The Awakening by Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts is an author I have probably been reading or listening to since I was fourteen or fifteen years old and first discovered romance novels. My sisters and I would spend summers scouring the library for new books and spend the day swimming and reading, swimming and reading, on repeat. We sort of all fell in love with Nora Roberts at some point. I think my mom read a lot of her books, and one of the first series I remember completely falling in love with and gushing over was the Three Sisters Island trilogy. It is beautiful, and I still love it. She writes both contemporary romance, fantasy romance, and mystery/thriller romances. Nora Roberts kind of steps into different genres, and she writes in all of them rather well.

Over the years, I’ve continued to read her novels and trilogies. She’s written so prolifically that I haven’t read everything, nor come close. I’ve recently started to pick up audiobooks again. I can listen to them during the calmer hours of my work day, driving or workout out. When I was trying to find a good story to immerse myself in, I came across The Awakening. This is the first in her Dragon Heart Legacy series, and it is actually a bit different from her other series. While a lot of Nora Roberts’ series follow a different character in each book, the Dragon Heart Legacy trilogy follows a single character- Breen. The audiobook is narrated by the wildly talented Barrie Kreinik. I loved her audio of this book so much that I jumped right into book two. She brought the book alive in a truly beautiful way.

Breen has spent her entire life trying to be good enough but often is told she is less and less than what she should be. Giving up her dreams of being a veterinarian, Breen instead works hard to put herself through college to become a teacher. This isn’t her calling; it’s not what she wants to do, but she does it to make a living and to try and live the best life she can within her means. She has a very strained relationship with her mother, who feels like Breen could always be doing better. Yet Breen has a good friendship with her roommate Marco, who is like a brother to her.

One day when Breen is going out of her way to air out her mother’s house and water her plants while she is away, she finds a file in her mother’s desk with her name on it. She realizes it is a massive bank account in her name, one that it appears her father was putting money into her entire life. After being straddled with student loans and rent, Breen is shocked to find her mother has been keeping a secret like this from her, one that could inevitably change her life. Breen moves the money into an account her mother can’t access and confronts her, then she leaves Philadelphia to go to Ireland with Marco. She returns to the place she is from to learn more about who she is and hopefully find her father in the process.

But what Breen doesn’t bargain for is a history and past that she could never have expected. Breen discovers her father didn’t leave their family behind for no reason; he had an obligation to another world- Talamh, and Breen realizes she has so much more to discover than she ever imagined.

This book sits more heavily in the fantasy genre than any other book I have read by Nora Roberts. (That’s not to say she hasn’t written any, this one just sticks out to me compared to her other works). Breen’s awakening- her independence from her mother, her desire to learn who she is and become who she’s always wanted is beautiful to watch. Nora Roberts is one of the most recognizable names among romance readers, but it was actually really refreshing to read a book where the romance wasn’t the point (at least in this book). It was really about Breen coming into her own and living her life how she’s always wanted to. Breen’s growth from the beginning to end of this book is phenomenal. Nora Roberts has created some remarkable characters, friendships and an incredible world in Talamh itself. I really enjoyed this book a lot. It was lovely to listen to, and I’ve already started the second as I’m excited to see what happens next. Again, I highly recommend the audio for this one! Barrie Kreinik does a fabulous job!