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La isla de las flores

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Laine Simmons estaba, por fin, preparada para enfrentarse al pasado, y viajó hasta Hawai para reconciliarse con un padre al que apenas recordaba. Sin embargo, no había atravesado medio mundo para que Dillon O’Brian, el atractivo socio de su padre, la acusara de tener motivos ocultos. ¿Cómo se atrevía a meterse en sus asuntos familiares y, además, tener la audacia de encender su corazón siempre que estaba cerca?

143 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 1982

630 people are currently reading
1522 people want to read

About the author

Nora Roberts

1,209 books59.7k followers
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.

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5 stars
1,529 (34%)
4 stars
1,198 (26%)
3 stars
1,137 (25%)
2 stars
448 (10%)
1 star
133 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews
Profile Image for Azet.
1,095 reviews284 followers
March 12, 2022
Laine Simmons is a teacher living in Paris and travels to Kauai Hawaii to meet with her estranged father.When she lands at the Airport she meets the very enigmatic friend of her fathers Dillon Òbrian who she dislikes on sight.That feeling is highly mutual since Dillon mistakes her for being a gold digger who have ignored her father over all these years and has only come back for money. They later decide on a truce however,and embark on a journey of romance in the tropical paradise.

Its been a while since i read any old school Romances of Nora Roberts.I have missed her dynamic heroes who didn`t care shit and always followed their hearts and heroines who manages to tame them into love-sick fools.Laine didn`t know how to handle the larger than life Dillon who is a man of many talents.He teaches her to fly a airplane,teaches her to snorkel and had rather ride a motorcycle than a car.He is a man of the sky and the sea and was so wild and arrogant that Laine couldn`t resist his web of danger and seduction.I mean, he is so unmannered and cocky that he even kissed her senselessly on their first meeting!Laine is a innocent beauty who love life after all the hardships she endured in her child-hood.She bloomed like a flower under the beauty of Kauai and however much Dillon distrusted her and was cynical-he fell head over heels."Island of Flowers" is a beautiful and riveting love-story, love how Dillon searched for Laine all over Paris near the end.This is what i call the magic of Nora Roberts!
Profile Image for Cyndi.
2,450 reviews122 followers
November 25, 2019
I so very much hate to only give a book by the Great Nora only 2 stars. But there it is. So as the great Stephen King wrote in his On Writing book, if you don't like a book tell the author why. Don't just slam it and walk away.
Okay. My problem with this book was the characters. I am a character reader. I like my characters to be well developed with personalities. I don't have to like their personalities, but I want them to not feel cardboard. In this book our heroine was taken from her father at a young age. Her evil mother dropped her off in a convent where she spent the rest of her days. Whenever she saw her mother it was quick and show-offy. Her mother didn't like anything that interfered with her parties in Paris. She took all the money and gifts from her daughter's father and spent it. She even kept the many letters he sent.
Our heroine grows up cloistered, becomes a teacher. Then her mother dies in a car accident and the truth comes out. She finds her father's address among her mother's papers and uses the last of her funds to fly to Hawaii to see him.
Since she never wrote back he thinks she was just an ungrateful child. He mostly ignores her while his handsome protegee is cruel. She only tells the truth to the housekeeper, swearing her to secrecy.
Of course, she falls instantly in love with the protegee. He breaks her heart again and again. But we wrap the whole thing up with marriage.
Don't ask me. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Like I said, maybe if the characters were more developed some of this might have made sense. Or maybe not.
Profile Image for paige (ptsungirl).
875 reviews1,021 followers
June 10, 2023
"Blame won't help, and looking for the past is useless. It's time I looked for something new."
Profile Image for Tmny.
92 reviews11 followers
August 31, 2013
Horrifying how Roberts tries to pass off sexual assault and harassment as "romance fiction".
Profile Image for Esther .
959 reviews197 followers
August 5, 2024
Old Nora Roberts book.

