A classic Nora Robert's story with chilling characters and motives. I love her writing. The thrill of the story mixed in with just a little bit of romance.

Her newest, Identity, is another awesome story. Morgan and her roommate are enjoying life and finding love. Turns out Morgan’s new potential boyfriend is a con artist and killer and kills Morgan’s roommate instead of her. But that’s not all he does. He steals her identity; all her money, her house and racks up new credit card debts in her name. The FBI get involved and she finds out she is not his first mark and with her current life in shambles, she moves back home to Vermont and moves in with her mom and grandmother. Here’s where the story really picks up and sucks you in until the very end!

I got offered this advanced copy from the publisher, and immediately thought of my grandmother. She loves Nora Roberts books, and was so excited that I got an exclusive advance copy from the publisher. I want to first off thank Annette Galli and the publisher for sending me this digital art in exchange for an honest review. My grandmother said she loved this book and cannot wait to read more books by Nora Roberts. I was so happy to surprise her with this advanced copy and make her whole day. Thank you so much for the opportunity!

Nora Roberts spins a great story in Identity. Morgan Albright has finally found a home in a friendly neighborhood near Baltimore. Her friend and roommate Nina is a strong presence in her life. She and Nina host their first dinner party and Morgan invites Luke, the flirtatious IT guy who'd been chatting her up at the bar. But then her world is shattered because Nina lies dead on the floor and Luke has stolen Morgan's identity. "Luke" is actually a cold-hearted con artist named Gavin who targets a particular type of woman, steals her assets and identity, and then commits his ultimate goal: murder. The FBI show up and tell Morgan that they have been looking for Gavin for a while and that he has killed before and will again. Morgan is the one victim who got away. She has no choice but to go to her mother's home in Vermont. While Morgan is trying to rebuild her life, she meets Miles Jameson. But Gavin is coming for her and who knows who else? I loved this book!!

BOOK: Identity
AUTHOR: Nora Roberts
PUB DATE: 5/23/23 by @stmartinspress
PAGES: 437
RATING: 3.5 stars
GENRE: Romance/Suspense/Thriller/Fiction

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

AUTHOR RECOGNITIONS: Nora Roberts is an American author of over 225 romance novels. She writes as J. D. Robb, Jill March and Sarah Hardesty. Roberts was the first author to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame.

SYNOPSIS: Morgan, the FMC, is a young woman, determined to make a life of independence. She owns her own home that she shares with her best friend, Nina. She works a full-time job at a construction company & works part-time as a bartender. In her small spare time, Nina teaches her how to garden in their backyard, and her love for plants takes root. Besides renovating her home, she dreams of opening her own bar. One evening, a handsome out-of-towner steps up to the bar, & unbeknownst to Morgan, he will change her world forever. What transpires with this stranger leads to deceit & deadly circumstances. Morgan, who’s lost everything, must find a way to move forward & rebuild her life. She retreats to her grandmother’s home up in Vermont that she shares with Morgan’s mother, & she slowly picks up the pieces & regains strength & faith in herself to overcome. But it isn’t without consequences. Gavin Rozwell hasn’t forgotten Morgan, and he is out to make her pay…with her life.

REVIEW: Identity is a standalone romantic thriller. If you enjoy suspenseful crime with a side of romance & small-town vibes, you will probably enjoy this. I had such high hopes for this one, but I found myself consistently putting this down and grabbing something else because it didn’t take hold. I found the writing to be extremely long-winded. Our FMC just loooooves to talk about anything AND everything. All. The. Time. Instead of enjoying this immensely, I kept rolling my eyes when she’d start rattling, paragraph after paragraph. It also irked me that she referred to her grandmother & mother as “her ladies” or “my ladies”. And I lost count after 30 uses. This book is not a short book, and it could have been condensed down considerably as it was just too wordy. The ending was also very lackluster for me after there being such a long build up. So while I did enjoy the overall plot and most of the characters, & I’ve always been a big fan of Nora Roberts, this one unfortunately missed the mark for me & was just OK. Hoping I’m part of the minority & if you pick this one up that you love it more!

