“Reading Hideaway is like a mini vacation, as Roberts transports you from the sun-drenched mountains of Big Sur to the rolling hills of Ireland to the bustling streets of New York City.” – Associated Press A family ranch in Big Sur country and a legacy of Hollywood royalty set the stage for Nora Roberts’ emotional new suspense novel, Hideaway. Caitlyn Sullivan had come from a long line of … Hideaway.
Caitlyn Sullivan had come from a long line of Hollywood royalty, stretching back to her Irish immigrant great-grandfather. At nine, she was already a star–yet still an innocent child who loved to play hide and seek with her cousins at the family home in Big Sur. It was during one of those games that she disappeared.
Some may have considered her a pampered princess, but Cate was in fact a smart, scrappy fighter, and she managed to escape her abductors. Dillon Cooper was shocked to find the bloodied, exhausted girl huddled in his house–but when the teenager and his family heard her story they provided refuge, reuniting her with her loved ones.
Cate’s ordeal, though, was far from over. First came the discovery of a shocking betrayal that would send someone she’d trusted to prison. Then there were years spent away in western Ireland, peaceful and protected but with restlessness growing in her soul.
Finally, she would return to Los Angeles, gathering the courage to act again and get past the trauma that had derailed her life. What she didn’t yet know was that two seeds had been planted that long-ago night–one of a great love, and one of a terrible vengeance…
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Caitlyn Sullivan lives a golden life, a fourth generation member of a Hollywood acting dynasty and a talented actress in her own right. Her world is shattered when at the age of ten she is kidnapped from her great grandfather’s memorial service. A crime that later would be traced back to someone who should’ve been above reproach changing Cait’s life forever.
This book is split into three sections. The first part deals with the crime and introduces the main characters who will appear throughout the book at various stages. I loved the Cooper family, Gram, Julia & Dillon and the tenacity of the young Caitlyn as she has the strength to stick to her guns. The middle section deals with the teenage years and has Caitlyn finding her path in life despite the obstacles being thrown in her way and in the final part she has to face her demons by going back to the scene of the crime so to speak.
I wanted to love this book but in all honesty I can only admit to liking it. I did love the first section involving the kidnapping and the characters are fantastic – Nora Roberts does have the knack of writing characters that you’d love to know in real life…. well all except one who I won’t name here but to my eye they come across like the villain in pantomime and I half expected to hear booing and hissing whenever I read a part involving them. My main issue though is with the suspense element of the plot. It was all just a little too predictable. It was obvious from the start who was behind it and it didn’t seem to me like the character of Cait was terrorised by it, more like mildly inconvenienced. I would’ve also liked to know a little more about Dillon’s life in between leaving university and Cait returning to Big Sur. Completely irrelevant to the storyline I know but hey, I liked him as a boy but as an adult he came across as some kind of sleeping beauty who had been waiting on Cait’s return.
From the first chapter, this book promises to be a blockbuster because it has everything that fans of Nora Roberts crave. The family in the book is the powerful and wealthy Sullivan clan, a family of stars on the stage and screen. Caitlyn Sullivan was born into this sophisticated enclave and seemed destined for stardom herself until she was kidnapped at the age of ten. Determined not to let that event set the path for the rest of her life, Cate moves to Ireland with her father to recuperate from the trauma and then comes back to the family home in Big Sur. From there, she goes to New York and back to Big Sur. The family estate seems to call to her as no other place does. There is romance aplenty in the novel and lots of action as Cate continues to be hounded by her mother and her kidnappers. I enjoyed the story as well as Roberts’ signature staccato style, with short choppy sentences that describe the action as well as the setting. If you are a fan of her “in Death” series (writing as J.D. Robb), you will understand exactly what I mean. The sentence structure and the author’s talent of creating a scene that you feel that you can step into are what draws me to her novels, again and again. Fans of Nora Roberts will love the non-stop action in this book and will want more of the romantic scenes. I gave it four stars instead of five because I personally don’t like the expletives that are used so consistently in the book, but I do understand that they may be used for effect. That being said, this was an excellent read that had me spellbound and wanting to find out the final destiny of Cate.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, St. Martin’s Press. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
Excellent story of greed, vengeance, and, first and foremost, family
There’s a reason Nora Roberts is one of the top authors in the world, whether writing under the Roberts name or one of her pseudonyms. She writes fantastic books – consistently.
