Helpful Score: 9
Nora outdid herself with this story. Public Secrets is more of a family saga than a traditional romantic suspense novel, although there is romance and there is plenty of suspense. It follows the McAvoys, through the eyes of Emma, from the time she is three years old, through childhood, the school years, marriage, and adulthood. All this against the background of the life of rock-and-roll legends. It is fascinating and compelling. I simply couldn't put it down.
Helpful Score: 6
Nora Roberts is a wonderful author & sometimes there is just no one else who will do! I love her trilogies (and insist on reading them in order); but I especially love her stand alone novels. And among her stand alone novels, Public Secrets is a fave. In fact, I took the time to review it on amazon.com. In that review I said ...
It is just wonderful - particularly the character development, the story themes and plotlines and the many, many social issues that are addressed with sensitivity and compassion including homosexuality, drug addiction, child abuse, and AIDS. But don't let that list scare you off: equally explored are love and commitment, holding onto and following a dream, growing up and true friendship. Mixed in with all of this are several great romances, a love between father and daughter and a great mystery. I love all of the characters, even those that are unlovable. Read & enjoy!
It is just wonderful - particularly the character development, the story themes and plotlines and the many, many social issues that are addressed with sensitivity and compassion including homosexuality, drug addiction, child abuse, and AIDS. But don't let that list scare you off: equally explored are love and commitment, holding onto and following a dream, growing up and true friendship. Mixed in with all of this are several great romances, a love between father and daughter and a great mystery. I love all of the characters, even those that are unlovable. Read & enjoy!
Helpful Score: 5
This is the book that made me a huge fan of Nora Roberts. I love it so much. In this book, you really get to know the characters and experience a near life time with them, which is something I enjoy as a reader. You meet the main characters when they meet each other - at a young age. Then again when they're teenagers, young adults, and so on.
Even the villain isn't revealed quickly. You feel Emma's pain as she goes through life holding on to the tragedy, struggles to understand herself, falls in and out of love with different people, and her relationship with her rock star and somewhat dysfunctional parents.
This was the first Nora Roberts that I read, and I have since always looked for that similar style in all her books - those that have a history of life told in them, some murder, and plenty of romance. I was hooked.
Even the villain isn't revealed quickly. You feel Emma's pain as she goes through life holding on to the tragedy, struggles to understand herself, falls in and out of love with different people, and her relationship with her rock star and somewhat dysfunctional parents.
This was the first Nora Roberts that I read, and I have since always looked for that similar style in all her books - those that have a history of life told in them, some murder, and plenty of romance. I was hooked.
Helpful Score: 3
Wonderful book! I reccommend this book to anyone!
Helpful Score: 3
Kept me in suspense. I really enjoyed it.
Helpful Score: 2
I thought I'd read most of Nora Robert's books (at least the one's that interested me), but this little gem passed under my radar.... Not your typical romance novel, this book is more of a personal saga that encompasses the lives of a number of the players in the story. I picked it up out of desperation on a recent camping trip and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book!
Helpful Score: 2
This was an extremely good book brought back a lot of memories of the 60's,70's and 80's rock world.
Helpful Score: 2
THIS WAS ONE OF THE BETTER BOOKS THAT I HAVE READ.
Helpful Score: 2
This may be Nora Roberts' best book. Characters are well-developed, the plot keeps you guessing through a good part of it.
Helpful Score: 1
I'm still new to Nora Roberts novels -her ability to create such new and diverse people continues to amaze me, as does her ability to come up with different and intriguing ideas and turn them into something worth not only reading but deserving of a place on your keeper shelf as well.
This is different sort of romantic suspense...less heavy on the romance and the suspense (though both play significant parts in the overall story) and more on the rockstar family saga, but addicting all the same. A good, long story, with a whole cast of interesting characters. We are given numerous points of view, which I usually am opposed to, but in Public Secrets it doesn't detract from the story being told. Rather it adds another dimension, and gives us a well rounded family portrait.
I'm looking forward to making my way through more (if not all) of her novels!
This is different sort of romantic suspense...less heavy on the romance and the suspense (though both play significant parts in the overall story) and more on the rockstar family saga, but addicting all the same. A good, long story, with a whole cast of interesting characters. We are given numerous points of view, which I usually am opposed to, but in Public Secrets it doesn't detract from the story being told. Rather it adds another dimension, and gives us a well rounded family portrait.
I'm looking forward to making my way through more (if not all) of her novels!
Helpful Score: 1
This is probably the best Nora Roberts book I've read. It wasn't all romance and love; it had an actual storyline! Great story of a daughter growing up in a family of rock stars. Lots of trauma, twists, and excitement! Yes, there was romance too, but it was the actual story that took the center stage this time. Loved it!
Helpful Score: 1
A good mystery. I love Nora Roberts!
Fame is no protection when someone wants you dead.
Fame is no protection when someone wants you dead.
Fun twists and turns set in the Rock Music Life.
A very good dramatic mystery story. Nora keeps you guessing until the final pages "whodunit" and the answer is certainly worth reading to the end to discover!
What an excellent book, from beginning to end, I couldn't put it down. As always Nora Roberts comes through again and again.
A story of love and fame and twisted minds. It gave me nightmares for several nights. But I couldn't put it down.
Emma, daughter of a world-famous (English) rock and roller, grows up in the public eye. Her baby brother is the victim of a botched kidnapping attempt when Emma is three, and the trauma of that night impacts her and everyone else in her life from that moment on. Someone is afraid she'll remember what she has so far blocked from her mind...and wants her dead. Her husband finds it easy to manipulate her...for a while. She's lucky that Detective Kesselring is obsessed with the unsolved attempted kidnapping, and that his handsome son, Michael follows in his footsteps. Nora Roberts invents characters with a great deal of depth, and the story is compelling from start to finish.
