First Impressions

Sappy, hokey, silly book that has a cover indicating this is a holiday book, yet there is little to do with the holidays.

Country girl tries to have a career as a history teacher. When her beloved grandmother dies, she inherits the country home and property. Adjoining the property is a very handsome man who is seeking solace and escape from running his family successful construction business.

When country girl meets him there is chemistry. Hiring him to fix up her inherited home to make an antique shop, she has no idea he is rich.

A sappy romance occurs wherein the worst disappointment is that rich guy did not let her know he was rich. She throws a fit. He confesses and we then assume they live happily ever after.

I picked this off my show more shelf thinking it would be a nice book to read for the Christmas season. It is now on the sale racks of my local library.

Not recommended. show less

I'd call this formulaic crap if it wasn't so well written. I genuinely liked both Vance and Shane (although I hate their names) and thought there was good character development, especially with Vance. However, it's very much the "he has secrets and doesn't tell her until she finds out from someone else, even though he totally meant to, and she's super pissed" trope. Decent enough escapist reading. Obviously a repackaged Silhouette title.

A sweet romance. This is one of the earliest Nora Roberts but compared to most other '80s romances it is a very good one. What was especially great and new for that time was that you got to see the hero's point of view as well.
First Impressions was the first Nora Roberts I read (ironically enough more than 20 years after it was written) and was one of the books that converted me to romance, so I'll always have a soft spot for this book.

Shane Abbott has inherited her great-grandmother's house and decides to turn part of it into a combination antique store/museum. The house needs a lot of work and she decides to hire her next door neighbor, Vance Banning, to do the work because she thinks he is a carpenter. Initially Vance tries to avoid Shane, but there's an attraction between the two of them he can't resist and he reluctantly agrees to help. Vance is increasingly attracted to Shane and she makes it clear that she is attracted to him, but Vance has been keeping some secrets from Shane and wonders how he can tell her the truth about himself and his past. As Shane wonders what is going on with Vance, her less than loving mother reappears in her life and further threatens show more the relationship between Vance and Shane. Vance can only hope that the love between the two of them will hold up through all their troubles.

"First Impressions" was the first book by Nora Roberts that I've read and, while it had it's moments, I didn't really like it. Shane is a spunky enough heroine, determined to make a success of her new business. She's a well-developed and well-written character, a bit flawed but lovable, especially with her tendency to giggle at the wrong time. But Vance is not well developed at all. Roberts tries, but Vance's struggles with his business success aren't very compelling. Shane's mother, Anne, has no redeeming qualities at all. She's a cardboard character and comes across like a villain in a Disney cartoon. The romance between Vance and Shane moves quickly, too quickly; within a week of meeting him Shane says she's in love with Vance and going to marry him. There's a nice scene in the book when Shane's car gets stuck in the mud and Vance helps her to get it out. It was funny and romantic and the book could have used more scenes like that. The final conflict between Vance and Shane is too contrived as Vance had plenty of time and opportunities to tell Shane about himself.

"First Impressions" was not very impressive. show less

Shane Abbott new the moment she set eyes on Vance Banning that she'd be marrying him one day. Vance has other plans, and they don't involve his new neighbor. But her house is intriguing...

Read this just after reading the Inn at Boonsboro series and had to smile when I realized NR has revisited her soldier fighting at Antietam story in the Boonsboro series. The soldier gets a happier ending in this one, however. Fluffy and not too deep.

First story was so-so, second was pretty awful. The hero just wasn't likeable at all.

Good not great. Fairly typical contemporary romance.