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Gabriel's Angel
ON THE RUN…
No one was going to take her child away from her! Pregnant and alone, Laura Malone had been on the move for months. Finding herself snowbound with an angry, impatient Gabriel Bradley was not part of her plans.
Gabe wanted to be alone. He'd come to the isolated cabin to think, to work and to heal. But when a woman crashed into his life --literally-- he'd felt obliged to help. Laura was everything a man could ever want and all that he desired. She trusted him, but Gabe was hard put to be an angel when Laura felt like heaven in his arms.
No one was going to take her child away from her! Pregnant and alone, Laura Malone had been on the move for months. Finding herself snowbound with an angry, impatient Gabriel Bradley was not part of her plans.
Gabe wanted to be alone. He'd come to the isolated cabin to think, to work and to heal. But when a woman crashed into his life --literally-- he'd felt obliged to help. Laura was everything a man could ever want and all that he desired. She trusted him, but Gabe was hard put to be an angel when Laura felt like heaven in his arms.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1989
1303 people are currently reading
3875 people want to read
About the author
Nora Roberts
1,209 books59.8k 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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December 18, 2018
Gabriel’s Angel is by Nora Roberts. Nora has been a favorite author of mine for years although I haven’t read one of her books in a long time. This is one of her older books so I wasn’t sure if I would love it as much as I do her newer work. But I shouldn’t have worried. No matter when she wrote it, it still has the Nora Robert’s magic. I do want to clarify one thing, though. With the title and the cover, I thought this was a holiday book. But it definitely isn’t. The story begins with an April snow storm and continues on for a few months after that.
Gabriel (Gabe) Bradley is a successful, well known artist. But he has suffered loss in his life recently and has escaped to a cabin in the mountains for solitude and healing. To see if he can paint again. It’s not unusual in the mountains for a spring storm to turn up. And this one was promising to be a doozy. Gabe is on his way home from a supply run to town when he saw her, her car out of control. Thankfully, she somehow controlled her skid but she still crashed. The storm was only intensifying. There was nothing else to do but to take her back to his cabin to wait things out. It wasn’t until she stepped out of the car that he realized that she was very pregnant.
Laura Malone has been on the move pretty much since she discovered she was pregnant. Her husband is dead but her in-laws want the baby. She will do whatever it takes to protect her unborn child, even if it means being on the run for the rest of her life. She definitely wasn’t prepared for this storm, though. Little did she know that crashing into that guard rail would be the single best thing that ever happened to her. Because it led her to Gabe.
There are several feet of snow that has accumulated and they aren’t going anywhere. Little by little, Gabe learns of the circumstances that led Laura to him. Just looking at her makes his fingers itch to sketch her. So they strike a deal. She can stay tucked away in the safety of the cabin if she’ll allow him to paint her.
“To some the high blanket of snow might have been a prison, something to chafe against. To Laura it was a fortress”
Laura slowly begins to trust Gabe, to lower her walls just a bit. Then Gabe comes up with a plan to make things easier for her, if she’ll agree. And then, fate has another blow to deal to Laura.
“She hadn’t thought she could feel anything like this again, and certainly not this longing for a man.”
It’s time to head back to Gabe’s home in San Francisco. To leave their little bubble. It’s here that Gabe and Laura are forced to face real life. They hardly know each other. Gabe is still keeping the reasons for the sadness in his eyes to himself. And Laura still hasn’t let the past go. But their feelings deepen. Will it be enough to overcome all the ghosts that haunt them both?
“He had held women before, known their softness, tasted their sweetness. But he had never known a softness, never experienced a sweetness, like Laura’s.”
Even though I thought this was going to be a holiday book, I still loved it. What a beautiful story it was. It is a story of pain, for both Gabe and Laura, strength and the power of love. Of getting a new chance at life and at love and having the courage to grab it. I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those books that lingers in my heart and head for a long time, thinking about these two. There was no epilogue and I would have enjoyed that little glimpse into their future. I do have one complaint but it’s just a personal thing of mine that bothers me. Gabe, the Hero, smoked. Because of the date that it was written, I’m trying to justify it with that. But for me, anything to do with cigarettes detracts from the story. Other than that, I loved the book and everything about it.
“If there were such things as angels, one had sent Laura to him when he’d needed her most.”
For more about this book and so many more, come and visit me at Carol's Crazy Bookish World.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/44036...
Gabriel (Gabe) Bradley is a successful, well known artist. But he has suffered loss in his life recently and has escaped to a cabin in the mountains for solitude and healing. To see if he can paint again. It’s not unusual in the mountains for a spring storm to turn up. And this one was promising to be a doozy. Gabe is on his way home from a supply run to town when he saw her, her car out of control. Thankfully, she somehow controlled her skid but she still crashed. The storm was only intensifying. There was nothing else to do but to take her back to his cabin to wait things out. It wasn’t until she stepped out of the car that he realized that she was very pregnant.