Happy Reading!

Nora Roberts has always been a ride or die for me since I was probably way too young to be sneaking my mom's trashy romance novels. Every year I get excited when her new suspense book is being released and this one is one of my new favorites.

A propulsive thriller. At the start of Identity, Morgan loves her life. She has a good job, a nice home, and the perfect roommate, her friend Nina. Then she meets Luke, a handsome IT guy who walks in and completely upends her life. Unfortunately Luke isn't who he seems to be: he's Gavin, a con artist and serial killer who targets women like Morgan, kills them and steals their identities to fund his lifestyle. But this time he is only halfway successful; he misses his chance to kill to Morgan, instead taking the life of her best friend Nina, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Life shattered, Morgan is forced to move to Vermont with her mother and grandmother, starting from scratch after such a horrifying heartbreak. Here Morgan can finally begin to rebuild and heal from her trauma. She may even find romance along the way. But Gavin isn't ready to give on the one who got away, and Morgan won't be able to move on with her life until he's safely behind bars.

Wow! This one hits hard. With just a couple encounters, charismatic Gavin works his way into Morgan's life, and utterly destroys it. Identity theft is no joke, even if murder doesn't come alongside it. Scary. Morgan is a fantastic protagonist. Her strength and resilience are astounding. I loved the family relationships that we see in this novel, both with Morgan's mother and grandmother and with Miles and his family. And speaking of Miles, mwah, loved him and the romance that grows between them. (And Howl is just the best boy.) The Jameson family resort sounds amazing as well-- some really evocative depictions of Vermont in this novel. The suspense is also fantastic, as you'd expect from Nora Roberts. No downsides to this novel in my opinion. I sped right through this one and would definitely recommend.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Morgan Albright is a go getter! She works hard, has a plan and she's ready to put everything in place. She has good friends and as of recently a new love interest. What happens when that love interest turns out to be a con man and a murderer?

As usual Nora Roberts writes a fantastic story about resilience, love and passion. No one does it better! Roberts has a way of writing strong women and strong men that I just love. Her female characters are strong but can be vulnerable. Her male characters are strong but yet can be tender. Along with the many side characters that always have a story of their own it makes for a terrific book. One would think that this would get old and fans would want something different but see that's the thing, each book is different. Different subject, different type of characters, it all works.

So, grab this book, a cup of tea and spend a few hours escaping the everyday, you won't be sorry.

I really enjoy this grittier side of Nora Roberts. This book felt like "Legacy", which I loved. I actually had to check to see if they were part of the same series. I thought this book had it all: thriller, suspense, romance, good character/plot development. I thought the unraveling of Luke was well executed. Everything was just a bit too tidy for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital reader's copy.

Morgan thought she had the perfect life and life plan. She was happy remodeling her home, living with her best friend as a roommate, and working jobs that she loves. Plus, she's recently met a very nice, interesting man. Who would guess that her happy world would get shattered to pieces when she finds her best friend dead inside their home, and gets told by the FBI that she was actually the likely target of the known serial killer they are tracking.

On top of that devastation, this killer also wiped out her savings, stole her identity, and continues to accrue new debt to even the most unscrupulous lenders. Forced to run back home, to her mother and grandmother's house, to start over, Morgan must now figure out how to start over with a killer still looming on the horizon.

But sometimes good can follow the bad, when she finds a job more suited to her then any other she thought she loved and a new man that she's working on trusting. Life can become something beautiful after all. Or can it?

It has been a long time since i read a Nora Roberts book, but I used to love them. This book was an enjoyable story with an entertaining story. I always love a relocation story, where a female character has to establish their new life, and I liked that this character brought her career with her to her new location instead of leaving it behind. The slow burn romance development was appropriate for the characters and I enjoyed that it took time for the relationship to develop vs other contemporary romances I have read recently where the characters fall instantly in love. The ending killed me though -- when is that next book coming?? I must know what happened.