She started being published back in the 1980s and I started reading her back then. But there is no way I’ve been able to read all of her books. She is a VERY prolific writer.
This book is about Caitlyn Sullivan, born into a family of Hollywood royalty (think the Barrymores).
When Caitlyn is ten years old, she is with a bunch of her relatives at Sullivan’s Rest built along the Big Sur coast in California. The family is there to celebrate the life of the family’s patriarch, who just passed. While playing outside she is kidnapped and held for a $10 million ransom. Through her own strength and perseverance, she escapes but this event shapes all of her life to come.
I loved Caitlyn’s strong character and her family members, to whom she is extremely close to multi-generations.
The characters are finely drawn so I could easily visualize all of them, even the despicable ones. The author describes the different settings with expertise and makes me want to visit all of them.
Even though there weren’t huge surprises in the suspense portion of the story, it didn’t matter to me. Roberts is such a fine writer that she kept my interest from the first page to the very last.
I highly recommend this newest book by Nora Roberts.
I received this book from St. Martin’s Press through Edelweiss in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.
I am always going to be a fan of Nora Roberts, I have been reading her books since the early 90s but there are a few that are not always a favorite. Hideaway was good, but unfortunately it took me almost a month to finish it. The writing is always good and the storyline was nice but it dragged a bit for me. This story starts off when the heroine, Cate Sullivan was kidnapped at the age of 10. We learn early on who the kidnappers were and the reasons behind it so there really was no mystery or suspense to it. We journey through her life and we see the progressions of what makes her happy.
Even though this was not a top read for me, there were many aspects of the book I did like. The support and devotion of the Sullivan family was awesome. They are all in the Hollywood elite, but really down to earth (except for one particular person). Their neighbor and basically Cate’s saviors, the Cooper family were just as wonderful. The connection between Cate and Dillon Cooper was forged early on and never really died. The love story was a bit of a slow burn, but I did love the way Dillion knew Cate, even though they had been apart for years, and he knew exactly what she meant to him.
Overall, it was a nice read, I thoroughly enjoyed all of the family dynamics and love and support they gave each other. I, however, wished a particular person was punished a bit more.
I received this ARC as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
The Sullivan family, Hollywood legends, have gathered at their estate in Big Sur to celebrate the life of the family’s patriarch. While the adults are telling tales of the legendary actor, the children are playing hide and seek. When the kids are called inside, one of them is missing. An hour later, they receive a telephone call. Ten million dollars will ensure the safe return of the missing child, ten-year-old Caitlyn. Caitlyn, while frightened, remembers things her great-grandfather told her. She manages to escape and finds her way to a nearby ranch, where the residents take her in and call the Sheriff and her family. It doesn’t take long for everyone, including Caitlyn, to figure out who had her kidnapped. Arrests are made and people are sent to prison. When Caitlyn is seventeen, she returns to the US from Ireland and wants to resume her career as an actress. Then a phone call sends her reeling. The voice on the call tells her he/she wants revenge.
Roberts has written a page-turner. One that will keep any reader reading well into the wee hours of the morning. The book is told from Caitlyn’s point of view for the most part. Roberts was able to take the reader inside Caitlyn’s head and witness the terror of the kidnapping, the growing restlessness of years spent in Ireland, her tentative steps toward normalcy through her acting. We also rejoice with her when she texts her best friend that she’s not going to die a virgin. This is not a romance nor, strictly speaking is it a thriller. What it is, though, is a well-written tale of family, both by blood and by choice, and survival. All in all, this is a most satisfying read.
If you are already a fan of Nora Roberts, this book is a must read and deserves to be on the top of your to-be-read list. If this is your first Nora Roberts book, regardless of why you’ve waited so long, you’ll be in for a surprise and you need to put the title at the top of your to-be-read list.
