Book Review: Angels Fall

I'm always excited for Nora Roberts books to come out, and I bought this one the day after it was released. And while I do like her books a lot, she really is not a very versatile writer.

To begin with, her characters are almost essentially the same person from book to book, just with different names, occupations, and hometowns. Both the hero and the heroine are always smart and witty, and the women are so strong and independant that they don't want to accept any help from anyone. But of course the men always want to be the protector and get pissed when the women don't turn to them. To be honest, I get pissed, too. What's the point of being in a relationship with a person if you can't go to them when you have a problem?

And her writing never changes either. I really think that if you were to hand me a nameless, authorless book, I would be able to tell if it was a Nora Roberts book. The dialogue is the same in every book and I often wonder if that is the way Roberts and her friends talk to each other. I don't talk like that. It's hard to describe the style, but if you read enough of her books you'd notice it, too.

Anyway, on to the book review. Although the writing and the hero were stock Roberts, the heroine's character was actually a refreshing change. Instead of being so perfect that you'd hate her in real life if you were to meet her, Reece was neurotic, obsessive-compulsive, and extremely paranoid. To me that made her real, but at the same time I had a hard time accepting that a man who seems to have absolutely everything going for him and is probably a woman-magnet would really want to get involved with such a wack-job. It stretched the imagination somewhat, but romance novels are written by women for women so of course the men are sweet yet strong and all that.

As for the story, the heroine, Reece, moves to a small town in Wyoming and she's not there long before she witnesses a murder. Problem is, there's no evidence of the crime, no one goes missing who could be the victim, and her history of mental instability causes almost everyone in the town to think she made it up. Except the hero, Brody, of course. He's perfect and supportive at all time (a.k.a., a fictional male). Not the best plot Roberts has created, but not bad either. I thought I knew who the killer was about halfway through the room, but I was wrong. However, the instant she offered a teeny clue as to who the killer was, I knew. You read enough mysteries you start to hone in on little details the author mentions that are completely irrelevant unless they're going to pop up later on.

Lindsey's Grade: B