As the first book of our new round, we read Northern Lights by Nora Roberts. Personally, I was really interested to read the book because of all of the drama surrounding the stars of the made for tv film. I'm not proud of it, but it's the truth. Hehe. I was pleasantly surprised that this was more than just a typical romance novel. True, it did have the sweeping, unrealistic (at least to me) love story, but what kept me turning the page was the murder mystery storyline that was woven in. I found myself really paying attention to the clues and trying to figure out who the killer was before the story revealed it. Of course, that didn't happen, but that's the point. The author let us know the answers when she decided it was time.
Beyond the love story with the murder mystery subplot, the core of the story, I found, was the internal struggle of Nate. He was a tortured soul who came to the town to escape his demons and he ends up going through a complete transformation. It was almost as if he was SUPPOSED to be in Lunacy at that exact time period so that not only he could experience the transformation, but so could other people in the town. I thought that he was the most interesting character of the book and the only one who could think with a clear head at all times. It was almost like he was the perfect man, except for the fact that you know that he's not. He's flawed, but he rises to the challenge of life and it was great to have someone like that to read about.
I haven't seen the film, but I just got it from work today (had no idea that we had the DVD rights to it! hehe) and so I'll definitely be sitting down to watch it soon. Not sure that I buy Leann Rhimes as Meg, but we'll see what happens...Eddie Cibrian as Nate almost works for me (he's very handsome), but I imagined Nate as a little older.
Who was your favorite character from the book? Any other thoughts on the book? Any thoughts on the film vs novel?
