I found this thriller from Nora Roberts entertaining and fairly fast moving.

Our heroine (after being critically wounded in the line of duty) is determined, focused and intelligent to get her life back and continue with her law enforcement career. During her convalescence at her childhood home, she meets a new neighbor (and love interest) who is trying a vastly new career on for size. I enjoyed them as a couple; however, it felt a little too easy (and very quick) for her sister to fall for his brother as well.

The villains here were very, very creepy and their acts horrifying with their rationalizations a bit over the top for me...but hey, they are insane psychopaths.

All in all, another good book for Roberts' fans. A bit by-the-book as far as its similarity to most of her thrillers, but still a satisfying read.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing the free early arc of Hidden Nature for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Fantastic! Another great book by Nora Roberts--who cannot go wrong, IMO! Totally sucked me into the storyline and I enjoyed the read so much I forgot about everything else around me!

A traditional Nora Roberts romance with suspense elements, but not a paranormal. If you enjoy her previous books in this vein then Hidden Nature hits all the beats and is a satisfying read.

Our heroine Sloane Cooper is a strong, smart, successful officer in the Natural Resources Dept. She gets shot and nearly dies in convenience store hold up, then returns to her small hometown to recover. The hero, Nash Littlefield, is a recovering big city finance bro who leaves it all behind to start a home renovation business with his younger brother. There’s instant attraction between Sloane and Nash but the burn slow as they don’t meet until around a third of the way though.

The antagonists are two religious nutters that believe anyone brought back from the brink of death by medical intervention is subverting god’s plan. They begin to murder survivors and it’s up to the heroine to figure it out before they kill more and even her.

The bad guys in this one aren’t my favorite of the recent Nora offerings. I might just be a bit fatigued at IRL religious extremists. I did enjoy another of La Nora’s classic secondary storylines on house renovation so that balanced out my lukewarm feelings on the murderous couple.
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Series or Standalone: standalone

Themes/Tropes: trauma recovery, you can go home again, supportive & unsupportive families, religious extremism, murder, detection, home renovation, fun secondary romance

Steam/Spice Level: open door, in the room, fuzzy focus, low on the contemporary romance scale but still some fun scenes

Setting: fictional Maryland resort town

BIPOC Characters: secondary characters

LGBTQ+ Characters: not that was explicitly stated

POV: third person, past tense, multi POV including FMC, MMC, both antagonists

Cops/LEO: yes, FMC is a Natural Resources police officer, no corruption themes

Does the Dog/Horse/Cat Die? The dog,Tick, is never in peril and lives happily ever after
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Thank you St Martin’s Press for the Advanced Reader Copy. Expected publication date May 27, 2025

Hidden Nature follows Sloan Cooper, a natural resource police officer in western Maryland who is determined to earn the rank of sergeant. After a successful three-day mission capturing a trio of men who had been terrorizing hikers, things seem to be settling down. Her partner even shares the exciting news of a pregnancy. To celebrate, Sloan offers to buy him a Dr. Pepper at a gas station. What she doesn't know is that she is walking into a trap. She is shot in the chest and dies.

While clinically dead, Sloan watches her body from the hospital room. Eventually, she is revived and survives the ordeal. The experience changes her life. She returns to her parents' home to recover, and shortly after, her boyfriend breaks up with her over text. During this time, two wealthy brothers from New York, Theo and Nash, arrive in town and buy a property to launch their home renovation business, "Fix-It Brothers." Sloan's sister begins dating Theo, and over time, Sloan and Nash form a slow-burning connection that turns into a romantic relationship.

While the romance unfolds, a disturbing pattern of kidnappings grips the town. People are disappearing without a trace, leaving their personal items behind. The disturbing truth is that a deranged nurse and her unsettling husband have been abducting individuals who briefly died and were brought back to life. They interrogate their victims about what they experienced after death. When the answers disappoint them, they murder the victims and drain their blood.

With plenty of time on her hands, Sloan becomes fixated on finding the pattern behind the kidnappings. Eventually, she ends up in the middle of the investigation—and becomes a target herself. With help from Nash, she moves closer to uncovering the truth and stopping the killers.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I loved the mix of crime and romance. It reminded me a lot of Sharon Sala’s books, which I’m a huge fan of. Nora Roberts shines when she writes suspenseful stories like this one. Thank you to NetGalley for the ebook!

Holy crap. Wow. More thriller than romance and more romance than women’s fiction. Sloan was rebuilding her life after getting shot. Nash was rebuilding his life after drowning in the city financial chaos. The killers were seriously whacked in the head.

Nora Roberts had me hooked from the first sentence. Like many of her novels, this book is a blend of genres. The novel begins like a thriller. But eventually becomes a slice of life, a romance and back to a suspense novel.