I enjoyed the it. Older Nora Roberts book. Don't know if it will appeal to everyone, but I really liked it.
Heroine Mother has kept her away from her father.
She finds out after her death. She has no idea that her Father tried to stay in contact until she arrives.
The hero is partners with her Father in owning a small airline on the island.
Loved the alpha male hero.
Appreciated the progression of their relationship.
Also the aspect of Father daughter relationship and how it evolves.
Heroine was strong and sweet.
Nice ending.
Profile Image for Chris.
1,316 reviews38 followers
August 20, 2021
Re-Read: 6/2020

There have been several years since the last time I read this book. I've read the prototype in English and I've also read the Greek version. This is one of the few books by Nora Roberts that I actually prefer the translated version. It was the first book I've read by Nora Roberts, ages ago!
It may not be extravagant, but still, it holds a special place in my heart!
Profile Image for *CJ*.
5,097 reviews624 followers
May 30, 2020
"Island of Flowers" is the story of Laine and Dillon.

A sweet short story, in which our heroine travels to Hawaii to meet her long estranged father, and soon finds all the happiness she always wanted. She meets the brooding and cynical hero, her father's right hand who takes an instant dislike to her, but soon things take a turn and it changes into passion. There is a seemingly distant dad, a cunning OW, and a lovely housekeeper who add some spice to the plot. Ends in a HEA.

Safe
3/5
Profile Image for Chava.
413 reviews
June 30, 2016
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator really got on my nerves.
The story was rather troubling to me. The male, Dylan, is too forceful and it felt violent and intrusive to me. The woman lets him do it. Not romantic to me at all!!!
Profile Image for Tom Long.
37 reviews
March 24, 2014
A rather abrupt change in tone takes place as the woman who had been raised in a French nunnery is sexually assaulted by the charter pilot who picks her up at the Honolulu airport. I'm not quite sure where Nora was coming from in this story as the man forces himself on her twice and over the course of these assaults they fall in love. But the character of her father's housekeeper was awesome. I want her to be a part of our household. Of course Roberts can write, and Hawaii is a favorite setting, but the confusion of passion with aggression put me off.
Profile Image for Thenia.
4,406 reviews180 followers
May 14, 2019
A straitforward old-school romance, where Laine travels to Hawaii to find her estranged father, and meets Dillon, his much younger and pretty hostile business partner.

Dillon, who believes that , is less than happy when she arrives at their doorstep.

Laine, who , but after her mother's death, she's determined to at least make the effort of reconciling with him. She doesn't understand Dillon's attitude at first, but when she does, her pride doesn't let her disabuse him of his opinion of her. She wants to focus on getting reacquainted with her father before returning to her life as teacher in Paris.

Feelings quickly develop and plans start changing, and eventually lead to a happily ever after ending, but not before .

Short and enjoyable but quite dated, if in nothing else then at least the formula that fits a 1980s romance format.
Profile Image for Judith van Beek.
18 reviews
July 20, 2022
Lees dit boek alleen op het strand. Vergelijkbaar met een slechte romcom: je weet op pagina 1 al hoe het af gaat lopen, maar toch kijk je m af omdat het wel lekker wegkijkt. Naderhand vraag je je af wat je nu eigenlijk hebt gekeken en waarom.
Profile Image for Maura.
3,883 reviews113 followers
January 2, 2015
There is not a single one of these really early Nora Roberts books that I've really liked. This one is no exception. The heroine is overly innocent, but at least she's got some backbone in dealing with the hero. She is also somewhat idiotic in her insistence on not telling her story, with the usual excuses, doesn't want pity, no one would believe her anyway, yada yada. Meanwhile, there's uncomfortable tension and nobody likes her because they believe the worst of her. Whatever. Then she falls in love with the hero after one day (insta-love much) when he's been nothing but rude to her and has confused her greatly. My God the man nearly raped her and she wasn't angry, just sad that he was upset with her. I would have loved to have gotten inside the hero's head - even if only for a moment (but Nora didn't switch POVs in her early stuff). Why for example, did he attack the heroine with an angry kiss not 30 minutes after meeting her? Completely out of the blue and not the least bit sexy. That's the sort of stuff that gets a man slapped and arrested in the real world. He was pretty good at leaping to conclusions though. He was also pretty good at manhandling her - grabbing her by the arms and shaking her. And how disturbing is it that on more than on occasion he likens her to a 12-year-old (both in looks and in personality)? And the OTW, Orchid King? What kind of name is that for a Hawaiian beauty? Overall, the story was kind of okay I guess, but I didn't really like it. Hard to find the characters all that likable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
1,312 reviews8 followers
May 13, 2018
Re-read
1.75 stars
Didn't like the hero. Accused heroine of being a whore and attempted to force himself on her and when she leaves from there he finds her and then suddenly he loves her and cant live without her and he gets forgiven also.
In real life he would have been kicked to the curb or be in prison.
Profile Image for Dee.
2,672 reviews21 followers
December 28, 2009
Review haiku:
Divorce shatters child.
She seeks father years unseen.
Love in Hawaii.
Profile Image for Lyndi W..
2,042 reviews210 followers
January 1, 2015
So god damn corny and stupid. "Oh my, kiss me again, Dillon!"

