I have been waiting for this book ever since I heard about it. Thanks to NetGalley, I got to preview both the ebook and the audiobook at the same time. You can’t go wrong with either. In fact, I was switching back and forth, listening in the car and while doing household tasks and then picking right up on my Kindle when I had down time. Mind Games starts out with a punch to the gut with the brutal murder of Thea Fox’s parents. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Thea has the gift of sight and even though she was at her Grandmother’s house, she saw it all, including the face of the man who committed the murder.

The story follows Thea as she grows up and defines her gift, but always, lurking in the background, is the murderer, who like Thea, has the gift of sight, just not as developed as Thea’s. He haunts her dreams, threatens her happiness, and attempts to destroy her future even though he is incarcerated for life. As with all Nora Roberts’ heroines, Thea is strong, beautiful, and surrounded by loving family. And of course, there is romance in the form of her teenage musician crush. The characters are well drawn out and easy to love. The audiobook narrator was excellent!

All in all, this was an enjoyable read. Definitely not Nora Roberts’ best, but definitely engaging and satisfying. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the advanced copy in return for my honest opinion.

Nora is doing what she does best, telling you a solid story. This book has an interesting concept, where a young girl witnesses the murder of her parents, but she physically wasn't there at all. The first part of the book starts off idyllically and you begin to know and fall in love with the characters. Then boom! The big bad (Nora's favorite term for a bad guy) swoops in and shatters everyone's world. That part of the story was so emotional, I had tears streaming down my face. The book then goes on to describe how the main characters learn to live and thrive in their lives, with the ever loving support of Grammie. Side note, I LOVE GRAMMIE. She's so solid and loving. The book does a solid job of pulling you in the world of Mind Games, the entire concept of the connection between the bad guy and the main character is fascinating, as is the main characters strength. There's some romance in this book as well and it doesn't feel rushed, but doesn't seem quite realistic either. Overall, the book was good, the world Nora builds and brings you into could exist, and it was an enjoyable read.

Thea and her brother are spending their treasured two weeks with their maternal grandmother at her small farm in Kentucky. At home, their parents are murdered and Thea, in a dream, sees their murder and the face of their killer. Grammy has the same gift of vision and she helps Thea to use her skills.

The killer is caught, with Thea's help. He's in a maximum security prison, but he also has the gift and he invades Thea's mind from time to time.

Thea goes to college and becomes a game developer. She's gifted at that, too, so she is able to live in her self-designed home, very close to her grandmother. A former rock star, the crush of Thea's teen years, moves into his great grandmother's home with his young son. A romance starts to bud.

But the challenges of having her parents' murderer trying to pry into her brain forces Thea to fight him with all the talents she has.

I have the book and listened to the audio version. The narrator is great. Well written and interesting. I recommend this book for for teens and above.

After dropping Thea and Rem off at Grandma Lucy's house in Kentucky their parents are killed while driving back the their home in Virginia.
Thea has the gift of sight just as Grandma Lucy does, It is this gift that enables Thea to guide the police to the killer Ray. A few decades later Thea and Rem are all grown up after being raised by Grandma Lucy. Thea is a video game designers and has just met the lovely Ty who has moved in next door with his young son. As Ty and Thea become friends and slowly get closer, Ray starts to get into her mind as he also has the gift, Now Thea is in for the fight of her life. Will she be able to beat Ray at is own game and will Ty be able to understand her gifts end not let them get in the way of their happiness?

Nora Roberts has done it again. She has written a fabulous suspenseful book.

This is a riveting story about Thea, who is 12 years old when the story starts. She has strong psychic abilities that was inherited through her mother, grandmother, great grandmother, etc. It starts off horrifically when her parents are murdered and she "sees" who did it. She ultimately leads the police to find him. He pleads guilty in order to avoid the death penalty but forges a "connection" through "mind games" with Thea as he is also physic.

Thea moves beyond this horrible loss and thrives, along with her younger brother, when her grandmother gains custody and raises them on the family farm in Kentucky. We follow along as she moves quickly through high school, college and beyond. She becomes a very successful game developer and her brother becomes her business manager. The story doesn't give a lot of time to the romance between Thea and Ty, a former member of a successful boy band, but it does move along. I found the breakdown between Thea and Ty to be bit blown out of proportion but it does move along.

