That was a great, suspenseful read! Started strong, slowed a little in the middle, then ended strong again. Serial killer gone mad vs a strong resilient woman! Nora Roberts does it again!

Identity, the latest from Nora Roberts is well worth reading. I makes one think how identity theft can wreak havoc on one's life. It also shows how one woman took matters into her own hands and learned to protect herself, not only with attitude but also with learning to defend herself physically.

Naturally I loved the book. Nora Roberts is a comfort author of mine, someone I can always turn to to provide a great read with comfortable characters.
Morgan has amazing tenacity and I loved there was zero hesitation to do something even if it made her nervous. Nina was also incredibly lovely, and I actually had a hard time reading the first part of the book. We all know what happens to her since it's provided in the books summary and I just couldn't bring myself to experience it. So I had put the book down for a bit, but once I picked it back up and read through that part, the story line got much better. The best characters development would have to be Nells. At first she rubbed me the wrong way, she's very high strung, but towards the end she was one of my favorites once she started to relax around Morgan.
Overall it was a very pleasant read and one I would recommend to anyone who likes some suspense mixed with feel good romance.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Nora Roberts newest book Identity is a stand alone with perfect balance of family ties, romantic relationships, and a psychopath murderer.
Morgan’s personality is strong!!! She is goal oriented, driven, focused, energetic, bright, college educated and happy finding roots and making a home. After having her identity stolen and roommate murdered her life is shaken. She learns the man responsible for this is Gavin. He steals his victims identity then murders them by strangling them. But this one got away. He ends up murdering her roommate as she walked in on him robbing their home.
Heart broken, shattered, and scared Morgan has to start over. She learns the man she met while bartending, Luke is Gavin. She brought him into her home! Gavin makes a living stealing women’s identities and strangling them.
The storyline continues with Morgan starting over. She sells what little she has left and moves back home with her mom and grandma (known as ‘my ladies’). Always looking over her shoulder waiting for Gavin to finish what he started.
Starting over brings in a new line of characters that tie in perfectly for Morgan to find herself again. A lot of dialogue as we learn the dynamics of the new friendships.
Page turner. Rooting for Morgan to find the ground and take baby steps to rebuild. Reading Gavin’s side and how he became the monster he is.
Side note: the day I started this novel I received an email stating something went wrong with an online payment on a recent purchase I made. I contacted the company. They sent me a link to give them access to my phone. 😳. I stopped payment and cancelled the order immediately. All I could think about was Morgan losing everything.
Thank you NetGally and St Martins Press for ARC in exchange for my review.

I want to thank St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Identity by author Nora Roberts. This will be my first book by ms Robert’s and definitely not my last. This is such a good combination of romance and family with a killer on the loose!
“So while he traveled, he planned, he plotted, and found his true calling.”
Morgan meets a handsome likable guy where she is bartending. And so it begins!
And, much later, each time life seems to be wonderful we read about impending doom. There is a psychopath lurking out there and she is his ultimate target.
Murder, romance, sex, wonderful families and beautiful Vermont!
Oh yes and a dog named Howl!
Identity will definitely hold your attention. You may be suspicious early on and think you know what will happen but do you really? This book publishes May 23, 2023. Watch for it,

Great romance about a hard working woman who fell in love with someone that stole her information and killed her friend. she moves to a new town and find loves and found family. she gets stronger and loves the family that she works for and does her part. I hope that there is another one with nell and liam. good romance.

