Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts is a mystery and women’s fictions with a romantic subplot. If you’re a Nora Roberts fan, this novel will hold up to her promise of characters who are strong from the start, conquering extraordinary situations while loving their normal everyday lives.

This story is told primarily from the female main character’s perspective, but is a multi POV novel. The villain’s POV is eerie, and a stark contrast from the other characters. While the heroes of this novel are level headed and don’t make many mistakes (as is typical for a Nora Roberts story), the villains in this story are interesting, meticulous, and creepy,

I listened to the audiobook version of this story which is well done by a single narrator, January LaVoy. January LaVoy consistently delivers excellent audiobooks, and this was no different. She creates distinct voices for each character that make the story come to life. I listened at 1.5x speed most of this listen (my normal audiobook listening speed is 1.75x).

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced listening copy.

Rating: 5⭐️/5

Nora Roberts never disappoints! Such a great thriller with a seriously convincing villain duo. Sloan is such a tough and awesome FMC and I really loved the love story built in there too. Sloan goes through so much and I’m happy to see her find the gentleness that she deserves.

I thought the plot was really good and the build up for the finale was insane. A lot of tension for the series of murders that happen and a really unique motive for the perpetrators.

Really loved this thriller!

Thank you NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Great Story, love the character development throughout. The side story of the sisters relationship added something fun, but not sure if was worth it because there is already so much to follow - but I understand and appreciate why that family element was added. A lot of characters to keep up with, but not too confusing. The story was well rounded and all came to nice ending. I rated 3.25 Very well narrated!

This book was *chef’s kiss*!!!’ The details, the banter, the revelations, the characters, the deep thoughts it made me have… wow! More proof that Nora Roberts is where she is because of pure talent and genius!! Sloan’s journey and relationships were so intricate and beautifully written. I cannot say enough about how much I enjoyed this book!! I’m not even sure how to characterize it or how to tell you all the things I loved without giving stuff away, so I’ll just say… Get it and read it!!

I'm still deciding my thoughts on this one. Nora is my favorite author and nothing she writes is bad to me, but this one isn't my favorite. I requested the Ecopy and the audio, but forgot about the audio (I also preordered it through Audible - again, Nora is my favorite). I read the ecopy and still listened to this, I wanted to see if my feelings changed with the audio. I loved the narrator and I really like romance, recovering storyline, but I still struggled with the villains in the story and what they did - it just grossed me out.

I want to say... what a thought! The crazy couple who felt it was their calling to 'let people go' if they were brought back to life by medical intervention... just gross and them draining them... cooking with some of their blood. Bleh. I did get slightly nauseous while reading those parts.

Overall, a great read by RB, but won't be in my top favorites and I'm not sure if I will listen to it again or not.

Nora Roberts’ Hidden Nature is a delightful story with a heartwarming family story, strong female characters, a fascinating side plot, and a mystery. January LaVoy’s narration is exceptional.

Really enjoyed this book. The main character was super likable and loved her family. The romantic aspect was so perfect; not over the top but just enough.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts, published by Macmillan Audio and narrated by January LaVoy

Excellent story and I loved the narrator, she was so easy to listen to and was great at changing her voice to suit the different characters.
Thus was a really great mystery/thriller/girl meets boy with a touch or romance novel all wrapped up in one. The story had me feom the beginnkng. I loved the characters, well described and relatable. Setting and plot were great, easy to visualize people and places as I listened. The story kept me engaged throughout, I kept finding chores to do so I could keep listening.
I have read so many of Nora Robert's books and loved most, this one did not disappoint.

I have only read a few books by Nora Roberts. I am by no means an expert, but it amazes me the caliber of writing that Roberts puts out hundreds of books since 1981, and they are all very popular and seemingly well written. The four I've read have all been top notch.

This particular book is a romantic suspense, heavy on the suspense. However, even with the romances and the murdering going on, there are other subplots. This book starts out with Sloan walking into a mini-mart and being shot and nearly killed. The first portion of the book is Sloan having to move in with her parents while she heals and recovers. A recovery, both physical and mental. During this recovery, we learn about Sloan, her family, and the town that she lives in. Sloan has to learn to accept the things she can not control and to rely on others, which she doesn't like to do. We have another POV from Nash, who was an investment banker who moved to town with his lawyer brother to start a handyman business. He and his brother come from wealth and privilege but want to get out from under the family and make their own way in the world. He meets Sloan and helps her refurbish her house, and they become fast friends with Sloan. Our final POV is the bad guy. Who would be sweet and nice if she weren't insane. As Sloan discovers a bunch of missing person's she takes it on herself to solve the crimes, and that's our story!