Laura Malone has been on the move pretty much since she discovered she was pregnant. Her husband is dead but her in-laws want the baby. She will do whatever it takes to protect her unborn child, even if it means being on the run for the rest of her life. She definitely wasn’t prepared for this storm, though. Little did she know that crashing into that guard rail would be the single best thing that ever happened to her. Because it led her to Gabe.
There are several feet of snow that has accumulated and they aren’t going anywhere. Little by little, Gabe learns of the circumstances that led Laura to him. Just looking at her makes his fingers itch to sketch her. So they strike a deal. She can stay tucked away in the safety of the cabin if she’ll allow him to paint her.
“To some the high blanket of snow might have been a prison, something to chafe against. To Laura it was a fortress”
Laura slowly begins to trust Gabe, to lower her walls just a bit. Then Gabe comes up with a plan to make things easier for her, if she’ll agree. And then, fate has another blow to deal to Laura.
“She hadn’t thought she could feel anything like this again, and certainly not this longing for a man.”
It’s time to head back to Gabe’s home in San Francisco. To leave their little bubble. It’s here that Gabe and Laura are forced to face real life. They hardly know each other. Gabe is still keeping the reasons for the sadness in his eyes to himself. And Laura still hasn’t let the past go. But their feelings deepen. Will it be enough to overcome all the ghosts that haunt them both?
“He had held women before, known their softness, tasted their sweetness. But he had never known a softness, never experienced a sweetness, like Laura’s.”
Even though I thought this was going to be a holiday book, I still loved it. What a beautiful story it was. It is a story of pain, for both Gabe and Laura, strength and the power of love. Of getting a new chance at life and at love and having the courage to grab it. I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those books that lingers in my heart and head for a long time, thinking about these two. There was no epilogue and I would have enjoyed that little glimpse into their future. I do have one complaint but it’s just a personal thing of mine that bothers me. Gabe, the Hero, smoked. Because of the date that it was written, I’m trying to justify it with that. But for me, anything to do with cigarettes detracts from the story. Other than that, I loved the book and everything about it.
“If there were such things as angels, one had sent Laura to him when he’d needed her most.”
For more about this book and so many more, come and visit me at Carol's Crazy Bookish World.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/44036...
May 16, 2019
Lo que me ha fallado de esta novela ha sido la evolución en la aceptación de Michael por parte de su hermano. El dolor se palpaba, pero no terminé de ver cómo acababa aceptándolo; lo daba por hecho hoy solo por la aparición de Laura en su vida.
Por otra parte, también me ha faltado más intervención de la madre de él, al menos en relación con Laura. Es un personaje secundario que hubiera dado mucho más de sí, aportando a la novela enriquecimiento.
Hubiera cambiado cosas y dado más énfasis a otras, pero en general bastante buena.
Por otra parte, también me ha faltado más intervención de la madre de él, al menos en relación con Laura. Es un personaje secundario que hubiera dado mucho más de sí, aportando a la novela enriquecimiento.
Hubiera cambiado cosas y dado más énfasis a otras, pero en general bastante buena.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 25, 2019
A moving tale of an abused, pregnant woman on the run, who finally finds the strength to stand up to her bullies (her psycho, dead husband's in-laws who want to "buy" her baby). Though the villains received adequate comeuppance for their evil deeds, I just wanted them ground down into tiny grains of sand (Especially the hero's big fat cow of an art agent, who informed the heroine's horrific ex-in-laws of her whereabouts)! They were so awful and what's more, they were scarily realistic :(
Hero and heroine were just wonderful together and sizzling hot too. I really enjoyed this one!
Hero and heroine were just wonderful together and sizzling hot too. I really enjoyed this one!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 7, 2013
Gabriel is driving back to his cabin in the Colorado mountains at the start of a blizzard. An oncoming car nearly hits him and swerves into the guardrail. It turns out the driver is Laura, a very beautiful, very pregnant woman who is running from something. She goes to his cabin and discovers he is Gabriel Bradley, the famous and wealthy artist. He, of course, wants to paint her portrait, and she agrees as a way to thank him for his hospitality. The pregnancy complicates their romance, and as they find out more about each other they begin to have feelings for one another... and then the baby is born.
That is when Laura and Gabe's relationship should have joined the ranks of countless sleep-deprived parents before them -- code red, just survive another day and hope that in a few years things settle down enough that we can have a conversation that is more than a few sentences and we can have a meal where we both eat warm food at the same time. But instead this is where the book comes so unrealistic that I could hardly read it.
