early manic pixie dream girl. She and her father veer from arch and loving to over the top in a sort of annoying way.
All Adam Hastings wants to do is figure out what is going on with some art forgeries. He has a mysterious friend he's talking to while he's staying at Phillip Fairchild's house because... somehow they know Phillip is connected? But he doesn't realize that Phillip has a daughter and is shocked by her. But attracted! Because Kirby, an accomplished sculptor, screams sex. Well, her body does. Her personality is also attractive, so why not? But the plot is more twisted than it appears and becomes more and more convoluted.

Two stars

This book came out February 28th, 1986

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

First Impressions by Nora Roberts

I'm hoping that this is an early book of Nora Roberts (I looked, it is). While eminently listenable, it contains a prototypical nineties Alpha male. Vance Banning is trying to get away from it all. When Shane Abbott (the ubiquitous sunny heroine who's trying to making it on her own and fix the world around her) mistakes him for a carpenter, he decides to go along with the charade. He helps her fix up her grandmother's old house, weathers the emotionally-charged scenes with her cold, emotionless mother, but neglects to tell her that he's really a very wealthy business man who was hurt by (who else?) his first wife.

Not the best of stories but nowhere near being a wall-thumper.

Re-read twelve years later and didn't remember a single part of this story. Same frustration with the alphamale who just didn't want to share his feelings and Shane who is just a little too sweet.

Three stars

This book originally came out April 1984

Ebook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

Partners by Nora Roberts

Matthew Bates and Laurel Armand work on the New Orleans Herald together. He's on the police beat and Laurel writes politics. The two sit across from each other and Matt enjoys antagonizing Laurel when he can. Even if they are at her family's house for dinner (since he is a good friend of her brother's). She isn't interested (or tells herself she isn't) but the two get pulled into the story of Anne Trulane, a woman who supposedly died of a copperhead bite but her sister is trying to get anyone to believe her that it couldn't be true.

This is very much a book of its time with a virginal heroine who succumbs to the unceasing attention of the alpha male who wants her. Early glimpses of a woman who is good at her profession and the competence porn that Roberts will give us with many of her later characters.

Three stars

This book came out in May 1985

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Rules of the Game by Nora Roberts

Brooke Gordon bounced around foster homes growing up and has finally found a sense of family with her team at Thorton Productions, working her way up to director. She's happy making commercials and uses her skills from every previous job to be the best director she can. But now, she's having to work with a baseball player who will be modeling high-end clothes. Brooke knows nothing about baseball but, she she watches third baseman Parks Jones, she feels something. 

Parks is immediately attracted to the redhead watching his game. He immediately wrangles a date but is then offended to find out that she was watching his game for more reasons than to just see him. Luckily, the two figure out how to work together and eventually fall into an HEA.

Since this book was originally published in the 80s, Parks is definitely an alphahole but could have been worse. And I did appreciate the glimpse of them together after the marriage had started; that we know that a wedding is not necessarily always the start to a perfect HEA.

Three and a half stars

First published October 1st 1984

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Valley of Silence by Nora Roberts

The last in the trilogy, we are reading about the virgin queen and the vampire. There is a lot more sturm and drang than I enjoy in a romance but I did like that Moira knew her own mind and took her future into her own hands and I actually did enjoy the battle scenes even though I don't usually enjoy books about vampires.

It is time for the final stand down. If Moira can't win this battle, she will lose for not only her people, but humanity in all the other worlds as well. She knows that she owes it to her people to fight, to be their queen but she wants to take a moment for herself. Or several.

Three and a half stars

This book came out November 1, 2006

Follows Dance of the Gods

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Dance of the Gods by Nora Roberts

The second in a trilogy about <shudder> vampires, this book has the warrior (Blair) and the shapeshifter, Larkin, (two of the six destined to defeat Lilith) hooking up. Blair is a demon-hunter from modern day New York, trained to kill vampires. Larkin is part of the royal family of Geall, a not-as-mythical-as-thought realm that is to be the battleground between humans and vampires. An evil queen named Lilian is trying to take over the world and thought that Geall would be a grand place to start. The gods decided that they needed to put a team together to stop her and this book is the mid-point of their training, when they have to convince the people of Geall that vampires exist and that the people need to be prepared to fight. 

We also get Larkin, who grew up in a happy home and is still pretty heart-whole, falling for Blair, who was never loved by her father and then dumped by her fiancé because of her demon hunting. It will take some work to get the two of them together, especially while planning for war.

I remembered this as my least favorite book in the series but on re-read, actually came ahead of the third book (too much sturm and drang) whereas these two, for the most part, see what they want and take it.

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 3rd, 2006

Follows Morrigan's Cross

Followed by Valley of Silence

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts

Vampires. This series has vampires. Not my favorite Roberts series but still by her so they're pretty good. In this trilogy, a circle of six, the one who is dead, the witch, the sorcerer, the shapeshifter, the scholar and the warrior, must form in order to stop the evil Lilian from turning the world into vampires. Of course, since this is a Nora Roberts book, the six start pairing up. This book highlights the love of modern day witch, Glenna, and twelfth-century sorcerer, Hoyt. We learn the beginning of the circle when Hoyt watches his twin brother Cian be "turned" by Lilith. He is then instructed by the goddess Morrigan to go to modern day New York to begin gathering the circle. Hoyt finds his brother immediately. Cian has used the past 900 years to build an empire including a nightclub where Glenna is drawn to Hoyt. Once Glenna and Hoyt convince Cian that he is a necessary part of the group, they, along with Cian's friend King, fly to Ireland where they are joined by two more people, these from the thought-to-be-mythical land of Geall. The six must learn to fight, even through heartache, in order to even begin to learn how they might be able to take down Lilith.