I enjoyed the ride that we had here, even the bad guys had interesting stories. I think that a lot of bad guys think in this same vein and do not see themselves as bad people necessarily. The romance is slowish and builds from friendship and attraction to more in a wholesome way. Sloan's struggles in healing were nice to read, though I'm sure people who are really shot go through much more, it is still nice to see the addition of the mental health aspects of a trauma instead of just physical. The story is engaging, I didn't want to stop reading, I wanted to know what would happen next. The characters, even the minor ones, were all flushed out and felt important. The setting and imagery were described beautifully and make you want to visit, minus the murderers. Overall, it's a Nora Roberts book, more police procedural with a bit of romance and murder thrown in.

For the audio version: January LaVoy is amazing she is able to go from midwestern psycho to loving father and make every character believable. She brings each character to life and breathes new life to already amazing pages.

"The #1 New York Times-bestselling author presents a novel about an injured cop who must fight to bring down a pair of twisted killers…"

Thank you for the chance to review Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts and Narrated by January LaVoy. It feels like Nora Roberts can do no wrong with her novels. I found this new standalone novel to both comforting in the familiar formula of her novels as well as engaging by spending significant time in the novel developing the main characters stories before bringing them together in a romantic way.

January LaVoy is. one of my favorite narrators and she does a great job with any Nora Roberts story.

Any enjoyable book from start to finish.

Another emotional and suspenseful read from Nora Roberts!!

I listened to the audiobook for "Hidden Nature" and really enjoyed it. Once again it was easy getting lost in the world Nora Roberts created. The story translated smoothly to audio and was very well performed. I listened to all of it in just a couple of days.

Sloan Cooper is a Natural Resources police officer in the Western Maryland mountains. After walking straight into a robbery in progress, one shot from a desperate thief turns her life upside down. Now she faces a long road to recovery and so she retreats to her parents' home to heal. But nothing will keep Sloan down for long.

When a new cases emerges after a local woman goes missing, the bizarre circumstances of the case draws Sloan in. And as usual she's prepared to risk anything to bring those responsible to justice.

I was pulled in from the start by the compelling story and well developed, relatable characters. This story has romance, mystery, beautiful settings, and a few twists that kept me guessing.

5 Stars!!

I'd like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

My first book by Nora Robert's & wow! I'm truly impressed! What an odd & terrific read! The book kicks off to fast paced start with Sloan. Does get a little slow in the middle, but all for good reason! I loved Sloans thought process to solving her murders. Clara & Sam weirded me out SO bad, there were a couple parts that made me say Eww out loud because I was disgusted & couldn't wrap my mind around it. BUT was fully wrapped up in the Sloan & Drea & Theo & Nash & honestly the parents of the girls & of course Tick. & the epilogue! I was smiling SO hard the whole time! Truly can't wait to recommend this book to everyone who wants to read something that may give you the "ick" but also the thrill of solving murders, with a touch of family & love!

It’s no secret that Nora Roberts is one of my favorite authors of all time. She’s my comfort read of choice. So I was understandably thrilled to find an early audio copy of her newest title, Hidden Nature, waiting for me in my inbox. And the fact that this took place on a day when I was down with a migraine felt like a gift. As I expected it to, the combination of Nora’s easy, lyrical writing, her compelling characters, wonderful sense of family, deep dives into interesting profession, and signature plot tension—all delivered via the dulcet tones of January LaVoy’s narration—carried me away from the headache. There were a few things about this particular novel that kept me from loving it quite as much as a lot of Nora’s other work, but it was still a wonderful narrative respite.

First, the things that worked for me. This list has to start with Nora’s phenomenal storytelling. I love Nora’s writing and voice just as much as I always have. I was immediately entranced. Her style is this phenomenal blend of easy and lyrical, and nothing else pulls me in as quickly or as deeply.

I also really loved this cast of characters. Sloan, our main perspective character, is a natural resource officer who fights her way back from the brink of death with incredible tenacity. She has this beautifully tight, happy, healthy family unit that supports her through it. And then there’s Nash, our male lead. He’s left everything he’s ever known, and the high-powered life he was groomed for, to move to the mountains of Heron’s Rest, Maryland, and start a handyman business. His family life was the opposite of Sloan’s but with an exception. He's incredibly tight with his brother, Theo, who is delightfully exuberant. I loved the family and found-family dynamics in this story; it’s one of the elements Nora always does best. She also does a fantastic job portraying construction and renovation. As her husband is a carpenter, this makes all kinds of sense, and I always enjoy when this is an element in one of her stories.

Sloan and Nash don’t even meet until over a third of the way into the book, and I like that we’re given such solid narrative foundations for both characters before they ever appear together on the page. This makes them stronger both individually and as a unit. I also really enjoyed the fact that some threads of this story remind me of the In Death books. The weirdness of the case. Sloan brainstorming over it with Nash as her sounding board. Her dreams. All of these elements brought Eve and Roarke to mind.

