Summer Reading

The Hollow
Nora Roberts
Jove Books

Way back in high school, one of the best parts about the summer was going up to the cottage with a stack of books. When the weather was cooperative, I would literally spend hours drifting in a floating chair tied to the end our dock. Since I didn't want to ruin any of the books that had made the trip with me, my dad made me a "reading plank" that he affixed to the top of the pontoon arms. Attached to the base of the chair was a mesh bag that would drift alongside me. As a kid, it contained juice boxes and pop, as I got older, it kept beer and bottled water. Sigh. I miss those days.

So, why the stroll down memory lane? Well, I'm not ashamed to admit that a good number of the books that I read in those summers could be classified as trashy romances. In fact, two of my aunts would bring up plastic shopping bags full of Harlequins, Regencies, and Silhouettes to be read by anyone who had the time. Happily, I had a lot of time and I would bounce between Dickens and some torrid romance without giving it a second thought.

While not exactly torrid, Robert's The Hollow is definitely a fine example of a good summer read. It had some sex, a little wistfulness, a bit of intrigue and a happy-ish ending. As a follow up to Blood Brothers (the first novel in the trilogy and previously reviewed on this blog,) I'd say that Roberts' accomplished her main objectives -- she advanced the plot, had another budding romance unfold and not so subtlety foreshadowed the next novel. 2.5 floating chairs out of 5.