Tribute

I was really excited to start this book because the blurb made it sound very promising. In fact, I read 120 pages on my first night, but not because it was interesting. I read 120 pages hoping it would get better, but it actually only got worse. Ford and Cilla's relationship seemed to move too fast and too slow at the same time. The dream sequences between Cilla and her grandmother were odd, almost as if Roberts decided to throw them in there just for the hell of it. I say they are odd because Cilla never met her grandmother, who died long before Cilla was born, and the dream sequences were rather pointless and unnecessary to the main plot. Overall, too much description about flipping houses. I feel like I can go out for my contractor's license now that I've read this book...

I really enjoyed this book. Nora Roberts is one of my favorite authors. The only reason that I gave this 4 instead of 5 stars is that some parts were pretty predictable and I figured out who the killer was halfway through the book, but it is still an enjoyable read.

Since Nora Roberts has become such a prolific writer (don't know how she does it!), I am glad that she has apparently divided her efforts into different classes of books, ie: Robb-futuristic mysteries; NR-romance with a twist of mystery or fantasy and last but not least, the classic NR romance of which Tribute is one. You have a little bit of everything with this one, action, romance, mystery and a few surprises in the end. But as far as I am concerned there is no one better than NR when it comes to filling out her characters from their weaknesses to their strengths and how they always manage to grow with each page. If you like Nora Roberts, you will love this book.

Boring. I too had a HARD time getting through this. It was a chore. I guess I might have learned quite a bit about restoring a house if I'd actually paid close attention to that drawn out part of the story. Oh, and can't forget the graphic novel descriptions. I found the whole premise of the story - the Janet Hardy mystery to be totally dull and I really couldn't care less what happened so many years before. It was simply drawn out, way out and it got old fast for me.

The characters were 2 dimensional. They all talked alike (as is NR's routine these days in her books), so the character development or personalities didn't come out. Ford was supposed to be a nerd, but talked 'cool' like everyone else. Lots of slang. I'm married to a nerd and have known many. They don't talk like Ford. His speech patterns were not any different than Cilla's. AND CAN SHE POSSIBLY WRITE A BOOK WITH COMPLETE SENTENCES, USING 'the's, 'a's', pronouns, etc??? It is unnatural for everyone in a book to speak like that.

I did like Spock, the dog. He was the best character in the book.

I used to be a huge NR fan. I've read nearly all her books. I think this book will have to be the last one for me. I have tired of her, I guess. She doesn't write the way she used to. Some people will argue that it's natural for her writing to evolve and change, but give me the old great Nora Roberts books. Those were great romances. I, myself, don't care for her new writing style she has adopted.

So, obviously I don't recommend this book and I got it from the library.

I have been reading this book for almost 2 weeks (more than twice the time it usually takes me to read one of NR's books), and I still cannot get through it. I usually love her books, but this one is nowhere near as good as it could be. There is a lot of potential in this story, but it is being underutilized. The characters are likable, but the plot is slow a molasses. Honestly, the best part so far has been realizing that one of the characters is named Tom Morrow (hahaha)...which is when I keep telling myself I will finish this book, even though it hasn't happened yet.

If you are a die hard NR fan and absolutely must read this book, either borrow it from the library or wait until it comes out in paperback. It isn't worth the money spent on it.