LovelySalome wrote:
“I have never read a book by Nora Roberts. Since she makes such lovely, snarky comments and represents our genre so well, I am dead curious to see what she writes. But her back catalog is just HUGE!! Where to start? I need recommendations! Maybe even La Nora’s favorite….”
Oh, the perils of being prolific. With some authors, you can start at the beginning of a long line of sequels – Feehan, Hamilton, Gabaldon come to mind. With others, the backlist is not so big as to be overwhelming.
Then, there’s Nora Roberts. Holy backlist, Batman. Where to start? The older Oxymoron Title collection? Hot Ice? Brazen Virtue? Genuine Lies? Government Organization? The trilogies? The paranormals, or para-Noras, as I call them?
LovelySalome needs a place to start – so, what’s your favorite Nora? And Ms. Roberts, do you have a favorite of your books? Or do you refrain from naming a favorite (in case it hurts the other books’ feelings)?
If I get to vote, I’d nominate the Quinn Brothers/Chesapeake Bay quartet (Sea Swept, Rising Tides, Inner Harbor & Chesapeake Blue) for some very memorable and well-written manly heroes, the Donovan Legacy series which has been re-released by Silhouette, and the Born In trilogy, particularly the first, Born in Fire.
Also, Candy has an ARC, damn her eyes, of Morrigan’s Cross, which I haven’t had time to go find in the store yet, and she says it’s very, very good. Admittedly, I’m much more of a Nora fan than Candy, so if she’s into it and I wanna read it that I’m going to engage in face-to-face commerce to get it, then Heckles McHappy it’s gotta be good.
How could I forget The McGregors!
So, what these comments show is that you pretty much can’t go wrong with La Nora. It’s subjective, of course, but if you read one that you don’t love, don’t give up…because there’s at least one Nora book for everyone…
I grew up with Nora. I think I started reading romance the same year she started writing. 🙂
Seriously though, I need to go back and reread some of her older works & see how my being a bit older (and hopefully wiser) affects my perspective about the books.
Nora Roberts is actually the author who inspired me to write a novel. I LOVE her characters. I have a whole bookcase devoted to just Nora Robert books.
My favorite La Nora books are the In Death series and ALL her trilogies. (I’ve been holding off on her newest Circle trilogy because I like to read all the books at once, but the final book is on it’s way!)
My favorite stand alone title is Private Scandals. I also love Genuine Lies and Carnal Innocence.
But the Nora titles that I have to read at least once a year are the Chesapeake Bay series and the Donovan series (my very first La Nora experience). Even if I pick one up to just skim a favorite passage, I get sucked in and have to read the whole damn thing, and then the others books as well. This usually results in an all night reading marathon that ends with the sunrise (and sometimes an unplanned sick day if the urge strikes in the middle of the week). If Valley of Silence doesn’t get here by tomorrow, I may have to use one of those sick days this week. I’m sure it will totally be worth it. 😉
I agree re the Chesapeake Bay series…so good!!
Oh, the Donovans… oh, Sebastian Donovan! Yum. And the Quinn brothers are wonderful too – can’t go wrong with either of them. But Three Fates has the best, the absolutely best revenge scene I’ve ever read. delicious!
*sigh* My very favorite reading subject ever! 🙂
MacGregor’s are my FAVORITE…hands down. Fell in love with the characters. The men are men…which is always good. 🙂
Favorite stand alone is really hard for me since I like so many, but I loved Blue Smoke and Angels Fall.
Just finished her latest trilogy and it was really, really good. Totally in love with Cian…which is a cool name anyway. he-he
Also huge fan of JD Robb. I’ve read each & every one of them at least a dozen times. Can’t wait for Mavis’ baby. Should be interesting to watch Eve & Roarke deal with the delivery.
Also, can I just say how much I love how each and every one of her characters becomes real to me? I feel like I know these people, which is a very rare experience for me. I usually just read for pleasure, but with Nora’s books I read because I know I’ll be sucked into something “real.”
I know, I’m gushing. My bad. LOL!
Kaitlin
Birthright is my stand alone favourite and the Chesapeake Blue my favourite series.
Roarke is my all time favourite hero and I thought Origin in Death the best one (the one about cloning).
My favourite series of Nora’s is the one about the bad boy McKade brothers. Just loved that Devin! I re-read these at least 3 times a year.
Next are the Quinn brothers.
Some of my favourites: Honest Illusions, Hidden Riches and Public Secrets.
And for all-time just-want-to-eat-him-up heros….has to be Roarke from the In Death series. I’ve been reading them since Naked in Death, and will be very sorry when the series ends (yes, I know, it will be the end of the world.)
Sue
Favourite series: Chesapeake Quinn Brothers and the Donovans
Stand Alone: Honest Illusions
Carnal Innocence & Hidden Riches get my vote. Although even more than those one, I love, love, love the In Death books starting with Naked in Death.
