Inspect Under Currents Drafted By Nora Roberts Formatted As Kindle
on Under Currents
author really knows how to tell a story and never fails to grab at the readers emotions, Keep a box of tissues handy if you read this,
Reading about domestic abuse is always uncomfortable but sitelinkNora Roberts tells the tales of three abusive marriages really effectively.
One of them involves children too so be warned if this is a trigger for you, The pain of these issues is counteracted though by including other successful and happy marriages and by showing clearly that it is possible to escape the situations and lead a happy and successful life.
The author does not gloss over hardships but she does offer hope,
I found sitelinkUnder Currents to be a very well written and totally absorbing book, Another solid read from Ms Roberts, I think I have mentioned that I read her very first book and I swore I would never read anything by her again.
But I gave in and, apart from reading most of the IN DEATH books J, D. Robb, I have read quite a number of her Romantic Suspense books, I think her first book was not geared for an Irish audience, Hence, my hatred of it!!
Many might say that there is an overdescription in this book and a lot of her books of "details" i.
e. house furnishings, paint colours and in this book, gardens, plants and landscapes, Yes, it was a lot but I loved it, . . I loved imagining all the plants and the beautiful grounds, . . And Zane's house give it to me, NOW!!!
Child abuse, spousal abuse, . . not a nice subject matter to read about but it is at the basis of this tale, It is dealt with in parts of the book but it does not overshadow the rest of the book, . .
I really liked Zane and Darby, Strong characters who had gone through some tough times in their lives, The secondary cast was great too, Had sort of figured out the twist or "bad guy" but still enjoyed the story, every root, leaf, mulch, shrub and flower!
He found her a fascinating series of contrasts.
. .
"Aren't those weeds"
"Wildflowers, " she corrected. "Native wildflowers. "
"We'll take care of each other, "
"Though she be but little, she is fierce, "
I still don't know how Nora/JD manages to churn out all the books she does.
. .
Some of her other Romantic Suspense books are definitely better than this one, with more of "edge of your seat" twists and turns but this one kept me interested.
. . and makes me want to landscape my own garden, . .
Nora Roberts is a master, She knows her audience, and she writes for it well, She is an addict, a word she used, herself when we first met inat the inaugural Romance Writers of America convention.
And I believe it. She writes nonstop, multiple books a year, year after year after year, While I havent read her suspense or futuristic novels, I felt it was time to read her latest contemporary, UNDER CURRENTS.
Its a wonderful read, really twobooks in one, Nora doesnt skimp when it comes to giving her reader what she wants, The first part of UNDER CURRENTS is a heartrending tale that gives the background on one of the major characters.
The second part introduces another character whose life will intersect with the first,
UNDER CURRENTS
is a love story several, actually, But its also an exploration of domestic abuse, both perpetrators and victims, The theme isnt new, but there is an emotional power here that some authors in other genres have missed,
The book is long, but it held my attention throughout, or almost, There were slow moments, moments that were too sweet for me, There were also moments of badguy introspection that felt stereotypical, which leads to the only real problem I had with this book.
There are many characters in this book, and theyre either very good or very bad, A little gray is more my cuppa, But then, Noras books sell way more copies than mine, So perhaps theres a lesson here
Whatever, I do recommend UNDER CURRENTS, Kudos, Nora! Oh man! Don't read this if you are sensitive to abuse, All abuse. This book has more triggers than a gun show,
Not that kind of gun show! Although that does trigger me, Read a book, dude! Stop being a douche!
That metaphor worked so well that I will also tell you that this book has more drama than a llama.
Okay, that was more pun than metaphor,
I'll try another one,
This couple has been kicked around so much they are like a hacky sack at a Phish concert.
Gah! There is so much wrong with this picture that the hacky sack is the least offensive thing here.
That's an accomplishment.
So, now that the terrible metaphor/analogy/pun portion of the review is over, maybe I'll just tell you about the book.
Okay, so the first part of the book is rough, A kid is growing up with an abusive father and gets the shit beat out of him on a regular basis.
It is really horrible.
Then we fastforward to years later and we meet a lady who was abused by her husband and is trying to start a new life in a new place.
She ends up meeting our nowgrown guy, They start a friendship which turns to a romance, and that should be about it,
But no. There are too many people who want to hurt them and have all of these revengy plans, So, they get the shit kicked out of them some more, Over and over again.
And, that's the book, It is slowplaced in general with occasional bursts of shitkicking, It is NOT in any way believable, And, there is too much on gardening if you hate gardening which I do, I pay a dude to mow my lawn to keep my homeowners association happy, That's my extent of gardening, Oh, and I recently bought a plaster gnome and painted it in blues and reds to put in my yard.