But, as much as I love that correlation, it’s also where some of my issues with the story started. First of all, I found Clara and Sam, our villains, to be deeply disturbed and disturbing. Which is, of course, the point. But their weird, cultish motivations mixed with their loving, well-adjusted couple’s routine made me really uncomfortable, especially as their beliefs were something of a bastardized version of Christianity. The fact that they’re totally in love and almost cute with it made the fact that they were so completely off their rockers more unsettling, as did the religious nature of their crimes. Clara struck me as a vampiristic Stepford wife, and that added element of blood consumption was all kinds of icky. But again, these elements worked for the story. They just grossed and weirded me out, which is totally subjective.

What’s a bit more objective is my critique of how the case was handled. The way Sloan comes to conclusions about the murders, about the who and the why, feels like a stretch. It’s all a bit too on the nose and convenient. That also goes for how everything comes together in the story’s climax. It all seemed kind of easy and tidy.

Also, I can tell that I've been mostly reading clean and Christian fiction, because the language felt a bit harsh. There was more profanity/strong language than I remembered there being in Nora’s work. But that’s another subjective issue. My ability and desire to stomach strong adult content, be it in language, sexuality, or gore, has just diminished with age.

Any day that brings a new Nora Roberts book into my life is a good day. And when that happens to align with me being sick or having a migraine, it makes a bad day so much better. Hidden Nature made a bad day better. I’m not sure it’s one that I’ll be revisiting as often as I have some of her other books, but I still mostly enjoyed my time with it.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I did feel there was too much time focused on the renovations and remodeling descriptions that really added nothing to the story line. I felt it could have been cut back a bit. I listened to the audio and thought the narrator did a good job with all the different voices, however cringed through all the killer’s dialogue, which was more of the way it was written than her interpretation of the voice. I believe the majority of Nora fans will enjoy this book. If you’re new to the author, I would recommend not starting with this book. She has sooooo many others that are much better. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Nora Roberts has done it again! Hidden Nature has many layers and it does not disappoint with its attention to details. This story is multiple POV but the main focus is on Sloan Cooper a strong female police officer that is in the wrong place at the wrong time and get shot.

While recovering Sloan returns to her small town where she meets the love interest. As this relationship slowly develops, Nora Roberts is building a suspenseful, thrilling murder mystery.

The way this story is written you are never upset when the POV changes. The story is constantly building and you can’t wait to see what happens next. Highly recommend, 4⭐️.

Hidden Nature is a twisty tale that showcases Nora Roberts’ blend of mystery and romance. The story follows Sloane, a resilient heroine recovering from a serious injury, as she navigates a new career path and becomes entangled in the unsettling mystery of a string of disappearances.

Roberts does a fantastic job with character development—each character feels fully realized, adding depth and emotional weight to the unfolding suspense. The romantic undertones woven throughout the narrative enhance the story without overshadowing the central mystery.

However, the detailed focus on Sloane’s recovery and her home renovation, while perhaps meant to ground her transformation, sometimes felt overly drawn out. These slower sections occasionally disrupted the pacing and shifted attention away from the more compelling elements of the plot.

Despite this, Hidden Nature remains a solid, enjoyable read. While it could have been more concise, the strong characters and mystery kept me turning the pages.

Sloan Cooper wasn’t just injured on the job — she was practically torn apart. Multiple bullet wounds, months of recovery, a career put on ice. So when she heads to Heron’s Rest, a sleepy lakeside town nestled deep in the Maryland mountains, it’s not about reinvention. It’s about survival. She’s surrounded by family, living in her childhood home, and trying to remember how to breathe without scanning for threats. It’s quiet. It’s healing. It’s... not going to stay that way.

Because “Hidden Nature” is Nora Roberts doing what she does best: cracking open a wounded protagonist, wrapping her in a deceptively cozy setting, and then letting the darkness leak in slow and subtle, like a fog rolling over the water. At first, Sloan is just trying to put one foot in front of the other. She’s not chasing danger. But danger? It knows how to find her.

It starts small — a gut-level suspicion that something’s off. Not just the kind of off that comes with mountain weather and weird locals, but bad wrong, gooseflesh-on-your-neck wrong. Sloan may be healing, but she’s still a cop, and her instincts don’t take time off. As she starts working with the Natural Resources police again, those instincts sharpen — and the situation around Heron’s Rest starts to curdle.

And she’s not alone. Linus, her longtime partner from before the shooting, steps in like the unshakable anchor he’s always been. Their friendship is the kind of no-drama, platonic ride-or-die connection that adds real emotional heft. Linus brings humor, grit, and a constant reminder that Sloan is still part of something bigger than her trauma. He grounds her, and he’s also one of the few people who doesn’t try to protect her from her own strength.

