Stars of Fortune by Nora Roberts

Author: Nora Roberts
Publisher: Berkley
Date of publication: November 2015

To celebrate the rise of their new queen, three goddesses of the moon created three stars, one of fire, one of ice, one of water. But then they fell from the sky, putting the fate of all worlds in danger. And now three women and three men join forces to pick up the pieces…

Sasha Riggs is a reclusive artist, haunted by dreams and nightmares that she turns into extraordinary paintings. Her visions lead her to the Greek island of Corfu, where five others have been lured to seek the fire star. Sasha recognizes them, because she has drawn them: a magician, an archaeologist, a wanderer, a fighter, a loner. All on a quest. All with secrets.

Sasha is the one who holds them together—the seer. And in the magician, Bran Killian, she sees a man of immense power and compassion. As Sasha struggles with her rare ability, Bran is there to support her, challenge her, and believe in her.

But Sasha and Bran are just two of the six. And they all must all work together as a team to find the fire star in a cradle of land beneath the sea. Over their every attempt at trust, unity, and love, a dark threat looms. And it seeks to corrupt everything that stands in its way of possessing the stars…

I'll be honest, I was a bit hesitant to read this book.  I have enjoyed this author's earlier fantasy trilogies. But her last one, "The Cousin's O'Dwyer" series (starting with Dark Witch), I couldn't even finish.  I was completely underwhelm by the first two books and I didn't bother with the last one in the trilogy..  I am happy to say, that Ms. Roberts is indeed back to her good writing form with a great start to a new fantasy series.  Stars of Fortune is what Dark Witch could have been. In this new series, six strangers are drawn together to search for three stars that were formed for a goddess queen.  There is a dark force who wants the stars for her own. It is up to them to save the world from living in darkness.

What I loved about this book was the characters.  All of them have a special gift, but those gifts aren't revealed all at once.  I'm not going to give them away because it would definitely ruin the story.  There are a couple of surprises.  I think my favorite character was Annika.  Her personality does across as naive and very rose colored, but once you realize where she comes from, it all makes sense.  She was a breath of fresh air and added in a lot of comic relief.

I thought the plot in this one was strong.  Each of the six characters were well fleshed out. I also loved the world that Ms. Roberts has built in this one.  This is not a repeat of the "Circle Trilogy".  It's very different.  In fact, I think I may just end up liking this one better in the end.  Here's hoping the next book, Bay of Sighs is equally as strong.