Year One by Nora Roberts.

There is a reason why Nora Roberts is known as the queen of romance. She was the first author inducted into the Romance Writers of America’s Hall of Fame, the author of 225 novels, with a combination of 861 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. But it’s not just about the numbers, no matter what pen name she uses, Nora Roberts knows how to ramp up the emotion. Her characters become part of our lives, she makes us care about them, and then she puts them in peril.

In Year One, Chronicles of the One, Book One, Ms. Roberts gives us all the feels along with romance, intrigue, mystery, catastrophe and heroism. Listening to the audiobook with narrator, Julia Whelan I found myself frozen in place as the terrible disease decimated whole families. No one left alive has been untouched by the devastation. Evil battles for control of as the rent fabric between the magical and human realms bring forth latent abilities in many of those left on earth. Good and evil exist between both magical and humans, while some are trying to rebuild the world, others are trying to destroy it.

We follow the lives of several characters from the family who unleashed the evil to the couple who would bring forth The One who will save the world. The strength and romance of Lana and Max are put to the test as they find themselves developing greater magical powers and becoming the targets for evil.

I became emotionally invested in these characters, laughing and crying and falling in love. Nora Roberts is the master of character development. With the narration by Julia Whelan, I experienced each up and down with the characters and feel if you don’t read any other book this year, you should read Year One.