6 Reasons I Love Nora Roberts

















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I swear. I cannot get enough of Nora Roberts. I love her books. And yes, I know I’m carrying on like a crazed fan right now—because I am. Yes, I read other romance novels, and I enjoy them. They’re great. But then I come back for my Nora fix because her story-telling talent is amazing. No author can pull me into a story better than her—not yet anyway. So this made me think, what is it about her writing that sets her apart. 

And here is what I found: 

THE FIRST LINE HOOK

Nora Roberts has mastered the hook, plain and simple. Pick up any one of her books, and read the first line. It draws you in and force you to read more? It makes you ask burning questions that need answers. And the only way to get them is to read more. Thus, the purpose of the hook.

Examples:

Year One—“When Ross MacLeod pulled the trigger and brought down the pheasant, he had no way of knowing he’d killed himself. And billions of others.

How did he kill himself? Was the pheasant infected? How did it spread to others? What is it? Who dies? Who survives?

The Witness—“Elizabeth Fitch’s short-lived teenage rebellion began with L’Oréal Pure Black, a pair of scissors, and a fake ID. It ended in blood.

Does she die? Why did she rebel in the first place? Where was she going that she needed a fake ID? Short hair and makeup? Why is she trying to look older?

Undercurrents—“From the outside, the house in Lakeview Terrace looked perfect.”

This lets me know it is all a facade. Why do they need the outside to look perfect? What’s so imperfect on the inside? What are they hiding?

The Obsession—She didn’t know what woke her, and no matter how many times she relived that night, no matter where the nightmare chased her, she never would.

What happened when she woke? Why would she call it a nightmare? Why is she still reliving the moment?

Carolina Moon—“She woke in the body of a dead friend.”

How did her friend die? Why would she wake in her body? Does she have special powers? Is she a psychic? Is there a mystery to be solved?

The Search—“On a chilly morning in February with a misty rain shuttering the windows, Devin and Rosie Cauldwell made, slow, sleepy love.”

The way she describes the environment around them lets me know this is not an exciting, passionate lovemaking between a couple who should love each other, but a duty. And why is it so dreary?

The Welcoming— “Everything he needed was in the backpack slung over his shoulders. Including his .38. If things went well he would have no use for it.”

Why does he need a gun? Who is he going to meet? What needs to go well?

Second Nature—“…With the moon full and white and cold. He saw the shadows shift and shiver like living things over the ice-crusted snow. Black on white.” 

Where is he? Why is he there? What is moving on the ice? Is it dangerous?

JD Robb Connections in Death—“The legalized torture of socializing lined right up with premeditated murder when you added the requirement of fancy shoes.”

Obviously, this man deals in homicide cases to make such a comparison. Why does he hate socializing or dressing up? Does he think it’s all a game where people hide their true selves?

River’s End—“The monster was back. The smell of him was blood. The sound of him was terror.”

Who is the monster? Why is he so terrifying? If there’s blood, then he’s killed before? Who is he after?

See how her lines whirlpool you into her stories—without the dreaded purple prose? Her sentences, through strong verbs and continuous action, drives home the purpose, the motivation, and the needs of her characters. She gets straight to the point using ONLY the words that matter.

VIVID, LAYERED DESCRIPTIONS

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Not only does Nora paint a clear picture of the scene she drops you in, she layers it with action and a sense of direction. And she never stops the flow of events to spend five minutes explaining the Polaroid of a tree or beach or fire. No, she draws you into the story, then takes you on a journey. She plants you in the frozen tree line with Alice from Come Sundown, drives you through pounding sleet to the looming house on Whiskey Beach with Eli, and then flies you over a raging fire with Rowan in Chasing Fire.

No matter which book you read, Nora’s vivid and layered descriptions suck you into the story. 

Examples:

Come Sundown—“Alice Bovine relieved herself behind a thin screen of lodgepole pines. She’d had to trudge through knee-high snow for the screen, and her bare ass (with the dragonfly tattoo she’d had inked in Portland) shivered in the wind that soughed like the surf.”

Whisky Beach—”Through the chilly curtain of sleet, in the intermittent wash of the great light on the jutting cliff to the south, the massive silhouette of Bluff House loomed over Whiskey Beach. It faced the cold, turbulent Atlantic like a challenge.”

Chasing Fire—”Caught in the crosshairs of wind above the Bitterroots, the jump ship fought to find its stream. Fire boiling over the land jabbed its fists up through towers of smoke as if trying for a knockout punch. 

From her seat Rowan Tripp angled to watch a seriously pissed-off Mother Nature’s big show. In minutes she’d be inside it, enclosed in the mad world of searing heat, leaping flames, choking smoke. She’d wage war with shovel and saw, grit and guile. A war she didn’t intend to lose.”

