Once More With Feeling

by Nora Roberts

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts delivers a novel of ambition and passion as two musicians get a second chance at love.

Available digitally for the first time.

Five years ago, Raven Williams and Brandon Carstairs were the celebrity couple of the day, dominating the gossip columns. And though their breakup devastated Raven personally, her professional life continued to flourish.

Now Brandon is back, dangling the project of a lifetime in front of her: joining him in scoring a musical destined to be a blockbuster. Raven is determined to keep her emotional distance from the man who broke her heart, but note by note, the sparks between them reignite…

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Second Chance, Adult Fiction, Category Romance

173 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1983

About the author

Nora 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.

Reviews

[Mara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was verging towards a 2.5 (second chance romance isn't my fav but the Nora writing always reels me in), but the hero manhandles the heroine constantly in a way that really put me off

[Camilla · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, I read this to put off reading something denser on my nightstand, but it was sooo bad. Nora Roberts' writing has improved over time (this was published in 1983) though, of course it's dated- white pant suits, mauve hats, lots of smoking,,, The worst part was the violence; the male character handled the female roughly, spoke to her roughly, was over-the-top angry. I guess it was the only way for a romance writer to let us know that the male was IN LOVE. Yucky and creepy.

[Beeg Panda]

WHY am I struggling to finish this good book? Almost 4 months....
Maybe its the "elusive" writing style which I usually love about this author.
Its definitely a matter of "it's me, not you"

[Pamela(AllHoney) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raven Williams is a successful singer/songwriter. Brandon Carstairs is a man from her past who walked out on her five years before. Now he is back to persuade her to work with him on an up and coming musical.

One of those oldies that didn't really stand the test of time. Back in the 80s I might have liked it but it was just okay for me now.

[Francesca ❆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one didn’t impress me that much…I particularly didn’t like the main characters (he’s a bit of an asshole and too pushy, she’s naive and doesn’t seem to know what she wants half the time) and their romance lacked that spark that makes a romance swoony or interesting.

[Gina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Easily my least favorite work by Ms. Roberts thus far. I have read and enjoyed all of her more recent works & started working my way back through to her early books.

Unfortunately I'm finding that most of the early ones are just silly romance, and not even good romance - instead, like in this one, its a strong manly man who knows what he wants and what the beautiful but delicate female lead wants, and if she doesn't want it right away, well, he's right and she's wrong. Borderline rapey in parts, very much not ok.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This didn't work for me; the old fashioned alpha male stuff doesn't feel romantic anymore. He keeps manipulating her, physically and emotionally, and it's all in her best interests. She keeps saying no but meaning yes, pleased when he forces himself on her.

I was just letting it ride when the final confrontation broke me. She has to rush to her mother's dying bedside, and he's off having a tantrum about her not trusting him unconditionally in the face of all his manipulation so she can't tell him where she's going. Of course reading notes is beneath him, so she has to apologize to him for making him feel sad when he shows up and throws another public tantrum a few weeks later. Uh, dude, not romantic. At all.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, so this wasn’t one of my favorite NR romances, but it was still good…towards the end that is. I know a lot of these books can be problematic for our 2021 times, but they’re set in the 80s, and for whatever reason, I like those type of romances. Still, this one just didn’t reach to me the way previous 80s NR romances have. I felt that the story wasn’t very thorough, the conflict wasn’t really a conflict, and Raven’s opposition to opening up to Brand got to be annoying. Of course, the scenery and descriptions were excellent, as one is to expect from NR, but I just couldn’t get into all of the story. Sorry. I think that Promise Me Tomorrow was way better, and surprisingly it’s the one book NR doesn’t want to ever reprint. Who knows why? 🤷🏻‍♀️ Anyways, this book was ok 🙂

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bueno, me ha parecido una pena que con lo que me gustan a mí los libros de Nora Roberts este no me haya convencido.
Este libro lo publicó la autora hace 35 años, prácticamente al inicio de su carrera y es una novela corta que, a pesar de tener poco más de 200 páginas (en la edición en la que lo he leído yo), se me ha hecho eterno.
La primera mitad del libro me estaba gustando bastante, me hubiera gustado que la autora profundizara un poco más en el trabajo de los protagonistas, que eran cantantes.
Como digo, la primera mitad del libro me estaba entreteniendo y lo estaba pasando bien hasta que han llegado las primeras justificaciones acerca de algunos actos y han empezado a desvelarse algunas incógnitas del pasado que es cuando he empezado a aburrirme, no me creía a los persoanjes, no he logrado empatizar con ellos y me he quedado algo fría.
Diría que lo único que salva el libro es el estilo narrativo dela autora que, como siempre, es bellísimo y transmite un montón.
Como lo tengo recién acabado creo que es importante dejar que el libro repose en mi mente un par de días antes de seguir escribiendo la reseña, por lo que la actualizare en unos días (o no, quién sabe, igual me quedo conforme con lo que he escrito hasta ahora y no tengo nada más que añadir, ya lo veremos).