Then there’s the slow, creeping horror. The antagonists in this book? They aren’t the usual backwoods caricatures. They're smart, older, seemingly respectable — which makes it so much worse. If you’ve read “Holly” by Stephen King, you’ll recognize the vibe: evil hiding behind ordinary faces, the kind of people you wouldn’t even clock as dangerous. But there’s an extra layer of unsettling here — these people aren’t picking victims at random. They’re targeting survivors. People who’ve had near-death experiences. People who “saw the light” and came back. It’s not just twisted — it’s purposeful. A sick fixation wrapped in polite smiles and quiet lives. And Roberts doesn’t need gore to make it terrifying. She lets the dread creep in with every interaction, until you’re checking your locks and side-eyeing your neighbors.

The middle third of the book takes its time. It leans heavy into domestic rhythms — family dinners, town gossip, dog antics, and a whole lot of Sloan rebuilding herself in small, quiet ways. But that lull is earned. It’s what makes the stakes feel personal when the tension spikes later on. And the domestic moments aren’t just filler — they’re part of how Sloan figures out what she actually wants from the life she nearly lost.

Speaking of emotional complications: cue the Nash Littlefield situation. New in town. Worked on Wall Street. Now a handyman. By trade. Steady, calm, not here for games. Their chemistry builds gradually — think loaded silences and careful glances instead of insta-lust. But things are complicated by the fact that Sloan’s sister Callie is already deep in a thing with Nash’s brother, Jace. Yeah. The “our siblings are dating” awkwardness is real, and it adds just enough tension to make every interaction between Sloan and Nash feel like a slow dance in a minefield.

And bless Roberts for not rushing it. Sloan isn’t magically “better.” She doesn’t fall into Nash’s arms and become whole again. She claws her way back to herself, and the romance is just one piece of that puzzle. What really makes this book hit early on is that when Sloan is offered a chance to stay — not out of necessity, but because her skills are needed and her career can actually grow here — she chooses it. Not because of Nash — they aren’t even together yet. Not because of fear. But because Heron’s Rest finally feels like something she’s fully a part of, not something she escaped to.

Final verdict? Four strong stars. This isn’t a high-octane thriller — it’s a slow-burning, emotionally rich suspense story with real stakes, real trauma, and real healing. It gives you a heroine worth rooting for, villains that’ll make your skin crawl, and just enough mountain-town charm to make you wonder if living off-grid is worth the risk of vanishing hikers. If you’re here for atmospheric dread, family dynamics, and a career-driven woman clawing her way back from the edge — welcome to Heron’s Rest.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

I will never not enjoy a Nora Roberts book! Her writing is a comfort to me and I will always love her characters, their relationships (significant others, family, and friends), and the settings are always so enjoyable! While the pace of this one was a little slower than normal (we start off with a bang, then we dip for quite a bit and it's just day-to-day life, then the suspense and relationship building really kicks into gear around 60%), I still enjoyed it! Nora always has a way of sweeping me away into the worlds of her books and this one was no exception.

The suspense plotline was interesting (and by that, I mean the motivations behind the crimes) and not one I was totally on board with, if I'm being honest, but I still enjoyed the story and how it was interwoven throughout the character arcs and their storylines.

So while this is not my favorite Nora Roberts book, I still really liked it and enjoyed my time listening to it!

Hidden Nature is a fast paced suspense thriller/romance. If you're a Nora Roberts fan, you can't help but enjoy her latest about Natural Resources police officer Sloan and her new guy Nash. Her sister and his brother Theo are also a couple so there's lots of family interaction and support of one another. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Sloan figure out who was behind the serial killing she started to research during her recovery after a shooting. Great setting as usual. Nora Roberts is always a must read for me!

Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read/listen to the audio and review. January LaVoy did an amazing job like always! All opinions are my own.

Publication date: 27 May 2025

👮🏻‍♀️ Injured Police Officer
🔍 Missing People
🗡 Murders
💜 Romance
😱 Suspense/Thriller

This was an absolute masterpiece! 😍

I'm pretty sure this is my first Nora Roberts book, although I do own a few others on my tbr! All I can say is that I will definitely be reading more of her writing! Wow. The narrator did a fantastic job of bringing this book to life as well.

*I received an advance review copy for free in the form of an audiobook (advanced listening copy) from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is my honest feedback about the book as an avid reader.*

Love Mop & Tick. 🥹💜 So wholesome.

I love the different stories all tying in together. The little bits of romance. The home renovations & descriptions. Overall, I just really loved this book.

Huge thank you to the author, McMillan Audio & NetGalley. 💜