Morgan Albright has her life in order. She has bought a house, is happy in her job and her roommate is like a sister to her. Morgan meets a man who she thinks is charming, but he is not what he seems. He is a con artist and destroys Morgan’s life. Her roommate is murdered, her bank accounts are emptied out and loans are taken out in her name. Soon she has no choice but to leave town and go live with her Mother and Grandmother while she tries to get her life back. When the FBI contacts her she finds out the con make has a type, and she fits it. Her roommate was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Morgan is the first victim of this con man who has survived, and he doesn’t like that. Morgan has to live her life looking over her shoulder. This book grabbed me from the first page and it was hard to put down. Plenty of suspense, along with a romance will keep you reading to see what will happen next. This is a definite 5* book. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

If you love Nora Roberts story telling style then this book is a no brainer. I loved this story. The characters were likeable. They were real. The MC and her love interest were interesting, had depth, and were likeable. The side characters were so endearing. The family bonds were refreshing to read about. I would definitely re read this one!
The perfect poolside, weekend read.
#NetGalley #NORAROBERTS

A great read by Nora Roberts. I have been reading Nora for many years and the thing that I love about her is that you can always find a special relationship in there along with the romance. This is a romantic suspense and I really enjoyed it! I had a hard time in the first quarter of the book but then the last 3/4 flew by! My favorite thing about Miles is the way that he showed his quiet love of Morgan. Showing up consistently and being there for her is the way he really shared his love.
My favorite relationships of the book are the ones between Morgan, her mom and her grandmother. I feel like this is the biggest growth in the story. When Morgan is younger she felt the need to "prove herself" by living away and establishing her home, being forced to live with her Ladies really opened the door for her to see her mother as a woman and grow their love.
I would recommend this book

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the Advanced Reader Copy. This is my review and my opinions are my own.

3.5 stars
First..this is a love story. Love for lover; love for family; love for friends; and love for a job.
Second..its a thriller.
The love stuff involves 90% of the story. And the characters are wonderful, warm and faithful.
The dialog is clever, funny and warm.
The thriller part starts out as a surprise, horrible and sad....very sad. But then it sort of is in the background until the exciting but predictable ending.
For readers that enjoy a warm romance with a tiny bit of terror...this book is for you.
I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nora Roberts never fails to create a cast of characters that I fall so in love with so quickly and they always feel like coming home to fresh baked cookies. Out of all the books I've read so far by Nora Roberts, this one is definitely the most thriller-heavy than romance-driven. I think lovers of true crime and serial killer documentaries will really enjoy this new release of hers.

While 'Identity' doesn't beat out my all time favorite Nora Roberts book, it came so very close. It's definitely in my top three, if not top two favorites from her so far. She wrote Morgan's grandmother in a way that was so close to my own and I will always cherish that about this story. One of my favorite things that Roberts can write into her books, for me, is a dog character. She writes them so perfectly, every time, but I think this one was my favorite dog she's written so far.

'Identity' encapsulates how resilient women are beautifully, not only does the reader get to go through Morgan's challenges she is handed in life but the reader works through what Olivia (Morgan's grandmother) and Audrey (Morgan's mother) battle with seeing their daughter/granddaughter must overcome when she has no choice but to come home to them.

While the romance was more of a sub-plot to the main conflict this time, it was still there and I loved Miles and the dynamic of the Jameson family, in how they function and in how they so quickly took Morgan in as their own to love and protect.

This book made me tear up, smile to myself, laugh out loud and make my heart race. It made me cheer so incredibly hard for Morgan.

I was so incredibly fortunate and am so grateful to have received the arc for 'Identity' and get to read a new favorite book early by one of my most favorite authors.

I have to preface this review with the fact that I am a HUGE lover of Nora Roberts books (pretty sure I've read all of them at this point) and was SUPER excited to be given this opportunity to read this ARC. So excited, in fact, I didn't even bother to read the description and just jumped right into the story. Which, in hindsight I'm really glad I didn't read it because it added an unintended surprise factor for me along the way. Honestly, I think this may be my favorite romantic suspense ever by Nora Roberts because of that reason. I started this book last night and ended up staying up to 2AM because I HAD to finish it to see how it ended! It was that good.

