Title: The Collector
Author: Nora Roberts
Genre: Romantic Suspense
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.
Thoughts: I love Nora and own every single one of her books. She’s one of those authors that I know will deliver a solid story and take me on an adventure.
The Collector got off to a slow start for me, so slow in fact that it took me months to get 1/4 of the way into it. However, once I hit that point I couldn’t put the book down and read the rest in a couple of days.
Lila was a great character, she has a couple of seriously cool jobs. She house sits in fabulous homes around the world, and is a successful YA author. When she sees a crime take place she doesn’t hesitate to call the authorities. The compassion she shows to Ashton, the brother of the one of the victims of the crime she saw sets her on a course that changes not only her life, but also the life of her best friend.
Ashton has got to be one of Nora’s best heroes ever. He comes from a family so large there’s a spreadsheet to keep track of them. As the oldest he’s never shirked his responsibility in regards to his siblings, step-siblings, step-siblings of half-siblings…you see where I’m going with this. This fact alone made me love him. He’s also a bossy artist who goes after what he wants when it comes to his art (he reminded me of Mikhail Stanislaski and a couple of the MacGregor’s). When he sees Lila at the police station he figures out she’s the witness to his brother’s murder.
I’m not going to lie up to the point where they start working together and the tension arrives the story was very meh for me. After that I loved how the story flowed and built until they were a solid unit. Both Ashton and Lila have issues due to how they grew up, but together they have something that they both recognize is special.
One of the things I love about her RS books is that I always learn something new. This one is very much set in the art world and around a priceless work of art, and a very fascinating part of history. When I was done I wanted to go and do research on the art they deal with.
Overall this another great story from a master story teller. If you are a fan of Nora’s you will enjoy this book. If you’ve never read a Nora book, first shame on you, and second give this one a try.
Grade B
