I don’t very often review romance novels, but I was out of town all weekend and this was the only book I read in four days. (My apologies for how late it is.) In any case, it’s a paranormal/fantasy romance, so I’m claiming it. Nora Roberts, as a lot of people know, is one of the dominant forces in romance novels. She’s written a little bit of everything (except, I think, historicals) — suspense, fantasy, sf, southern, northern, eastern, western, etc. She’s famed for her strong storytelling and excellent dialogue. Her online persona is also a genuinely nice person, as evidenced by the boards at Dear Author and the Smart B*tches (see sidebar for links).

In this book 1 of 3, Malory Price is an art dealer/gallery manager in small-town Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, she and the boss’s new wife have issues, and she’s on the verge of losing her job when she gets invited to a reception at an amazing historical house in the area. When she gets there, only two other people — both women — have been invited. She, Dana, and Zoe were invited specifically by the couple who has rented the house because they are linked. The three of them are the only women alive who have a chance of finding three specific keys which can save three women from the fairy-tale hell they’ve been trapped in. This is literal, not metaphorical: actual physical keys to unlock the box that contains their souls, or something like that, so the young women can be awakened like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. Unfortunately, there are a few things working against her, primarily lack of information and, oh yeah, the guy who put them there in the first place . . . (more…)

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