And Then There Was You: Island of Flowers / Less of a Stranger

by Nora Roberts

Two unforgettable stories from #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Nora Roberts

Island of Flowers

Finally ready to face the past, Laine Simmons has traveled to Hawaii to reconcile with the father she barely remembers. She didn't, however, come halfway around the world to be accused of having ulterior motives by Dillon O'Brian — her father's judgmental, not to mention gorgeous, business partner. How dare he interfere in her family affairs and then have the audacity to set her heart aflame whenever he's near? Dillon had nerve — she'd give him that — but nothing else!

Less of a Stranger

Pops was all the family that Megan Miller had left. So she'd never thought twice about putting her own artistic ambitions on hold to help him. Joyland Amusement Park was her grandfather's life, and she wasn't about to let some smooth-talking, arrogant, attractive stranger take it all away! David Katcherton knew all the right — and wrong — buttons to push with Megan. Besides going after Joyland, David challenged her to go after her own dreams and aroused passions she'd never known before. Megan didn't know what scared her more.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Contemporary, Chick Lit

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

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

[Donna Provo]

Pretty good

[Maura]

Island of Flowers - 2/5 - 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.

Less of a Stranger - 2/5 - 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 likable, 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.

[Spencer]

2026
I forget how cringy and instalove her early books are

2017

2016

[Kerry Goerl]

I am not a fan of two completely different stories in one book. But to be fair, I am the one who bought this book to begin with, so I should not complain. Since I read this book immediately after reading another Nora Roberts book (Time and Again), I am also not a fan of all of the love scenes described almost exactly the same. Maybe a word or two different, but still.... It was a bit of an overload for me. And since this book contained two stories, I really did read a lot of the electrifying experience from their first touch. It was just a bit much for my taste. The storylines themselves were good, which is why I rated this a 3. I recommend it to others if they are OK with the love scenes all being "from the first touch, they were in love". I am not.

[Laura Elizabeth]

5 stars to Island of Flowers
1 star for Less a Stranger

See individual reviews!

[Sandy Forman-Johnson]

2 excellent stories

[Peggy]

Trite

[Lorraine Madigan]

Two short stories in one. I really enjoyed both of the stories and would definitely recommend for a short quick read.

[Amy Reed]

Loved Less of a Stranger but I did not like Island of Flowers.

[Imy Ayache]

3.5 ⭐️

[Connie]

Was ok.. I’m not really to much into romance books.. this was very predictable what-who was going to hook up…

[Jana]

3.5 stars Good for an easy beach read. Two stories in the same book. I liked the second story’s characters better than first but I did enjoy both stories.

[Crystal Robertson]

Brainless superficial romance

[B J]

this book, two stories, was not to my liking.

[Valerie M]

Not a fan of falling in love so quickly.

[Patricia Solla]

This is actually two stories about women, family and love. The first story is set in Hawaii. A daughter goes home after her mother dies to find the father she was taken from in a divorce action. She knows what her mother has done only partially. As her relationship develops with her father she is also developing a relationship with a man who has been with her father as a friend and business partner.
Here again we see that people can be lead to believe in one thing when exactly the opposite is true. The second story involves a young woman and her grandfather who runs an amusement park in South Carolina. The introduction of a man who wants to buy her grandfather out is what makes this story move along.

[Gina]

It's two...two...two books in one. And while I enjoyed the byplay between the hero and heroine in Book I, I despised the hero and heroine in Book II. I can't really say why. Maybe it was his I want you/go away, I'm buying your business out from under you/but it's okay because I'm telling you before I actually do it attitude. Maybe I couldn't get past the fact that when he first sees her, he thinks she's 20 but still pursues her even though he's 31. Whatever the reasoning, it just didn't click for me.

[Cary]

I had read these 2 short stories before but could not totally recall them enough to review them so... They were sweet with young women as heroines who weren't experienced in love but managed to find themselves the object of desire from a rich handsome young man! So true to real life!!! Ha! Anyways love him, hate him, fight, misunderstand, etc. and end up right where you would expect.

[Wendy]

The first story was a sweet story, a simple and easy read. The second story I struggled to connect with the male character, Katch. His aggressiveness made it difficult for me to see Megan with him. By the end of the story I was convinced that Katch was a nice guy.

[Esme]

DNF. I read the first novella, but got caught up in other books before I got to the second. I don't like Nora Roberts' older books as much as her more recent stuff. They're not as well written, and have less life to them.

[Lyrissa]

This was 2 books in 1. The first was Island of Flowers and the second was Less of a Stranger. Both were decent love stories with the typical amount of sexual tension.

[Natasha W]

Same old Nora Roberts.

[Donna]

You can tell these are early works of Nora Roberts. Enjoyable but not her best. If you are a Nora fan than you will enjoy.

[Kimberly Wolfe]

You can never go wrong with Nora Roberts!

[Bonnie]

Included: "Islands of Flowers" & "Less of a Stranger"

[Brandie]

Book 1 was better than book 2 . Okay short sweet reads .

[Leah Reyes]

Great book

[Hope Frost]

I had a hard time connecting to this story. I ended up liking it, but it was predictable and almost to "storybook".

[Debbie West]

2 light cute romances! i enjoyed both of them!

[Kimmy]

Good stories ...rushed endings however. Disappointed a bit.