Tribute by Nora Roberts

I’m a bit behind on reviews as I had family in town visiting for a long weekend. So please forgive me as I try to catch up!

Tribute was the July pick for the Lakeshore Moms’ Book Club. We had yet to read a Nora Roberts book for our club even though a few of us are fans. I have the movie on my DVR ready to watch, but I wanted to read the novel first!

Tribute is the story of Cilla McGowan. She is a former child star (I thought of the girls of Full House) and granddaughter of a famous actress, Janet Hardy, who died young in the 1970’s of a drug overdose (I thought of Marilyn Monroe). Cilla has bad stage fright and after falling off of the D list has discovered a fulfilling career as a home flipper. She buys houses, restores them, and sells them for a profit. After buying Janet’s farm in Virginia from her mother, Cilla goes to Virginia to restore her grandmother’s estate. There she find fulfilling work fixing up the house, getting to know her father and half-sister better, learning more about Janet, and also meeting the hot neighbor next door, Ford Sawyer.

Ford is a hot nerdy graphic artist that lives across the street. I liked Ford and thought he would be someone Ben and I would be friends with. While he was a bit of a stalker in the beginning (watching her with binoculars to better use her as a model for his new graphic novel), he was a very romantic character. He was supportive of Cilla and I also loved his nerdiness. I especially enjoyed when he talked about his love for Lost and Battlestar Galactica. I loved the pop culture references. The only thing that seemed off was Cilla’s making money off of fixing up houses – I don’t think much of that is going on now with the current real estate climate!

The novel was interesting with great secondary characters and seeing Cilla grow as a character from a loner to someone who belongs. The Janet Hardy mystery was also intriguing. I couldn’t put the book down at the end to see how it ended. I was a half surprised by the ending and half not as I had guessed some of it earlier in the book.

I’m not the super Nora Roberts fan that my friends Jenn and Carol are. They’ve read most if not all of her novels. I’ve read quite a few, but not nearly all of her works. Out of the novels I have read, I’d put this in the middle. It was enjoyable, but not one of her best.