The Obsession

Loved every minute - wonderful characters, great environmental development. Excellent read. Highly recommend. I can’t wait to read another one by this author.

Sick sex, murder, rescue and recovery, success, sexy love, catching the bad guy, calloused hands, and a magnificent mutt! What else could you possibly want?!?!

FIrst, let me say I am a huge Nora Roberts fan and have been reading her books since the 80's. I've felt that she has been in a slump lately, but this book may be the springboard to get her out of it.Summary:Naomi was a plucky kid who went through something terrible, something that keeps coming back to torment her. As a teenager, she loses her mother, and is burned by a friend, due to the events of her past. She retaliates by becoming a nomad with no ties and by keeping everyone at arm's length, except her family. After traveling the US, she decides that she is safe and hidden from her past and settles in a small town. But no matter how far she has run, she can't escape the terrors of her childhood.Pros:Good characters. Naomi is very likeable, even though she tries to be a curmudgeon. I like how she is unable to keep people out of her life, even though she has built barriers around herself. The way she was forced to rescue a dog was funny, too. Xander, the love interest, was a good guy without being a cardboard cutout. The contractor renovating Naomi's house was my favorite.Good story. It isn't overly simplified. One of the things I like about NR's writing is that she doesn't dumb things down. She just assumes her readers are intelligent.Good writing and editing. I am an extremely impatient reader, but there were no places where I wished the story would move on, already. There are quite a few places where I was rushing through to get to the next part, but that was from excitement, not irritation.Cons:Anyone who has read all of NR's books will see similarities to previous books. With such an extensive back list, that's almost unavoidable.Predictable to NR's readers. I figured out who the bad guy was before the main round of bad things even started to happen.Xander could have been a little more... more. I don't know what it is about his character, but I felt like I was missing something. I love that he was a voracious reader, but I felt like he was underdeveloped. I could have used more Xander in the story.A little preachy. I like the theme of tolerance, but the book has an overused trope of religious jerk versus nice gay couple.Conclusion:I give it four stars for the excellent writing and because I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this one. It was a little formulaic, however, which took away some of the entertainment value for me. I like being surprised in a book. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys romance mixed with a little suspense.

I like all Nora Roberts’ books, but this one really got to me. So real. Stayed up late to finish reading it.

Serial killers, Sheroes, good dogs and love. Everything you need in one captivating package. Its been a minute since I've indulged in one of my favorite author's adventures. I'm grateful to the website that gave me an offer that I could afford. Im extremely grateful to the mind that creates such wonderful art. Nora is always worth reading.

Romance, suspense, interesting people, a lovely setting — what’s not to like!Eight more words? Family (both natural and created) and good friends.

....such a great read, a book you can not put down until the very end. I would like for there to be a story for Mason.

I'd forgotten how much I love Nora Roberts books. The writing is crisp and flows right from the page into your heart. This story has all the feels. Loved it so much!

Wow, just when you think Nora Roberts can't get better. She blows me away by how much she can draw you in and make you feel so much and see her characters and who they are, what they are. She makes you have a well if feelings. I always end up crying, smiling and laughing. By the end in cheering and so very glad I chose to read yet another of her books. Utterly wonderful.

I had hoped that this romantic suspense would be up to that standard, but it didn't reach that for me. She's a very talented writer, of course she is Nora Roberts, but her writing in her newer books always seems too slick to me, like it's effortlessly good, but there's just that something missing and that's the way I felt with this one. It began when the main character was 12 and discovered that her father was a serial killer. The beginning section of it was very intense and disturbing. It felt like a thriller and was very fast paced. The next section of the book was when the mc was an adult and it read definitely like a romance. It was very cliche and predictable. The pace slowed down and it literally read like a how to for different things. How to remodel a house. How to cook. How to interior decorate. How to landscape. How to prep veggies for a fancy meal. How to be a photographer. And on and on... One thing that bothered me was that every single character was artistically enhanced in his or her field. The landscaper was a tough, sexy man with an artistic landscaping side. Her bf was a tough, sexy man with an artistic mechanic side. Her best friend was a wonderful sexy woman with an artistic streak to refurnish old furniture. It just got annoying how every single person was so freaking artistic in their field.Anyway, the story was very stereotypical, especially with the gender roles. The mystery was not much of a mystery and I was able to guess who the killer was before the first murder happened. The ending was ok. It ended exactly the way you would think. No surprises there. So, it was good, but it was typical.

Ab und zu muss ich einfach ein Buch von Nora Roberts lesen - auch "The Obsession" hat mich nicht enttäuscht! Eine wunderbare, eigentlich ganz alltägliche Romanze mit liebenswerten Charakteren ist für sich schon eine Lesegenuss. Wird diese dann noch gepaart mit einer wirklich spannenden Story - dann ist mein Urlaubs-Lesegenuss perfekt!

Nice storyline. A gripping one. Worth the read.

I don't give 5 stars: that's Shakespeare, or Kafka. Besides, I've given 4 to some very good ones I've read in the past, and it would be awkward to go and change that. But this is very, very good. It would be the best I've read up to now (and I read a lot) if she had cut a few of the pages on the 'normal life' in the middle. But the whole first part, and the whole last part, are stunning. Splendidly written, psychologically convincing, and thrilling. Strongly recommended!