Going Home (Mills & Boon Special Releases) [Paperback]

"Unfinished Business"

Time spent reading Nora Roberts is never wasted, and this book is no exception. She is a brilliant writer of popular fiction: her descriptions are vivid, characters well-rounded, emotional values true. It's popular fiction, there's a bit of schmaltz and that's what you read her for.

This one is the story of a concert pianist returning to her home town after touring for twelve years with her father. Now she wants to get to know her estranged mother.

Cleverly, Roberts does not go into huge detail about the revenge Vanessa's father took on her mother, but lets it emerge, often without discussion just letting it stand in the reader's attention to be judged. This is very satisfactory as it allows you to think over what may have been the motivation.

Vanessa is a neat heroine because much of what we see of her is through others' eyes. What is detailed is her physical suffering, gradually replaced by emotional discovery.

Brady is a classic hero for this type of novel: tearaway turned into doctor and, of course, fit. He's capable of humour, but has flashes of temper.

Roberts always keeps her casts fairly small in stories like this so the reader can focus and become intimate with each of them. Peripheral characters are kept to those who will fill out the scene and atmosphere. This means the reader can sink intimately into the world that she writes about. Just as it should be.

"Island of Flowers"

This is one of Nora Roberts' early books and while it is another example of her excellent storytelling, its gender issues remain firmly in the early eighties.

Rugged, rough hero and beautiful, virginal heroine. Roberts was yet to settle into the use of strong individualistic female characters.

The story of Laine is pleasant enough, but the idea of Dillon grabbing her for a rough kiss against her will within half an hour of meeting her is a romantic fiction cliché and nowadays more than a little outrageous. It dates the book.

It is a classic afternoon movie style book and more than a little simplistic. Too many significant things are found out in passing and never referred to again. As for the "Dynasty" style bitch-in at the sugar plantation - enough said.

It is possible to see how it was a good story in its day and is ok now, but it lacks sophistication: Laine's father is a sketch, Miri is more rounded, but not enough to take her out of the stereotype bracket. This novel is reminiscent of the simple plotting of B movies.

It is good; Nora Roberts is never less than that, and you can see how her writing will develop. Simple and entertaining, but not the sort of page turner she later came to write.

"Mind Over Matter"

From 1987, this book shows Nora Roberts developing into more mature territory, but not quite making it. It's another romantic tale except this time she adds depth by the psychic abilities of her heroine, AJ.

AJ is resisting her developing relationship with David Brady, the producer. We're into Jackie Collins territory here, but again Roberts doesn't quite make the grade. Not enough glitz or exploration of other characters.

In this book her use of small cast goes against her; the depiction of the relationship is too intense. She does portray the passion of initial sexual infatuation very well, then she goes on portraying it for just too long.

The scenes where AJ and her mother's six sense are used leave the reader wanting more. We want to know more about the cases Clarissa worked on. In fact, I was waiting for a violent mystery to evolve and it never did. In her later books Nora Roberts explores this kind of situation much more satisfactorily.

A good story, a bit long winded, needs more plot development - the romance of Clarissa and Alex doesn't really cut it.

Good to read as part of the "Going Home" trilogy, but as an example of how Roberts develops as a writer and that's not what you really want from escapist literature.

This was a fairly pleasant collection of three of Nora Roberts's earlier stories that I acquired from a charity shop, all previously published by Silhouette but ones that I'd never came across before, which all have the similar theme of family and love. Whilst the compendium was a nice enough read to pass the time, it didn't exactly set my world on fire. I have to admit that Roberts has definitely written stronger romances. Still, for a cheap read it wasn't half bad and I do prefer these to her paranormal/fae type of books.

In `Unfinished Business' concert pianist Vanessa returns to her hometown to reunite with her estranged mother and unexpectedly runs into Dr Brady Tucker, the man who broke her heart when she was a teenager. Though I thought this story was sweet, it did seem to be a bit full of small town clichés and stereotypes. Also, talk about holding a grudge! Vanessa immediately punches Brady in the stomach after seeing him again- all because he never turned up to take her to prom (years earlier). It seemed a bit silly to me. Build a bridge and get over it, love- at least let him explain before jumping to conclusions. Also, I find it hard to believe that she could be so moulded by her father all her life- and never stand up to him as an adult. All in all, I'd rate this story 2.5/5 because Vanessa is so inherently unlikeable.

`Island of Flowers' finds Laine reconnecting with a father she barely knows and immediately being intrigued by his business partner who seems to have some serious misconceptions about her. This really reminded me of the `Mills and Boon' type stories of old- with lots of misunderstandings, squabbles, innocent female lead and whatnot. Of all the stories I thought this was the strongest, with a seriously sexy sounding male protagonist in Dillon O'Brian and an exotic Hawaiian setting that made me wish for golden sandy beaches. I'd rate this story 3.5/5.

The final story `Mind Over Matter' was a bit of a change in that it centred on psychics- namely a famous female psychic and her young agent daughter who is determined to protect her when she stars in a TV documentary. She just doesn't expect herself to fall for the producer. Generally, this was a bit of a weak plot that could have had a bit more made out of it and I didn't really like Aurora (AJ) very much as she came across as an interfering busy body who should have let her mother live her own life. Rating: 2.5/5

If you haven't read Roberts books before then I probably wouldn't start with these three stories to be honest. They're not her strongest bit of work and the characters didn't really leap off the pages at me- I'd start with the `Quinn Brothers' quartet in that instance, really brilliantly written books with characters who you get to know and love. If however you're looking for a quick way to pass the time and in the mood for a light-hearted romance then you could do worse. All in all, these are good `switch your brain off' reads.

This is three books in one which is always good value and a good holiday read.All the books are individually themed and varied so you do feel that you have three seperate books and not just one continuous read.More Mills and Boon that the Thriller books that Nora Roberts is famous for but very enjoyable tune out reads .