To start, Laura loses all of her baby weight and is back to being thin in just two months (yes, the book actually makes a point of saying that). There isn't much to do in Gabriel's giant mansion, despite Laura's refusal to get any help. She has a newborn baby and a giant house and no one to help her clean it, and did I mention she painted the baby's room herself? And still she has nothing to do. Most people don't even get a shower or brush their hair or, I don't know, eat, after having a baby because they are just that busy. But not Laura. She just can't seem to find anything to do except fantasize about Gabe and wonder how he feels about her.
The thing is, the baby is a plot device meant to create a situation that binds Laura to Gabe, making their motive for staying together confused and dramatic and romantic. But real babies are not romantic, they are exhausting. This baby cries at inopportune times, but only if he is interrupting a love scene. He stays awake all night (once), but only because Laura and Gabe needed a "real parenthood" moment that would give them time to bond over their new roles. Nora Roberts couldn't find any romance in real parenthood, so she had to invent a magical world of parenting where staying up for an all nighter results in a few laughs about how "this is parenthood and we'll remember it fondly when he's grown." Only people who don't have children or who had children so long ago that they've forgotten what they are like say things like that.
I will rewrite a day in the life of Laura and Gabe. 5:30 a.m. The baby cries alone in his crib for 30 minutes before Laura and Gabe stumble out of bed arguing over who will get him and change his poopy diaper. "I did it last time!" Gabe whines. "I pushed him out of my body with no medication!" Laura counters. She wins. Neither of them shower. No time for that. She goes downstairs to pour a giant mug of coffee, but her exhaustion has made her clumsy. She spills hot coffee on her blouse, curses because they have an important meeting to attend, and when she puts the pot down to clean the stain, it falls off the edge of the counter shattering and showering her brand new shoes with coffee. She cleans up and changes into another outfit (no time for breakfast now), grabs the baby, who promptly spits up on her. Since she had no time to do laundry this week and has already changed her outfit once, she'll have to wear the spit up blouse and cover it with a ratty old scarf that happens to be hanging in the closet. She dries the spit up off the baby's face with the coffee stained shirt, briefly wondering if inhaling caffeine is bad for him. Then she wrestles the baby into the five-point safety harnessed baby carrier, and Gabe is finally ready. He had to change his outfit too because the baby kicked his heals into poop mid-diaper change, flinging it all over the newly painted walls and Gabe's arms. They load the baby into the car, and then the baby poops again. "Guess he wasn't done," Gabe says irritably. They get out of the car, change the baby again, but this time his diaper leaked so his outfit needs to be changed. Finally they are all in the car again and on their way. Too bad they forgot the diaper bag. Back to the house. Ten minutes of packing -- diapers, wipes, extra pacifiers, favorite blankie -- then back out again. They thought they might have a few minutes to talk in the car, but the baby is wailing in the back seat because he's been strapped in for half an hour already. Their ear drums are shattering along with the few shards of sanity they had left. They arrive at their meeting 25 minutes late. They scramble out of the car, head to the office, then realize they locked their kid and their keys in the car. It is only 8 a.m.
Find some romance in that, Nora Roberts.
That is when Laura and Gabe's relationship should have joined the ranks of countless sleep-deprived parents before them -- code red, just survive another day and hope that in a few years things settle down enough that we can have a conversation that is more than a few sentences and we can have a meal where we both eat warm food at the same time. But instead this is where the book comes so unrealistic that I could hardly read it.
To start, Laura loses all of her baby weight and is back to being thin in just two months (yes, the book actually makes a point of saying that). There isn't much to do in Gabriel's giant mansion, despite Laura's refusal to get any help. She has a newborn baby and a giant house and no one to help her clean it, and did I mention she painted the baby's room herself? And still she has nothing to do. Most people don't even get a shower or brush their hair or, I don't know, eat, after having a baby because they are just that busy. But not Laura. She just can't seem to find anything to do except fantasize about Gabe and wonder how he feels about her.
The thing is, the baby is a plot device meant to create a situation that binds Laura to Gabe, making their motive for staying together confused and dramatic and romantic. But real babies are not romantic, they are exhausting. This baby cries at inopportune times, but only if he is interrupting a love scene. He stays awake all night (once), but only because Laura and Gabe needed a "real parenthood" moment that would give them time to bond over their new roles. Nora Roberts couldn't find any romance in real parenthood, so she had to invent a magical world of parenting where staying up for an all nighter results in a few laughs about how "this is parenthood and we'll remember it fondly when he's grown." Only people who don't have children or who had children so long ago that they've forgotten what they are like say things like that.
