Stars Of Fortune by Nora Roberts
Stars Of Fortune
Author: Nora Roberts
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Date: 02 October 2021
Rating: 2 stars
Review: There was a time, actually the last time I was a member at a library, when I attempted to read all the books that Roberts has ever written. Take one look at Roberts’ bibliography and you will know that that is a feat I don’t think I’ll ever be able to complete. The woman churns out books at the speed of lightning. Either she is constantly writing, without break for a social life or a life at all, or she has minions that work for her and publish under her name because one can have a full-fledged library only stocked with books written by Nora Roberts and her pen name, J.D. Robb.
As Nora Roberts, she exclusively writes romance books that are either centred in contemporary life where the gorgeous main character finds her gorgeous love interest and with the exception of a slight misunderstanding around the time of the climax of the book has a happily ever after, or love stories that are set in fantasy versions of our own world where magic exists all around us but the main characters are the lucky few who can access it and love can overcome all difficulties. I am forced to commend her on her ability to write 1753732908742 books with these same set-ups without repeating herself.
This book falls in the second category. Sasha is an artist tormented by hyper-realistic dreams of an adventure she must go on to save the world from doom along with five other people, one of whom she is sure is her soul mate. Introverted, slightly neurodivergent in my opinion, with the abilities of a seer artist leaves the comfort of her secluded house to go to Corfu where her paintings and dreams lead her. There she meets the magician Bran Killian, the mermaid Annika, time traveller Sawyer, lycan Riley and the immortal warrior Doyle and together the six of them set off on the mission to save the three stars of fortune from getting into the hands of the evil Nerezza.
There is a lot going on in this book and by that I mean she has packed so many different stories of folk, myths and supernatural together that it feels like a haphazardly put together mishmash. Reading it felt a little like she was playing Spin the Bottle and that’s how she landed on the different character. I can imagine her doing something like, “Okay.. she is a mermaid.. Who is ditsy and collects coins.. Who falls in love with a.. Time traveller… with a compass.” Everything is a bit random, except for the pairs in the group which seems mighty convenient. You’d think that if they were randomly selected the group would be a little more diverse than six gorgeous, young, white people all just made for each other. Where is the Black grandmother from New York? Or the middle-aged Chinese man with a liking for reading thick books on the myths of the world?
I generally like reading romances even though I know right from the start that the main couple is going to end up with each other. No one picks up a romance book hoping for a whodunnit. But I hate the soulmate trope. I think I would have been more invested in the relationship if Sasha would have foreseen that she would end up with one of the men (Why not women, though?) from the group but not which one. It would be fun for us to see how she would clash with the others. But alas, we were told even before Bran was officially introduced that she was going to end up with him. Even the mandatory misunderstanding that instigates conflict and tries to bring up a question on whether they would end up together fell flat. I just didn’t care about the relationship.
While the mystery angle and the search for the stars was quite interesting, I hate the villain. Nerezza feels like a caricaturish villain, the kind that would be drawn with vague Jewish features and crooked teeth in a racist Disney animated version of this book. She is annoying and every time we got a glimpse of her vowing to defeat the six she just sounded like a villain I would include in a show for children below 12. It was close to ridiculous.
There are some things though that I really liked about the book, the foremost of them was obviously the depiction of Sasha’s character. She is constantly nervous and hesitant about everything. She overthinks things and questions things that others take for granted. Sasha is learning to love herself and realising that she too is brave and it's not something reserved for the other five in the group. To anyone else reading the book this could come off as an irritating personality trait but I saw myself in a lot of Sasha’s actions. Not everyone is as confident and effortlessly badass as Riley in this book so I appreciate the representation. I also appreciate the friendships and bonds that were included other than the romantic connections being formed. Whether it was Riley teaching Sasha how to fight or the pop culture reference wars between Sawyer, Bran and Riley it feels nice to read about good platonic relationships that are not going to develop into anything else.
I have read better books, in general and by Nora Roberts, and I have read worse. I just don’t think I liked this one enough to continue the series. But you never know I might cave and pick it up because of my reading for fun at the library mindset.