Key of Knowledge

Review for all three books in the trilogy.

The thing about these books isn't the vaguely supernatural plot or the romance, it's the found-family.

There is a vaguely supernatural plot. Strangers, Malory, Dana, and Zoe, are all invited to a mysterious gathering hosted by the even more mysterious Rowena and Pitte. They're told a story about a god, soon to be king, who traveled into the mortal world, fell in love with a human woman. He brought her back to his world and they had three beautiful daughters. When those daughters were grown an evil sorcerer, rival for the king's power, cast a spell on them, trapping their souls in a glass box, leaving their bodies lifeless. The only way the spell could be broken is if three mortal women found the show more keys to the glass box. Malory, Dana, and Zoe are those three mortal women.

There is romance. The first book centers on Malory, and deals with her romance with Finn. The second on Dana and her romance with Jordan. The third on Zoe and Brad. But the wonderful thing about these books is how little time they spend on romance and how much they spend on the friendship growing between Malory, Dana, and Zoe, the pre-existing friendsihp between Flynn, Jordan, and Brad, and the way these six people become family to each other. Not only do the three women fulfill their quests and find their loves, they also start a business together and spend a great deal of time discussing how wonderful, helpful, and supportive the friendship they're developing is. Sure, there's a great deal of discussion about each other's love lives, but there's also a great deal of discussion about the business, each other's talents, and what each wants from life. To a lesser degree--because this is the women's story, after all--the men have similar discussions.

Found-family is my thing. It gets me every time. And these six people, plus Rowena, Pitte, Zoe's son Simon, and Flynn's goofy dog Moe, make a great family. show less

Read: March 2016
Rating: 4/5 stars

The plot: The events of Key of Light have unfolded and Malory has found her key. The next woman in line for the quest is Dana, a part time librarian and book lover. Helping with her search is Jordan Hawke, a former boyfriend who left the small town – and her - after his mother’s death and who has now returned for good. Dana has to complete the search for the key, reconcile her feelings for Jordan and deal with a new business enterprise with Malory and Zoe all at the same time.

The good:
- The strong bond between Malory, Dana and Zoe is still much in evidence in the second book of the trilogy. It is so rare in fiction to find women who are all competent, confident women who are happy in each other’s show more company with no bitchiness or back-stabbing.
- I love that Dana is a bookworm and this description of her emotions at the library felt very real to me; “…she liked being in the stacks, surrounded by books. She could, if she let her mind open to it, hear the words murmuring from them. All those voices from people from people who lived in worlds both fantastic and ordinary. She could, simply by slipping a book off a shelf, slide right into one of those worlds and become anyone who lived inside it.” (pg 34)
- The evil sorcerer Kane is now thoroughly aware of the three women’s quest to find the keys and his attempts to get into Dana’s mind are more insidious than before, meaning there is a strong sense of danger attached to Dana’s search for the key. The scene in the bathroom was particularly well-written and menacing.
- Jordan and Dana’s conversation about Jordan’s mother’s death was so moving and emotional it brought tears to my eyes. It was very poignant and necessary in order for Dana to completely forgive Jordan for the past.
- The final scene with Jordan, Dana and Kane at the Watch was spooky and perfect for the end of Dana’s quest.

The bad:
- I didn’t like the repeated interludes with Zoe and Brad. I do want to read about their romance but it doesn’t really have a place in Dana and Jordan’s book. I know there has to be a few mentions of them here to set up for the next book but I felt like it took time away from the two main protagonists for this story. show less

Lynda Meyers absolutely blew me out of the water with "Letter's from the Ledge".

As usual I'm going to be very straight forward and say that I wasn't expecting to like the book much, not at all because I didn't expect it to be well written but it just wasn't in my genre sphere. I was fully prepared to encounter a book that was good but not appealing to my reading interests. I even told my Fiance that very thing.

I guarantee you he would be more than ready to tell you how much I talked about the book after I started reading it. It took me less than two days. I was sucked in, held captive, and just plain flabbergasted at how compelling the story was. My eagerness to read kept me up late into the night.

I cannot recommend this book highly show more enough to any of you who are reading this review. My skepticism proved me foolish and showed me that I should never, ever, judge a book by it's genre!

When I expected dry and depressing I got colorful and uplifting.

When I expected an overabundance of angst I received a tidal wave of hope against all odds and strength to overcome.

The book is smart, interesting, compelling, and gritty. The story sucks you in. The likable characters have you searching your own soul for strength to face your darkest places, your own problems, your own prisons. It is impossible to not feel intimately connected to Brendan, Sarah, Paige, and Nate in their struggles with the blackness life might be inclined to offer up. Their hurt become the readers indignation, their triumph the reader's joy. It's a darn good book that can get a handle on your feelings that way.

I must add that there's some great humor and a very amusing Monty Python reference that had me giggling for a while. I couldn't even resist reading it out loud!

Perhaps in life it seems that sometimes walking the ledge is necessary, but darkness is conquerable. That's the feeling I took away from this book.