Now, having said all that, these are few of the reasons why I love Nora Roberts' books in general and why you should read this one in particular. First, she is a master at developing characters and relationships within stories. I always feel like when I'm reading her books I either fall completely in love with the characters or want to be BFFs with them. I feel like I'm a part of their family and am invested in their well-being. I also love the inner strength of her characters - they can have the most terrible things happen to them and still manage to get up in the mornings and live life. In Identity, Morgan is a woman who fights fiercely for her independence and even when she gets knocked down and everything is taken from her, she still finds that inner strength to keep going, to keep getting up each day and start again. Morgan discovers she is stronger than she realizes in the face of her perceived failure and in the end is capable of putting down those much desired roots. She also is just such an inspiration character. You just keep rooting for her and wanting for her to make it out of the nightmare she ends up living through.

Second, Nora Roberts just seems to know how to craft the scene and weave details of everyday life into a fascinating story. If she were to literally write about someone who got up each day and went to work and came home and nothing exciting happens, I'd still read it. This book kind of has that feel - Morgan is just living her life when something horrible happens to her and the story becomes how she picks up her life in spite of this awful event (this is a theme that Nora Roberts has written in the past, and each time it's always slightly different and unique, which I love).

Third, the aforementioned "awful event". This is definitely a suspenseful thriller. There is no "whodunit" component - you will know who did the awful deed and why. The suspense is all about the when and the what in this book. When will the awful even rear its ugly head once again? What more awful things will be done and what will Morgan do to respond? Along the lines of character development again, one of the most interesting thing about this book is the dual progression of two characters: the protagonist (Morgan) is evolving and growing stronger while at the same time the antagonist devolving and coming apart. This was beautifully woven into the overall storyline and added to the suspense - when will the antagonist fully come apart and what happens next?

Overall, I loved this book. There is a bit of romance thrown in there (because would it really be a Nora Roberts book without a little romance?? Absolutely not!), but it's not thrown in the story in a way that distracts from it or takes away at all. It actually adds to the growth of Morgan's character and just gives you one more character to love. I cannot wait to buy this book and share it with my friends and family. 100% absolutely recommend if you love a good suspenseful thriller and amazing characters.

Thank you SO MUCH to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first time receiving an ARC of an NR book and here are my thoughts: it's weird to read it before it's had all of its polishing up, but the story still shines. Watching Morgan go through identity theft was terrifying. It's painfully common these days and it's absolutely terrible to see how long it affects someone. The killer was an interesting one, starting off so suave and good at what he does, then slowly devolving into a crazy person. The love story was also sweet. Starting off with a casual "hey I think you're kinda cool" energy and growing from it. And the dog. NR writes such a variety of dogs! The friendships, the family relationships, the love story, all of it are exactly what I've come to expect from my favorite author!

Grabs you right away and keeps you interested. I just felt it had too many details at time. All the details seemed to slow it down at times. The romance between Morgan and Miles was perfect. Not too over the top but very sweet.

I really enjoyed the ending. It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. I was afraid to read the last chapter because I didn't want find out what he did to Morgan and her family. Very mild and Morgan was the star of the show by using her skills she had.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

I loved how relatable Morgan was throughout this book. Her journey to find herself again after her world was flipped upside down and the downward spiral of the male antagonist makes finding a stopping point impossible. The beginning knocks you off your feet and you feel like you are working yourself back to your feet along with the characters.

I have read Nora Roberts's books for a very long time. I have enjoyed the evolution of her stories from the Harlequin romance-type formula to her trilogies involving magic and supernatural elements. I consider myself to be a superfan. So, I was excited to receive an ARC for her latest thriller, Identity. This is the story of Morgan Albright, a career bartender with a plan to one day own her own bar. She is focused on her goals and putting down roots until a career con man and serial killer poisons her life. Posing as an IT guy in town for a few months while completing a job, Luke is charismatic and romantic and charms Morgan completely, eventually receiving an invite to her home for a dinner party. "Luke" returns a few days later when Morgan is at work and steals money, jewelry, and Morgan's identity before killing her roommate, home sick with a cold. Luke is actually Gavin, a skilled identity theft. With Morgan's name and bank logins, he manages to destroy her financial life, leaving her penniless and forced to sell her home and move to her grandmother's home in Vermont.

