ARC Book Review: Hideaway – Nora Roberts

Rating: 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Suspense

Review:

Hideaway is the story of Cate Sullivan, the prodigy of a famous Hollywood family. She is kidnapped as a child and that trauma, with its underlying hurtful revelations, ripples throughout her life, re-shaping it from what could have to what can be, disrupting her set path, affecting not just her but her entire family and that of Dillon Cooper’s and forcing her to turn into a new direction.

I have to say upfront, I couldn’t believe it when I was lucky enough to get approved for the ARC of this book. Nora Roberts is my favorite author in the world. Her books saved my life, shaped my future and I can’t thank her enough for her stories. So I was over the moon when I got the ARC. My first ever Nora Roberts ARC! I was both excited and terrified to read Hideaway. The excited part is easy to understand but dread because, what if I hated the book? Or what if the story didn’t speak to me? My principles wouldn’t allow me to give a less than honest opinion. I can’t in good faith ever fake a positive review when I don’t like the book. But thankfully, my fears turned out to be groundless.

This book! This book was such a treat for me. So many good feels from it. So many strong emotions it evoked in me. That’s what most of Nora Roberts’ books do to me. They make me feel so much, such a depth of emotion and for a person with apathy, that is a treasure beyond any price.

Hideaway was filled with strong characters, not just Cate and Dillon but also the side characters were so good, well-crafted, each one with their own unique voice and personality. I admired Cate a lot, everything she went through, the courage it took to face her fears, to build up a different future for herself than the one she’d planned. Facing an unknown, not knowing where you’ll end up, who you’ll become, what you want to do with your life, finding your purpose can hold so much fear and dread. It takes a lot of strength to keep going, keep fighting for who you want to be.

Ah, Dillon! What is it about Nora Roberts, that her heroes always sneak in your heart and make a place for themselves? I loved the teen Dillon and the college-bound one. The adult Dillon was irresistible. He made a good contrast to Cate. He knew exactly what he wanted from his life and he was content and happy with his path.

I loved both families and all the side-characters were a delightful addition to the whole story. The plot-line had a simplicity that made it easy to read and the ending was kind of fast but interesting. This book was about the value of family holding together and friends being there for you. There was the heartbreak of hurt but it all fit in with the story.

Writing this review makes me want to re-read the book all over again and that says it all, doesn’t it? I think it’s the incredible measure of an author’s talent when the story she crafted leaves you with a wonderful sense of contentment and the urge to re-read the book right after you finished reading it.

Synopsis: A family ranch in Big Sur country and a legacy of Hollywood royalty set the stage for Nora Roberts’ emotional new suspense novel. Caitlyn Sullivan, a daughter of Hollywood royalty, was already a star at ten, but still loved to play hide-and-seek with her cousins at the family home in Big Sur. It was during one of those games that she disappeared. Despite her glamorous background, Cate was a shrewd, scrappy survivor, and she managed to escape her abductors. Dillon Cooper was shocked to find the bruised and terrified girl huddled in his ranch house kitchen—but when the teenager and his family heard her story they provided refuge and comfort, reuniting her with her loved ones. Cate’s ordeal, though, was far from over. First came the discovery of a betrayal that would send someone she’d trusted to prison. Then there were years away in Ireland, sheltered and protected but with restlessness growing in her soul. Then, finally, she returned to Los Angeles, hoping to act again and get past the trauma that had derailed her life. What she didn’t yet know was that two seeds had been planted that long-ago night—one of a great love, and one of a terrible vengeance…