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Raven Williams is at the height of her singing career when Brand Carstairs comes back into her life. Brand and Raven had a passionate relationship 5 years before, but he left when she wouldn’t completely trust him. Now he’s back and asks her to co-write the music on an upcoming, much anticipated movie. Can these two learn to trust and love again? This is Nora's first exes-trope, and it's not bad considering. To hear a full discussion of Once More with Feeling listen to Season 1, Ep. #5 "Nora Roberts 1983: This Magic Moment, Tonight and Always, Once More with Feeling" of Romancing the Shelf, a Nora Roberts podcast: https://romancingtheshelf.libsyn.com/

[A G A VAN DEN BOS · Rating 2 out of 5]

A typical Nora Roberts Romance, but disturbingly one which also depicts inordinate physical violence and male domination.
While it has also become the norm to expect obligatory sex to fill an occasional chapter (or part thereof), three lengthy consecutive chapters essentially replicating themselves is a bit over the top.
A book which disturbingly seems to suggest that relationship abuse is okay, and sex not only justifies the means, but also establishes the perfect partnership.

[L.M.]

I'm not sure where the romance was in this one. Was it when he pinned her to the couch and threatened to rape her? Or when he kidnapped her from the restaurant, forced her into his car and threatened to strangle her? Or one of the many times he jerked on her arm or forced her to kiss him when she was pleading with him not to? I'm sure glad I wasn't dating back in those days!

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brand is a walking red flag.

[Meryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think 2 few chapters and a quicker HEA would have been my choice, but I enjoyed this one even though it wasn't my favorite choice of character professions.
Did I detect a forerunner of Roarke in the character of Brand?

[Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars ⭐️ Once More With Feeling Is contemporary romance about 2 musicians who loved each other, but they had to deal with there stuff. The hero is an alphahole and the heroine was dealing with her alcoholic mother. It’s a solid story.

TW: alcoholic parent, death of a parent

[Laura Calderone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Già pubblicato in Italia nell'84
per la serie Bluemoon dalla Curcio Editore
come Dolcissime labbra.
3,5 in realtà... tenero.
Carino leggere la storia di due star della musica.
Diverse da quel che in genere succede nella vita reale,
che ci fa sognare mondi diversi.

[Jade Dove · Rating 1 out of 5]

The toxic masculinity on display here is appalling. What’s worse is this woman simply can’t resist this manipulative, controlling, quick-tempered, possessive dickhead (who can’t take “no”). Roberts can write a clean sentence, shame it was wasted on a story so awful. Pandering as hell.

[Nikita · Rating 2 out of 5]

These two got on my nerves, a lot.

[Cindi]

Another good one for Nora Roberts.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Predictable and I didn't connect with any of the characters.

[Leane · Rating 4 out of 5]

For 80's Nora, this was pretty good.

[Dennis Raffaelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Soft porn with violence included.

[anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was a confusing and frustrating book. i thought there was more to raven’s trauma than just her mother’s disease. the way she was talking about ”the men” and the way she was acting made me think of some kind sexual assault.

immediately didn’t like brandon. i hoped marc was the love interest.

oh how i love condescending men.

“you have a tendency to be emotional rather than sensible.”
“Terrific. Do I get a leash and collar for Christmas?”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Brand advised.”

i generally don’t like the “they met after X years after hard separation” plot. the way mmc came into her life and started making advances on her was cruel.

this moment with marc was so precious and the best one in the book.

“I haven’t hurt you?”
“No,” he said so simply she knew he spoke the truth. “You’ve made me feel good. Have I made you uncomfortable?”
“No.” She smiled at him. “You’ve made me feel good.”