Corporal Cooper is shot when she walks in on a convenience store robbery. With a second chance at life, after being shocked back to life on the operating table, she must return home to recuperate. Here the book becomes a slice of life. The author details Sloan's battle back toward fitness, and describes her life back home with her loving supportive family.

Alternating chapters introduce the reader to to the eventual love interest. Nash Littlefield has ditched his career as a successful financier to follow his dream of owning a home repair business. He moved to the scenic vacation resort town that he fell in love with as a teen and bought a neglected home to fix up. The reader gets to know Nash and his brother and fall in love with them, long before Nash and Sloan meet. The dual romances are a sweet part of this story which contrast with the twisted serial killer plot that eventually develops. There are no romance story tropes of misunderstandings to prevent the eventual romance or frustrate the reader.

Sloan Cooper was just finishing up a successful arrest when she walked into a convenience store and interrupted an armed robbery. Sloan was shot trying to handle the situation. After being brought back to life on the operating table, Sloane returns back to her childhood home to rest and recuperate. When a local woman goes missing, Sloane gets pulled into the mystery and just may risk her life again in the process.

I can't really ding Nora Roberts on this one because I know exactly what I'm getting into when I pick up one of her books. This one felt a little too formulaic and I couldn't stand the villains. Obviously that's to be expected. They are villains after all and you're not supposed to "like" the bad guys, but these two were grating on my nerves and irritating. As in other books by Roberts, we are introduced to the antagonists early on. I wish that this time we, the readers, got to experience the mystery along with the characters instead of waiting for them to play catch up with what we already know - usually at the very end. Considering my dislike of the antagonists this one felt like it dragged a bit too much to get to the conclusion.

I do like the mundane, the day-to-day and the life of the characters. Sloan had something traumatic happen and I was interested in seeing how she rebuilt her life afterwards. I love seeing the human connection and the building of relationships. The added "bad guys" just didn't mesh.

I don't have much more to say about the book. If you've read Nora Roberts before, this book won't surprise or break any new ground for you. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just a fact and the nature of an author who has 200+ titles to just their name (not counting, you know, that other famous penname).

Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts is a fantastic standalone novel. We meet our heroine, Sloan Cooper, who is a respected police officer in the Maryland Natural Resources. She has just finished an operation with her partner, capturing dangerous hikers in the mountains. She stops in a convenience store, and is gunned down by an armed robber; almost dying before being shocked back on the operating table multiple times. Sloan moves back home to Heron’s Rest, staying with her family’s resort, to recuperate for her long recovery ahead.

While she becomes bored during recovery, Sloan hears about a case of a missing women, and is drawn to this intriguing case, as the women was abducted from a grocery store parking lot. She begins to research on her own and soon discovers that other missing people from other areas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virgina that have disappeared. Sloane discovers a chilling pattern, with multiple people of different genders having disappeared abandoning their cars; suggesting a serial killer. The deeper she investigates, she suspects that maybe she would be on the killers list.

I really loved how Sloan’s family and friends were so great, including her parents and sister, Drea. We meet both Nash and Theo Littlefield, who moved from New York, with both leaving behind their careers, and forming a handyman business, The Fix-It Brothers. In a short time, their business begins to escalate, and Sloan having bought a house, hires them to fix her place. Sparks spark between Theo and Drea, as they both find themselves falling in love. Nash finds himself intrigued with Sloan, especially helping her on some of the cases; with Nash realizing that he is also falling in love with Sloane, as she also has strong feelings.

The antagonists were chilling, as well as evil. Especially killing the victims who all had survived near death. Sloan and Nash find themselves working together to uncover the truth about the killers.

Hidden Nature was a fantastic intriguing thriller, that was a blend of suspense, romance, mystery and action-packed. Sloan was a terrific heroine, who was dedicated, tenacious, decisive and gripping. Hidden Nature was so very well written by Nora Roberts. I suggest you read Hidden Nature, which was an exciting thriller.

Sloan Cooper and her partner on their way back to the station they just had a great bust and things are looking good. The two make a stop for gas and Sloan runs into the store where her life is.changed forever. The store is being held up and before she has a chance to react she is shot. She lives but.the road to recovery is going to take time, until she can be by herself she has to move in with her parents. While recuperating she starts looking into a case of a woman disappearing. She soon finds other missing persons cases that look to be related. She can only do so much because of her health but she isn't going to give up on helping these missing people. Follow along and see where the case takes her.

Sloane's day goes horribly wrong, and she is shot. She's now home with her parents and recovering. While recovering, she reads about the disappearance of a woman that she can't get out of her head. With a bit of research, she discovers a pattern and needs to solve the mystery before she's next.

Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts is a standalone romantic suspense that built in suspense while engaging the reader with family, romance, and charm. You’ll want to grab a cup of tea and curl up with this one!

