I picked up a book at a library book sale a few months ago, and I’m just getting to it now because it finally floated to the top of the pile. It turns out it’s Nora Roberts’ first novel Irish Hearts, republished almost 20 years after first publication. That made me a bit nervous. She’s written approximately seven billion novels, and I’ve been reading the more recent ones. She’s had a LOT of practice in 20 years. She’s spent a lot of time improving (one would assume). Would reading this be like reading something from Ms. Writing 101?
Well, no. It’s better than what Ms. 101 would produce. It’s not as tight as her current books, but it’s readable. I’m about 40 pages in and I’ve started to ignore the excessive use of adverbs that Stephen King’s On Writing taught me to hate. So while I’d rather read a NEW Nora Roberts, I’ll survive this one. And if you want a copy of Irish Hearts click on the above link and you can buy a used copy for six cents.