I will rewrite a day in the life of Laura and Gabe. 5:30 a.m. The baby cries alone in his crib for 30 minutes before Laura and Gabe stumble out of bed arguing over who will get him and change his poopy diaper. "I did it last time!" Gabe whines. "I pushed him out of my body with no medication!" Laura counters. She wins. Neither of them shower. No time for that. She goes downstairs to pour a giant mug of coffee, but her exhaustion has made her clumsy. She spills hot coffee on her blouse, curses because they have an important meeting to attend, and when she puts the pot down to clean the stain, it falls off the edge of the counter shattering and showering her brand new shoes with coffee. She cleans up and changes into another outfit (no time for breakfast now), grabs the baby, who promptly spits up on her. Since she had no time to do laundry this week and has already changed her outfit once, she'll have to wear the spit up blouse and cover it with a ratty old scarf that happens to be hanging in the closet. She dries the spit up off the baby's face with the coffee stained shirt, briefly wondering if inhaling caffeine is bad for him. Then she wrestles the baby into the five-point safety harnessed baby carrier, and Gabe is finally ready. He had to change his outfit too because the baby kicked his heals into poop mid-diaper change, flinging it all over the newly painted walls and Gabe's arms. They load the baby into the car, and then the baby poops again. "Guess he wasn't done," Gabe says irritably. They get out of the car, change the baby again, but this time his diaper leaked so his outfit needs to be changed. Finally they are all in the car again and on their way. Too bad they forgot the diaper bag. Back to the house. Ten minutes of packing -- diapers, wipes, extra pacifiers, favorite blankie -- then back out again. They thought they might have a few minutes to talk in the car, but the baby is wailing in the back seat because he's been strapped in for half an hour already. Their ear drums are shattering along with the few shards of sanity they had left. They arrive at their meeting 25 minutes late. They scramble out of the car, head to the office, then realize they locked their kid and their keys in the car. It is only 8 a.m.
Find some romance in that, Nora Roberts.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2024
Gabriel Bradley verblijft in een blokhut in de bergen van Colorado. Als hij na het boodschappen doen in een sneeuwstorm terecht komt op weg naar huis, komt van de andere kant een wagen die slipt tegen de vangrail. Gelukkig is de bestuurster niet gewond, maar ze is wel hoogzwanger, en er is geen mogelijkheid dat ze in dit weer hulp zou kunnen bereiken om van de berg af te komen. Dus neemt Gabe haar mee naar zijn hut. Afgesneden van alles en iedereen komen ze stilaan nader tot elkaar. Gabe komt te weten dat Laura op de vlucht is voor de rijke ouders van haar overleden man, die haar mishandelde. Ze willen het kind van Laura afpakken, want het zal hùn erfgenaam zijn.
En zo komt het dat Gabriel het op zich neemt om Laura en haar kind te beschermen, en hun beider gevoelens worden sterker. Eenmaal terug in de bewoonde wereld, en na de geboorte van de kleine Michael--genoemd naar Gabriels overleden broer--zijn ze klaar om de strijd aan te gaan met de Eagletons. En Gabriel moet ook nog afrekenen met een verdriet uit zijn verleden.
Ik vond dit een mooi verhaal, wel een beetje een voorspelbaar feel good-happy ending story, maar lekker aangenaam ontspannende lectuur.
En zo komt het dat Gabriel het op zich neemt om Laura en haar kind te beschermen, en hun beider gevoelens worden sterker. Eenmaal terug in de bewoonde wereld, en na de geboorte van de kleine Michael--genoemd naar Gabriels overleden broer--zijn ze klaar om de strijd aan te gaan met de Eagletons. En Gabriel moet ook nog afrekenen met een verdriet uit zijn verleden.
Ik vond dit een mooi verhaal, wel een beetje een voorspelbaar feel good-happy ending story, maar lekker aangenaam ontspannende lectuur.
December 16, 2018
That was years ago and was very cute read.
April 19, 2020
As usual, Nora Roberts does not disappoint. I’ve been a fan of her books for years and I never get tired of reading them! Sure they do basically follow the same recipe but what can I say, I’m a sucker for her writing and for romance novels. I really enjoyed this story, I thought the whole plot was really interesting and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to find out what would happen next. The ending was the perfect conclusion to the story and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
March 3, 2022
A Beautiful Story
I thoroughly enjoyed “Gabriels Angel“. In many ways, it was a typical Nora Roberts book where love always prevails. This one however, got to my heart very quickly and I enjoyed the very strong characters and the beautiful settings described by Roberts.