This book didn't get too dated because much of the action is in another realm. With being the first book and having a LOT of world building to do, Hoyt and Glenna's romance takes a bit of a back seat but this is overall a nice enough story to start a series.

Three and a half stars

This book came out August 29th, 2006

Followed by Dance of the Gods

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Perfect Hope by Nora Roberts

Hope Beaumont was introduced to the series in book one, The Next Always, when she joined the Boonsboro in as the innkeeper. When she and Ryder Montgomery saw each other for the first time, a bolt of lightning hit each. Then they took an instant dislike, each assuming the other was some sort of snooty or snotty. So of course, we the readers knew they were some day going to fall in love. 

It's a good, steady Roberts story with a little bit of the supernatural thrown in. In this book, we get to find out about Lizzie and her lover and they get their happy ending as well (it's a romance, this is not a spoiler.)

Three and a half stars

This book came out November 1st, 2011

Follows The Last Boyfriend

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Last Boyfriend by Nora Roberts

 This is definitely my favorite of the Inn Boonsboro series.

Avery MacTavish runs a very successful pizza parlor and is happy with her life. Just because she's had a crush on middle brother Owen Montgomery since she was six and he gave her a bubble gum ring doesn't mean she's actually going to act on it. Except that he suddenly seems to have noticed that she's a woman. They decide that they're mature enough to handle a relationship, even if it might go south. I liked the discussion that they had with not too much beating around the bush, they decide they can handle a relationship and they go for it.

Also, I really liked Owen. He's organized, clear-headed and goes after Avery but is still concerned about her feelings.

Avery is a spitfire who is in charge of her own destiny. She does get a little shaken up when her past comes back but that is cleared up fairly quickly, not drawn out and made into some Big Misunderstanding.

Four stars

This book came out May 1st, 2012

Follows The Next Always

Followed by The Perfect Hope

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Next Always by Nora Roberts

Beckett Montgomery is working with his two brothers and mother to restore a historic in in downtown Boonsboro which is just down the street from  Clare Brewster's bookstore. Beckett's had a crush on her since high school. Unfortunately, Clare only had eyes for Clint, the man she married and then had three sons with. But then her soldier husband died in the war and Clare moved back to Boonsboro where Beckett began mooning over her again. Okay, just keeping an eye on her.

But he's finally worked up the courage to ask her out.

I am really enjoying this series. The secondary characters (Clare's sons and friends, Beckett's family) are rich and well-developed. Clare's relationship with her sons is awesome, we get to see both the joys and the frustrations of being a parent. We also get to see the beginning of Beckett's relationships as he navigates the murky waters of dating a single parent.

Four stars

This book came out November 1st, 2011

Followed by The Last Boyfriend

Audiobook from Audible

Opinions are my own

Legacy by Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts weaves together tropes she's worked with before to make a story that is unique. Like many of her contemporary one-offs, Legacy is three parts - when the main character(s) are children with a glimpse of when life first changes for them, the near-present and who they are about to become with another defining moment, and then the present where they find happiness. 

This book brings out all the feels with the deaths of many characters, each of which create a turning point for either our hero or our heroine but brought out a lot of snot and tears in this reader. I liked Adrian but didn't feel like we got to know Raylan very well and their romance didn't really hit until midway through part three which means that there's not a lot of time for the reader trust that they will get an HEA (though, really, it couldn't've been different unless the book got to be unwieldy). Raylan's kids were well developed and escaped being plot moppets since they had their own personalities outside of being there to get the h/h together.

I loved that Raylan's first marriage was a good one but his first wife wasn't held up as a paragon therefore ruining him for all other women. The relationship building of Adrian's family, both blood and found family, was stellar. The progression of her relationships with those people and then the relationships they had with each other was more satisfying than the romance. One of my catnips is seeing how characters connect and this book piled it on in spades.

Adrian Rizzo grew up with a mother who forged a name for herself in the world of video workouts. But that doesn't mean that she's going to shy away from that world nor does it mean she's going to ride her mother's coattails. However, stepping into the spotlight means that she's attracted the interest of people who might not want the best for her. In fact, a stalker looms in the shadows who doesn't even want Adrian to live. 

Four and a half stars

This book come out May 25th

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

The Villa by Nora Roberts

This book is one that I do re-read quite a bit, just because it's pretty fluffy but does include some great motifs like blended families and having to let go of people who don't treat us well.

Sophia is the granddaughter of a famous winemaker. Her grandmother is a grand dame known to all as La Signora. About twenty years ago, La Signora married a rival winemaker. With him, came his grandson who has also carried on the MacMillan family business, working in the fields. Tyler has little need for the business side of winemaking while Sophia, an advertising exec, spends as little time in the field as possible. But they are thrown together when her grandmother and his grandfather decide that they are going to ensure that their legacy is secure by shaking up the company and making both Sophia and Ty work in each others fields. This affects more than just the two of them as Sophia's father, a man who has been cheating on her mother steadily since marriage and has never really loved Sophia, is being audited, her mother, who is a timid woman, is forced to the forefront and they're bringing in a new Chief Operating Officer who is going to oversee them all. But that's not the quintessential spanner in the works... no. That actually comes when Sophias feckless father is found dead in her apartment and someone starts poisoning the family's wines.

Wonderful subplot with Sophia's mother and the new COO. Very sweet and incredibly touching (especially since on my most recent re-read I am closer to the mother's age than Sophia's...)

Five stars

This book came out March 26th, 2002

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own