I found this to be engrossing and another Nora Roberts hit!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Althea Fox, through her mind reading gifts, sent the man who killed her parents to prison for life. But through similar gifts, their connection, interactions, didn't end there.

The journey of Althea Fox took me on a roller coaster of emotions…immersed into the love and strength of family, the ugly tears as trauma and tragedy rip apart hearts, then have it sewn back together again through love, friendship, and discovery of who they are and how to move forward. The individual growth of heroine and hero, lessons in finding trust and allowing someone in are woven in the journey of family, including his son, her dog, and family, blood and found.

Nora Roberts is known for her amazing storylines of characters we can love and hope for their tomorrow with the strength of family and bonds of friendship and the acceptance and understanding of love from the hero…and danger of the villian, always there niggling at the back of your mind, threatening the happiness and hope found. Giving us scenes that has us reading through fingers and keeps the pages turning.

Mind Games is no exception, although I think the psychic twist between Heroine and Villian had me more on edge and had my heart racing a bit faster. As he is always taunting her, tapping at the windows of her mind, reminding her of what he took from her, toying that he will take more. And Thea finding ways to keep the windows closed to him, keeping him in his prison… Yes, she knows he is locked away, she's grown her gifts to help others,she knows she has built an incredible life and sees the future she wants…but how can she move forward, live it happily while there’s always his taunting shadow in her mind…the games have to stop. And this is all done brilliantly by Nora Roberts!

You can always depend on Nora Roberts for excellent storytelling. In Mind Games, we meet Thea, a game designer with psychic abilities. We learn how her parents were murdered, and 12 year-old Thea helps the police find the culprit. The mind games title refers to the fact that imprisoned murderer, Ray Riggs and Thea can get into each other’s minds.

Full disclaimer, I am not that fond of woo woo books. However, there is so much to like in this novel. The psychological suspense between murderer and victim’s daughter was riveting. However, my favorite parts of the story involved the day to day life in rural Kentucky and the romance between Thea and her childhood crush boy band member. I also loved the warmth among Thea, her grandmother, and brother. And finally, it was heartwarming to see how Thea’s family helped their community, especially the young son of Thea’s crush.

As usual, Roberts’ writing will keep the pages turning quickly.

Nora never disappoints!!

🎮 romantic suspense
🎮 single dad
🎮 a little magical realism
🎮 setting: small town in the Kentucky countryside
🎮 singer/songwriter MMC
🎮 video game developer FMC who also has some unique abilities
🎮 found family + an adorable kiddo and dog ❤️
🎮 angsty

I DEVOURED THIS BOOK!! It swept me away from the first page and I felt like I was right there alongside the characters, that's how engrossed I was! Nora's writing always draws me right in and honestly, I loved the story telling, the plot, the characters, the suspense, the magical realism elements, and the love story. The ending was so unique and I loved it.

Rating: 4.5 stars!

A fascinating view into the mind of a psychic, and terrifying at the same time! The story begins with a very loving, successful couple with the requisite two children. While on his side the family background isn't idyllic, on hers it is very tighten it and loving and includes him in everything. The family "gift" is matrilineal and so comes down through the daughters and the daughter here is 12 and has it very strong. The young family goes on their summer sojourn to Grammie's in Kentucky, where the parents drop off the children for a two week visit, much loved by all. The parents head back to their thriving business in Virginia and home. A week into the visit, the young girl, Thea, has a nightmare that isn't and runs crying into Grammie Lucy's room to find her sitting on the edge of her bed. The nightmare wasn't a nightmare - they'd "seen" what had happened, young Thea more than Lucy, and call the police who contact the police in Virginia to go and check and find the crime. And here our tale really begins. Thea "saw" the crime happen and who had done it, was able to describe the person and where he was holed up so he could be arrested and sent to prison, but he also, in a way, "saw" her. "Let the games begin."

