Blood Brothers

Nora Roberts has an uncanny ability to weave romance, mystery and the supernatural without losing any of the threads. Each develops rationally and pulls you into the story. She creates vivid settings so that you feel you could have seen the places she describes and which creates a backdrop of normalcy, firmly grounding the story.The characters are appealing, with men that have a strong sense of duty and loyalty (which makes a female heart flutter). The women are not simpering wimps and play an equal role in the story. Each of the six has vulnerabilities and frailties that make them easy to relate to. In Blood Brothers, Cal and Quinn are the central characters however the others aren't pushed aside as can sometimes happen, so we begin to show more build relationships with them also. The story is quite chilling, a creeping evil with the ability to exaggerate the feelings we most often keep hidden - suspicion, despair, anger, and a group who have no real idea how to prevent it being unleashed on the town again but are desperate to defend themselves and their loved ones.There are no conclusions in this book so you wil be eager to read the next. show less

Caleb, Gage, and Fox decided to camp out to celebrate the eve of their tenth birthday. All were born the same day - July 7, 1977. They chose to hike to the Pagan Stone and managed to unleash a long-buried demon.

Every seven years since, the demon made an effort to manifest and cause all sorts of chaos in the small Maryland town of Hawkins Hollow. It used to be only the seven days after July 7 that were filled with chaos. This year - the 21st after their camping trip - the chaos in beginning earlier.

Quinn Black came to Hawkins Hollow to write a book about the happenings to follow several other books she'd written about eerie happenings in other places. But Quinn finds that she has a strange connection both to the Pagan Stone and to show more Caleb Hawkins.

The two are joined by Layla who had a compulsion one day to leave her job and travel to Hawkins Hollow - a town she had never heard of before. Quinn also convinces her friend Sybil, a gifted researcher, to join them. And Gage who left Hawkins Hollow the day he turned eighteen has come home too.

Together, the six need to find a way to defeat the demon once and for all. They combine their various skills and form relationships to strengthen themselves and each other.

I enjoyed this somewhat spooky paranormal romance title. I love the way Roberts builds strong, loving relationships for her characters. show less

Every once in awhile I encounter books by Nora Roberts that justifies my continued reading a guilty pleasures. The book was this side of predictable, and the magic saving a doomed earth has been explored before, but I do love the characters she creates, and on a side note, there was much less of the announcing what your going to say while they're saying it dialogue among her characters...so yay. In fact I can only recall one time this occured. The town, every seven years goes through a cursed period for 7 days/mostly nights in the seventh month of the year. Its up to three blood brothers and of course their love interests to save the day. This first was Cal and Quinns story, and it was good enough to read the next. Who am I kidding? I show more would've read the next one anyway.... show less

This first book in the Sign of Seven trilogy left me as interested in how things work out with the three couples as much as in the Hawkins Hollow curse itself. As horror stories go, it wasn’t the kind to keep you awake at night. In fact, the contemporary romance angle overshadowed any of the supernatural goings-on. I liked the easy flow of the writing - it had me thinking of Stephen King - but that may have been partly because of the subject matter. There was just enough closure at the end that I didn't feel like I was left hanging but there was enough of a hook that I'll definitely be reading the next two books of the series.

Threes and sevens are magic numbers. Power numbers. Put together and there's no telling what can be overcome--or what could be released.

In the little town of Hawkins Hollow, three ten year old boys--Caleb, Fox and Gage--discovered that first hand. Born at the same time on the same day, the seventh day of the seventh month, the trio swore an oath that made them blood brothers and also forced them into the roles of defenders of their home town. For one week, every seven years, they bear witness to a week of madness in their town, and do their best to keep things under control for everyone.

This time, however, the third round, there are outsiders--women--involved and all signs point to this being the final showdown between good and show more evil.

Blood Brothers tells Caleb's story. As a direct descendent of the Hawkins that gave the town its name, Caleb is the point man of sorts for the trio. He is an all-around good guy, devoted to his town, his family and his friends, and determined to stop evil as much as he can. When Quinn Black, a writer and researcher with an interest in the occult, comes to town for a story on the odd happenings, he's her first contact and their connection makes sparks fly.

I adored this book. I really enjoy Ms. Roberts' writing a lot of the time, but I've also had a few misses with her work. Thankfully, that was not the case with this book. I was drawn in from the very beginning and read through it quickly, turning pages to figure out what would happen next. To me, this was an excellent balance of both the paranormal and romantic aspects of a paranormal romance. Yes, it was a little darker than what some people might enjoy, and a little more graphic. I think a few touches of JD Robb's style seeped in. It worked, for me, though, so I'm not complaining.

As this is a trilogy, and there are three boys that start the whole thing off, there are three girls to match them. Predictable? Yes. But again, it worked for me and I'm desperately curious to see how the other two couples manage, particularly Gage and Cybil, the couple we spent the least time with in this book.

As far as complaints, I confess that I would have liked a little more action, a little more decisive a stand being made against the Big Bad, regardless of the fact that this was just the introductory book. Still, that's relatively minor and I can wait until May for book two to see where we go from here. show less

I have been reading Nora Roberts books ever since I was about 14. I have read all her romances whether it be her contemporaries, her forays into historical and even the Harlequin novels. I have enjoyed most of her novels (there are a few that I didn't like but this isn't one of them). So I knew that Nora has a dark side to her, come on now we all do, but when I read through this novel it brought images of Stephen King, psychotic nightmares and the Grudge to mind. I mean come on there is a creepy kid running around with sharp teeth, long dark hair and red eyes. There is blood dripping out of trees instead of sap and people dancing while blood pours on them. One spooky ass read!

Now imagine me trying to sleep after that? It ain't show more happening!

This novel starts out innocent enough with three kids going camping in the woods to push the boundaries on their 10th birthday. (10 people, that means they were 9 when they went into the woods with beer!) So after you get beyond children drinking and smoking you get to the root of the problem, the kids opened up a portal and out came a demon who terrorizes the town every seven years on the seventh day of the seventh month. (July). People kill each other, people kill themselves, animals mysteriously die, people go chaotic. Kinda like an M. Night Shyamalan movie, only with love and sex scenes. Well this is book one, so it focuses on a writer named Quinn who comes to town to dig into the lore and legends and the mystery that is Cal's small town. (Cal was one of the kids, ok?) So we got grinning demons with their faces pressed against the windows and blood...good grief, don't get me started. Anyway, the two of course fall in love (it's a freakin' romance novel so don't act like I shocked you and ruined the end) but it cuts you off at the end and then you got to go scrambling for book 2 which is The Hollows. I have it somewhere in the house I know I bought it, no I just got to find it so I know what happens with Fox. (Fox is another boy, well...man now).

I will say this, Ms. Roberts scared the bejesus out of me and now I can't sleep so I'm writing about it here. I did enjoy the book, it was heavy in the spook factor and you couldn't help but like the characters, and feel sorry for others. show less

Nora Roberts is another author who I'll buy pretty much anything from. And while the head-hopping does sometimes get on my nerves, I'm usually able to overlook it because her voice is so good, the writing so lyrical and the plots so twisty. The head-hopping did bother me a little more than usual in this one, but as per usual I was able to move beyond it. Roberts' latest trilogy features a pretty creepy antagonist, and I actually had a nightmare one night while reading this. It looks like Roberts has another great trilogy on her hands, and I'm curious to see how this all plays out.