Oh, thanks for generating all these suggestions!
I’d read one NR, acquired as a Christmas gift, and it didn’t click with me, so I’ve been avoiding any others (books are so expensive!) until I could get some recs. I’ll probably try the first of the Chesapeake series, since I live in the region.
I have such a problem with Nora’s books. I’ve been buying them for more than 20 years, and there are too many keepers! And I buy hardcovers. When it comes time to pare down the book collection or buy a bigger house to hold them, the agony is a terrible thing. I just did a quick count and I still have 11 on my keeper shelf. More than any other author.
Coming up with absolute, all time faves will hurt my brain, but here are a few…
Sanctuary
Montana Sky
The Three Fates
Blue Smoke
The Quinn Brothers Series
Sweet Revenge
Thanks for many years of reading pleasure, Nora!
Sadly, I can’t think of Nora Roberts book I didn’t like until now. The Garden Trilogy is funderful, The Quinns, the McKades, the Donovans, The Three Sisters, The Stanislakis, The Irish Girls…all lovely. Her Eve Dallas books are to die for and I almost mean that literally. I saw someone up top say Roarke is yummy and they are so right.
But I have to say I was sadly unimpressed by her newest book. This is probably just me and I am really sad. I’ve never not like Nora’s work. So putting one of her books aside half finished was almost painful. Morrigan’s Cross just kinda upset me. The whole Lilith thing put me off, what with the Judeo-Christian hatred of women with their own minds. I’ve studied theology, particularly paganism, for over ten years now and the portrayal of the Morrigan as a vaguely Christian figure was irritating.
So again, I think this is just me and not Nora. Her other books are really good and her characterizations of paganism in the Three Sisters was nice, if of course very fictional. This will be the first Nora series I haven’t read and I’m still in mourning. Forgive my bitterness…
Depends on what kind of books you like to read.
Straight romance:
one of the trilogies—either the Quinns or the Dream trilogy
Intense emotion:
Honest Illusions
Action/adventure:
Hot Ice (IMO, the people who made The Italian Job ought to check this one out.)
SF &/or mystery:
In Death series
Romantic suspense:
Birthright
Comedy:
The Art of Deception
Agatha Christie:
Storm Warning
Comics/superheroes:
Night Shadow mmmm… Nemesis…
Er, well, you get the idea. 😉
I agree with so many recommendations already on here—especially Birthright and the MacGregor’s, but I don’t think anyone has mentioned the first Nora book I read “River’s End.” I wouldn’t cite it as my favorite, but that book definitely got me hooked (I read it in a day visiting my best friend who kept trying to get me to put it down so we could do stuff) and I too have a bookshelf of completely Nora Roberts. When I want to read a good romance, I go to Nora. You can’t go wrong!
Chesapeake Bay quartet, followed by the Born in trilogy. I love Nora’s books but I just can’t get into her more recent paranormals.
For a standalone title I would recommend Montana Sky.
I like the Eve Dallas ones best, followed by the Three Sisters trilogy. I haven’t really tried the Irish ones, perhaps because my Irish father used to have a bit of a rant about the fetishisation of the auld sod and all its fiesty lasses and blarney-stoning boys and green beer and all the rest of it. (I sometimes wonder what in God’s name he’d have said if he’d been subjected to Riverdance – nothing polite, I imagine.) Hence I tend to avoid romantic novels about Ireland by American writers, which might be wildly unfair to Nora – I don’t know.
You know, I thought the same thing. I thought, Janet Dailey / Diana Palmer, why bother?
But I was pleasantly surprised. Prolific and good. The only thing she does sometimes that bugs me is random head-hopping.
The Eve Dallas books grow on you. Loved the Key series. And loved Honest Illusions.
The first romance I picked up was Sea Swept by Nora Roberts, and it blew me away. The reasons have all been cited above: you believe in the characters and care about their relationships, whether it’s the Anna/Cam romance or Seth’s acceptance into the wonderful Quinn family. Rising Tides, the second Quinn novel, is probably my actual favourite Nora (Ethan and Grace …!), but Sea Swept was such a wonderful introduction to the series, the author and the genre. I’ve converted at least three friends with it, too! 😀
I will never forget the experience of reading my first Nora book – Honest Illusions. Whether it was the thrill of checking out a romance novel from the public library, or the embarassment of having it swiped by a classmate and read aloud in my high school chemistry class, it still remains one of my favorite rereads. But then, all of Nora’s books are great rereads. 🙂
I finished Morrigan’s Cross and loved it. If you like paranormal give it a shot.
I’m just recently getting into la Nora, but my mom, aunts, and grandma have been reading her for *years*, so I have a wonderful selection to choose from whenever I go home. For the most part, I’ve loved all of the books of hers I’ve read, but here are my favorites:
I adored Sanctuary when I read it last year. Ditto Northern Lights. I also recommend the Chesapeake Bay quartet, and the “In the Garden” trilogy was brilliant.
