Nora Roberts (born Eleanor Marie Robertson on October 10, 1950) has been publishing books since 1981. Her first book was published by a new small romance publisher, Silhouette Books, who picked up Irish Thoroughbred which had been rejected by Harlequin Romance Novels. If that isn’t a success story of “look where she is now,” I don’t know what else it is. She has now published over 225 novels under the names N. Roberts, J. D. Robb, Jill March, and Sarah Hardesty (in the UK).
Writing an article about which of her novels you should read can be daunting as she writes Romance, Mystery/Detective books (J.D. Robb), and post-apocalypse adult fantasy. I didn’t want to discuss books I hadn’t yet read so this article is going to cover her Adult Fantasy/Apocalypse genre of books which I feel are among her best.
The Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy
Love, mystery, legacies, and legends. What more could you want in a story? The Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy has it all. How about saving the world, or at least the family heritage? The three books in this series include Dark Witch (2013), Shadow Spell (2014), and Blood Magick (2014). The story tells tales of an American horse handler, Iona Sheehan, who travels to County Mayo Ireland to learn more about her family legacy. The only information she has about her family is what she knows from her grandmother’s stories. She soon meets Branna and Connor O’Dwyer, her cousins, who embrace the family’s magical heritage, even running a shop called The Dark Witch.
Upon her arrival in Ireland, she gains employment at a local stable. Of course, this is an N.R. Novel, she meets the hunky troublesome cowboy, Boyle McGrath at her new job. She soon learns that everything about her family history isn’t pretty as it seems there is an ancient evil that has been haunting her family for generations. She, her friends, relatives, and ancestors, are destined to centuries of torment and threats. Add in Finn, Branna’s possible romantic interest, or not, and you have a magical army that will try to defeat the darkness gathering around them, a darkness that threatens to end all that the group holds dear.
I love the way the characters interact throughout this book. There is tension, disagreements, and eventually love. The book ends with the idea that love will end all but the story is worth a read. The series follows a formula. The first book sets up the story, the second elaborates on the problem, and then they solve it in the last book.
There are a lot of her typical “romance writing traits” as well, descriptions of how people look, familial talk, and events (dinners, etc), and you may wonder where the magic happens at the start. Push on, as you move through all three books, you will get your fill of magic, mystery, love, and saving the world – or at least the family heritage.
Chronicles of The One Trilogy
Now, The Chronicles of the One Trilogy is a post-apocalyptic series, the first of the Roberts novels that I read, not even realizing she wrote in this genre. I knew Mrs. Roberts, of course, from the Romance Novels my mom loved when I was a teenager and on into current times. The books in this trilogy include Year One (2017), Of Blood and Bone (2018), and The Rise of Magicks (2019).
This story might hit a little close to home as it is a post-apocalyptic saga about what happens following a pandemic that spreads within days across the whole of the world. Starting in Scotland, a family is suddenly hit with an illness that they unknowingly spread as they head home from a New Year’s Celebration at a family home in Scotland. The illness spreads quickly through his/their contacts on their trip home including travel through airports, on airplanes, etc.
As the world succumbs to the pandemic, other mysteries start to happen and many learn that they have magic that seems to have been dormant until the pandemic that killed so many in the world. Many learn that they are not even human but Fairy or other species that we all thought were beings from fairytales. The story centers around groups of people who fight to survive as the story of “one” who has been sent to save all spreads. As we follow the lives of these survivalists and “The One” over about 20 years, we see people fight, grow, love, and hate and it truly feels like what life might look like in similar circumstances.
The Dragon Heart Legacy
The newest of her completed fantasy trilogies, The Dragon Heart Legacy, battles for the status as my favorite with the Chronicles of the One. The books in this series include The Awakening (2020), The Becoming (2021), and The Choice (2023).
This series starts with a young woman, raised to think of herself as not good enough, working a career she hates, barely making ends meet as she pays bills to the pennies every month, a mother who feels she is a duty, and a dad who just left years ago. Upon learning that her dad didn’t just leave, coming into a large sum of money that she had no idea she had, she travels to Ireland to learn more about where her father came from and in turn learns of an unimagined family legacy that has to be to good, or bad, to be true.
This series is full of everything you would expect from this prolific author and more; Love, Fantasy, Adventure, and Magic. Taking her best friend friend, Marco, along, Breen finds herself on the adventure of a lifetime and learns that she, out of everyone in all of the world, is the one who must save her family, friends, and the world. The series follows the usual prescription, the first book sets up the story, the second the problem, and in the third the problem is solved. This is a high adventure that you will struggle to put down. You may find many elements of Breen Siobhan Kelly that you can relate to as well as her best friend, Marco.
The Circle Trilogy
A bit older than the previously discussed, the Circle Trilogy centers around a male lead rather than a male. The books in this series include Morrigan’s Cross (2006), Dance of the Gods (2006), and Valley of Silence (2006), amazingly all published in the same year. As someone who is working hard to finish the second book in her first series, I feel that this was quite a feat and can’t help but wonder if she saved them up to publish one right after another rather than publishing as she finished them.
Hoyt Mac Cionaoith, born in 12th-century Ireland, watches as a vampire’s lust for destruction takes his brother and turns him into one like her. He thinks he will never recover from having to tell their mother that he watched him die. He is then charged by the Goddess to find and destroy this power that threatens to destroy the world of humans. Hundreds of years later, in modern times, Hoyt builds an army of 5 including his brother, Cian, A little witch named Glenna, and two warriors, Moira and Larken, tasked with defeating the powerful vampire and her followers that will end in a firefly magical battle of spectacular proportion.
Full of unlikely romance, colorful characters, and an adventure that spans worlds and eras, this is a book that keeps you reading page after page. From the snarky redhead, the broody Hoyt, and the arrogant vampire, this unlikely band of heroes takes you on a fast-paced trek through the worlds in order to complete their goal without killing each other first.
The Lost Bride Trilogy
As I searched Google to find what it thinks is the best N. Roberts Trilogy, I came up with The Lost Bride Trilogy, which I have yet to read. I have added it to my list, however. The books in this series include Inheritance (2023) and The Mirror Nov- 2024), with the 3rd book title and date yet to be set.
The series starts in 1806 with a bride, a wedding, and a murder. The bride is murdered before she is wedded leaving an unsolved mystery that is still unsolved centuries later. 100s of years later, Sonya MacTavish is stunned to learn that the mansion she has inherited in coastal Maine, where she must live for at least three years to meet the requirements of the will, is haunted. Footsteps at night, images in mirrors, dreams of the past, the way back past before she was born, what could this all mean?
Any book that promises family secrets, ghosts, hauntings, and magic is a book that I will definitely be reading. This sounds like one none of us will be able to put down. Add in a great puzzle and a curse and I’m in.
Nora Roberts Wrap Up
Well, that was a fun trek back through some really great reads, and a new one I need to get. If you are one who loves adult fantasy with a touch of romance, I highly recommend Mrs. Roberts. There are many more to choose from out there, just do a little search and I am sure you will find some great books to escape our world in order to join the world of fantasy.
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