I thoroughly enjoyed “Gabriels Angel“. In many ways, it was a typical Nora Roberts book where love always prevails. This one however, got to my heart very quickly and I enjoyed the very strong characters and the beautiful settings described by Roberts.
July 19, 2022
4 stars
November 26, 2021
Stranded in a cozy cabin with a gorgeous stranger!!
This was a sweet well written vanilla romance. The story had a steady build to a beautiful romance between two people that needed each other for so many reason. What made things really interesting is that the heroine is pregnant when she meets Gabe.
This was a sweet well written vanilla romance. The story had a steady build to a beautiful romance between two people that needed each other for so many reason. What made things really interesting is that the heroine is pregnant when she meets Gabe.
December 6, 2024
Knygos aprašyme pateiktas visas siužetas, todėl skaitant nelieka jokių staigmenų. Visa knyga - tik jausmų pasaulis.
December 20, 2015
3.5 Stars!!
Review to come......
Review to come......
December 14, 2022
After years of thinking this was a Christmas romance, I finally read it and find that it's actually set in the spring. Nora really should retool this one as a Christmas book because it wouldn't take much to make that work. Anyway, this is an early romance and is very sweet and very Nora. The damsel in distress trope is in full play here and done very well.
Laura Malone is running from an abusive situation and wealthy, evil in-laws who want to take her baby. She finds herself in a spring blizzard in nowhere Colorado with a wrecked car and nowhere to go. She is saved by an angry, reclusive artist who is annoyed at having his isolated sanctuary invaded.
Gaberial Bradley is running too and when he finds eight months pregnant Laura, he knows that there will be no running from her or the situation they find themselves in. His nearly a year of navel gazing, and mourning has come to an end. He needs to be in the present for Laura and her unborn child. His instant attraction to the enigmatic Laura has him spinning. She has secrets, but so does he. She needs him, but he needs her too.
Laura Malone is running from an abusive situation and wealthy, evil in-laws who want to take her baby. She finds herself in a spring blizzard in nowhere Colorado with a wrecked car and nowhere to go. She is saved by an angry, reclusive artist who is annoyed at having his isolated sanctuary invaded.
Gaberial Bradley is running too and when he finds eight months pregnant Laura, he knows that there will be no running from her or the situation they find themselves in. His nearly a year of navel gazing, and mourning has come to an end. He needs to be in the present for Laura and her unborn child. His instant attraction to the enigmatic Laura has him spinning. She has secrets, but so does he. She needs him, but he needs her too.
November 16, 2023
Gabriel's Angel
3.5 🌟
3.5 🌟
November 21, 2017
I absolutely loved this story. While I doubt it has spectacular literary value, it is one of the most delightful stories I've read in quite a while. Springing from a premise that parallels one of my own former "fantasies", this story developed characters, and watched as love transformed tragedy into triumph. Such an endearing book to begin my month of reading "Christmas fluff".
April 22, 2019
Trevlig och lättläst!
December 16, 2018
Das Cover verspricht viel mehr Weihnachtsgefühl als die Story dann bringt. Es ist dann doch sehr typisch Nora Roberts, zwei Menschen lieben sich und überstehen alles, ganz simpel.
Lara ist schwanger und auf der Flucht vor ihren Schwiegereltern. Nachdem sie sich von ihrem trinkenden und betrügenden Mann getrennt hat, ist dieser verunglückt. Jetzt wollen seine Eltern ihr Enkelkind um den Verlust "zu kompensieren".
Gabriel rettet sie aus einem Schneesturm. Der berühmte Künstler nimmt sie bei sich auf und kümmert sich um sie und das Kind.
Laras Hintergrund ist traurig, ihre Geschichte dramatisch. Die Stimmung im Buch ist dafür aber viel zu harmonisch. Der dramatische Teil liegt schon zurück und aktuell ergibt sich alles. Und wenn dann das - vorhersehbare aber wirklich nötige - große Drama kommt, löst es sich viel zu schnell und einfach.
Die ganzen Kleinigkeiten stimmen irgendwie nicht. Die beiden entwickeln sich zwar authentisch, die insta-Anziehung kommt aber nicht wirklich rüber. Das Baby ist auch zu pflegeleicht und perfekt.
Da habe ich schon Bücher mit ähnlichen Plots gelesen, die besser gelöst waren.
Ganz nette Geschichte, die Stimmung passt zwar nicht zum Plot, dafür aber gut in die Vorweihnachtszeit. Dafür gibts dann auch drei statt zwei Punkten.
