This book was a captivating read about family relationships, external threats and the love that overcomes all obstacles. Adrian Rizzo was raised by her mother Lina to be fierce and independent, so when she strikes out on her own to do exercise videos and offer a line of exercise clothing on her own, that was no surprise to anyone. However, when she decides to move home to her grandparents’ house in Maryland, that does cause a little stir. Adrian is loving, compassionate and kind and wants to look after her grandfather, so I admired her willingness to upend her life and sacrifice the easy way for the way that was slightly more challenging but so beneficial to her and her beloved Popi. Lina and Adrian narrowly escaped death once when attacked in their home in NYC, so Adrian does not welcome the threatening notes that she receives regularly from a non-admirer that she calls the poet. The plot is complex and well-written so that it drew me in quickly to the lives of the Rizzos and their close friends. I really fell in love with the dog Sadie, a huge dog who is obedient to every command from Adrian but who is a gentle giant. I liked Adrian’s strength and resilience and thought that her character was extremely well-developed, from her childhood on. This book is like a saga of the Rizzo family and includes their tragedy, their loves lost and gained and their complicated relationships. The author certainly knows how to weave a generational story into a book that enthralled me and made me want to know more each time I finished a new chapter. With mystery, murders, romance and plenty of drama, this contemporary fiction is one for the record books of great novels!
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book via the Booked Up All Night Sweepstakes and the publisher, St. Martin’s Press. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
Biography (from her website at http://www.noraroberts.com
Nora Roberts was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, the youngest of five children. After a school career that included some time in Catholic school and the discipline of nuns, she married young and settled in Keedysville, Maryland.
She worked briefly as a legal secretary. “I could type fast but couldn’t spell, I was the worst legal secretary ever,” she says now. After her sons were born she stayed home and tried every craft that came along. A blizzard in February 1979 forced her hand to try another creative outlet. She was snowed in with a three and six year old with no kindergarten respite in sight and a dwindling supply of chocolate.
Born into a family of readers, Nora had never known a time that she wasn’t reading or making up stories. During the now-famous blizzard, she pulled out a pencil and notebook and began to write down one of those stories. It was there that a career was born. Several manuscripts and rejections later, her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981.
Nora met her second husband, Bruce Wilder, when she hired him to build bookshelves. They were married in July 1985. Since that time, they’ve expanded their home, traveled the world and opened a bookstore together.
Through the years, Nora has always been surrounded by men. Not only was she the youngest in her family, but she was also the only girl. She has raised two sons. Having spent her life surrounded by men, Ms. Roberts has a fairly good view of the workings of the male mind, which is a constant delight to her readers. It was, she’s been quoted as saying, a choice between figuring men out or running away screaming.
Nora is a member of several writers groups and has won countless awards from her colleagues and the publishing industry. Recently The New Yorker called her “America’s favorite novelist.”
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