Nora Roberts: The Queen of Romance Novels

When one thinks about romance novels and novelists, a few authors come to mind. However, the first on virtually everyone's lips is "Nora Roberts." Roberts is truly the queen of romance. She is so popular, in fact, The New Yorker magazine labeled her as "America's Favorite Novelist."

Nora Roberts began her writing career with "Irish Thoroughbred," which was published by Silhouette Books in 1981. As of April 2011, Roberts has published 196 full-length novels. Of these novels, 173 have been New York Times best sellers and eight were made into movies. With two novels already released in 2011, Roberts shows no sign of slowing down.

Roberts tends to use characters more than once, and comes up different series. The "Key" trilogy deals with three women and three men, all of whom appear in the three books. Each book, however, is told from a different character's perspective. This is the same for all of the trilogies that she has written in the past. Many of Roberts's books deal with supernatural phenomenons. For example, The "Key" trilogy plays with witchcraft and "Midnight bayou" has a heavy focus on voodoo. Reincarnation, also seen in the "Key" trilogy and "Midnight Bayou," is also a common subtext in many of her books.

The mose appealing aspect of Nora Roberts's books are her characters. The central female characters are very relatable, and Roberts's demographic - "average" female readers - can place themselves in the story vicariously through the main character. Some characters have been shop owners, lawyers, police officers, artists and cooks. Some of the characters have made moves to escape old lives. Other characters have strong families, morals and values. The leading male characters are also very attainable-- fisherman, carpenters, police officers and, of course, playboys with a lot of money.

The name "Nora Roberts" is synonymous with romance. So, when Roberts decided that she wanted to venture into a different genre - the genre of suspense - and her agent suggested that she come up with a pseudonym. Thus, J.D. Robb was born. And J.D. Robb has been met with the same success in suspense as Nora Roberts has met in romance. Fortunately, this gives two different types of fans the opportunity to read the incredible writing of Nora Roberts-- Regardless of what name she writes under.