And, as someone who loves Montana, let me put in a plug for Montana Sky.
I just finished the Circle Trilogy and…wow.
I’m going through some major booklag right now.
Does anyone know the title of the one with a haunted mansion on a bayou—the descendants of the wronged ghosts must work out the truth of the past—? It’s the only NR I’ve read so far, and I’m looking for more romance/scary ghost stories like it. Loved it!
_Northern Lights_ is probably my absolute favorite—I’ve already re-read it 3 times this year. It’s also on my “favorite books ever” shelf, keeping company with some Hiaasens, Crusies, and Baloghs.
Also the cat burglar one—Sweet Revenge. The O’Hurley books, especially _Dance to the Piper_. For the trilogies, I think my favorite is the Jewels of the Sun series, but I also really enjoyed the Keys series.
Unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy the most recent series as much. Too much time setting up the “universe” and not enough time on developing the relationships between the characters. The love stories all felt a little forced (especially in the first book).
Hey Gigi
That one is Midnight Bayou.
Gigi,
That’s my favorite series from La Nora, The Calhoun Women. It’s one of my favorite vacation series to read, because the mystery always sucks me in and the sisters do seem to really care about each other.
And of course, I love Aunt Coco. 🙂
I’m someone who likes to make recommendations based on what I know about the person I’m recommending a book to. I don’t know LovelySalome, but I do read her blog and her comments here in the bitchery, so here goes:
I think if you’ve never read a Nora before, you’re not going to want to shell out for a trilogy right off the bat (though you can’t go wrong, I LOVE her trilogies). I also think that you have to be in the right sort of a mood for her lighter Silhouette backlist (a light mood). I say start with one of the Jove stand-alones, and if you love it, you can branch out from there. Being a mom, you might enjoy having your heart jerked by Birthright (I read it when I was pregnant with my second, what a rollercoaster). If you want a feel for her trilogies, start with Three Fates (sweet) or Montana Sky (suspenseful). Finally, I’d feel disloyal if I didn’t say that Blue Smoke is one of my absolute favourites—it’s got the creepy bad guy, the loving family, and follows the heroine from childhood so that you really get a feel for her life. Sweet and suspenseful all at once.
Ummm…this is a really long way of saying start with Birthright. 🙂
ETA: my verification is zipper99. I can take a hint…
Nora said: I’m so flattered I forgive lovely salome for ignoring me up to now. Foolish, foolish salome.
Salome was busy dancing. Consider this her pennance!
And thanks, everyone, for the thoughtful recs – especially canadacole for semi-personalized ones (comment on my blog sometime so I know who you are)! You were right in that I do want to start with a stand alone.
I have decided on Montana Sky because I like the western setting and mini-trilogy idea. Birthright, Sea Swept and Northern Lights will be waiting once I get hooked. Maybe the Bitches will let me come back in a few weeks and post the juicy details of my virgin experience?
I’m going to chime in here. The Chesapeake Bay Series is Awesome.
My first Nora was Seaswept so that’s near and dear to my heart, then I’d have to go with Honest Illusions because I love the Carnival/Illusion elements.
When I first started this was a dilemma so I began with the Trilogies and anything that was newer then I backed my way down the Single Titles, In Deaths, then the categories.
Have fun…you’re in for a great ride.
YOu are all uber idiots!!! Mwahahahah!
The best is the Stanislaski series!!! Lure of a Lady…
Wait, maybe the best is the Mckade brothers series….The heart of Devin Mckade
Oh gawd… wait, I can’t believe I forgot the Eastern Shore series….sigh..Seth’s story…Cheseapeake Blue…
Or what about the Northern lights… that Nate.. oh man of my heart!!!!
Sigh… don’t ask me to choose I may have to start a serious re-read of all my Nora’s.
Seriously, I have to say that I have never gone wrong in reading a book by Nora Roberts. I don’t think she has lost any of her talent or intensity. She is just a driven and prolific writer.
I seriously envy anyone who has never read her… that first step would be an absolute joy!
But if you were to ask me, here are my absolute favorites:
Series:
The Stanislaski Family
The McKade Family
The Donavans
Stand Alone Romantic Suspense:
Northern Lights-this is my absolute fav Nora Roberts book. I think she transcended romance with this one. For me she literaly stepped up a whole notch in her talent with this one. Nates character will forever be the one of Nora’s that stands out in my mind. I reread this one on a regular basis. The characters, the location, the story, everything in this one was perfect to me.
Honest Illusions
Carnel Innocence
Three Fates
Trilogies:
Eastern Shore Series
The Key Series
J.D. Robb-IN Death books
EVery blasted one of them.. read them in order.. then read them again and again…..
