River's End

Often I find that even novels clearly labeled as “romantic suspense” tend to be heavy on suspense and light on romance. While I am not a fan of romances…with ‘River’s End” Nora Roberts achieves a perfect balance that should appeal to fans of both genre. The reader can watch Noah and Olivia as they fall in love…yet experience the nightmare of the past that is always lurking in the background. The only real flaw…at least for me… was in the ending. Matters were resolved just a little too quickly. It would have been nice to have had a little more insight into the villain…but I think readers will enjoy the surprise

This novel is fantastic. I felt the suspense throughout the novel without it feeling like it overwhelmed the entire story. I wish that there had been more insight into the mind of the villain and a more sophisticated motive or at least the lead up. That being said, the plot and story as a whole is fantastic and well-written.

Olivia was only four when her mother, an actress, was brutally murdered. Her actor father was arrested and convicted of the crime. Olivia saw him holding the murder weapon and having hands covered with blood. Her video testimony went a long way toward convicting her father.

Olivia was taken by her grandparents to be raised at a resort in the Pacific Northwest. They put her in a bubble to protect her from the interest of those who want to write about or sensationalize the murder.

Noah Brady is the son of the police officer who found Olivia hiding in a closet. He met Olivia when his parents took him to the resort when Olivia was twelve. He was drawn to her but as a going-to-college teen they didn't really get to know each other.

Olivia and show more Noah met again when Olivia was nineteen and a college student studying to be a naturalist. Noah who had always been fascinated by the murder case was determined to leave his newspaper career and write a book about it. Olivia falls in love but feels betrayed when she learns Noah plans to write a book about a subject that is still painful to her and her family.

Some years pass again until Noah, now a successful author of true crime books, is contacted by the person convicted of murdering Olivia's mother. He's dying of brain cancer and wants to tell his story. The main problem is that he was high and alcohol and drugs and doesn't know what truly happened the night his wife died.

Reconnecting with Olivia and her family is necessary if Noah wants his book to tell the whole story. He's never gotten over Olivia nor has she gotten over him. But someone doesn't want the story told and does a number of things including destroying Noah's home and attacking Noah's best friend to try to discourage the project.

This was another excellent Nora Roberts standalone romantic suspense title. It was full of suspense and had a nice amount of romance too. And it's set in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. show less

Olivia was only four when her mother, an actress, was brutally murdered. Her actor father was arrested and convicted of the crime. Olivia saw him holding the murder weapon and having hands covered with blood. Her video testimony went a long way toward convicting her father.

Olivia was taken by her grandparents to be raised at a resort in the Pacific Northwest. They put her in a bubble to protect her from the interest of those who want to write about or sensationalize the murder.

Noah Brady is the son of the police officer who found Olivia hiding in a closet. He met Olivia when his parents took him to the resort when Olivia was twelve. He was drawn to her but as a going-to-college teen they didn't really get to know each other.

Olivia and show more Noah met again when Olivia was nineteen and a college student studying to be a naturalist. Noah who had always been fascinated by the murder case was determined to leave his newspaper career and write a book about it. Olivia falls in love but feels betrayed when she learns Noah plans to write a book about a subject that is still painful to her and her family.

Some years pass again until Noah, now a successful author of true crime books, is contacted by the person convicted of murdering Olivia's mother. He's dying of brain cancer and wants to tell his story. The main problem is that he was high and alcohol and drugs and doesn't know what truly happened the night his wife died.

Reconnecting with Olivia and her family is necessary if Noah wants his book to tell the whole story. He's never gotten over Olivia nor has she gotten over him. But someone doesn't want the story told and does a number of things including destroying Noah's home and attacking Noah's best friend to try to discourage the project.

This was another excellent Nora Roberts standalone romantic suspense title. It was full of suspense and had a nice amount of romance too. And it's set in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. show less

I really enjoyed River’s End. The character, Olivia was a bit of a pain in the butt, while I understand the reasons she behaved the way she did, she came off as cold and uncaring and because of that, I didn’t like her character. I think the best character in the book was, Frank. I wish he was in the book more. Nora Roberts did a great job with the descriptions of the forests of the Northwest. This is a excellent who-dun-it novel because up until the last pages you have no idea. This novel has everything. A good plot, suspense, drama, love, trauma and romance - a great novel and a must read!

This book was 3.5 stars for me. In deciding whether to list it here as 3 or 4 stars, I decided to round down, since my standards for Nora Roberts are pretty high.I actually liked the first half quite a bit. The book took its time setting up the primary romance, starting when Olivia was only 4 years old, and revisiting her at her first meeting with Noah when she was 12 (no romance) yet. Their next meeting (when she was 19) was full of sparks, which lead to some burns, and a refusal of all contact for more years. This also gave time to develop some secondary characters, particularly the family members. Noah's parents were great characters. I did like Olivia's aunt and grandparents, but they weren't as intriguing to read about.All of this show more building of the characters and the overall story was great. I liked both leads, I found the characters interesting, I had a guess as to where the whole story was going.Unfortunately, once the story kicked into full gear, I had a couple of problems with it that really got in my way.The first is a common aspect of romance novels that doesn't appeal to me. Olivia is unwilling to get involved with Noah, but he knows better. She tells him to back off, but he proceeds to kiss her, and of course she discovers that's what she really wanted all along. And then she backs off and thinks about it, and the whole thing starts over again.The second is the guess I had about the surprise direction the book would take. I guessed early on where it was going, but didn't really see anything to support it through the book until the end. Either the reader is supposed to know what's going to happen, and there should be more support for it through the book, or it is supposed to be a surprise, and I shouldn't have guessed so early.I still enjoyed the book, and if I'd gone in with lower expectations, I probably wouldn't have let either of these things bug me as much. show less

I was disappointed in this book. It's a weird mix of Nora Roberts and JD Robb. (I know they're the same author, but they're definitely different styles.)I found the precipitating 'incident' disturbing although I understand how it was needed to frame the rest of the story. Then I found the rest of the book an odd blend of 'mystery' and romance with the romance almost an afterthought.On the upside, I had read this book before and KNEW the twist at the end. Yet, I still ended up reading the entire thing and not knowing exactly how it would wrap up. I would credit Roberts storytelling ability for that. Even though this was not my favorite by her (and not my favorite, in general) I still gave it 3 stars because it was an interesting and show more mainly entertaining read. show less