Člověk si takhle čte..je asi na 180 straně a říká si "wow ještě mě čeká víc jak polovina knihy, copak autorka ještě vymyslí..." myslí mu už běhají různé komplikované scénáře, co vše může být ve zbytku knihy....

...aby o 22 stran později zjistil, že kniha respektive příběh je u konce. Druhou polovinu knihy totiž zaujímá jiný příběh.

Upřímně nevím, zda se smát nebo plakat. Každopádně první příběh "První pohled" byl fajn. Taková zajímavá oddechovka. Určitě by se dal příběh více rozvinout a daleko víc z toho vytřískat, ale líbilo se mi to. Oproti tomu "Bouřlivá láska" si mě nezískala. Přečetla jsem z ní tři stránky a knihu odložila. Nějak mě to neoslovilo.

Nora Roberts siempre sabe como hacerme disfrutar leyendo un libro. Sus libros me encantan, cuando son de intriga con romance o cuando son solo de género romántico, como es el caso.
Vance ha llegado al pueblo de la ciudad para huir, tanto de si mismo como de su pasado, en el pueblo se convierte en un ermitaño que se centra en lo suyo y ya está. Pero todo eso cambia cuando Shane vuelve al pueblo en el que se crió tras la muerte de su abuela. Ella es la que hace que Vance baje sus defensas, pero él no guarda algunos secretos...
Esta historia es entretenida y fácil de leer, es rápida y divertida. La personalidad de Shane me encanta, es tan alegre y positiva, a veces incluso ingenua y él es todo lo contrario. El choque de las dos personalidades da mucho juego a la historia, sobre todo al principio. Este no es un libro que te va a marcar el resto de tu vida, es un libro para leer cuando no tienes nada que hacer y te apetece desconectar. Al no ser un libro muy extenso se puede leer de una asentada o dos. Es genial, Nora Roberts nunca me decepciona.

The first part was actually okay and kept me interested. But the problem I have is that she was so levelheaded and rational for the entire book, really intelligent and independent until it came to her mother, and when Vance was trying to tell her his side of the story and she essentially had a meltdown. She became someone I really didn't find consistent in personality. It did not feel realistic about how she was complaining he was lying to her yet claimed to understand he had secrets from the beginning. I also had trouble with visualizing some aspects of the book from the way it was written. I'm still glad I read it though

Your typical romance novel

Fun fact: in my German translation, Vance is called Victor and Shane becomes Sharon. I didn‘t mind that, and I really enjoyed the book and finished it in just 2 or 3 days. I‘d give it 3.5 stars if I could.

It‘s about a young woman who returns to her home town to open an antique shop in her late grandmother‘s house. She falls for her somewhat grumpy neighbor and hires him to help her renovate the house.

Unlike the other book in my bundle (Gabriel‘s Angel, which I read just before), this story seems more timeless (Gabriel‘s Angel had a late 80s soap opera feel IMO.). Shane/Sharon is a really fun, likeable heroine with lots of energy.

I would not classify this as a Christmas novel, although it ends around the holiday season.

5.
Genial.

Vance y Shane se conocen cuando él compra la casa de al lado y en seguida ella ya sabe que lo quiere para sí misma mientras que Vance hace lo posible por no ceder. Empiezan a trabajar juntos y desde ahí ya todo va tomando forma.

La verdad Nora Roberts siempre será mi escritora favorita y todos sus libros me fascinan. La historia fue interesante y sin rasgos tóxicos, me encantó y la recomendaría a todos.

A romance between Vance, a construction CEO from the big city leaves all the hustle and stresses to take some time away to get back to who he is meets Shane a hometown girl who has returned home to open an antiques store in the home she grew up in. She leaves teaching to go after her dream. Vance and Shane start out not liking each other but then 'things' happen. A good Nora Roberts simple and enjoyable love story.

First Impressions - G+
Nora Roberts
Escaping the rat race and the lure of gold-digging women, wealthy businessman Vance Banning moves to a small, rural retreat, telling the townsfolk that he's an out-of-work carpenter. All he wants is peace, quiet and to keep away from women. So the last thing he needs is a charitable neighbor--especially a beautiful, gracious and persistent neighbor of the female persuasion--but there's something about Shane Abbott he just can't ignore.

Vance is certain his cover story will stop his lovely neighbor from getting too friendly, but Shane is determined to break down his resistance. Vance has been burned once, so only a fool would fall for the same innocent act twice. And he's no fool. But he has no idea how relentless Shane Abbott can be when it comes to giving a helping hand--or a loving heart.

He needed to simplify his life and mend his broken heart. She was searching for a place to finally fit in and a man who could love her for who she was. Together they discover that all they really needed was each other, and that love is the greatest Christmas gift of all.

You know what is the actual worst? When you find out that the guy you're dating, who you think is a penniless, out-of-work carpenter, is really a millionaire business executive. Right?!?! God, I can't tell you how many times that's happened to me. And every time it almost wrecks the relationship, because I'm all (sobbing): "How could you have betrayed me like this? How could you be so cruel?" Etc. Anyway it was nice to finally see this extremely common experience reflected in the plot of a romance novel. Basically, millionaire business executives, you have to stop masquerading as carpenters because we are not having it anymore.

A couple of other cute things from this book were, first, the hilariously inaccurate statements the fem. protag. makes about the experience of teaching in the inner city (apparently she did it for four years, but I am like, girlfriend, based upon these statements you are making, there is no way so please just stop pretending), and second, the title, which as I'm sure every romance reader knows was the original title of Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which is just SO APT because First Impressions and P&P are practically twinsies.

Vance Banning takes a leave of absence from his job as CEO of a large construction company and buys a fixer-upper in western Maryland. Shane Abbott is turning her grandmother's house into a civil war museum and antique store. She and Vance are neighbors but their first meeting is less than cordial on Vance's part. Shane is friendly and happy and Vance is grumpy and moody, but the two are attracted to each other (hey - it's love at first sight for both of them, though Vance won't admit it.) I thought this book was pretty cheesy, especially the love scenes, but then I went back and looked at the original publish date and it all made sense!

The main characters were pretty charming and easy to relate to. And I love the idea of a little antique shop super cute.

There was very little Christmas content in this Christmas themed book.

The writing was done well and the book flowed easily and transitioning was fantastic.

Spoiler alert! This is the only thing that confused me. The whole entire book she kept saying how this man clearly had his secrets and she would accept them when he was ready to tell her. Then she gets upset that he didn't tell her.

I think the writing was great and gotta give props to the author for great writing skills.

Finished First Impressions by Nora Robert’s. It was a really cute, light read.

You follow Shane who moves back to town after the passing of her grandmother and sets out to open a museum/antique shop in the property her grandmother left her. She meets Vance, a seemingly down on his luck carpenter who purchased the fixer upper property next door. Both of them make wrong first impression assumptions but get to know each other and untangle each other’s assorted messed up pasts.

I’m not sure why this is advertised as a Christmas novel looking at the cover. The only relation to Christmas it had was timeline wise it finished out on Christmas Eve and the main characters did shop for and put up a tree.

I give this one a ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. The book wasn’t bad it was just very predictable. And I know it was a short 300 pages but having the main characters kiss on like page 30 when they were strangers is just a pet peeve for me.