Thursday, February 28, 2008

Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts

Tory Bodeen grew up in a small town in South Carolina. Her best friend Hope was murdered and it was never solved. Her father was extremely hard on her and she had to tiptoe around never to get beaten. Now she is back to Progress to set up her own home-design shop. Rumors seem to float around again but she is not determined to let that stop her. She has been running all her life and refuses to stop now. Getting re-acquainted with Cade Lavelle, her best friend’s older brother may not be a good idea but she’ll just have to take that one-day at a time. Tory might just be willing to open up her heart just a little to try. Being back near the place where it happened brings back memories that could be even worse than she ever imagined since the killer is still out there.

Ms. Roberts has seriously out done herself with this book. I loved seeing the story from Tory’s side, Cade’s side, and Hope’s twin sister’s Faith’s side of things. It really gave me a full rounded feeling that I don’t always find with some books. It is certainly not easy to write. This book had me before I even started it. I could not wait to see how everything played out.

Victoria “Tory” Bodeen is a sweet woman. She had a hard childhood and now is learning to deal with the past. It has followed her ever since she left so she figures it is best to just go back to where it started. She knows ahead of time that it’s going to be difficult but there does not seem to be a way around it. Cade Lavelle has always known who Tory is but never really thought much of her. Now that she has finally grown up, he cannot seem to take his eyes off of her no matter what his mother or sister may think. He knows that Tory had nothing to do with his sister Hope’s death and hopes to prove that to her.

I really liked this story and found it a quick read. I love Southern stories and this one just was added to my favorite books list so far this year. I am a huge fan of Nora and I really like her books. Not all of them are predictable and that is what makes her so much fun. I am definitely keeping this book!

Nora Roberts/Romance/ Romance Challenge/ Chunkster/470 pages/ 4 out of 5

I started the movie and noticed some significant changes right away. We'll see how the rest of it goes before I make a final opinon.