Nora Roberts: Tribute

Cover of Tribute

Cilla McGowan comes to the Little Farm, in the Shenandoah Valley, with a plan and a dream.  She’s going to restore her famous grandmother’s old farmhouse to its former glory – despite, or perhaps because of the dark history that the house holds for the entire valley.  She knows exactly what she wants to do and she knows exactly how to get what she’s after, through hard work, determination and some good ole elbow grease.  But not everyone in the valley wants the old house restored, or the reminder of the famous woman who had once affected so many lives within it.

When Ford Sawyer first spots Cilla he mistakes her for a trespasser on the neglected property and attempts to run her off.  Once he recognizes her, then he’s struck.  It’s not just her beauty or her resemblance to her dead grandmother that he becomes drawn to, with his artists’ eye he is able to see below the surface that she displays for the world to find the woman that she’s trying so hard to become.  Using his skill with ink and color, his respect for what she’s doing with the Little Farm and the love he comes to feel for her, Ford is able to show her just how extraordinary she really is.

When the life that the two of them are creating is threatened by some unknown force, they must work together not only to figure out where the danger comes from, but to ensure that the lives they hope for don’t unravel right before their very eyes. 

In Tribute, Nora Roberts shows the world that sometimes it truly is possible to have everything you’ve always wanted – love, family, happiness and contentment.  Her story of Cilla and Ford is colored with wonderful supporting characters including ex-husbands/best friends, absentee fathers’, negligent mothers, Hollywood sleaze, and of course the resident crazy man.  As a single title novel, Tribute is one that I would recommend to absolutely anyone looking for a good, solid story but doesn’t want the commitment of a multi-book read.

Tribute, 2008 (ISBN: 978-0-515-14636-3)