Naomi Bowes' life is forever changed the night she follows her father into the woods, and discovers a horrifying secret. She spends the rest of her life trying to distance herself from her infamous father, going so far as changing her last name, and taking up a profession in which she moves around from place to place constantly, never wanting to give anyone the chance to find out who she really is. When her photography takes her Sunrise Cove, Naomi finds herself instantly drawn to an old dilapidated house and wanting to actually set down roots. 
 As she rehabs the her new home, she finds herself becoming enfolded in the lives of the people in this small town especially Xander Keaton. But Naomi will soon discover that she can't hide from her past any longer. 
 While I can honestly say I haven't even made a dent in the Nora Roberts canon, I feel as though I've read my fair share of her books. The Obsession deals a lot with a theme I've seen before in Roberts' books as well as in her alter-ego JD Robb's books: the idea that who you are is not necessarily dictated by where you came from. or who your parents are. Naomi struggles with this throughout the entirety of the book. She can't separate out the fact that she can be a good person, with a good life, but essentially comes from a monster. 
 There is a lot of set-up for The Obsession. And it's through this set-up that it's really easy for readers to figure out who has shown up from Naomi's past to unsettle her promising future. It's almost painfully obvious. I actually doubted myself a couple of times and kept looking for another twist, but there isn't one. In my opinion, it's because this book's main objective is to show Naomi coming to terms with who she is, where she comes from, and learn to make a life for herself. To be able to get past the horrors of her childhood and actually live. 
 While The Obsession isn't the most suspenseful or surprising Nora Roberts book I've read, I still found myself drawn into Naomi's everyday life as she makes decisions about her new home and pursues her photography amongst the lush backdrop of Sunrise Cove. The details given to these tasks really drew me in. And I loved seeing the walls Naomi has built up around herself slowly start to crumble as she's accepted into the small community and starts a relationship with Xander. 
 I will say this is one of the rare times when I wish Nora Roberts would write a companion book to The Obsession. I know her stand-alones are just that, they stand alone, but I really wanted to know more about Naomi's brother Mason. His different perspective on his and Naomi's childhood, and how he's dealt with it growing into an adult, would be an interesting read on it's own I feel. 
 I also loved Naomi's uncles Seth and Harry. They were two pillars of support for her and Mason while growing up, but I felt once we got past the st-up / introductory part of the story that involved Naomi's childhood, and were more set into her adult life, their characters were relegated to the background. So again, having a companion novel would hopefully bring these two wonderful characters into the light more. 
 One word of warning, however, there is a lot of violence against women discussed in the book. Both from a police point of view and from the killer's perspective as well. I know these things are not easy to read about so that's why I give warning. 
 Overall, this was a pretty standard Nora Roberts read for me. Not particularly one of my favorites or one of her most standout titles, but it was a read that was certainly difficult to put down.