Lara ist schwanger und auf der Flucht vor ihren Schwiegereltern. Nachdem sie sich von ihrem trinkenden und betrügenden Mann getrennt hat, ist dieser verunglückt. Jetzt wollen seine Eltern ihr Enkelkind um den Verlust "zu kompensieren".
Gabriel rettet sie aus einem Schneesturm. Der berühmte Künstler nimmt sie bei sich auf und kümmert sich um sie und das Kind.
Laras Hintergrund ist traurig, ihre Geschichte dramatisch. Die Stimmung im Buch ist dafür aber viel zu harmonisch. Der dramatische Teil liegt schon zurück und aktuell ergibt sich alles. Und wenn dann das - vorhersehbare aber wirklich nötige - große Drama kommt, löst es sich viel zu schnell und einfach.
Die ganzen Kleinigkeiten stimmen irgendwie nicht. Die beiden entwickeln sich zwar authentisch, die insta-Anziehung kommt aber nicht wirklich rüber. Das Baby ist auch zu pflegeleicht und perfekt.
Da habe ich schon Bücher mit ähnlichen Plots gelesen, die besser gelöst waren.
Ganz nette Geschichte, die Stimmung passt zwar nicht zum Plot, dafür aber gut in die Vorweihnachtszeit. Dafür gibts dann auch drei statt zwei Punkten.
March 30, 2022
Gabriel's Angel
3 Stars
Seeking solitude and solace in an isolated Colorado cabin, Gabriel Bradley is annoyed when a very beautiful and very pregnant Laura Malone literally crashes into his peace and quiet. On the run and in fear for her unborn child, Laura finds herself stranded with Gabe in a blizzard. As they grow closer, Gabe and Laura must overcome their individual fears if they are to have a future together.
A stereotypical late 80s contemporary romance with an alpha hero and a submissive heroine.
Laura is not my preferred type of heroine. She is too shy and insecure, and it takes her far too long to find her backbone. Gabe, on the other hand, is right up my alley. His dark, brooding and mildly overbearing nature is, nevertheless, mitigated by his obvious love for Laura and her child; his scenes with baby Michael are simply adorable and make him all the more appealing as a hero.
The other plot elements are very 1980s, including the hero's wealthy and influential family, the marriage of convenience trope, and the nasty "other woman" who threatens the heroine.
Overall, Gabriel's Angel is a product of its time and does not really mesh with 21st century sensibilities. That said, Nora's writing is skilled and engaging despite the dated themes.
3 Stars
Seeking solitude and solace in an isolated Colorado cabin, Gabriel Bradley is annoyed when a very beautiful and very pregnant Laura Malone literally crashes into his peace and quiet. On the run and in fear for her unborn child, Laura finds herself stranded with Gabe in a blizzard. As they grow closer, Gabe and Laura must overcome their individual fears if they are to have a future together.
A stereotypical late 80s contemporary romance with an alpha hero and a submissive heroine.
Laura is not my preferred type of heroine. She is too shy and insecure, and it takes her far too long to find her backbone. Gabe, on the other hand, is right up my alley. His dark, brooding and mildly overbearing nature is, nevertheless, mitigated by his obvious love for Laura and her child; his scenes with baby Michael are simply adorable and make him all the more appealing as a hero.
The other plot elements are very 1980s, including the hero's wealthy and influential family, the marriage of convenience trope, and the nasty "other woman" who threatens the heroine.
Overall, Gabriel's Angel is a product of its time and does not really mesh with 21st century sensibilities. That said, Nora's writing is skilled and engaging despite the dated themes.
December 5, 2020
I read this as a part of The Gift bind up and did not like it at all. In this one, Gabe runs across Laura(?) who is a 7 month pregnant woman who’s just been in a car crash. He rescues her and takes her neck to his cabin where they’re somewhat snowed in. He is an artist and starts painting her. The picture becomes known as Gabriel’s angel. She has the baby and they get married out of convenience and live HEA. This is a full length novel and yet I feel like we weren’t given huge chunks of the plot. I never felt the connection and the whole marriage and love thing felt really weird. She’s running from something and he has his own things to prove but this felt pretty conflict free and weird.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
She’s running from her baby daddy’s parents who want to steal the baby. He has a wealthy family. There are some issues there but none of it made much sense and there was zero emotional impact.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
She’s running from her baby daddy’s parents who want to steal the baby. He has a wealthy family. There are some issues there but none of it made much sense and there was zero emotional impact.
December 19, 2013
"I believe the time in the mountains helped Gabe get back his art. And I believe you and the baby helped him get back his heart..."
Laura is pregnant and on the run from her deceased husband's family, when she is found stranded on the side of a snowy Colorado road. A moody artist named Gabriel stops to lend her a helping hand, and offers her shelter at his house. What Gabriel wasn't expecting, was for Laura to rescue him in return...