Truthfully I believe that "Letter's From the Ledge" gives the reader a small, shining hope that they too can find their wings, their great freedom, and learn to embrace life with abandon. show less

This book, for me, is all about the friendship between Malory, Dana, and Zoe. Yeah, sure there's romance (and it's a decent one, too), but I don't care, it's the female relationships that make this book a source of glee. Roberts has a fantastic ear for women's dialogue, and I really, genuinely enjoy eavesdropping on the characters. The mythology is, um, painful, and I suspect that when I get around to reading [book: Key of Valor] the excessive neatness will drive me nuts (I know, I know, it's the demands of the genre, I don't care, life is not that tidy), but I don't care. As long as everyone goes on bantering and teasing each other, I will be content.

Well, here we are again. Pleasant Valley, a quiet little town in Pennsylvania. Three women were leading normal lives, doing stereotypically "womanish" things (Art gallery curator, librarian, hairdresser) when they plummet into a supernatural mystery. In come three men, who lead fairy tale prince lives (all of them local boys who have become fabulously wealthy: thriller author, home improvement store heir, newspaper editor) for them to fall in love with. Romance and paranormal situations ensue.

So, here are some quotations from my review of the first one: "I am NOT impressed...VERY farfetched...highly improbable romance and weak characters!" I decided, with a bit of convincing from Shannon, to try the second one as well.

This time, the show more protagonist is a librarian named Dana. She loves her job, is kind of a smartass, and used to date Jordan, who left their small town to become a famous writer in the big city. The boss's neice is promoted over her, her hours get cut back, and she quits in a huff. Now she's got problems: she's got no job, Jordan's back in town and wants her but she's still hurt, she and her two best friends (of a month!) are starting a business, AND she's got to find a metaphysical key in order to free her corresponding demigoddess "daughter of glass" from her three-century-long imprisonment, so that the friendly Celtic gods up the road can be set free of their turmoil, and so that she can be rewarded a million dollars. If she fails, a year of her life will disappear.

It just gets me that all three of these women are going to wind up hooking up with these three wealthy men. I mean, they all have job and money trauma backgrounds. They're starting a business and its scary, but...they've got these dudes that shower them with expensive gifts. They love it. They love that they get the bling bling and the fancy houses. Where's the self-reliance? Maybe I'm just jaded. But the whole "meet Mr. Wonderful and never have to worry about money again" thing is kinda...bleh. I wonder how much of the romance aspect is due to my subconsious lust to never have to work again, or to be able to start a store without worry of it failing and having to go bankrupt. Hmm.

Well, I think I liked it better than the first one. Maybe it was because I liked the main character better...even though she's portrayed as a clever girl and she acts mightily stupid at times. Or maybe because i was more in a mood to read paranormal chick lit than last time. I'll probably read the third one eventually...when the mood swings back around again. show less

This was a second strong installment for Nora Roberts’ trilogy. This book introduces us to Dana Steele, a librarian who quitted her job after an argument with her boss and whose fate is to find one of the three keys to free the souls of three daughters of a Celtic god. To make things worse, her ex-boyfriend who has broken her heart by leaving to New York to became a best-seller author, has return and intends to win her heart again.

After book one about Malory Price quest to find the first key, this book delivers us a strong, independent character with a down-to-down personality though difficult to deal with. Dana submerges herself into research while trying to ignore Jordan Hawke, her ex, and into her new store which she’ll be show more sharing with Malory and Zoe.

Of course that each book is about one good quality of the characters or something they dream about. Dana’s passion, compulsion is books so she’s sure she’ll find the key on a book important to her. What she didn’t know was that the past, the present and the future were going to be the major key in finding the object.

In this book the pace is less fast; you can enjoy the relationship between Jordan and Dana without having the reaction that they’re jumping into something faster than normal. Because of their past together, they’re relation came easy and familiar. There was tension and sensuality between the two of them resulting of great sexy scenes well written without being too much.

The main plot develops also in a slow pace but easy to follow. Roberts leaves clues here and there matching all together in the end.

The final action sequence between Dana and Kane, happening inside Hawke’s book where a character was based on Dana, is an amazingly described scene where you can almost feel what the characters are feeling.

However, I think that some moments in the book were a bit rushed; like Jordan and Flynn’s proposal. In a month the two of them found love and are engaged. I think it was too quick.
Overall, I think this was a strong continuation for a trilogy and the characters are all changing and showing us other facades.

Now, bring me book three. show less

V životě jsou chvíle, kdy je i realista za určitých okolností ochoten uvěřit v nadpřirozené síly. Tři mladé ženy, Malory, Dany a Zoe, mají postupně najít tři magické klíče. Dana přebírá štafetu od Malory. S pomocí bratra Flynna a jeho kamarádů z dětství, Brada a Jordana, hledají ženy vodítko k tajemství druhého klíče. Dana pátrá v knihách a netuší, že se musí podívat především do vlastní minulosti. Tu představuje právě Jordan, který ji před lety opustil. Co spojuje Jordana a zázračný klíč?