I am having a hard time getting through this novel. There is such a long flashback of the youth of the main characters that I'm not enjoying it as much as I usually do her novels.

I loved this book. It is a departure for Roberts who tends to have a structure for most of her books with many characters very familiar to you. The occupation of the characters was hugely entertaining, the mystery was exactly what you expect from Roberts, the heartache was right up there from the best harlequinn romance without being so woe is me you want to slap them, all combined with well rounded characters who you rooted for throughout . I love Nora Roberts books and this is one of my favourites. It is definetly in my keeper pile.

Okay, well this review may be a bit biased as i have just (as in five minutes ago) finished Honest Illusions by Nora Roberts! and what a read! i have read quite a few Nora Roberts books now and many many many more books of varying genres and authors. But i have to say i think this could well be the best i have ever read! i finished it in two days (during the week when i had school... i woke up at 3am to read!). i absolutely loved this book and would give it fifteen stars if i could! but five will have to do...

i picked up Honest Illusions on a whim from the library (i love the state library!). This novel was sitting on the shelf (not even on the recent returns shelf!) and i saw it was Nora Roberts and thought 'well she is always a good read'. and i am SO glad i decided to pick this one up!

Roberts is such a fantastic writer when it comes to relationships (family or otherwise) and the bonds between the characters in this book are heart warming and lovely. i often found myself chuckling over little things the characters did as children, etc and there are so many moments that make you smile. i loved the way the novel was structured, with a prologue that gets you in, and then PART I which takes you back to the start where luke is a twelve year old who has run away from abusive parents. I loved reading about the childhood of Roxy and Luke. And what i love most about this book was that it was SOO much more than just the cliched 'romance' novel (Honest Illusions is 492 pages long... and i loved that it was longer than the standard 350 page limit!). You actually get to read about the characters past rather than being introduced to the adult with a past (insert hardship; bad parent relationships, divorce, children, etc...) i also loved the fact that Max (Roxy's father) plays as important a role as Luke or Roxy and all the other characters are just as brilliant (I love them all!) and well fleshed out...

the way the romance progresses is quite slowly and there was a PLOT other than JUST roxy and luke!

theres so much i could say about this book but i cant put them all down so i will just finish by recommending this book to anyone! As i said earlier i loaned this book from the library but i am going to buy it so i can read it again in the future because i LOVED IT SO MUCH!

BUY IT! READ IT!

I have read MANY of Nora Robert's books, and this is my favorite. I was absolutely enchanted, intrigued, and in love with every character. I laughed, I cried, I worried, and guessed; I couldn't put it down. Nora outdid herself with each deep, developed, and deliciously complex character. I will genuinely miss this wonderful family; I feel like I know them! Great characters and fun plots are so important to me in a novel, and this one delivers this and more. I'm not a personal fan of magic or jewels, but I was completely engrossed to the last word; closing the book with a huge, satisfied smile and a sigh. I couldn't recommend it more highly; Nora fan or not! Now...if only it was a trilogy!

I've just finished reading this book for the second time and it was just as good as the first time. This is one of my all time favorite Nora Roberts books. It's fun, passionate, emotional, intriguing, everything one could want in a book. Contrary to some of her recent works, in this book the characters are very well developed, to the point that one feels as if they are real people that they will actually miss when the story is over.

The passion between Luke and Roxy is so intense that sparks almost literally fly off the page. While she does take a very long time to finally bring these two together, once she does it is magical! Aside from the relationship between the two main characters, I also love the relationship that Nora creates between Luke and Max. There are a few times when I was almost brought to tears by the poignancy of their feeling for each other. The relationship between Roxy and Max was well done also.

All in all this is one of those books that can be read over and over again throughout time and still be thoroughly enjoyable, although its age is obvious at times throughout the book. I highly recommend this book to any fan of Nora's as it is a great representation of what makes her such a great author.