I can see why other people hate this story, but the cheesiness and ridiculous is exactly what I was looking for right now.
Profile Image for Strix.
261 reviews18 followers
June 23, 2022
aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

okay so! I liked parts of this book - the heroine being a sweetly innocent tourist of Hawaii's natural wonders, learning to fly (in one sweet scene), swimming, more. I liked the housekeeper being a kind mother-figure to the heroine, and parts of the banter between heroine and hero.

But the hero R U I N S it. god he's an asshole. The climax of the book is him attempting rape on the heroine, then blaming her for making him do it as he leaves in a fit of having a conscience.

Before that, he's just a raging asshole.

See - the concept is, the heroine's parents divorced when she was seven and her mom took her to France, and promptly set to neglecting her. Her mom destroyed the letters her dad sent, kept the money, and let her believe that her dad abandoned her.

After her mom dies in an accident she flies out to Hawaii to find her dad, and immediately runs into the hero - who takes one look at her, hears that she's here to meet her dad, and he decides that she's clearly here to lie, cheat, steal, and hurt her father. He accuses her of being an actress, he interrupts every meeting between her and her father, doesn't let her go anywhere alone, and through the entire book accuses her of being a liar. Oh, he also forces kisses on her, too.

Early on she reveals that no, she's poor and the letters were burnt - and he calls her a liar.

So she decides that no, seriously, fuck him, and decides to prove herself: she won't reveal that she's poor or explain the situation to her father. She'll be nice and wonderful for two weeks and leave without taking any money.

So it's almost, almost interesting - she's sweet and innocent and he begins to realize that she's actually the lost lamb she presents herself as, and he falls in love...

Until at the luau she slips off into the forest to sell a locket from her mother's collection because she's so broke she can't go home to France, and he catches her with the fellow, and later in privacy he accuses her of being a prostitute.

Yep. What the hell.

She, rightfully furious, refuses to explain herself, tells him to fuck off, and he begins to force her back on the bed and rape her before he stops himself, accuses her of making him lose control, and leaves.

She rightfully goes "what the fuck" and leaves the next day, and........

Cut to a three page epilogue where she's been back at her teaching job in France, doing alright with herself, when he shows up at her school, apologizes and explains how he found out that oh. she isn't a prostitute. and he apologizes and she just goes "okay" and expects him to leave. So he goes "no I love you and I want to take you home to Hawaii to marry you"

and I would have been over the moon if she had said no and seen him out

but this is a terrible book so she goes "oh! then marry me, THEN take me to hawaii!" and they're happy and the book ends

sigh

The book gets two stars because even this early on Nora Roberts is a solid writer, and I loved the flow of the prose and how descriptive and sweet the island was. But the rest of it... it's only salvaged by being 160 pages. If it had been longer I should have thrown it in the garbage.

Which really sucks because there could have been something sweet here! Have him believe her, have him not be an asshole, and have this be a sweet tale of homecoming and love and luaus and learning to fly. I wanted that. But it's not what I got.

(PS I'm told Nora Roberts stops writing this kind of asshole in the mid 90s, so I look forward to reading her modern stuff - which I'm already enjoying very much!)
Profile Image for Maren.
640 reviews38 followers
September 1, 2022
Thank God this was short, because it was awful. Keep trying to remind myself that she wrote this one 30 years ago and it has definitely not held up to the test of time. Yikes.
Profile Image for Nicole West.
324 reviews15 followers
June 10, 2022
Laine Simmons has secrets which her Father doesn't know. Her father's business partner is giving her a hard time, without knowing the full story. Laine is very naive in life, falls hard to Dillons seductive ways. Should she follow her head or her heart.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Faiza Sattar.
418 reviews114 followers
January 4, 2018
★☆☆☆☆ (1/5)

I’ve always steered clear of mushy, tawdry romantic novels with no take away, (especially the ones with scantily clad heroines on the cover embracing a shirtless and toned hunk - most cringe worthy).