If I were to say which books I liked the least it would be:
The Reef
The Villa
I just have to say that this discussion has ruined the work I had planned today (school can wait) and thrown me into a deep depression because I am 2200 miles away from my Nora collection.
I know the purpose of this discussion is over, as the decision has already been made, but I have to throw my opinion in the hat. My stand alone favorite at the moment is definately Birthright, but I also LOVE Montana Sky (so good choice there). I also have a soft spot in my heart for Hidden Riches and Sanctuary, the first Nora books I ever read. And I honestly do not understand why people love Northern Lights. It is the only Nora book I haven’t been able to keep reading. I just couldn’t get into any of the characters. It made me sad, but I couldn’t keep reading.
Now I love all the trilogies (except the current one, which I haven’t read because I am afraid I won’t like it), but the Irish Trilogy and the Chesapeake Bay trilogies are my favorite, as well as Born in Fire (I enjoy the whole series, but the only reason it would be in my favorites is because of the first book).
And I honestly don’t think anyone should forget the MacGregors. I adore the McGregors and am still very upset that the second generations stories won’t be finished.
Man I wish I had my copies of the Irish triology with me right now. I don’t think I can wait until december to read them again. I am very sad right now.
Okay, that does it. I’m reading Northern Lights next (although it seems like a take on Northern Exposure (loved that TV show). I mean, the heroine, Meg, is a loner pilot just like Maggie. I hope Nate is a better hero than Dr. Joel Fleischmann.
The trilogies are the best! I started with the Gallaghers of Ireland trilogy and have been hooked to Nora’s books ever since. Carolina Moon is great, and creepy at times, stand alone book. 😀
I must say, I was quite relieved when they started putting that “never before published” seal-thingie on her new books. At least twice I picked up multiple copies of her books ‘cause they’d been released with a new cover!
I like the series best – the MacKades (specially Devin) and the Stanislaskis – though Convincing Alex is my favourite of that series.
Mainly I’m just happy that Nora has puppy problems – I’m two hours into my first day alone with the puppy, and haven’t felt so uselessly incompetent since I brought home my first child…
[He can swim. I’m so pathetic at this that I actually let the puppy fall into the pond.]
Going to keep typing though, cos he’s nodding off in his basket which would give me some kitchen-tidying time…
One thing I’d recommend, Salome, is to pace yourself a bit with the books. She’s an easy author to over-glom. And sometimes if you read the wrong two books close together, the characters can get have similarities. For instance, for me, the heroine of Birthright was a bit like what I imagined Eve, the heroine of the In Death books, might have been like if she’d had a happier childhood, so I’d rather not read those back to back. And there’s one of the series books [Night books, perhaps?] that has a heroine who I read as an early version of Eve as well. [Didn’t like the book when I first read it, but liked it very much after I’d read the In Death books, which was odd.]
Apologies to Ms. Roberts if she thinks that’s twaddle – I’ll go back to drowning the dog. Who, chiz, chiz, chiz, has just woken up.
I do think a reader can over-glom—and I’d certainly be a candidate in the over-glomming sweepstakes simply because of my backlist. And because of my extensive backlist some readers will feel some characters share some characteristics. So not twaddle.
My puppy is currently outside with his big brothers and not chewing on my toes, the stairs, my desk pulls, or twaddling on the floor.
Tomorrow I go out of town for a few days, and my husband will be on dog and puppy duty solo. Hah, hah, hah!
My fave NR single title is Honest Illusions, followed by Hidden Riches. I’m in love with Luke and Jed, I admit it. Also loved River’s End.
For the series, I’d start with the Quinn Quartet then read the Irish “Born In” trilogy. (Maeve Concannon wins my vote as Nora’s best villain. What a despicable woman! Utterly miserable and loathesome, but also utterly human.) The Key Trilogy is also fab, and the entire series just became aces for me when I got to the scene between ten-year-old Simon and Brad when young Simon broaches the issue of sex with his mother’s paramour. Good stuff, and Brad handled it like a champ after the heart-attack passed.
The MacGregors, published by Silhouette, are a great and sprawling series of books with tons of charm.
The “In Death” books are great, but definitely start at the beginning.
Some of my favorite books of Nora’s are the ones that feature kids or the ones that center around male heroes. I usually HATE romance novels that feature kids, because often they’re just so poorly written. But Nora knows how to write kids and men.
Hey, lovelysalome, appropos of nothing, I toured an exhibit called “Femme Fatales” at the Tel Aviv Art Museum last month, and they had some great paintings of your namesake doing her thing.
Actually, I thought of all the Smart Bitches while I was touring this exhibit. Y’all would have approved of the theme of strong women kicking ass and taking heads.
And that’s “apropos”. I hate SpellCheck, but sometimes it can save your butt.