Nora Roberts stand alone novels are a always compelling. When the punches come to the heroine they are gut busting. Her heroines are strong smart independent women. To the person who gave her a one star because she wants new characters, we read Nora Roberts stories because they are about strong capable women that face adversity in a myriad of situations. The amount of research that must go into Ms. Robets' stories to be so accurate is impressive, especially given how many books she writes a year. Kudos to another nail biting read.