Sanctuary (Nova Audio Books)

Rating:
Summary: Lazy story line
Review: A very familiar story line, and a lazy one at that. Too many characters kept popping out of nowhere, not well connected.

Rating:
Summary: casual sex
Review: I'm aware that most generic Romance novels have a lot of sex in them, and some of the scenes are more tastefully written than others. I think I like it best when those scenes develop after some strong dialogue between the characters which provide a long and excellent build up to the romance scenes. But Nora Roberts seems to jump into them much too quickly. They have nothing to do with caring, let alone love. There's no romance to them, no build up, only instant gratification. And the women seem to be the men's instruments. Kirby, a successful and beautfiul and nice doctor, gets her chain yanked by the idiot Brian. He's a total jerk, totally insecure, and uses Kirby for sex to relieve tension. And she takes it!

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: Sanctuary was the first Nora Roberts book that I read. It is also my favorite. I haven't been able to stop reading her books since. Sanctuary is a great book. Jo Ellen is a wonderful character who is haunted by the past, and who is trying to forget it. I love this book.

Rating:
Summary: Violent and Disturbing
Review: Normally I like Nora Roberts - she writes great escapist fiction. This book which includes several detailed brutal rapes and a plot line about a woman whose mother disappeared and who then receives pictures of her corpse is not escpaist and entertaining. It's what nightmares are made of.

Rating:
Summary: Sanctuary
Review: This has to be the best book I have ever read! The plot took so many twists and turns you can't even try to guess who did it until the end. The characters are so well evolved and the suspense and passion are enough to keep you reading until you are done. I can't even express the feelings this book evokes from the reader. You will not be disapointed!

Rating:
Summary: Sanctuary
Review: As (almost) always with a Nora Roberts book, I found myself quickly caught up in this tale of murder, mystery, and new romance. I felt all of the Hathaway siblings were fairly well fleshed out as characters, although of course Jo Ellen was the book's focus and the most fully developed. I do feel that in this story more than some others the resolution of the story (and the Hathaways' relationships with one another) was too convenient and tidy. I mean you can't live with this kind of non-communication for 20 years and then over the course of a month or two let all those demons go. All 3 siblings had issues that realistically would probably take more than another person's love to solve. But still, getting back to fantasy and not reality, the book was an absorbing and satisfying read.

Rating:
Summary: Edge of Seat Reading !
Review: As always I can't resist reading Roberts the minute I buy the book but with this one I REALLY couldn't put it down ! If you have 2 days to just sit on the edge of your seat and read a truly good mystery/love story, then this is the one to buy ! THe back and forth story line was a great touch ! THere were enough details to give the reader a view of where you were at on the island as each chapter took place. Forget the housework,cooking and call off work and buy this book !The best thing though is that it is complete at the end and you aren't sitting there wishing the author had the time to finish the book's last chapter as has been the case with some authors lately !

Rating:
Summary: Ugly and brutal. She gains your trust, then abuses it.
Review: Nora Roberts used to write good novels, but success apparently has ruined her. For whatever reason -- deadline pressure, burnout, simple exhaustion -- her books have lost their individuality and become generic. Sanctuary is well-written -- Roberts knows her job -- but two days after you close the book you won't remember anything about it, because the characters, settings, and plot all blur into all the romances you've read. Except for one thing: the graphic descriptions of rape-murders, including that of the heroine's mother, which are introduced with no warning to the reader (you're just relaxing into your read, and wham) and seem to have almost no emotional impact on the characters, even the heroine. Her mother disappears while she's a child; twenty years later, she gets photographs of her young mother's raped and strangled corpse by anonymous mail. A nightmare like that is *not* plausibly resolved merely by the Love of a Good Man. Roberts handles the issue of rape (and murder) with the sensitivity of a clam.

Rating:
Summary: Why so much smoke?
Review: I enjoyed this book, like all other Nora robert books. However, I have a really big problem with the fact that in every single book that I have read thus far, the main character or characters are big time smokers. Have you ever been next to someone who has just finished a smoke? They smell so bad to a non-smoker, that the thought of kissing as thouroughly as they do in these books, makes me kinda sick! Obviously, this author is a smoker and that is her thing, but why does it have to be mentioned every three or four lines throughout every book? Sorry, but this really bothers me and I am so tired of this that I probably will move on to a new author.

Rating:
Summary: kind of creepy for a romance novel
Review: This is my first Nora Roberts book, and I must say I was sickened by the rape scene(s). If I'd known about the sexual violence I would have chosen another of NR's novels. I did enjoy the character development, and the pace was certainly quick enough, but does everyone in one story have to couple up by the end? I'm going to have to try another NR book before I give up.