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Wild at Heart: Less of a Stranger / Her Mother's Keeper
These two classics by New York Times bestselling author NORA ROBERTS prove that when love is meant to be, nothing can stop it
Less of a Stranger
There's no way Megan Miller is going to fall for David Katcherton—no matter how handsome or intriguing he is! The man is after her beloved grandfather's amusement park, and she won't give it up without a fight. But David is a man used to getting what he wants, and Megan soon discovers that she may be next on his wish list.
Her Mother's Keeper
Gwen Lacrosse doesn't know what the deal is with her mother's new boarder, Luke Powers. One thing's for sure—never has a man tempted her more. Despite his obvious skill with words and women, Gwen is confident she can resist all his charms. Though the more she pushes him out of her head, the deeper he creeps into her heart.
Less of a Stranger
There's no way Megan Miller is going to fall for David Katcherton—no matter how handsome or intriguing he is! The man is after her beloved grandfather's amusement park, and she won't give it up without a fight. But David is a man used to getting what he wants, and Megan soon discovers that she may be next on his wish list.
Her Mother's Keeper
Gwen Lacrosse doesn't know what the deal is with her mother's new boarder, Luke Powers. One thing's for sure—never has a man tempted her more. Despite his obvious skill with words and women, Gwen is confident she can resist all his charms. Though the more she pushes him out of her head, the deeper he creeps into her heart.
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
3 people are currently reading
523 people want to read
About the author
Nora Roberts
1,226 books60.3k followersNora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Hideaway, Under Currents, Come Sundown, The Awakening, Legacy, and coming in November 2021 -- The Becoming -- the second book in The Dragon Heart Legacy. She is also the author of the futuristic suspense In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 13, 2025
This book contains Less Of A Stranger and Her Mother's Keeper.
Less Of A Stranger is a quick rainy day read. Good characters, very little story development because of how short the book is but it was a decent read. It is one of her older books so you have to realize that going in.
Her Mother's Keeper is not as good but still an OK read.
Less Of A Stranger is a quick rainy day read. Good characters, very little story development because of how short the book is but it was a decent read. It is one of her older books so you have to realize that going in.
Her Mother's Keeper is not as good but still an OK read.
June 6, 2023
OF COURSE I’d already read these two stories in separate editions, back in 2014 and 2016. Damn. I wish they’d stop compiling her books like this, gets the collectors all confused as to which books they have and haven’t read!
November 26, 2019
If you like your men to be almost rapists then this is the book
January 30, 2026
Both stories were kind of stupid. Easy to guess plots.
January 2, 2015
Less of a Stranger - 2/5 - Some of these early Nora Roberts books are completely awful. I'm supposed to think that a guy who creeps about and stalks a woman in the grocery store and crosses physical boundaries like touching and kissing without any hint from the woman that it's okay, is romantic? He (the Hero Katch) is arrogant and bent on owning everything...including the heroine. He doesn't even know her and he tells himself that he will have her - it's as though he's saving up for a new car or something. And I'm sorry, but how is "We both know if I'd been a little more persuasive tonight, I'd have had you," even the slightest bit romantic...no wonder the heroine hates him. He also blows hot and cold. One minute he's ready to have sex with her on a beach and she's trying to stop him and the next she's trying to have a sleepover and he's pushing her out the door. Incidentally, we never see his POV, which I don't like.
The heroine, Meg, is overly suspicious and thinks the worst of him, even though all he's done so far is make a few unwanted moves. He doesn't listen to the word no, but she honestly doesn't seem to mean it. She tells him no and then a minute later she changes her mind. Talk about mixed messages. Not that the hero understands the word no. About halfway through the book, the hero becomes a bit more likeable, but then the heroine gets out of control annoying. She thinks he's deceitful and manipulative until she finds out he's involved in several charities - then he's a nice, trustworthy guy. And despite her hatred of him, she fell in love with him about a week after meeting him. This whole book irritated me. So far, I don't recommend anything by Nora Roberts before 1990.
Her Mother's Keeper - 1/5 - Ugh. Not a good book at all. We start out with an annoying heroine who leaps and bounds to all the wrong conclusions, feels the need to control her mother's life, is outright rude to people she doesn't know and is actually something of a whiny spoiled brat. The hero isn't much better. He spends a good portion of the book being a complete asshat. He seduces the heroine knowing that she thinks he's sleeping with her mother...yeah, try to follow that... He never bothers to correct her. He's mean to her, he humiliates her and laughs at her and doesn't seem to respect her all that much. And their first kiss? You call that romance? This guy blows hot and cold too. One moment he's talking about how it's going to be when they make love and the next she's begging for it and he's pushing her away. I couldn't figure out why she fell in love with the dick head. And maybe this would have been better if we even once got inside the hero's head so we could see that he was actually a decent guy, but we don't, so we think he's just an sort of charming but very arrogant asshole. There's also a weird pedo vibe where the hero admits to thinking of the heroine as a child and trying to get past that...all the while he's lusting after her.