But 2018 is all about pushing my self-imposed reading boundaries so I begin this year by reading “Island of Flowers” by Nora Roberts who is famous for writing romance novels. Let’s see if this novel succeeds in removing my bias.

Update
One word: Schmaltzy
I stand corrected. This was NOT a good read. I couldn't even envisage Hawaii in my mind's eye. The motivations of characters were all askew especially of the heroine Laine Simmons. Would not recommend, nor embark on another journey with Nora Roberts.

A selection of my favorite passages from the book

• The ripe land with cliffs and beaches which she had seen as the plane descended brought no sense of homecoming

• Threading through her doubts was the shimmering strand of fear that rejection waited for her at the end of her journey

• With no knowledge of seduction, she became a temptress by her very innocence

• Parts of Paris are beautiful, mellowed and gentled with age. Other parts are elegant or dignified. She is like a woman who has been often told she is enchanting. But the beauty here is more primitive. The island is ageless and innocent at the same time 

• Laine thought the slamming of her door the loneliest sound she had ever heard.
121 reviews
December 18, 2018
There it is, the breakout... The book I was waiting for. Characters that are rich, compelling and a story that is sweet. A true page turner. Laine is the first of Nora's heroines that you feel for. She hasn't had the life that her father or Dillon expect she has had. Dillon is suspicious of her motives. All Laine wants is to spend time with the man, her mother deprived her of knowing. Learning of her deceptions and then deciding not to enlighten her father makes it even harder, but she perseveres. In doing so, she spends more time wit the cautious Dillon and she receives the one thing that she wants most of all, her fathers love. From here misunderstanding ensue, but the final scenes where Dillon must track her down in Paris are lovely and emotional. I can't wait to start the next book in my NR marathon.
Profile Image for Heidi.
197 reviews
September 24, 2020
Following the recent death of her mother, Laine Simmons arrives in Hawaii from France to see the father she hasn’t spoken to since age 7. Dillon O’Brian is business partners with Laine’s father and is suspicious of her motives, believing her to be entitled and greedy. Like many early-80s romances, this one can be a bit trying for the modern reader. There's some good points that hint at the Nora that's to come - a vivid setting, complex family relationships - but the male dominance and passive consent are also there. To hear a full discussion of Island of Flowers listen to Season 1, Ep. #2 "Nora Roberts 1982: Blithe Images, Search for Love, Song of the West, Island of Flowers, A Heart’s Victory" of Romancing the Shelf, a Nora Roberts podcast: https://romancingtheshelf.libsyn.com/
Profile Image for Amanda.
433 reviews1 follower
September 9, 2014
I love Nora Roberts, but she has definitely improved over time. This book is a product of its era in that it uses the "hero is a rich jerk" formula. It goes like this:

Man is rich playboy, in his 30s.
Woman is much younger, usually in very early 20s.
Woman is poor and a virgin.
Because of a misunderstanding or just because the guy is a jerk, he treats her like crap through the whole book.
Somehow, both still manage to fall in love -- without the other being aware of it.
Another misunderstanding, usually caused by a rich, beautiful female rival.
Sudden reconciliation, with virtually no apologies or accountability for the crappy way the man treated the woman through the whole story.

Fortunately, Roberts outgrew this formula. Others, such as Diana Palmer, have yet to do so.
Profile Image for BookAddict  ✒ La Crimson Femme.
6,917 reviews1,439 followers
January 9, 2011
Dillion is an asshole. Laine has been the neglected unloved child and Dillion passes judgement w/o ever taking a chance. I liked this short story despite my frustration with Dillion. I'm glad Laine had enough self respect and left this jerk off behind. She deserves better. While the story did end with a happily ever after, I think I would have liked better for Laine to do without Dillion. He isn't good enough for her.
Profile Image for Sam Walton.
11 reviews
March 13, 2018
Island of Flowers was the second Nora Roberts book I’ve read and for the life of god I don’t think I’ve ever felt so many raw emotions, especially towards the end. Absolutely loved the characters and the story, would have loved to have seen a bit more of Dillon and Laine as a couple, a part from that, the ending was pretty much perfect.
Profile Image for Lisa.
61 reviews
July 5, 2012
Laine & Dillion...just ok. One of her very early books. Not well-developed.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews

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