I didn’t quite get this post out before the end of 2014, but I did get it done. This post is going to be a little different. For my last post on 52 Books in 52 Weeks for 2014 I read a trilogy my mother recommended to me written by Nora Roberts. I haven’t really read Nora Roberts before and to be honest I had the impression that she was a romance novelist and I usually like my novels with some more meat than that. But… I was wrong.
Here is the list 🙂
| Number | Title | Author |
| 50 | Blood Brothers (Sign of Seven trilogy #1) | Roberts, Nora |
| 51 | The Hollow (Sign of Seven trilogy #2) | Roberts, Nora |
| 52 | The Pagan Stone (Sign of Seven trilogy #3) | Roberts, Nora |
I am going to write about the trilogy as a whole. I probably should have written my thoughts about each of them down as I finished them, but by now you guys would know that when I get to reading a series I pretty much rip through it hahaha. This trilogy I finished in 3 days.
Sign of Seven trilogy – Nora Roberts
As I said before I resisted this trilogy at first, but my Mum has a lot of reading experience and has put me onto many great authors over the years and I trust her judgement so I decided to give it a go. As usual I will try to keep my review as free from spoilers as possible, but that is kind of hard.
Overall I really enjoyed this trilogy, I loved the mix of fantasy, thriller, romance etc. One thing I believe is that Nora Roberts is either an amazing researcher and should possibly have also been a librarian or she is just extremely knowledgeable about a tonne of topics. Generally speaking the trilogy was awesome. I loved the character of Cybil, she was my favourite – being a researcher are you really surprised I identified with the character of the same profession?
I actually really liked that the story initially starts with 3 male protagonists. It’s not often that seems to happen in books like this so it was nice to see. I loved the grandma character of Elsie, one weird thing I noticed was that in the first book she was 97 and in the second she was referred to as 93… apparently the Grandma is Benjamin Button… who knew? hahaha. Sorry for nitpicking, I can’t help it.
Whilst it was an easy read it dealt with some intense things at times. I kind of liked that it made me uncomfortable, most writers would stop before writing about taboos like rape (don’t worry this isn’t much of a spoiler). To me the fact that this writer didn’t shy away from writing about the kind of things that would in reality happen if the situation could happen in reality shows some balls. Kudos.
The only other thing that bothered me is the epilogue at the end of the series. I felt there either needed to be a second epilogue or that the first one should have been written differently. There were three things in particular I wanted to know about. If I write about what they are though it would be a HUGE plot spoiler so I seriously can’t.
All in all I would definitely recommend reading this series if you are into supernatural thrillers/romances. The details are great and the characters are well developed. Each of the 6 (yes, 6) main characters are well fleshed out and I like the details about their families and the town. All in all, good stuff and a great end to my 2015 52 Books in 52 Weeks. I am definitely considering repeating this challenge for 2015, I have found it very fulfilling and fun. I didn’t get to the Hobbit 😦 unfortunately it is still packed in boxes waiting to be moved to our new house which is not yet finished. But with my new job I will have access to a tonne of books this year, so if you have any suggestions please write them in the comments below.
Ditch the Bun 
January 13th, 2015 at 4:12 am
My mom encourages me to read Nora Roberts as well. I broke down and read 2 trilogies. It’s been awhile since I’ve read them but I remember liking them pretty well. The first was the Key trilogy (Key of Light, Key of Knowledge, Key of Valor) and the 3nd was the Three Sisters’ Island trilogy. Depending on what kind of stuff you really like, I always highly recommend James Rollins’ Sigma series, skipping the first one. It’s about a US secret defense group that takes these highly specialized people in fields like science and field training into this one small, close-knit group. Maybe you’re thinking it’s a total guy book or all about military but it’s so far from it. He delves into real history and science and brings it to life. Theres a little romance in each book but not so much that it detracts from the plot. It’s seriously a great series if you have the time for it. Also, in a completely different genre A Discovery of Witches by Deanna Harkness is a good series as well.
January 13th, 2015 at 4:14 am
*Deborah Harkness. I read a series by Deanna Chase too (Bourbon Street series) and I always switch the names lol
January 14th, 2015 at 9:15 pm
I have heard of Deborah Harkness, might have to check it out 🙂
Thanks for the recommends.
January 17th, 2015 at 6:56 am
I nominated you to participate in the Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award! Check out the details at https://wordpress.com/read/post/id/74533928/58/
January 21st, 2015 at 5:26 am
I feel like we’re soul mates. I also had a reading challenge this past year (although i didn’t really post about it). I did 75 books in 2014 and it was both easy and hard. I wish I had blogged it like you did. I did keep a list though if you’re interested. It’s mostly YA stuff because I’m a teen and children’s librarian (although my MLIS is in special collections-there’s a story there).
January 22nd, 2015 at 9:45 pm
Thanks for the follow 🙂 I read a lot of YA too recommended by our Youth Librarian who I am good friends with 🙂
Maybe you should do it again and blog about it this year? I would read it 🙂
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:52 am
Haha, maybe not this year what with the new arrival and all 🙂 But maybe 2016!