Thea goes on to college and becomes a successful video game designer, and with her family at her side, is able to stay near Grammie Lucy in Kentucky, working from home, with her brother Rem as her business manager and beta tester. They have a new neighbor move into a home near where Thea has bought land and built herself a sanctuary, a childhood idol, who has a child of his own. They become close, but she has learned to hold the part of her that "knows" back, as it is not always well received, until one day when the little boy, Bray, has lost one of his toys and she tells him where to find it. The idol, Ty, doesnt give her a chance to explain, his own baggage, but kicks her out and tells her to stay away and her family too. Heartbroken, ahe retreats to her sanctuary to grieve and try to deal with the continuing mind "attacks" by the criminal she helped put in prison. Meanwhile, Bray wants Thea "and her dog too", Bunk, a mountain of a dog that he's fallen in love with but Ty says no, leading to a fight between father and son, resulting in Bray running away to Thea. She brings him back, and drops him off, no words exchanged, and leaves. Try eventually goes to her and all comes out in a flood of emotion that has her in a panic/psychic attack. He's floored, hurt, and amazed. But he now trusts her and starts to follow through on the love he was feeling. She starts to plan a major " Mind Game" to end all for her freedom.

An amazing gnstory, engaging, charming. You fall head over heels for Bray and Bunk! A little boy and a huge dog, how could you go wrong! Gotta love Maddy, we should all have a friend like her! And Grammie, what more needs said. Nora did it again . Loved it, start to finish, and did not want to finish. Wish I could have read about the weddings, but I can imagine!

I really enjoyed this book. it was a little different from her normal writing, but still excellent. I highly recommend this book. Once you pick if up you won't want to put it down.
I enjoyed Thea, Lucy and Rhem relationship as much as Tyler and Bray.

Nora Roberts is one of my favorite authors. I absolutely love her books. This one is no different. One I sat down to this book, I didn't want to stop. It had me crying at times and angry at times, but it was always interesting. Thia watched her parents get brutally murdered. However, she wasn't physically there when it happened. She was able to see it through a dream. They were able to catch the person who did it, with her help. However, he now wants her dead. He has the same ability as she does. He's able to use his mind to find her and draw her in. The only way she'll able to move on with her life is to beat him at his own game.

Thank you to NetGalley, Nora Roberts and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Nora Roberts. You can't mistake her writing style for anyone else. Mind Games is a good one. Thea Fox is only a 12 year old child when her parents are murdered and she witnesses it all through the killer's eyes with her gift. She and her brother grow up in the care of her grandmother who teaches her how to control the gift. As an adult, Thea lives in Appalachia surrounded by her family and friends when her teenage celebrity crush moves in next door with his little boy. They fall in love and everything would be perfect except the killer, who is locked in prison because of her, finds ways into her head...

I loved the characters in this book, but since Tyler, the love interest, doesn't even enter the scene until 60% through and then most of them getting to know each other is actually the development of the relationship with the little boy, I felt like their romance is rushed. And the climactic ending was good, but a bit sudden.

With Mind Games, Roberts knocks it out of the park with in my opinion her best work since Under Currents.

The story begins by fleshing out a sweet, interesting family with enough complexity to feel like authentic people with real (and not overly dramatic) struggles. The parents' murders are a compelling beginning to Thea's story, which gets more and more interesting as Roberts weaves suspense, romance, and supernatural elements together with her signature deft touch.

Some of my favorite pieces of this story were Thea's relationship with Grammie, as well as the themes of the outdoors as having such healing powers.

Side note: There is I believe a grammatical typo on the top of page 92: Rem says "It our favorite two weeks of the year" which I'm guessing is supposed to read "It's our favorite two weeks of the year".

4.5 strong stars.

*I received a review copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

I enjoyed this book very much. Thea, Rem and Grammie have endured a tragedy. Thea and Grammie have a psychic gift that use for the good of people. The story follows Thea, Rem and Grammie, especially Thea through childhood to adulthood. The book can be slow in spots but it does pick up. The book has a bit of everything paranormal, thriller, romance and family. Another Nora Roberts winner. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. This is my own opinion.

Ooh boy. This story dragggged. Many parts of it feel like I've read them before from the author, eg the being able to read minds is reminiscent of Face The Fire, and the Key trilogy, the dreams make me think of the In Death series.
The story really picked up for me when Tyler came into picture (after the 50% mark). I think maybe also because that's when the story comes more to a head? All of the before is the set-up of what to expect when Thea is an adult.
The writing style is pure NR of the later years, the construct of phrases and dialogues immediately recognizable for long-time readers.
I think I had a hard time with this one (and her most recent books) because NR writes the most memorable books, and I almost always identify elements in the story that she has already done before.
That being said, this is still NR.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

There was a space of time where Nora Roberts was ​one of my go-to authors but over time I’ve gotten off track. Mind Games was the perfect book to dive back into one of my all-time favorite authors.