FLAWED CHARACTERS

Yes, she gives us sexy women and handsome men—but not perfect ones. And I don’t mean she slaps a lazy eye, a chipped tooth, or hammer toes on them to skew perfection. She goes much deeper, gifting them with internal demons and real-life struggles, thorns in their side that they can’t shake. And she capitalizes on these by showing how they learn to live with their struggles, not by making them disappear.

Think about it. An alcoholic who kicks his addiction for the love of his life is still a person who battles addiction. Now he’s just a person in love battling addiction. And even though he’s successful, it doesn’t mean he’s not tempted or that his past actions have suddenly disappeared. It means he’s found a place for them and a way to cope.

As humans, we all have flaws, tendencies towards behaviors we’d rather not possess. Shopaholics, gossipers, enviers, adulterers…the list goes on and on. And though we might not act on them, we still battle.

Too often, we are eager to write away the flaws, to resolve them completely. But I believe that’s not always the best way. In fact, I believe Nora has proven, through her extremely (yes, I added an adjective on purpose because she deserves it) successful career that characters should reflect reality. Sex addicts don’t find love and never think about sex. Obsessive-compulsive people don’t get married and decide it’s okay to live in a messy house. 

Romance and love should not cure your character—or lobotomize their brain—but it should heal them, bring light into their otherwise dark world, and show them there is hope despite imperfections.

Yet another technique perfected by Nora Roberts.

WELL-EXECUTED CHARACTER ARCS

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You know what you’ll never find in a Nora Roberts’ book? Insta-Love. Why? Because it doesn’t exist and rarely works well in novels. If you believe it does, you might have it confused with its sisters, Insta-Lust and Insta-Infatuation. Trust me, they are not the same.

Now to understand why Nora Roberts is so amazing at writing characters arcs, it helps to know what a character arc is. A character arc is the inner journey that a character takes from the beginning of the story to the end. It’s the change, good or bad or flat, that takes place in the character. Sounds easy enough, right?

Well, it’s not. Those changes have to occur at the perfect time in the story, or the story fails. Imagine playing the right keys on the piano at the wrong time. It’s no longer a song, well, not the one you meant to play. 

The same goes for the character’s journey.

And while I’d love to give examples of Nora’s mastery in this category, I can’t without spoilers. But I promise, if you read just one of her books you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. 

WRITES WITHOUT BOUNDARIES

What does this mean? Have you checked the list of over 200+ books that Nora has written? Surprise, they’re not all romance. She has paved her way through thrillers, suspense, and fantasy—with ease. 

But how? Because she’s just that damn good.

SEX SCENES ROCK

On a heat level, I would say most of what I’ve read from Nora lingers around the middle. In a world full of ghost peppers, she’s a jalapeño. But sex scenes are about more than just heat, they should be about the emotion. They should make you feel something beyond the surface layer, something beyond the raw act.

The lack of emotion is where some books fail, but not Nora. No, she rises to the occasion. Because she doesn’t make sex in a book just about sex. Even the sex that is “just sex” has a purpose, as it should. Why is the character stripping off their clothes and laying with another person they don’t love or care about? The answer shouldn’t be just because. It should be the same as with all the other scenes, action, fights, sex, death, etc. should add meaning to the story and propel the story forward. 

If not, execute the scene immediately. 

Nora knows this. Her characters make out when it fits the flow of the story. And she does a wonderful job capturing the emotion of these scenes.

Example from The Witness:

“When she thought she couldn’t bear it, couldn’t contain it, everything went bright and free. She heard herself moan, the long, long throaty sound of it as her head dropped heavily on his shoulder. 

She wanted to twine around him, curl inside him, but he angled her back, wrapped her trembling legs around his waist. And he drove into her.”

If that tiny snippet doesn’t make you feel something… [smh] 

PREDICTABLE ENDINGS DELIVERED UNPREDICTABLY

Before I share how great Nora’s endings are, I need to climb on my soapbox. Romance novels are predictable. Period. Dot. Com. It’s not a romance novel unless there is a happy for now or a happy ever after. That’s why people, just like myself, read a romance novel. Because we enjoy the reassurance that everything will work out. Despite the conflict, this couple will pull through. 

True romance readers welcome the happy endings.

So it always blows my mind when I read a negative rating on anyone’s romance book that says that the novel was too predictable. Or, I knew they would get together after the first chapter.

Duh, is that not the point?

Now, I’ll climb down and give Nora her dues. She has a way of adding enough suspense and drama to the known, that I’m often forced to remind myself of the expected. No matter what mud and muck she drags her characters through, they will end up happy for now or happy ever after.

It’s the reason I read romance novels and watch Hallmark movies. Knowing the characters I’ve grown attached to will ride off into the sunset, surrounded by rainbows and butterflies, leaves me warm and fuzzy. Nothing drives me more crazy than a cliffhanger or a surprise horrible ending. No offense to those that love them, my daughter included.

But as for me, I need Nora’s unpredictable delivery of the predictable.

Do you have a favorite author, one you tend to read more than the others? Are you a writer? If so, what author inspires you? Please share!