Hidden Nature is a standalone novel about an injured cop who digs into a local murder and discovers a serial killer. This novel had a small-town vibe with community, family and a delicious romance to spice things up.

Sloan Cooper, a Natural Resources police officer, is gravely injured at a gas station. Facing a long recovery and with no one to help her, she returns to her parents’ house in Heron’s Rest. Her sister lives nearby, and her parents’ property borders a lake. It’s the perfect place to recoup, build back her strength to get back to the job she loves. Life, however, has other plans in-store for her and the story that unfolds pulled me in as the outside world slipped away.

Sloan is pushing herself and following orders, but he suffers some setbacks. During this time, she becomes curious about a local missing woman. That curiosity leads her to explore and discover similar cases. The case was a suspenseful one filled with danger. The case was well done and stretches over three counties. It has a made for TV vibe and kept me hooked.

The story also shares life at Heron’s Rest, and the handsome neighbors who move in next door. All of which gave this thriller a cozy, swoon-worth side. From home improvement to puppies, readers enjoy not one but two romances. The story is perfectly balanced between dark and light with new beginnings, life changes and heart.

Hidden Nature is the perfect romantic suspense to pack in your beach tote or for a raining summer afternoon.

Sloan Cooper, a Natural Resources Officer, was shot on duty and barely survived. Having to take time off for recovery she stays with her parents back in her hometown of Heron’s Rest, Maryland where they run a vacation rental business on the picturesque lake.

As Sloan works toward recovery the disappearance of a young woman on Thanksgiving Day captures her attention and sticks with her. She does a little bit of armchair detecting, but it gets put on the back burner when nothing turns up. Then there’s another similar disappearance leading Sloan to look for a past pattern.

The villains had their POV which was more than a little disturbing and chilled me to the bone! I was on the edge knowing that Sloan fit their victim profile.

As this is happening, brothers, Nash and Theo Littlefield buy up a wreck of a house planning on starting their own construction business while renovating the place. Sloan and Nash end up running into each other over and over and the immediate attraction felt slowly turns into something.

As with most Nora Roberts’ stories, Hidden Nature was a combination of mystery, suspense, danger and romance happening in amongst an idyllic sort of life: family, friends, dinners, décor, renovations in a gorgeous setting. Heron’s Rest sounded beautiful! I was captivated by all of it.

I alternately read and listened to an audio copy of Hidden Nature and recommend either version. January LaVoy’s voice is rich and pleasing, and she brought all the characters to life, male and female, each distinct with appropriate emotion.

I always look forward to Nora Roberts' latest standalone novel every year, and HIDDEN NATURE is no different. Packed with suspense, romance, and the secret sauce of storytelling that Roberts has spent decades honing, HIDDEN NATURE is for long-time fans of Roberts as well as fans of the romantic suspense/thriller genre.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio as well as Ms. Roberts for these ARCs in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley @NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress @St. Martin’sPress #NoraRoberts #HiddenNature
#BookReview #Fiction #MacmillanAudio @MacAudio25 #MacAudio25 #JanuaryLaVoy @JanuaryLaVoy

Title: Hidden Nature
Author: Nora Roberts
Formats: eBook, audiobook
Narrator: January LaVoy
Publishers: St. Martin’s Press with Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: May 27, 2025
Themes: Police work, religion, life and death, human monster, family
Trigger Warnings: police officer injured in the line of work, religious discussions, some violence, assisted death, gun violence, stalking, kidnapping, big age difference, alcohol use

This is another great book by the queen herself. Nora Roberts is one of my favorites and I loved this book as much as I loved her previous works. The strong female protagonist that Nora Roberts does so well is Sloan Cooper. She’s a talented police officer who is grievously wounded by a gunshot on the job. She is shocked back to life on the operating table. She returns to her parents’ house to recuperate when she’s released from the hospital. While she recovers, she discovers her happiness lies near her family and she buys a home and begins a new life as a member of the Natural Resource Police. When she gets wind of a series of missing person cases, she can’t help but wonder if there’s more to them than meets the eye.

Roberts follows a very specific formula in her books. Strong female, new chapter in life, gets a dog, finds love in a strong and silent man, some kind of danger slowly inching closer to the woman until she’s forced to save herself with or without the man. No exception here. Obviously this isn’t a bad thing as I’ve read every one of them. This one spent less time on the love story part, which I liked. It was clear what happened but the reader is allowed to fill in the details. I also enjoyed the time and care this story took to unfurl itself. Roberts writes characters well and it was nice to spend some time with them. I often find myself missing them when the story ends. I found this to be more evident than normal with this story. I also loved ‘Tic the dog. One of the things I always look forward to in Roberts’ stories is the animal cast of characters. This particular book saw the man getting the dog but we mustn’t be sticklers.