Emma is about to discover that fame is no protection when someone wants you dead.
As a child, Emma Palmer witnessed the kidnapping of her beloved younger brother, an event she can never fully remember or forget. As an adult, the long buried memories threaten to resurface, placing Emma in grave danger and jeopardizing her first chance at love and happiness.
The drama of murder, the world of drugs and the getting off them forever. The story of Emma and beginning of her life with a druggie Mother and the beginning of her life with her Da. I enjoyed this book very much.
Brenda
Brenda
Whew! What a story! Loved it.
Some insights into the world of singing superstars and their families. A good read.
Romantic suspense at it's best. Will keep you rivited to the last page.
Could not put this book down! A real page turner.
Wondeful just like all the other Nora Roberts books.
Emma is beautiful, intelligent, radiantly taleneted and lives in a star-studded world of wealth and privilege. But she is about to discover that fame is no protection at all when someone wants you dead.
What can you say that hasn't already been said about Ms. Roberts? She's terrific at what she does and there is no two ways around it!
Romantic suspense!
I read this book about 14 months ago, and loved it. The thing is, this story and these complete characters have been in my mind and heart at least on a weekly basis since then. I decided that I not only have to read the book again, but that it's one for my permanent collection.
great book with the interactions of a "Rolling Stones" like Rock band. What's it like to be the daughter of the lead singer?
I have just recently started reading Nora Roberts. But it's like people tell me once you start reading her books she is addicting. If you like romance, but you like a little mystery and action thrown in this is the book for you.
Really enjoyed this book.
I thought that this book had great character development. I like that it followed Emma through her adjustments after being removed from an abusive environment all the way through her Adult life.
good story. kept me turning the pages
Great book.
Another good Nora Roberts read.
OKAY. LITTLE KID SEES SOMETHING. GROWS UP AND CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT SHE SAW. SOMEONE TRYING TO KILL HER.
I enoyed the book, but then again, I enjoy all of this author's books.
Limited romance.
Limited romance.
Poor little rich girl, daughter of a rock star and a junkie, grow up and tries to find peace. She's haunted by the death of her younger brother in a botched kidnapping when she was a a child - haunted by both her own guilt and the sinister shadows who may now be after her.
I thought this book could have been better
Mystery and romance
Nora Roberts is always great.
Suspenseful Roberts fare.
Review: The story is about a little girl who is abused by her mother and goes to live with her dad who is a Rock Star. Attempting to live her life without always being protected by body guards her dad has hired for her, she tends to chase her dreams. I enjoyed the book very much.
Written in 1990.
did not read
PUBLIC SECRETS
Emma McAvoy may have grown up in the limelight, but some secrets are hidden in a darkness no light can reach. Now on the verge of a successful career, and having fallen in love with the man of her dreams, Emma is looking to the future. Yet it's the past that is about to catch her from behind.
For Emma, her childhood had been almost like a rags-to-riches fairy tale--until the tragic night that changed her family forever. But what Emma thinks she knows about that terrible night and the man she's about to marry is only half the truth.
The other half is locked away in the last place she'd ever think to look: her own memories. It's a mystery a handsome and relentlessly driven homicide detective needs to solve in a case that's haunted him for years...and a secret someone will kill to keep.
Emma McAvoy may have grown up in the limelight, but some secrets are hidden in a darkness no light can reach. Now on the verge of a successful career, and having fallen in love with the man of her dreams, Emma is looking to the future. Yet it's the past that is about to catch her from behind.
For Emma, her childhood had been almost like a rags-to-riches fairy tale--until the tragic night that changed her family forever. But what Emma thinks she knows about that terrible night and the man she's about to marry is only half the truth.
The other half is locked away in the last place she'd ever think to look: her own memories. It's a mystery a handsome and relentlessly driven homicide detective needs to solve in a case that's haunted him for years...and a secret someone will kill to keep.
excellent book, could not put it down.
Another good one by Nora Roberts.
Complex relationships among a believable ensemble of characters give Roberts's ( Sweet Revenge ) new romantic thriller much of its appeal. Emma McAvoy, daughter of a British rock star, is only six years old when her infant half-brother Darren is murdered in a bungled kidnapping attempt. Emma, the only witness, remembers little of that night, and while investigators determine that someone close to the family was involved, the case is never solved. Nagged by fears for her safety, Emma's father has her trailed by a bodyguard whenever she is not closed away in a private school. But as she grows up, neither guards nor a loving father can protect her from the nightmares and feelings of guilt that torment her. Nor can they shield her from Darren's murderers. Although it concludes with a satisfyingly gripping finale, the mystery is more a recurring element than a driving force, as the story explores the members of McAvoy's rock group, Emma's devotion to her father (who bought custody of Emma from her abusive, alcoholic mother), her destructive marriage and the father-son detective team whose dedication to the McAvoys and this case lasts more than 20 years.
Emma lives in a star studded world of wealth and privege. She is about to discover that fame is no protection when someone wants you dead.
Emma. Beautiful, intelligent,radiantly talented, she lives in a star-studded world of wealth and privilege. But she is about to discover that fame is no protection at all when someone wants you dead....
About a public figure who daughter gets kidnapped attempt and all that happens after that............
back cover
Emma Beautiful, intelligent, radiantly talented, she lives in a star-studded world of wealth and privilege. But she is about to discover that fame is no protection at all when someone wants you dead.......
Emma Beautiful, intelligent, radiantly talented, she lives in a star-studded world of wealth and privilege. But she is about to discover that fame is no protection at all when someone wants you dead.......
This book is in good condition-read once-no creases or bending