Thea reminds me a little of Tory Bodeen from Carolina Moon with her psychic gift, I kept thinking so all the way through and since that is one of my favorites by this author I really enjoyed it. ​

Thea, Rem, and Grammie endure a great tragedy but thanks to Thea’s gift the police are easily able to capture the man who killed her parents. But when Thea’s gift links her to the killer who shares the same gift and has twisted it into an ugly, cruel thing, it will open a door that Thea will battle to keep closed for years to come. ​

I love how the author always builds up a great group of supporting characters for her main character. I also loved Thea’s bond with her grandmother. It reminds me of the bond I had with my late grandmother and I got emotional reading this one at times.

I loved Thea’s chemistry with Ty and Ty’s son’s bond with Thea’s dog, Bunk. They all fit together so well. I also loved the setting of this book. It made me want to buy a cabin in the woods of Kentucky.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was well written, the characters were well developed, and the setting was easy to picture. My only draw back was that the showdown at the end seemed a little rushed, but not enough to ruin the reading experience.

I loved this story. I am a fan of small-town romantic suspense because the characters are so connected. I am also reading Kay Hooper's Bishop series and exploring the various psychic gifs. Thea, the heroine, and her grandmother Lucy also have psychic gifts. The gift of sight is a fascinating component of the story. The atmospheric elements of the story add insight and make the town and its inhabitants endearing.

At the story's beginning, Thea Fox and her brother Rem are off to visit her grandmother for a fun summer vacation, which turns into a nightmare for these twelve and ten-year-old children. Over the years, Thea's unique gift of sight has often been a hindrance rather than a help, and she works hard to deal with it and the fear it sometimes causes. As the story moves forward, the characters develop beautifully. We feel all their emotions, fears, love, and successes. By the end of the story, we know the characters as friends.

The family dynamics enhance the suspense, and when the love interest comes on the scene, the level of joy and trepidation increases. It wouldn't be a respectable romantic suspense if the lovers didn't have a flair-up, which is very tense in this case. Their disagreement is my only negative, as I thought the issues were resolved a little too quickly to be realistic, but then it is fiction.

Reading Mind Games reminds me of the riptides in the Florida waters lately. It pulled me in from the start and would only let me go once I reached the end. I can't say enough how much I loved all the characters: a kind and loving heroine, support characters that add dimension to the story, a wonderfully evil bad guy, a loving and protective grandmother, and a sexy love interest. All these elements work together perfectly to make a wonderfully enjoyable story.

#Netgalley #NoraRoberts #romanticsuspense

This was a great Nora Roberts book with a twist. The normal Nora book is a group of characters who have a tragedy. Then there is an up and bow love story that is tied in a bow at the end. This book had a twist running throughout that made a great change to the typical story.

I typically do not rate DNF’s, I only made it 50% through this book. However, as it is a NetGalley ARC, I’m going to share my thoughts. This started string, about a lovely family visiting their fabulous grandmother. The children stay while the parents have an adults week. During this time the parents are murdered. Our main character Thea is 12 and has some psychic premonitions and aids the the capture of the murderer. This is written with Robert’s trademark wit and character building. Where the book lost me was 100 pages of the kid growing up and nothing really happened. It could have been summarized and by the time we got to current time I just didn’t care. I may go back and try again when it comes out, hopefully with some edits, but as is I would not recommend..

My 7th book by Nora Roberts and it was pure delight from the very first page. I could not put it down and I just loved it! Thea and Rem get to stay at their Grammies house for 2 weeks while their parents have some “alone time”. Grammie loves her grandkids and loves it when they come visit every summer. I immediately thought back to my grandparents in Ohio who we would drive to see from FL for 2 weeks every July 4th. My parents didn’t leave us kids there but some of my fondest memories from my childhood were shucking corn with my grandma, walking the trails with my grandpa, walking to the corner ice cream store from their house, catching lightning bugs and putting them in a jar we didn’t have lightning bugs in FL … so long ago now. Back to the book, along comes Ray .. the bad guy! Both Grammie and Thea seem to have a six sense about things and they dreamed the same dream and it actually was real. (I can’t give anything away) Wow! This was so clever and the story was outstanding! My new fave of 2024. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review. To be published May 21, 2024. Looking forward to seeing what Nora comes up with next.