The Obsession – Nora Roberts

Summary:
“She stood in the deep, dark woods, breath shallow and cold prickling over her skin despite the hot, heavy air. She took a step back, then two, as the urge to run fell over her”
Naomi Bowes lost her innocence the night she followed her father into the woods. In freeing the girl trapped in the root cellar, Naomi revealed the horrible extent of her father’s crimes and made him infamous. No matter how close she gets to happiness, she can’t outrun the sins of Thomas David Bowes.
Now a successful photographer living under the name Naomi Carson, she has found a place that calls to her, a rambling old house in need of repair, thousands of miles away from everything she’s even known. Naomi wants to embrace the solitude, but the kindly residents of Sunrise Cove keep forcing her to open up-especially the determined Xander Keaton.
Naomi can feel her defenses failing, and knows that the connection her new life offers is something she’s always secretly craved. But the sins of her father can become an obsession, and, as she’s learned time and again, her past is never more than a nightmare away.

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Review:
Nora Roberts will always be a favorite author of mine. There isn’t a single book of hers that I haven’t been able to just lose myself in its pages. The Obsession was no different. This book had me hooked from the first chapter. Naomi at twelve years old having to go through something no child should ever have to see or experience. Her father, a serial killer, and she had found and saved one of his victims. I really loved Naomi through the whole book. She was a very strong and spunky character. She knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind about her feelings. She knew exactly who she was. When she moved to Sunrise Cove her whole world was turned around. She never thought she would find a place to settle down, but she did. And she soon found that what she wanted wasn’t exactly what she’d always thought she wanted.
Enter Xander Keaton. I loved him from the moment her changed her flat tire. And even more when they found the stray dog together and he convinced her to keep him. He’s a super bookworm and that only made me love him more. He’s handsome of course, and knows exactly how to handle Naomi. I really liked the fact that he trusted her, and once he figured out that she was the daughter of Thomas Bowes he didn’t confront her about it. He let her have her time and space. That’s something not all people can do. Most would immediately start asking questions. But not Xander, he knew she would tell him when she was ready. He’s just an all around decent guy, and I couldn’t have picked anyone better for Naomi.
I absolutely adored Naomi’s uncles, Seth and Harry, and her brother, Mason. They were her saving grace in the beginning of this story. Her uncles helped her get away from all the craziness involved with her father. They really pushed her to try to move on and have a normal life. They were always there, always routing for her to do her best. And her brother Mason, the only other person in the world that understood how she was feeling half the time. He was an awesome character who supported Naomi when she needed it the most. He always knew what to say to make her feel better and get her head back on straight. As Mason grew up he made his life better and better. He went to college and got a psychology degree. Then started working for the FBI. He really did his best to make the world a better place after what his father did. I really admired his strength to be able to stop people like his father every day. Instead of trying to put it behind him, like Naomi, he faced it head on, challenged it, and made the world a better place.
This book was awesome. I read it in a few hours, it was just so fast paced I couldn’t seem to put it down. Any one that has read any of Nora Robert’s books and liked them, The Obsession will be no different. I highly suggest it to anyone that likes mystery with a bit of romance in there.
Keep on reading lovelys, Amanda.

The Obsession by Nora Roberts

Naomi Bowes lost her innocence the night she followed her father into the woods. In freeing the girl trapped in the root cellar, Naomi revealed the horrible extent of her father’s crimes and made him infamous.

Now a successful photographer living under the name Naomi Carson, she has found a place that calls to her, thousands of miles away from everything she’s ever known. Naomi wants to embrace the solitude, but the residents of Sunrise Cove keep forcing her to open up—especially the determined Xander Keaton.

Naomi can feel her defenses failing, and knows that the connection her new life offers is something she’s always secretly craved. But as she’s learned time and again, her past is never more than a nightmare away.

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I don’t care how many times I’ve said it; Nora Roberts will always be one of my absolute favorite authors. She never fails to make me laugh. Or lose myself in her books to the point where someone has to scream to get my attention. Sit up in bed clutching the book because the suspense is killing me. Occasionally cry. Her newest romance/ mystery novel was no exception.

First I’ll start with the characters. Naomi was such an interesting, independent woman who’d overcome so much, especially when she was a child. Even as an adult she still had nightmares and difficulty trusting people, but she never let it control her life. She was so determined to get past the trauma and betrayal of discovering her father was a serial killer that she constantly pushed through her fear in order to have a normal life. I seriously admired her for that.

I loved Xander. He was a surprisingly complex character. At the beginning I didn’t like him that much but as I learned more and more about him my opinion changed completely. Partly (mostly) because he turned out to be a complete bookworm. He cared so much for the people around him and was such a steady presence that he made a perfect match for Naomi.

Normally, I don’t care that much about where a book is set. It never seems that important to me as long as I can picture what’s immediately around the characters. However I was pleasantly surprised to find this one was set on the coast of Washington. Since I plan to move there later this year, I found myself more interested in the setting than usual and it added a little something to my reading experience that I don’t usually have.

Once again Nora Roberts managed to blend romance and suspense perfectly to make a book I absolutely loved. If you like romance or mystery, you should definitely read this book. Especially if you’re like me and too much suspense will keep you up at night, this book fell very nicely in the middle.

Let me know what you think in the comments. As always, thanks for reading.

-Antonia

WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. To play along, answer the following three questions and share a link to your post in the comments on her page. Enjoy!

What are you currently reading?

Amanda- I just finished a book, so I’m not technically reading anything. But I’ll consider that as what I’m currently reading. I just finished reading The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige. So look for my review shortly. I’ll be writing it after I finish this post.

Antonia- Technically I’m in the middle of like five books. But right at this moment I’m reading The Witness by Nora Roberts. About once a year I go back and reread this book because while I always love every one of her books, this one is by far my favorite.

What did you recently finish reading?

Amanda- Yesterday I finished reading Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. You’ll find my review among my recent posts. It was a wonderful book and I’m excited to finish the series.

Antonia- The last book I read was The Obsession by Nora Roberts. This is her newest books and since she’s one of my auto-buy authors, I’d had this own pre-ordered.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Amanda- Well, I bought Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige today because I knew I would finish The Wicked Will Rise soon and I need to find out what happens. There was no way I was going to not have the next book when I finished the second.

Antonia- Next I’ll probably read one of the several books I’m currently in the middle of: Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima, Soundless by Richelle Mead, or The House of Hades by Rick Riordan.

What are your answers to these questions?

Happy Wednesday readers!