Gabriel's Angel is a classic Holiday romance by the legendary Nora Roberts that will warm your heart. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good winter Holiday read! 5 stars!
Laura is pregnant and on the run from her deceased husband's family, when she is found stranded on the side of a snowy Colorado road. A moody artist named Gabriel stops to lend her a helping hand, and offers her shelter at his house. What Gabriel wasn't expecting, was for Laura to rescue him in return...
Gabriel's Angel is a classic Holiday romance by the legendary Nora Roberts that will warm your heart. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good winter Holiday read! 5 stars!
March 13, 2017
Easy read. I actually skimmed a lot. Happy ending as usual! If you don't read it, that's okay too.
December 16, 2019
Nice story. It’s an early Nora Roberts, and though she has gotten better, this story stands the test of time.
I liked that the Hero really turned out to be her knight in shining armor and he saves her from the villains.
I liked that the Hero really turned out to be her knight in shining armor and he saves her from the villains.
December 8, 2025
Love the characters in the story, but it felt more like a Harlequin romance then the usual Nora Robert style
It captured my heart, my left, and my tears, a truly heartwarming buck
It captured my heart, my left, and my tears, a truly heartwarming buck
December 23, 2018
Este livro foi-me oferecido durante o passado mês de Janeiro e acabei por me decidir a lê-lo no final deste mês por forma a poder, finalmente, colmatar a minha curiosidade.
Este é um livro repleto de drama, tensão, amizade, atracção, ternura, romance, amor e desejo do início ao fim, com um enredo bem construído e interessante e com personagens cativantes e fortes. Como de costume, a escrita da autora apresenta-se simples e directa e propicia uma leitura descontraída e fluida.
Devo dizer que gostei bastante deste pequeno livro pois, apesar da sua dimensão reduzida, tem uma boa narrativa que se mostra, sem qualquer dúvida, apelativa - claro que algumas situações poderiam ter sido extensivamente exploradas e explicas mas, no geral, é uma história muito bonita da maneira que é.
Este é um ternurento romance que promete captar a atenção do leitor sem qualquer problema - recomendo bastante que o leiam!
Este é um livro repleto de drama, tensão, amizade, atracção, ternura, romance, amor e desejo do início ao fim, com um enredo bem construído e interessante e com personagens cativantes e fortes. Como de costume, a escrita da autora apresenta-se simples e directa e propicia uma leitura descontraída e fluida.
Devo dizer que gostei bastante deste pequeno livro pois, apesar da sua dimensão reduzida, tem uma boa narrativa que se mostra, sem qualquer dúvida, apelativa - claro que algumas situações poderiam ter sido extensivamente exploradas e explicas mas, no geral, é uma história muito bonita da maneira que é.
Este é um ternurento romance que promete captar a atenção do leitor sem qualquer problema - recomendo bastante que o leiam!
November 24, 2008
I'd give this about a 1.5 if I could. I didn't actively HATE it, I just actively disliked it. It was a bookclub book, and although I'd never pick it up on my own, I really did try to keep an open mind. I've never read any Nora Roberts before, so I didn't know what to expect. Well, scratch that. I did expect that someone who seems to crank out books as fast as she does would at least know a little bit about the fundamentals of writing. In that expectation, I was sorely disappointed. The incomplete sentences. Are so annoying. Please, Roberts, stop. Writing like that. This is about how it breaks down for me:
Beginning - Gah! This writer desperately needs to take a few high school english classes to learn how to construct a sentence.
Middle - Eh. I'm not hating the story; I'm not loving it. I am getting annoyed by the way I'm constantly hit over the head with foreshadowing. I get it... Gabe has some kind of hidden hurt that you're not going to tell us about and that involves someone named Michael. Please stop mentioning it. Appropriate foreshadowing is a wonderful thing. Clumsy foreshadowing is more distracting than anything else.
End - Gah! A halfway decent ending could have elevated this book to the level of mediocre. Instead, the lousy ending just reinforced my dim view of the book. I didn't really believe that any of the characters would really act or react the way they did.
Beginning - Gah! This writer desperately needs to take a few high school english classes to learn how to construct a sentence.
Middle - Eh. I'm not hating the story; I'm not loving it. I am getting annoyed by the way I'm constantly hit over the head with foreshadowing. I get it... Gabe has some kind of hidden hurt that you're not going to tell us about and that involves someone named Michael. Please stop mentioning it. Appropriate foreshadowing is a wonderful thing. Clumsy foreshadowing is more distracting than anything else.
