The Last Honest Woman and Dance to the Piper (by Nora Roberts)

Q. Why did you choose this book?
A. I'd never read a Nora Roberts book until last year, and I liked it so much I bought a whole bunch more of them. These two books were bundled together in one volume entitled Born O'Hurley. Last year I read two other titles in the O'Hurley siblings series, although those two technically came after these two.

Q. Did you like the story?
A. Yes, both of them. To me, Nora Roberts' books are the literary equivalent of Toll House chocolate-chip cookies: good eating, not to be confused with fine dining. It's as if the books are written according to a recipe, which means they have pretty much the same ingredients and turn out almost the same way every time. I like that recipe, so it's a good thing.

Q. Were the characters believable?
A. Nora Roberts' characters are always people I'd like to know. In fact, I'd say it was her strong female characters who drew me to her books in the first place.

Q. Did you like the writing style?
A. Yes, it isn't fussy.

Q. Did you think about the book when you were doing other things?
A. Not especially, but I did keep it handy so I could pick it up anytime I knew I'd be sitting in one spot for more than a couple of minutes.

Q. Was there anything about the book that drove you nuts?
A. At my ripe old age I find the sex scenes boring. As I discovered in my own experience, there are only so many ways to go about coupling, and the same apparently applies to writing descriptions of the act. That being said, I can skip those passages without missing any of the story. And, to give the author the benefit of the doubt, I'm well aware that those might have been my favorite parts of the book thirty years ago.

Q. How did you feel when you finished the book?
A. Happy and a little guilty, just the way I feel after eating a handful of chocolate-chip cookies.

Q. Will you keep the book to reread later?
A. Probably not. I may reread them at some point, but I imagine Nora Roberts' fan base is big enough that these books will always be easy to find.

Q. Any final thoughts about the book?
A. No. All I'm thinking about now is cookies.