Books 13-19: Rereads, all by Nora Roberts

I embarked on a reread of Nora Roberts' In the Garden trilogy and Bride Quartet in March and have been reading them at the kitchen table while I eat my breakfast and dinner, and over lunch as well on the weekends.

I find some of Robert's books to be good comfort reads, and who doesn't need a good comfort read during times like these?

While I usually go to for Roberts' standalone romantic thrillers (e.g. Northern Lights) or the Cheapeake Bay trilogy (minus book 4, which don't much care for), the In the Garden trilogy has moved into my top 5 favorite Noras (counting series as one book). It is one of the better of her paranormal romances (called paraNoras by some of her fans), with solid characters and interesting romances with an intriguing, if paper-thin, ghost story to pepper things up. I especially like that the romances are generational, with couples in their 20s, 30s and 40s - hot heroes and heroines I can identify with - finding each other as they try to discover the identity of an insane family ghost.

I didn't give the Bride Quartet very good reviews when I first read them - I had been bingeing on Roberts' backlog when I first read (and reviewed) them I and was acutely aware of all the tropes and characters she combines into her books, and I only really liked one of the books, Bed of Roses, finding the others below average for the author. I am a little more charitably inclined towards them after this reread, although I don't know I if will ever re-reread them like I will In the Garden.

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Book 40: The Martian by Andy Weir, audiobook read by Wil Wheaton

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