5 best Nora Roberts books you should read

"Why do you read it?"

 She frowned; he hadn't turned one of her questions back on her for some time. "I don't as a rule, except yours."

 "I'm flattered. Why mine?"

 "Your first was recommended to me, and then…" She hesitated, not wanting to say she'd been hooked from the first page. Instead, she ran her fingertip around the rim of her glass and sorted through her answer. "You have a way of creating atmosphere and drawing characters that make the impossibility of your stories perfectly believable."

  

Second Nature

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Dev Librarian, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

American author, Eleanor Marie Robertson, famous under her pen name Nora Roberts, is credited with over 225 romance novels to date, and if you haven't her works yet, it is high time you do.

NewsBytes

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"Why did you read his book?"

"Because it was fascinating," Bryan answered immediately. "Because by the time I was on page three, I was so into it you couldn't have gotten the book away from me with a crowbar."

Second Nature

Advice to aspiring Writers

"True enough. What're you looking for there?"
"Success," she said immediately. "Security."
"One doesn't always equal the other."
Her voice was as defiant as the look she aimed at him. "You have both."
"A writer's never secure," Hunter disagreed. "Only a foolish one expects to be. I've read all of the manuscript you brought."
Lee said nothing. She'd known he'd bring it up before the two weeks were over, but she'd hoped to put it off a bit longer. The faintest of breezes played with the ends of her hair while she sat, staring at the moving waters of the creek. Some of the pebbles looked like gems. Such were illusions.
"You know you have to finish it," he told her calmly. "You can't make me believe you're content to leave your characters in limbo, when you've drawn them so carefully. Your story's two-thirds told, Lenore."
"I don't have time," she began.
"Not good enough."
Frustrated, she turned to him again. "Easy for you to say from your little pinnacle of fame. I have a demanding full-time job. If I give it my time and my talent, there's no place I can go but up at Celebrity." 
"Your novel needs your time and talent." 

Second Nature

________________

“You have to finish things — that’s what you learn from, you learn by finishing things.”

brain pickings

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 It was as Hunter had once said. The characters absorbed her, drove her, frustrated and
delighted her. As time passed, Lee discovered she wanted to finish the story, not only for
her sake but for theirs. She wanted, as she'd never wanted before, for these words to be
read. The excitement of that, and the dread, kept her going.

She felt a queer little thrill when the last word was typed, a euphoria mixed with an odd
depression. She'd finished. She'd poured her heart into her story. Lee wanted to celebrate.
She wanted to weep. It was over. As she pressed her fingers against her tired eyes, she
realized abruptly that she didn't even know what day it was.

Second Nature

 

Some Pet!

Adrenaline born of panic gave her the strength to send the three of them rolling to the edge of the bank. As she struck out blindly, Lee heard Hunter issue a sharp command. A whimper followed it.

"Lenore." Her shoulders were gripped before she could spring to her feet. In her mind, the only thought was to find a weapon to defend them. "It's all right." Without giving her a choice, Hunter held her close. "It's all right, I promise. He won't hurt you."

"My God, Hunter, it's a wolf!" Every nightmare she'd ever read or heard about fangs and claws spun in her mind. With her arms wrapped around him to protect, as much as for protection, Lee turned her head. Silver eyes stared back at her from a silver coat.

"No." He felt the fresh fear jump through her and continued to soothe. "He's only half wolf."

Second Nature

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Sansa Stark's actress adopted her real-life direwolf

 

 

She adds: “Growing up I always wanted a dog, but my parents never wanted one. We kind of fell in love with my character’s dire wolf, Lady, on set.”

And in case you want your own direwolf, Zunni is a Mahlek Northern Inuit Dog. Not sure if it comes with a thirst for Lanister blood or not, but we’re sure you can train that out of them.

 

FLAVORWIRE

 

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As they pulled up behind the Jeep, a huge silver-gray form bounded around the side of the house. Shade swore in sheer astonishment.

"That must be Santanas." Bryan laughed but gave the dog a wary going-over with her door firmly closed.

Fascinated, Shade watched the muscles bunch as the dog moved. But the tail was wagging, the tongue lolling. 

Some pet, he decided. "It looks like a wolf."

"Yeah." She continued to look out the window as the dog paced up and down the side of the van. "Lee tells me he's friendly." 

"Fine. You go first"

Bryan shot him a look that he returned with a casual smile. Letting out a deep breath, Bryan opened the door. "Nice dog," she told him as she stepped out, keeping one hand on the handle of the door. "Nice Santanas."

"I read somewhere that Brown raised wolves," Shade said

 

One Summer 

why did you decide to be a....?

Hunter considered it a fair trade-off. His emotions, his thoughts, were there for anyone
who cared to read them. His life was completely and without exception his own.

Second Nature

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Bill Drummond: 'The creative urge is in us all'

For his latest project, former KLF frontman Bill Drummond has given up interviews. He will only answer 100 more questions – and let the Guardian ask four of them. He shares his thoughts on whisky, burning £1m and cake circles

GUARDIAN

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"Impressions make fascinating little paintings, don't they?" 

He smiled at her fully, as he had the day before when she'd tipped him. 

Lee wasn't sure why she'd felt he'd been laughing at her then any more than why she felt he was laughing at her now. 

Despite herself, her lips curved in response. 

He found the smile a pleasant and very alluringsurprise. "You're a very odd man.""I've been told that, too."

Second Nature