My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Edelweiss for an eARC
I enjoyed this story. It has a lot of interesting characters and together are adding for a fast-paced, suspenseful book with a few twists and a splash of romance.
Childhood trauma is never easy to live with but Cate is looking forward to doing something more meaningful with her life in her twenties. The past is catching up and there’s a beautiful love story with a boy,now a man that helped her in the past but also a very bumpy road as someone wants revenge and they are on her at every turn of the street.
Why not five stars? I felt like many moments and parts in the middle of the book were a bit unnecessary or dragging. I can’t really say I like any of the characters, maybe Lily, she was just like the aunt you hate but trust with your darkest secrets.
I’m struggling with this review because I normally love most of what Nora Roberts writes. However, this one just didn’t resonate with me. I did find myself getting pulled into the story from the beginning. I kept trying to find times to read but the more I read, the more the story line seemed to stall. It seemed slow and repetitive. I did finally get the happy ending I wanted but I felt like I read a lot of scenes that seemed like filler. It just wasn’t as fast paced as I hoped, I guess is what I’m saying. I did enjoy the family aspect and grew to love those characters as well. This book was not bad, at all, so if you are a fan of Nora Roberts, make sure to pick it up. Just don’t expect a fast paced book
Hideaway, Nora Roberts’ latest romantic suspense novel, provides a good, healthy dose of what I’ve come to expect from one of her books. While from story to story the settings vary, the characters’ professions vary, and to some extent, the dilemmas those characters face vary, at the heart of it all, I expect a story with strong family ties (or a good reason those ties have been severed), a romance, and someone who’s determined to see the main character(s) suffer. Hideaway provides all of that in a way that’s comfortingly familiar.
Hideaway takes the reader from Big Sur in California to Ireland to New York and like always, the colorful, detailed descriptions are one of the story’s strengths. The main character, Caitlyn Sullivan, who comes from a long line of Hollywood actors finds her niche in voice acting. For me, it was interesting to learn the ins and outs of a profession I knew nothing about.
Not as appealing to me was reading about the uber-wealthy Sullivan family. Sure, they’re Hollywood royalty and have the money that goes with such a status, but I prefer to read about people who are a little more real. Caitlyn’s eventual love interest, Dillon, comes from a much more down-to-earth family of farmers, and this serves to bring some balance to the story, but for me, there was too much ‘I’ll just pick up the phone and have that delivered to me in five minutes because I’m a famous actor’ kind of feel.
The story itself may be predictable, but Roberts’ writing and ability to weave a plot is as strong as ever making this an enjoyable tale.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of Hideaway. Watch for Hideway May 26, 2020.
From the first chapter, this book promises to be a blockbuster because it has everything that fans of Nora Roberts crave. The family in the book is the powerful and wealthy Sullivan clan, a family of stars on the stage and screen. Caitlyn Sullivan was born into this sophisticated enclave and seemed destined for stardom herself until she was kidnapped at the age of ten. Determined not to let that event set the path for the rest of her life, Cate moves to Ireland with her father to recuperate from the trauma and then comes back to the family home in Big Sur. From there, she goes to New York and back to Big Sur. The family estate seems to call to her as no other place does. There is romance aplenty in the novel and lots of action as Cate continues to be hounded by her mother and her kidnappers. I enjoyed the story as well as Roberts’ signature staccato style, with short choppy sentences that describe the action as well as the setting. If you are a fan of her “in Death” series (writing as J.D. Robb), you will understand exactly what I mean. The sentence structure and the author’s talent of creating a scene that you feel that you can step into are what draws me to her novels, again and again. Fans of Nora Roberts will love the non-stop action in this book and will want more of the romantic scenes. I gave it four stars instead of five because I personally don’t like the expletives that are used so consistently in the book, but I do understand that they may be used for effect. That being said, this was an excellent read that had me spellbound and wanting to find out the final destiny of Cate.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, St. Martin’s Press. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”