Light, amusing entertainment. I liked Vance Banning once I got to know him a little, & Shane Abbott was an excellent, fun, straightforward character for most of the book. In fact, the whole book was a pretty enjoyable, uncomplicated romance until the last few irritating chapters when Shane turned into a screaming idiot because the mother she had no time for told her things she didn't know about Vance's life. Having known each other for a few weeks you think he'd have spilled everything by now, because falling in love isn't enough, you big, fat liar, you. Yep! You guessed it. It's all off now... until it's not. Lost a star there, but the rest of it was nice.

blurb:
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.

It is a sweet book about a woman, Shane, who returns to her small hometown after her grandmother's death. She has a great outlook on life even with the less than ideal circumstances she grew up with. Vance needs time away from his high powered life and the tragedies that he's dealt with. Neither one is looking for a relationship, but they can't deny the connection.

It's a quick read and cute.

I’m certain I’ve read this one before. Just as good the second time around!

Review haiku:
She thinks carpenter,
But really executive.
True love overcomes.

I liked this book...nothing too deep here. It's a Christmas romance, after all. I did like the bits of history the author threw in about the Civil War battles at Sharpsburg/Antietam. Some of her thoughts on this were spot on:
. families often were split, some fighting on each side, leading to the disintegration of families.
. war is the only time killing is glorified rather than condemned. Men become statistics...it's dehumanizing.
. the more a man kills during war, the more he's honored. Unnatural.

She also points out that shared genes don't make a bond. Love/affection/respect do.

The story was derivative, gleaning and making use of a rich harvest from “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen.

Shane was appealing in her generosity and perkiness and appalling in her inability to learn from her prior experiences with a narcissistic and cruel mother and other experiences with Vance, the man in her life who was consistently respectful, kind, and affectionate toward her. She was always creating her sense of the meaning behind his behaviors, interrupting him virtually every time he tried to speak about his actual life events and experiences and essentially creating her opinion about who he was out of while cloth.

Vance was described as physically attractive and secretly wealthy beyond imagining. He lost courage to be truthful and correct Shane every time she spoke to him about who she thought he was and what he needed. He also took the lead in their sexual encounters using his sorrow and anger about his past relationship to fuel a rough and overriding sort of sex play until Shane responded at which point he suddenly became tenderly insistent but dropped his bullying ways in favor of following her cues to do things with her that pleased both her and himself.

Neither character felt natural to me, and all the other characters were one-note Charlies/Charlenes, having characteristics that enabled plot development but very little in the way of being authentic people.

This is the 2nd Nora Roberts book I’ve read. I was put off by the first one and quit it at mid-point. I skimmed a lot from the mid-point to the end but am kind of regretting bother with all that now. I would not recommend this book.

Well written as always but bland story this time around.

Disappointed this time. Two great characters just little plot. It's essentially a love story with nothing else happening. Most of it I sped read due to long monologues saying not much, but the end when Shane threw a hissy fit worthy of a 16 year old over Vance omitting his occupation was a bit much. Especially as her suspicious mother delivered the news in a snide visit, you'd think Shane would have been adult enough to have a conversation before kicking him out. Frustrating and very lacking in excitement and suspense for a Nora Roberts.

Just okay. I’m actually struggling to see the appeal of Roberts... this is my second (I think) book of hers and it’s another ‘just okay.’ The characters are interesting enough on their own, but together they’re nasty. The way they speak to one another is just so rude and disrespectful. But they’re in love and all that strumming of nipples nonsense, so who cares if he calls her stupid and tells her to shut up and throws her face first into the snow?!?! They’re in love!!!

IDK. 2.5 stars for me. Because for me, love means never calling the other person stupid.

I knew this was going to be old school, but I was hoping since it was Nora Roberts it would be cute old school. It wasn't. It was terrible heroine who won't stop giggling who loves (for not apparent reason) the a**hole hero who "has a good heart underneath" old school. Bleck.

I really like Nora Roberts’s writing. It is descriptive without being too flowery and flows easily. Her descriptive and character work is very vivid, it is easy to immerse yourself in the narrative.

The negative for me with this book was the story itself. There was love at first sight, love declarations after knowing each other for a matter of days, miscommunication and a third act breakup that was resolved exceedingly fast. These are all things that I hate but because the writing was so good, I didn’t end up hating this. It’s not a book I would reread though.

I was curious about this author, because Nora Roberts has written so many books and is so popular with some patrons at the library. What I have decided is:
1. I am not fond of romance writing. Period. I should quit trying.
2. Romance writing, as opposed to true love stories, is formulaic and predictable. That makes it BORING.
3. Just because an author is popular, that does not mean they write great literature. (Duh.)
Back to nonfiction for a while, just to get the saccharine sweetness off my tongue.

I just keep trying to like Nora Roberts. Bailed out on this before the end. Where's some depth to the story? A storyline, would be good, rather than just the waiting for the physical contact. Need more in a book. Nixed it to Goodwill.