🥰🥰

“When the time comes, I won’t need to get you drunk on champagne or on exhaustion to have you lie with me. I could have you now, this minute, and after five minutes of struggle you’d be more than willing.”

so she said “no” at the last moment and he didn’t like it?

“They’d been alone; he’d wanted her. She had wanted him. Then everything had gone wrong. Raven remembered how she had shouted at him, near hysteria. He’d been patient, then his patience had snapped, though not in the way it had today. Then, she remembered, he’d been cold, horribly, horribly cold.”

i really wished marc was the true mmc. that way we would’ve gotten a gentle romance but nope. it’s another book with kind of naïve fmc and arrogant and terrible mmc.

[Latham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m going to give it up for Nora here, as it feels like the first time in her back catalogue that she’s attempted to break out of her regular formula; this sort of enemies to lovers, he’s a domineering, manhandling asshole, and she’s a submissive yet feisty woman who trembles in his touch despite her misgivings. It’s the same thing in different settings; however with Once More With Feeling, Nora is moving away from that trope into another famous romance trope of second chance romance. Two famous and beloved musicians must work on a score together while re-discovering their lost love for each other. It was a lot of sweeter and had far more heart than what I thought Roberts was capable of at this time. A firm, tight authorial approach, no pages are wasted and the romance felt like her most fully formed yet. It’s still a three stars, just a quick afternoon read but not too bad for an early Nora Roberts novel.

[A · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read as part of the Every Nora Roberts Book in Publishing Order book club. Notes pasted below exactly as written while reading.

Once More with Feeling
- Ah yes tiny pixie woman
- Here we go with the emotionally constipated asshole man and the tiny fragile woman with a fiery temper
- I hate her already
- So he leaves for five years, comes back, and is just like… entitled to touch her? Ok.
- I’m bored of reading about rich and famous people
- “You’re hurting me” because she didn’t say yes to sleeping with him
- Anyway this is just more of the same, no more notes unless something surprising happens
- Ahhhhhhh a rape threat in this one! I see we’re taking our cue from Blithe Images
- He’s creepy
- I guess they’re in love and I have whiplash how he turned from creepy and controlling to cozy and romantic
- Whatever. Zero stars because it had a whole ass rape threat.

[Sean Harding · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another pedestrian fairly dull outing here. Everything felt fairly predictable and there are those moments where for want of a better description it is either zero or a hundred.
To put it another way when some people rate books or movies fit they like it it gets five starts if they don't one star, there are n shades in-between it is either all or nothing, and the relationships in these books feel that way, it is either insane unrealistic feelings of galaxies been formed in your brain when you kiss and then two paragraphs later the world has ended and the couple look like they could never be reconciled outside a miracle. There are no shades in-between that describe the realities of relationships. Sigh. Anyway apart from all that it was still fairly dull.

[PATRICIA KUNA · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good book. I like the characters a lot. Brandon wants Raven to work with him on a film score. She agrees but he keeps wanting more.

He broke her heart. They do work together. And eventually come together to do this score and create great movie.

They finally get together until she has to leave with her mother is in an accident and not expected to live. She rushes home but to late.

Brandon is not happy with her and she tries to explain but at first he will not listen.
They do find that love that they had five years ago.

[Scott Rhine · Rating 3 out of 5]

by and large a great escape into the world of the rich and famous. However two things marred the perfection. First, the fights all felt very contrived and artificial. Second, the guy roughing her up really turned her on. Really? Feels like a guy wrote some of this. Especially when she's ready to go four more times the day she loses her virginity. Usually, it hurts the woman for a little while after.

[monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reencuentro

Muy linda ,interesante.Vemos las cosas desde el punto de vista de los famosos,sus vidas lo que dan y pierden debido a ello.en este caso de dos cantantes que se aman y el tiempo y distancia no a cambiado eso.su reencuentro trae consigo momentos tanto dolorosos y necesarios para sanar heridas pasadas y poder tener un futuro juntos.el único pero que le encuentro a la historia es que necesitaba un prólogo un y después que paso,por lo demás muy bien.

[Jeannine Wickliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ravens singing career has taken off but the thought of possibly working on the musical score of the movie Fantasy is a dream come true. Brian Carstairs is offering her that chance. Can Raven afford the possibility of working with Brian after he broke her heart 5 years earlier. Can they work together on this project or will old hurts and mistakes keep them apart. as they move closer, will new mistakes put further distance between them