Tribute

By: Nora Roberts

Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck

RITA Award Winner, Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements, 2009

Finally out of the celebrity spotlight and away from her mother's demands, Cilla is free to do what she loves: fixing up houses for profit. But her current project is personal. The Shenandoah Valley farm house was once the vacation home of Hollywood luminary Janet Hardy, Cilla's grandmother.

When Cilla uncovers a stash of her grandmother's private letters, and begins asking questions about the past, she becomes the target of a crazed killer who's determined to keep family secrets buried no matter what the cost.

©2008 Nora Roberts (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

remodel romance.

struggled to finish. its ok if you want remodel a house. it was also predictable. are you remodeling.

Wonderful story

I love how the narrator captured the sense of energy and emotion from the characters. However it was a bit confusing at times because she has the tendency of skipping from an individual character back to the narrator voice. Overall a wonderful story that really draws and engages the listener.

Fantastic but narration needed editing

This was one of those books that when I saw how long it was, I thought, "I wonder if I'll get through this." Well, I did, and it whizzed by.

Cilla McGowan started out life in the spotlight--literally. She came from a family of stars: her famous grandmother, Janet Hardy, then her mother. Cilla was a child-star but decides she is done with Hollywood, as her real love was remodeling and flipping houses. She heads off for the Shenandoah Valley where her grandmother's farm lay abandoned, neglected since the star allegedly took her own life years ago. Although the task seems insurmountable, Cilla feels it might be where she really belongs.

Neighbor Ford Sawyer is a graphic novelist who lives alone with his ugly dog, Spock. He soon takes notice of what's happening across the street, and is captivated by the long, lean woman who yields a hammer better than most men. She ignites within his imagination a new character, a woman with superpowers. But getting her to pose for his sketches isn't the only thing Ford wants from Cilla McGowan.

I found this to be a richly textured tale of redemption, finding one's true purpose in life, and of the complexity of family ties. The development of the relationship between Cilla and Ford is believable, slow, and heart-warming. Beautifully written, breathtakingly paced, I consider this to be one of Ms. Roberts' most complex and engrossing stories. A long ride but an exhilarating one.

My only criticism of the audiobook version of this book is that the volume levels did not appear to be properly modulated. The narrator's voice went from too loud to too soft, forcing a constant see-saw of the volume knob. ACX, you need to re-edit this one.

The narration was awful.

I should have listened to the previous reviews. The narrator’s voice was annoying and was not age appropriate at all. The woman reading sounded like an old woman and the characters were mostly late 20’s early 30’s. It actually ruined the whole book.

Performance volume too low

Love this book but the narrator does a lot of whispering. I was constantly adjusting the volume from 50 to 25 because it was either yelling or super low whispering. I’ve read other books where there is low murmuring and whispering but it’s done at a normal volume.