A word about January LeVoy as the narrator; fabulous.

All in all, this is another solid novel by Nora Roberts. It’s familiar, comforting, and dependable as a good read. I recommend it for any fan of the author as well as fans of feel-good fiction.

Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts is a spectacular mystery. Sloan is a Natural Resource officer who was recently shot during a robbery. While recovering, she finds a pattern of missing women and she dives into the mystery. To me, this is exactly what I expect from a Nora Roberts story! A heroine with a past who is determined to move forward, a crazy killer, and a romance!

Roberts writes great characters-the good and the bad! The story starts in a sleepy town with an injured cop who needs to recover. As it goes on, things get creepy. Who can you trust? Who is good? Who is bad? At times, the pacing felt slow. It leans into the small town vibes a bit hard and it makes things feel like they drag. But, they mystery is good and creepy enough to keep me reading/listening through the slow parts. Overall, I guess you could describe the whole story as a slow burn-the mystery, the romance-all of it. And I mean that in a good way!

Nora Roberts is a master of small-town romantic suspense, and Hidden Nature delivers exactly what I love about her work. The setting of Heron Rest is charming and atmospheric, and the central families, the Coopers and the Littlefields, feel like people you’d want to sit down and have coffee with.

The story grabbed me from the start when Sloan Cooper, a Natural Resources Police officer, was shot during a convenience store robbery while off duty. Facing a tough recovery, she heads home to heal, but she can't resist doing some behind the scenes investigating when a woman disappears without a trace.

The "bad guys" are a couple who use religion to justify their crimes. There were times when my stomach was flipping and turning because I was afraid of what would happen to Sloan.

What really stood out to me, besides the strong sense of place and the slow-burn romance, was how some of the dialogue between Sloan and Nash reminded me of Eve and Roarke from Roberts’ In Death series. That same sharp banter and emotional honesty between characters made me smile and gave the story a little extra spark.

The suspense was well-paced, the romance felt natural, and the secondary characters added warmth and heart. Another solid read from Roberts and one I’d recommend if you enjoy a good blend of romance, mystery, and small-town drama.

It’s always amazing to me that Nora Roberts can write such unique stories every time. I really enjoyed Nash and Theo as the Fix-It Brothers. I like that Nora’s stories are about regular people building regular lives. The side romance was an added bonus, which added to feeling like you were living in the story with the characters.

I found my first Nora Roberts novel in a Reader’s Digest Condensed Books volume when I was probably way too young to read romance and romantic suspense, and I never looked back. I’m a lifelong Nora Roberts fan and will usually always recommend her books to anyone who will listen to me prattle on and on about the queen of romantic suspense. So, it absolutely pains me to write this review because this book was not up to par for me. The first half reads like her typical books, with good, in-depth character development of the main characters. However, it lacked the development of the villains in a significant way. It left me wanting so much more of their backstory in Roberts’ typical way. The chemistry between the main characters was meh at best. And it took me entirely too long to finish this story. Usually, I devour her books in hours to two days, max.

Nora Roberts refuses to stay in any mold when it comes to her writing, which is why she’s considered a queen among a plethora of talented authors. Some of her books I’ve loved, some I’ve not cared for at all, and some I’ve been ambivalent about. Unfortunately, this one falls into the “ambivalent” category. Regardless, her talent for weaving incredible stories brings me back time and again, as she has done for many years, and despite this new release being a miss for me, I’ll always give her books a chance.

NICUnurse’s Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Natural Resources police officer, Sloan Cooper, and her partner had just taken down three men preying on hikers in the Western Maryland mountains. Driving back, she pulled in at a convenience store—and walked right into a robbery in progress. One gunshot from a jittery thief was about to change her world.

After Sloan is shot. She goes through a myriad of emotions. And no one does this better than Nora Roberts. She creates some of the best emotional characters. And Sloan definitely has her share of drama. And this also leads her to be a target for a set of serial killers.

However, I was not a fan of the “evil people” in this novel…yes I know I am not supposed to be. But, they just seemed a bit elementary. And their banter is just terrible.

I usually get Nora Roberts’ books on audio because I absolutely love this narrator. January LaVoy is excellent!

Even though this is not my favorite Nora book, it is still a good story full of great characters!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

This book had me in a choke hold from start to finish. Literally, from the first line! I adored Sloan. She was a natural resource police officer (I didn’t even know those existed). She gets shot early on and the hospital has to bring her back to life. She moves home to recover. In the process, her and her sister meet Theo and Nash. A lot develops once she goes home.
I loved Sloan’s character growth. Nora did a great job taking her time and developing this story. There was a good mystery. A fun love story. Great conflict. A solid ending! There wasn’t anything I didn’t like. Nora always gives us a great story! I received this book from St Martin’s press and Netgalley. All opinions are my own.