After taking time to lick her wounds and recover, Morgan pulls herself up and works on creating a new future managing the bar at an exclusive resort run by the multi-generational Jameson family. She then meets Miles Jameson and develops a friendship that eventually turns into more.

Of course, we can't forget Gavin who can't forget Morgan, the one who got away. His usual routine was to target a blonde woman with an androgynous name, steal all of her assets, and then slowly choke her to death, watching the life leave her eyes. A very self-aware serial killer, he realizes that he targets women that remind him of his mother. Gavin blames his new failures on Morgan and vows to make his way back and finish the job.

This was a very engaging story filled with "mostly" likable characters. It differs a bit from the old school Nora books but that is not a bad thing. It is good that her stories evolve with the times.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've always been a long time fan of Nora Roberts and this book did not disappoint. The book had my hooked from the beginning but I did see the turn it was going to take which made it even better.

Morgan is working two jobs trying to plant sustainability with her life, since she's an army brat, when a guy, Luke, walks into the bar she works at and changes all that, stealing her identity and killing her best friend. From there it just continues and get better. The author takes you down two trails, Morgan now moves back home with her mom and grandma in need of restarting her life she is able to land a job at a resort where she meets Miles and the romance blossoms from there. In the meantime, Luke/Gavin, the con artist in the meantime is upset the "one" got away and makes his trail back to Morgan.

Thought the book had a great amount of romance and thrill in it and felt like you really got to know the characters.

Thank you to Netgallery and the author for the advanced copy of Identity in exchange for my review.

I am positive that I have never read a bad book by Nora Roberts, and the same holds true for this book.

This book is heartwarming and heartbreaking all in one. Part thriller, part romance I really enjoyed the multiview story line from the different characters. They had me cringing and then laughing mix in some steamy romance and amazing family dynamics.

Absolutely one of my favorite authors and I highly recommend! ❤️

Thank you for this early copy 🙏 🙌
#netgalley #identity #noraroberts

I have been reading Nora Roberts books for about twenty years now, so I think it's safe to say that I am a fan!
Before getting into details of this book in particular, I would like to note that I have noticed a bit of a shift in the writing style over the past few books, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. I can't quite put my finger on it, but Nightwork was definitely obvious with how much time we spent with the male main character's (MMC) perspective when we usually are with the female main character (FMC) most of the time. I think this shift has allowed for some more unexpected twists and turns in the books, with stories more fully developed and characters being more multi-dimensional. Whatever it is, I'm enjoying it.

Turning to this book, Identity, I would say I enjoyed it overall, but I felt that the romance aspect was lacking, as compared to previous books. There was a lot more emphasis on the mystery/suspense components of the book and the romance angle felt a bit like a B-plot, rather than the A-plot. Without giving away spoilers, when the FMC, Morgan, and the MMC, Miles, get together, I did not feel like there was much build up to it. I thought there could have been more chemistry between them, some sexual tension, rather than, all of a sudden it's "hey I like you, do you like me? yeah? let's get naked."

Focusing on the rest of the storyline, I thought it was well done. When we first meet Morgan, she's happy working a couple of jobs, living with a friend, pretty sure of her direction in life. Then she is thrown completely off course when her friend/roommate is brutally killed by a guy Morgan was dating who is actually a con artist. The rest of the book is then about how Morgan rebuilds her life, her confidence, deepens her relationships with her mother and grandmother after she moves in with them, while also trying to stay safe because the murderer is out there and has his sights set on Morgan.

Overall a good book. It's not in my top ten of NR books, and that's okay!

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and the author for an early copy of the book. The opinions provided here are entirely my own.

Identity by Nora Roberts

All I can say is WOW!! This is my first Nora Roberts and I keep asking myself what rock have I been hiding under, LOL!!

A wonderful psychological thriller about a stolen identity.

A definite must read, you wont be able to put it down!!

Rating: 5 Stars!!!!

Release Date: May 23, 2023

I received complimentary ARC copy of this book from its publisher and author (Thank you!! I loved being a part of this book) via NetGalley . This review is my honest opinion, I was in no way required to give a positive review