But, that's only because it freaks my family out, Plus, I want it to get kidnapped and have someone send me photos of my gnome in cool places, That way I can feel special, That's my real extent of gardening,
Overall, if you are a huge Nora Roberts fan and don't mind the continual abuse and gardening, you will like this.
Otherwise, skip it.
unlike leg day, Never skip that. This is the first book I've read of Mrs Roberts, Of course I've read overof the "In Death" books which she writes under the pen name J, D. Robb and I'm perplexed by it because this book doesn't remind me at all of the style, or pace, or plot complexity of her "In Death" books.
I know that they are in totally different genders but still this book felt less, Let me elaborate
"Under Currents" is divided in four parts, The first part “The Cruelty of Lies” is autonomous and tells the story of Zane the Hero and how he and his sister were abused by their parents.
Its very powerful and heart wrenching and IMHO is the best part of the book, I would give this bookonly for that part alone,
The second part “Homecomings” is taking placeyears after the end of part one and introduces Darby the heroine as she comes to settle in Lakeview Zanes home town.
This part is really slow, it contains TMI about landscaping and ends with Zane and Darby being in a relationship.
The last two parts “From Roots to Blooming” and “Healing Truths” is what I like to call A blast from the past.
And I leave it at that because I dont like to spoil the story,
In overall, the story unfolds in average pace which apart from the landscaping info overload was enjoyable, But the plot was totally predictable and I missed the complexity of J, D. Robbs villains.
The abuse theme was over exploited throughout the story.
Its unrealistic so many bad things always happening to the same person, But the story also focuses on the importance of family and how difference can be made if you have solid people in your life to lean on when the need arises.
And how you can get stronger by surviving bad situations and you have the choice of being a better person than the one you were raised to be.
What bothered me most though in this story, and I blame totally myself for it, is the recklessness and spontaneity in which both heroes seemed to spend their money.
Is this the way things are in America our days I mean, I know that it cant be like living in bankrupted Greece where you have to think twice about buying your kid a second pair of shoes, but it cant really be that prosperous, can it The characters seemed to be middle class and still had not a second thought about buying houses, cars, new yards, new furniture.
I get that they have degrees and they are hard working people, but so am I, and if this place really exists where do I apply to move there tomorrow Wherein Ms.
Roberts delves a bit deeper into mystery/suspense and casts diabolical characters with few redeeming qualities, Balanced by the easytosee, beautifully landscaped backdrop and admirable characters that the reader wants to be friends with, Under Currents is the quintessential dropeverythingandburyyourheadinabook read.
Nora Roberts is a word magician, I love the way she can make the reader step out of reality and into her stories, embark in the suspense and tension and love of her imagined characters.
That said, I enjoyed this story very much, but I can't say it was amazing save for part, that one was a real jawdropper.
I could have read that part as a stand alone and I'd have rated it a five star,
But the rest, I don't know, it felt somewhat excessive, too detailed, or, to be more precise: infodumpy, There were many parts that could have been deleted without changing the story, that didn't affect the plot in any way, save for the overall appeal.
The suspense in partand part, along with the tension and action could have been made into one part, trimmed down so that the plot would've been.
. . what's the word A pageturner That's not the word I'm looking for, but let's keep it, as the reader wouldn't have been able to put the book down.
Well, that aside, and we have here a book, an incredible read that could have been a real life story simple, adorable, witty, filled with love and pain and the darker realities of life.
This author holds back no punches! Even though this was a hard read with a lot of really tough situations and for some even, triggers, I really liked it.
The family bonds, friendships, all the things I love about Nora's books wrapped up in something that was far more emotional than I had planned but in a very good way.
.Stars rounded down. This was my very first Nora Roberts read, that was not in a series, and it was a good one! Astar reading, to me, is not bad.
It's a book that I enjoyed and would probably recommend other people checking out, but just did not stand out as fantastic.
I read a lot of books and most of them are thrillers so I expected a little bit more of that when I decided to give this one a shot, and in turn got more romance and a tale of recovery from abuse.
Some of the details and events were a little unrealistic, and things came across a little too perfect in the relationships to me, but this is coming from someone that is single and yet to find 'the one!' everything wrapped up very nicely in this one, with no big shocking twist, so when I finish this I didn't have any real strong feelings either way.
I will definitely continue reading Roberts because of the detail and characterbuilding she does, which is superb, but might just stick to her apocalyptic series.
Another great Nora Roberts. This one examined heavily the themes of child abuse and domestic abuse, Zane and Britt are growing up in a house that looks perfect on the outside but harbors terrible secrets, No one will believe Zane if he tells the truth, His parents are respected members of the community with connections, As usual, the characters shine in this long saga that takes us across decades and the lives and romances of multiple generations.
Beautiful descriptions of North Carolina and gorgeous gardens!
Trigger Warnings:
Please excuse typos/name misspellings.
Entered on screen reader.
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