The heroine, Meg, is overly suspicious and thinks the worst of him, even though all he's done so far is make a few unwanted moves. He doesn't listen to the word no, but she honestly doesn't seem to mean it. She tells him no and then a minute later she changes her mind. Talk about mixed messages. Not that the hero understands the word no. About halfway through the book, the hero becomes a bit more likeable, but then the heroine gets out of control annoying. She thinks he's deceitful and manipulative until she finds out he's involved in several charities - then he's a nice, trustworthy guy. And despite her hatred of him, she fell in love with him about a week after meeting him. This whole book irritated me. So far, I don't recommend anything by Nora Roberts before 1990.
Her Mother's Keeper - 1/5 - Ugh. Not a good book at all. We start out with an annoying heroine who leaps and bounds to all the wrong conclusions, feels the need to control her mother's life, is outright rude to people she doesn't know and is actually something of a whiny spoiled brat. The hero isn't much better. He spends a good portion of the book being a complete asshat. He seduces the heroine knowing that she thinks he's sleeping with her mother...yeah, try to follow that... He never bothers to correct her. He's mean to her, he humiliates her and laughs at her and doesn't seem to respect her all that much. And their first kiss? You call that romance? This guy blows hot and cold too. One moment he's talking about how it's going to be when they make love and the next she's begging for it and he's pushing her away. I couldn't figure out why she fell in love with the dick head. And maybe this would have been better if we even once got inside the hero's head so we could see that he was actually a decent guy, but we don't, so we think he's just an sort of charming but very arrogant asshole. There's also a weird pedo vibe where the hero admits to thinking of the heroine as a child and trying to get past that...all the while he's lusting after her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 6, 2014
Less of a Stranger
There's no way Megan Miller is going to fall for David Katcherton—no matter how handsome or intriguing he is! The man is after her beloved grandfather's amusement park, and she won't give it up without a fight. But David is a man used to getting what he wants, and Megan soon discovers that she may be next on his wish list.
Her Mother's Keeper
Gwen Lacrosse doesn't know what the deal is with her mother's new boarder, Luke Powers. One thing's for sure—never has a man tempted her more. Despite his obvious skill with words and women, Gwen is confident she can resist all his charms. Though the more she pushes him out of her head, the deeper he creeps into her heart.
There's no way Megan Miller is going to fall for David Katcherton—no matter how handsome or intriguing he is! The man is after her beloved grandfather's amusement park, and she won't give it up without a fight. But David is a man used to getting what he wants, and Megan soon discovers that she may be next on his wish list.
Her Mother's Keeper
Gwen Lacrosse doesn't know what the deal is with her mother's new boarder, Luke Powers. One thing's for sure—never has a man tempted her more. Despite his obvious skill with words and women, Gwen is confident she can resist all his charms. Though the more she pushes him out of her head, the deeper he creeps into her heart.
April 2, 2014
As always, Nora Roberts produces stories that are colorful and paint wonderful pictures in my mind. I loved the bad boy image of the hero in Less of a Stranger and was fascinated by the setting of the amusement park the story took place in. It's a very different style than what she normally writes, but then that's what makes her books so interesting. The same goes for Her Mother's Keeper, which takes place in Louisiana. I especially like the description of the bayou and New Orleans. It was refreshing
March 16, 2014
This is a reprint of 30 year old books and it feels it. The first one is the bad guy winning the good girl--come to think of it, so is the second.
It is clumsy and painful to read--never fear all works out in the end, duh.
The second was just creepy as the heroine falls in love with the man she believes is her mother's lover. No effort set the record straight is made until the end, which has a fairly trite resolution.
My review--yuck.
It is clumsy and painful to read--never fear all works out in the end, duh.
The second was just creepy as the heroine falls in love with the man she believes is her mother's lover. No effort set the record straight is made until the end, which has a fairly trite resolution.
My review--yuck.
July 26, 2014
I think these two books are too far fetched.Both books have the characters falling in love at first sight, wanting to marry each other right away. Of course the guy in the first book is totally rich. As for the second book, I was totally creeped out, the main character continues make out and want to sleep with the guy she believes to be her mother's younger lover! I say "oh Please!" I'm all for sappy romances, but come on, make it a little believable!
July 24, 2015
I found both books:'Less of a stranger' & 'Her mother's keeper' proved to be highly interesting as well as entertaining! Nora Roberts never fails to create extremely intriguing characters; She had me hooked after the first few paragraphs. I honestly had trouble putting down this one and literally finished this it within a day which is saying something when you have a fairly busy schedule! It's definitely worth reading!
January 3, 2015
Two books that the author wrote over 30 years ago. The stories still work because they do not seems to be based on anything time period specific. The two stories were just pretty similar.
October 5, 2014
Who knew Nora Roberts could write books without sex! They still kiss almost upon first meeting, but everything is sweet and romantic after that.
October 15, 2014
I loved it. Classic love story by Nora Roberts. Short and sweet stories with lots of romance but not a lot of sex.
July 4, 2015
Mjög fyrirsjánleg en fín ;)
December 9, 2015
Nice set of romance stories, but I must say in both stories the main female annoyed me to a degree. Light reading, a good time filler.
June 12, 2014
Liked them both!
June 19, 2014
Finished "Less of a Stranger."
Fun!
"Her Mother's Keeper"
Talk about strange...
Fun!
"Her Mother's Keeper"
Talk about strange...
April 30, 2017
It is a great book to read
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews