This is another one of my favorite Nora Roberts books, which I say about most of the books of hers that I review. But with her having written so many, it makes sense to have a lot of favorites. Regardless, this is a favorite, though I know more than a few fans didn't care for this one. I enjoyed it a lot, though, for several different reasons.Birthright is a story that starts out in the past with a young mother, Suzanne Cullen, taking her young son Doug and her infant daughter Jessica to see Santa at the mall. When Doug gets upset, she turns her back for a moment, and when she turns back, Jessica is gone. The story then shifts thirty years to the present where a construction crew is prepping a site for a development when bones are found. Tests indicate they are thousands of years old and archaeologists Callie Dunbrook is brought in to excavate the site. In her kitchen several miles away, Suzanne Cullen is doing some baking when she sees and interview with Callie on the TV and is struck dumb. Callie has a striking similarity to herself. Suzanne knows in her heart that she has finally found the daughter stolen from her so long ago. But when she goes to see Callie, Callie tells her that she wasn't adopted. Or so she thought. Turned out, her parents had kept a huge secret from her. Now Callie's life is thrown upside down by secrets and lies suddenly coming to light. If that's not bad enough, the anthropologist called into work with her at the site is none other than her ex-husband, Jacob Graystone. They'd had a blazing hot romance, gotten married and it had all fallen apart because of lack of communication and lack of trust. Now they are together again, and both have to face the fact that they both still love each other. And to make matters even more complicated, someone apparently doesn't like Callie poking into her past because people are ending up dead and there is a serious threat to her life. What started out a simple archaeological dig turned into so much more.One of my favorite parts of this story is the whole archaeology/dig site thing. I was and anthropology minor in college so I find the subject fascinating. I liked reading about all the stuff Callie and Jake were doing on the site and all that. Roberts did a great job with that part of the story.Aside from that, I really liked Callie and Jake. Callie's a little bit of an atypical heroine in that she's kind of bitchy and sarcastic, brutally honest, pretty much a total tomboy and not always the nicest person around. Which you'd think would make it hard to like her, but I found it more refreshing than anything else. And at heart she's a good person, she just goes her own way. Jake is pretty much her perfect match because he can give as good as he gets. They've got a great chemistry together. I loved how Roberts wrote their relationship together. At first they kind of circle each other as you'd expect 2 exes to do. But then you get to see them grow and change, work through what went wrong with their relationship and work to make it right this time around. You could really feel the love between them. And one of my favorite parts of the book is the thing at the very end, when Jake reveals an interesting tidbit to Callie - I won't say what. I thought it was the perfect way to seal their relationship and it was rather amusing.Another plus on the romance side of the story is the secondary relationship between Lana Campbell (town lawyer) and Doug Cullen (Callie's birth brother). It's rather amusing to read. Lana kinda steamrolls Doug, who has no idea what hit him. But it's sweet to and a nice addition to the story.There's also a great emotional level to the story as Callie tries to reconcile her past and her present. How she tries to deal with the fact that she now has two families. You really get a feel for how difficult it all is for her, knowing how much Suzanne wants her daughter back but Callie feeling so disconnected from her. Roberts wrote that part of the story very realistically.On the suspense-plot front, two thumbs up. This part of the story focuses on Callie trying to figure out who kidnapped her and why all those years ago. And who, in the present, is trying to stop her from finding the answers. It's a very twisting and turning plot that was well-written and well thought out. And it definitely kept me in the story.So on the whole, I loved all the different parts of this book. And nothing comes to mind as something I didn't like. I pretty much just enjoyed it all. If you like romantic suspense books, or are a Nora Roberts fan, then this is definitely a book I'd recommend.
Birthright is proof that, as one should not judge a book by its cover, one cannot judge an author by a book. Nora Roberts is an acclaimed writer who has never elicited particular interest to me beyond the natural curiosity about her success. I always told myself one day I would test her talent, which eventually happened when I read the first two books of her crime series In Death, written under the pseudonym J. D. Robb. I found it interesting but not particularly special, so I wasn’t convinced. Now, once again, I got a hold of this book by chance, and found myself completely entangled in the story. I think I finally found the essence of Nora Roberts. It’s amazing how she managed to combine all my favorite elements in a book: a small town setting; Treasured Pages, a little family bookstore; archeology vs anthropology, fascinating stuff; the digging site; well-built characters; strong, independent women; great writing but excellent dialogues. Mix this with kidnapping, crime and mystery, and voilà! You’re left with a good book!If, at some point, it seemed to me that the story might have been shortened? No doubt. Did it bother me? Not in the least. It’s a good sign when you’re not in a hurry to get to the end of a book. This is what good books are made of. Memorable quotes: When Jake realizes why Callie never asked him if he loved her. “You didn’t ask,” he continued quietly, “because in our culture, verbalization of emotions is as important as demonstrations of emotions. Free communication between mates is essential to the development and evolution of the relationship. If you’d had to ask, the answer had no meaning.”Bingo, professor!
What do You think about Birthright (2004)?
I read this novel when it first came out and absolutely loved it. But here is where my tale of woe begins, unfortunately in recent years whenever I have read my favorite books back - as rated by my teenage self - they have come out lacking. Plots which seemed vibrant when compared to the Young Adult books I was tiring of, now seemed dull and flat. Characters I have remembered for a decade as being like friends, became disappointing shadows.This is where my tale of woe ends.'Birthright' was not at all like these disappointing experiences and I loved it as much in 2015 as I did in 2005. I remember Callie and Jake so vividly, not the details of their relationship but that chemistry, that electric jolt that they create. The plot is nuanced and while it isn't the most dastardly or devious of plots, it is both well-paced and well-crafted.The banter makes you laugh, the plot makes you sad, happy, tense... there is just a wealth of feeling in this novel.
—Kelly
I wanted to give this book five stars. After all, even though the author is listed as Nora Roberts, she clearly wrote the novel with her J.D. Robb hat on. Since I vastly prefer J.D. Robb (or did until I got bored with her long-standing series), that similarity was a major plus. Add in an archaeologist as our hero, and I should have been hooked.So, what didn't work for me? I'm not a serious student of Native American prehistory...but even I know that there weren't domesticated cows on this continent 5,000 years ago. Even though the cow-mentions (two of them) were minor, they still sorta killed the archaeological element for me, which was 80% of why I checked this book out of the library in the first place.My other complaint was the secondary love story. What was the point of trying to smash a second romance into the book along with the primary romance and the mystery? The book felt too long as a result, which is never a good sign.Finally, I kept getting bogged down in the way we switched points of view from character to character every few paragraphs. Nora Roberts is a pro, so I'm sure she chose to write this way for a reason...but I can't for the life of me figure out what that reason is.Sigh. Still can't find any archaeological novels that really float my boat except for those by Elizabeth Peters.
—Anna
I really liked this book. I enjoyed the main romance that was going on as well as the secondary romance that was playing out too.Jake and Callie are so good together. So charming and funny and perfect for each other. Callie was so wonderfully NOT a typical romance character. A little tomboy-ish, rough and likes to get down in the dirt, but also strong and sarcastic. She had a good head on her shoulders and was willing to push through no matter what. Jake was right there with her and would give as good as he got. I like that they meshed well together and that they started out with simply a physical attraction. I also enjoyed the funny moments between them. Conversations especially and any scene involving fighting, such as in the bar. A tough pair.This book definitely pulls a lot of emotions out of you and I found myself close to tears a few times. The suspense/mystery side of things was intriguing and sometimes took over the storyline. It was a little unbelievable sometimes and the ending was kind of too-perfect. (view spoiler)[ The way Dory and Richard were somehow able to magically kidnap all four of her parents and have the showdown and the way Callie and Jake ended up still being married worked out really easily and was hard to believe. While it was romantic and so like Jake to not sign the divorce papers, it was a little strange that Callie didn't know that. How do you not know you are still married? Wouldn't your divorce lawyer inform you that he didn't sign? And with the kidnapping scene, why would Dory and Richard risk so much? It wasn't like either of them participated in the kidnapping. Yes, they may have wanted revenge and obviously that was Dory's reasoning, and yes she had killed before. But why not just run? Why kill potentially five more people when you have the money and means to flee the country? (hide spoiler)]
—Sarah
