The Awakening by Nora Roberts

 

Title:  The Awakening

Author:  Nora Roberts

Narrated by:  Barrie Kreinik

Publisher: Macmillian Audio

Length: Approximately 15 hours and 27 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com

 

Are any trees flowering where you live?  There are some very beautiful flowering trees in my neighborhood.

Nora Roberts is a prolific author that can cross genres.  I have been meaning to read her new fantasy trilogy since the first book of the Dragonheart Trilogy, The Awakening, was published in 2020.  Luckily, it was the May selection for the Page-turners Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.

Breen Kelly is living with her best friend Marco, just trying to make ends meet.  She is a people pleaser and focuses on trying to keep her mother and everyone around her happy instead of pursuing her own dreams.  One day while caring for her mother’s plants, she comes across a bank statement and realizes her mother has been hiding from her that her missing father has sent her vast sums of money over the years.  Breen uses the money to fund a trip to Ireland with Marco to find out what happened to her father and more of her roots.  While there, she discovers a portal to another world and her real past.  Will she be able to defeat the evil force that is waiting for her?

I liked the character development and world building in the Awakening.  The descriptions of Ireland were wonderful.  I really liked her best friend Marco and how he helped push her to achieve her dreams.  I also liked the theme of found family.  Breen’s mother is something else, but luckily, she has others in her life that help her out when she needs them.

I didn’t like that The Awakening was a very slow-moving novel.  There were dreams of future things to come, but no climatic battle.  It was really about meeting the characters and Breen training for some future battle.  I really wanted more to the story.  I really didn’t like Breen’s mother.  I couldn’t believe what a cold person she was.

We had a good discussion about this book at book club.  I still need to figure out if I want to continue with the trilogy or not.

 Barrie Kreinik was a good narrator, and it was enjoyable to listen to in an audiobook.