The Collector by Nora Roberts

The Collector by Nora Roberts

Publisher: Putnam Adult, April 2015

Genre: Fiction

Pages: eBook, 496 pages

Rating: 2/5 stars

Summary (from goodreads.com):

When professional house-sitter Lila Emerson witnesses a murder/suicide from her current apartment-sitting job, life as she knows it takes a dramatic turn. Suddenly, the woman with no permanent ties finds herself almost wishing for one. . . .

Artist Ashton Archer knows his brother isn’t capable of violence—against himself or others. He recruits Lila, the only eyewitness, to help him uncover what happened. Ash longs to paint her as intensely as he hungers to touch her. But their investigation draws them into a rarified circle where priceless antiques are bought, sold, gambled away, and stolen, where what you possess is who you are, and where what you desire becomes a deadly obsession. . . .

Review:

I've mentioned before that I absolutely love Nora Roberts books but, for some reason, this felt so much different from what I have come to expect.

First off, there really wasn't much of a mystery to the story and, anyone who has read Nora Roberts knows that kind of her thing. Now, The Collector did start off with a bang but within a couple of chapters, you know who has committed the crime, you know what the whole reason behind it is, so it really took away the 'who done it?' that I generally crave.

Secondly, it felt like there was an excess of dialogue or "fluff" that just seemed unnecessary. Again, there was less of a mystery to this book so a lot of time was spent on the romance between Lila and Ash... even that wasn't really that interesting. There are a lot of issues that I have with the overall development of their relationship, how it started, how intense Ashton was, all sorts of things... I just found it unhealthy.

As for the characters, I didn't really like any of them... other than Luke, he seemed kinda awesome and can make fresh muffins first thing in the morning - total win! Lila was overly annoying to me in that she just seemed a little to big for her britches... come on, no one challenged a murderer with a teacup poodle or a Swiss Army knife. NOPE!!

Overall, not my favourite Nora Roberts novel and, honestly, if it was my first, I would be a little turned off.