BOOK REVIEW - WHISKEY BEACH by NORA ROBERTS - CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE - PIATKUS

By: Nora Roberts

Published By: Piatkus

Released: Available Now

Details: Paperback from library, 484 Pages

RATING: 3.75 - 4 STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

For more than three hundred years, Bluff House has sat above Whiskey Beach, guarding its shore - and its secrets.

To summer tourists, it's the crown jewel of the town's stunning scenery. To the residents of Whiskey Beach, it's landmark and legend. To Eli Landon, it's home...

A Boston lawyer, Eli has weathered an intense year of public scrutiny and police investigation after being accused of murdering his soon-to-be ex-wife. And though there was never enough evidence to have him arrested, his reputation is in tatters as well as his soul. He need sanctuary. He needs Bluff House.

While Eli's beloved grandmother is in Boston, recuperating from a nasty fall, Abra Walsh has cared for Bluff House, among her other jobs as yoga instructor, jewelry maker, and massage therapist. She is a woman with an open heart and a wide embrace, and no one is safe from her special, some would say over-bearing, brand of nurturing - including Eli.

He begins to count on Abra for far more than her cooking, cleaning, and massage skills, and starts to feel less like a victim - and more like the kind of man who can finally solve the murder of his wife and clear his name. But Bluff House's many mysteries are a siren song to someone intent on destroying Eli and reaping the rewards. He and Abra will become entangled in a centuries-old net of rumors and half-truths that could pull them under the thunderous waters of Whiskey Beach...

Passion and obsession, humor and heart flow together in a novel about two people opening themselves up to the truth - and to each other.

BOOK REVIEW:

I have just finished this whopping huge book. My very FIRST read by Nora Roberts, although I do read her as J.D. Robb. ( In Death series)

I have read 4 books to-date in the In Death series and adore J.D. Robb’s writing aka Nora Roberts. So I decided to pick me up a random read of Nora’s, which happened to be Whiskey Beach.

I gotta say—and I know Nora is like the queen of writing—but this book didn’t do her queen status justice…for me. This is just my personal reading experience.

I found the book far toooooooo long. I love a long read, but in this case I became a little bit bored and that is not good. It took me a lot longer to read this book than a JR Ward whopping thick read. I devour the In Death books in a day, but this book took me a week.

I originally liked Abra Walsh’s character, but the more I read her, the more she made me feel like the woman was a total superstar at everything she put her hand to. She was the perfect woman—even though her past wasn’t. She kinda grated on my reader nerves. She’s the first character I have read like this and it was a bit hard to read her, sometimes. I understand what Nora was doing, and she wanted to show us a self assured, strong woman who took the reins…but it came off differently for me. I loved she was a yoga instructor and I actually want to take yoga back up because of Abra, but then she was good at every darn thing and then more and other things.

Eli Landon…I couldn’t connect as well as I hoped with him as a character. I wanted to. He felt quite flat to me. 

The pacing was quite slow and I think that could have been remedied by tightening up the story by culling at least a hundred pages. Other readers might be perfectly happy the way it is, but for me, I found this a difficult book to finish.

This experience won’t stop me reading more Nora Roberts, I have The Obsession in my hands to read next. Another random pick from the library.

But I might just take a weee break first before cracking it open.