4 stars

I'm not gonna lie as a reader I have been obsessed with Nora Roberts books since I was a teenager, my mom used to read them and then I started checking them out from the library,

Her standalones have always been some of my favorites. I enjoy the work that she puts into them and how they usually have a theme, this book, in particular, covers the theme of identity theft. I love that her main characters have a tendency to be normal people with families and people who care about them. This book just made me feel kind of at home with the three-generation house and the doggo. I love the romantic suspense kind of thing it has going on.

The fact that the relationship was a slow burn and the characters got the time to know each other and let their feelings grow and we get to watch this happen throughout the book was delightful.
I am excited for her next one!

Thank you to St Martin's Press and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I want something stable, I will turn to a Nora Roberts book. I grew up reading her and her trusty romantic suspense formula gets me every time. This was not one of my favorites but I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook! January LaVoy is one of my faves. The plot for me wasn't as riveting as I was hoping for and the ending was tied up a little too neatly for me, but overall still a solid story.

I devoured this book! It was so suspenseful and had me on the edge of my seat! It was definitely a great read!

I haven't read a lot of Nora Roberts novel and I had no idea what I was missing until I read Identity. Nora Roberts is able to bring to life a story that could be found in your back door. The characters resilient journey will help readers connect to the characters. Wondering how they were able to overcome so much and still find what they are looking for.
This is a perfect blend of suspense, romance and mystery.
Thank you to Netgalley

I absolutely love Nora Roberts! Here latest book “Identity”, is no exception. Another book I couldn’t put down. She blends Identity Theft, Murder, Romance and a Vermont Family business into a captivating story. I must definitely go back and read some of Ms. Robert’s books I missed in the past. Thank you for an enjoyable read.

Another great thriller by one of my favorite authors. It doesn't matter what genre she writes, I download anything she puts out. This story keeps you up late reading because there is no good place to stop. Morgan is getting her life together. She has graduated from college, bought a house and works several jobs so she can buy a bar and be her own boss. She rents out a spare room to Nina and they become best friends. When Morgan finds Nina dead at their home it starts a national man hunt for a serial killer. With all the intrigue there is still time for a romance. Way to go Nora.

Identity by Nora Roberts is a great standalone novel. The book is well written and the plot is interesting and unique. I really enjoyed the characters and their stories.

I’m a big Nora Roberts fan and love a lot of her books and this one was no exception! This thriller was very well written and kept me hooked from beginning to end. The character of Morgan was easy for me to connect with, a former Army brat, settles into a Baltimore neighborhood. When her roommate Nina is killed and their house robbed by a guest they had at a dinner party. Gavin, posing as the charming Luke, is the culprit and Morgan soon learns the real truth about who Luke is and what he’s capable of. Unfortunately, Morgan’s nightmare is just beginning. She learns she was the intended target not Nina. Even though Morgan flees from Baltimore to her mother’s house in Vermont! Gavin is still out there and considers her to be the one who got away. Great story and I highly recommend it!

3⭐️

Morgan Albright is hard working and ambitious. She works two jobs to pay for her dream projects for her house, which she shares with her housemate, Nina. An attractive stranger starts coming to the bar that Morgan works at, and he’s traveling for work and only in town for a few months -perfect for a short term fling. Morgan goes on a couple of dates with him, the second cooking dinner for him and Nina’s boyfriend at their house. A few days later, Morgan’s life is changed forever when she finds Nina’s body in the house in an apparent burglary gone wrong, and FBI agents inform her that the man she was seeing was not what he seemed.

My expectations for this book were pretty high, and I don’t feel like they were totally met. While the premise is interesting, I found that it was more of a “slice of life” kind of book with a serial killer/identity thief thrown into the mix than a thriller. The dialogue was choppy, repetitive, and kind of awkward, and it was hard for me to get into. I admit that I have a bit of a book hangover from my last read, but this one didn’t do it for me. If you like Nora Robert’s style of writing, though, you would probably enjoy this.