End - Gah! A halfway decent ending could have elevated this book to the level of mediocre. Instead, the lousy ending just reinforced my dim view of the book. I didn't really believe that any of the characters would really act or react the way they did.
November 16, 2015
Audible.com audiobook. On the short side at just over six hours of listening, Gabriel’s Angel is narrated by Todd Haberkorn. Pacing, tempo fine. Haberkorn does a credible job with male and female voices alike, a particularly good effort voicing seniors.
On a dark mountain road in near blizzard conditions, a very pregnant woman has a spin-out accident. She nearly collides with a ruggedly handsome artist/painter. Her car disabled, the two main characters spend a platonic few weeks stranded in his mountain cabin. No secrets given, this foundation is put forth by Nora Roberts early in the story.
Where she was going, where she was from, her history, his history, etc., all is revealed as the remainder of the story unfolds. And … this is a Nora Roberts romance, after all … the two leads fall in love and overcome all obstacles in their paths. A happily-ever-after, curl-up-on-the-sofa love story. No big twists, nothing is a surprise, events are predictable. Not terribly deep, not intended to be. Not explicit in sex or language, much is fade-to-black. If you are among Nora Roberts’ legion of fans, you’ll enjoy!
On a dark mountain road in near blizzard conditions, a very pregnant woman has a spin-out accident. She nearly collides with a ruggedly handsome artist/painter. Her car disabled, the two main characters spend a platonic few weeks stranded in his mountain cabin. No secrets given, this foundation is put forth by Nora Roberts early in the story.
Where she was going, where she was from, her history, his history, etc., all is revealed as the remainder of the story unfolds. And … this is a Nora Roberts romance, after all … the two leads fall in love and overcome all obstacles in their paths. A happily-ever-after, curl-up-on-the-sofa love story. No big twists, nothing is a surprise, events are predictable. Not terribly deep, not intended to be. Not explicit in sex or language, much is fade-to-black. If you are among Nora Roberts’ legion of fans, you’ll enjoy!
December 7, 2019
Yeah. Definitely not a Nora Roberts fan. Another ho-hum story with an asshole-ish male protagonist. This guy can’t understand why his wife just can’t ‘get over’ the abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, mental) inflicted by her first husband. Not only that, he yells at her and calls her names, which to my mind, equates to more abuse. To the wife’s credit though, she doesn’t chase after him with apologies and explanations and begging. But then she wonders what SHE did/didn’t do to cause his anger!! 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
GOOD GOD. No more Roberts for me, thanks.
PS. Definitely NOT a Christmas romance as the title, the cover art, and inside flap would have you believe. This story starts in Colorado in April and ends in San Francisco in the fall. There is no Christmas anything within the actual pages of the story. Just FYI.
GOOD GOD. No more Roberts for me, thanks.
PS. Definitely NOT a Christmas romance as the title, the cover art, and inside flap would have you believe. This story starts in Colorado in April and ends in San Francisco in the fall. There is no Christmas anything within the actual pages of the story. Just FYI.
December 9, 2015
I liked this sweet little story. The cover is a bit misleading - it is not a Christmas story which is what I had thought it was. This is the story of two wary, damaged people finding a way to bring love and comfort to each other. Game and Laura meet by accident on a snowy road in Colorado. Her car is too damaged to move and the storm makes it impossible to get out. Oh, and by the way, Laura is about 8 months pregnant. Closed in the cabin, they get to know each other and in a slightly unrealistic turn of events, Gabe marries Laura to protect her and her unborn baby (who then makes a pretty quick entrance). This was a nice read with few surprises.
Quote to remember:
She'd learned it hurt less to remember than to try to forget.
Quote to remember:
She'd learned it hurt less to remember than to try to forget.
June 16, 2016
If you enjoy love stories that face reality situations, if you celebrate a woman’s freedom, and if you embrace family acceptance on all fronts you will love this book. Thank you Nora Roberts for the perfect combination of life and storytelling.
If you are interested in reading the complete review and other reviews from my 2016 Goodreads Book Challenge go to http://sensoryperceptionsbc.blogspot..... Also please check out Sensory Perception Book Club’s latest reading.
If you are interested in reading the complete review and other reviews from my 2016 Goodreads Book Challenge go to http://sensoryperceptionsbc.blogspot..... Also please check out Sensory Perception Book Club’s latest reading.
January 17, 2018
Good story! A little improbable & definitely not your typical romance. Laura is running away from her manipulative former in-laws and she has a special set of problems. She's very pregnant & stuck in a blizzard in the Colorado Rockies. Enter artist Gabriel. He rescues & cares for the reluctant damsel in distress. Could this be love? But wait! She's pregnant with someone else's child. What could possibly happen?
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