I liked:
The setting (South Dakota), the information (endangered animals, especially big cats), most of the characters (but not the hero).

I didn't like:
The plot (psychopathic killer stalks our heroine; shades of Montana Sky), the hero (my way or else, my way or else, my way or else; if that's his idea of love, no thanks), the heroine (for letting him have his way).

Roberts does her usual trademark workmanlike stuff, so the book is readable. However, the "love" story kept pissing me off so much tha More...

It was a little difficult to decide on a star rating for Nora’s latest. The begining was great, the middle lulled, and then the end was good. I waffled between 3 ½ and 4 and decided-what the heck, go for four.

Lil and Coop became close as children when he would spend summers at his grandparents’ home in South Dakota. He was a city boy that had never seen the country. Lil, a Sioux descendant, was raised there with her sort of hippie-like parents. Lil is fascinated by wild animals, particularly the More...

Another typical Nora Roberts. I wish my library had a wider romance section for when my funds run out.

Anyway, strong heroine and hero, strange murder mystery that puts the heroine in danger, hero wants to save her, but heroine can mostly save herself. Like I said, typical Nora.

I liked the setting of South Dakota and Lil's big cats rescue. I liked Lil and Coopers backstory; I've always had a thing for the childhood friends to lovers trope. That they got together as youngsters was believable and t More...

This book had a lot of build up and then not a big enough excitement to support it in the end. It reminded me of Montana Sky, but not nearly as good. It is about a woman, Lil, who runs a wildlife conservatory for big cats and her childhood sweetheart, Cooper, who left her brokenhearted twelve years before and now returns to their small town. They still have leftover sexual tension, of course. The main problem, other than her broken heart that never mended, is that a crazy man with little underst More...

Lil and Cooper were best friends. He spent his summers in South Dakota with grandparents and Lil was a local girl and the two of them managed to keep their friendship going through their early twenties. At that point hormones and pride got in the way and they became distant. A dozen years later Cooper has returned to South Dakota for good and Lil is there running her rescue habitat in the Black Hills. It doesn’t take long for the two to reconnect, especially after a serial killer seems to have h More...

I was lookin’ for gold in them thar hills — but all I found was pyrite. After a brisk start, Black Hills flounders without a story problem. Initially reminiscent of the coming-of-age genre, it morphs into a murder mystery, but lacks the quality of suspects that make a good whodunit. The motive is implausible: Who can really object to a refuge for discarded exotic pets? There’s no conflict between the leading characters — only a circular argument about their relationship. After they fall into bed More...

They first met during a summer where a resentful Cooper Sullivan was banished to his grandparents' farm while his parents made one last effort to save their marriage. Lillian Chance had been the closest neighbor his own age, a girl more interested in baseball than the New Kids on the Block.

They came back together shortly after just as adulthood loomed. Lil was heading to college, Coop joining the police department back east. But love didn't last through the separations. Now it is twenty years la More...

Nora Roberts delivers another quality romantic suspense on the verge of the American west. It begins in the summer of 1987, when 12-year-old Cooper Sullivan spends his first summer in the Black Hills. He’s resentful at first, abandoned by his parents while they vacation in Europe. His wonderful grandparents and neighbor girl, Lil Chance, soon have him changing his mind about country life, though, and he learns to ride horses and care for animals. Over the years, Cooper and Lily become best frien More...

2.5 STARS

Eleven year old Cooper Sullivan feels like his parents exiled him to his maternal grandparents' ranch in South Dakota and is down in the dumps until he meets tomboyish Lil Chance. The two become fast friends bonding over baseball, horseback riding and their encounter with a cougar. Over the years as Cooper visits he and Lil become more than friends until one day Cooper breaks Lil's heart and leaves for New York on his own. Fast forward to 2009 Cooper has come back to stay and run his g More...

Great mix of romance and thriller/suspense. I liked the way we got to meet the bad guy and delve into his character a little.

The story got a little slow during the girls' shopping trip near the end. I kept expecting something bad to happen while they were gone, and it never did. When it was finally over, the story picked up again, and the ending happened fairly quickly.

I do realize that the shopping trip helped to solidify the main character's love decisions, but the romance side of the book wa More...

This was okay. The hero and heroine were reasonable characters, the love story mostly believable, the suspense story better than most Nora Roberts and the background interesting.

Heroine Lil is likeable, fiesty and a good match for the hero. Hero Coop is an ex cop with a miserable upbringing and a bit of a God complex. Their story was good, and I really enjoyed the part when they were kids. However the reasons why they broke up at 20 were stupid and I can't believe that Lil forgave him without hi More...

~* 3.5 Stars *~
For years I've read Nora Roberts books, always considering myself a huge fan. Whether contemporary romance, paranormal romance, or romantic suspense...whether stand alone books or trilogies or short series...I've always counted on Roberts for a sweeping romantic read that satisfies as it entertains, and for years she's delivered. Some books, of course, I've liked more than others. Some series or trilogies have hit closer to home than others. Some characters I've liked more than ot More...

I have read nearly everything this author has ever written including the Eve Dallas futuristic detective series. Just when you think you can't possibly love another story so much, she proves you wrong. She does I admit have a theme to this "type" of book, man, women, bad person, threat, climax, happily ever after. I can't deny this, it does not however detract from what is still an excellent read. Nora Roberts has a knack of getting to the heart of people, she gives details of their quirks, pers More...

I find this to be one of Roberts' strongest traditional contemporary romances. As is always the case, her plotting is complex and still balanced; she's got a lot of interesting characters, and a great love story.

It's hard to pinpoint why this one stands out for me, but it has something to do with the unusual setting (South Dakota is not where my mind goes when I'm thinking about beautiful landscapes), the unusual context (Lil's compulsive interest in the wild cats native to the Black Hills) and More...

This is my first Nora Roberts book, and I loved it!

For starters the setting was great - love big country, big sky, wide open spaces.

Also love romances where the characters first meet as children (or young adults), spend time apart and then reconnect as more experienced adults.

The characters are really endearing. I like reading about strong, independent women who aren't stubborn to the point of stupidity. Lil is courageous, intelligent and skilled in her field but also keeps a cool head in a cris More...

Gosh, I don't know how Nora Roberts does it, but she still manages to write one great book after the next ...

Out of the 20 or so books I have read by her yet (I only discovered her books a year ago) this is possibly the best --- I absolutely loved it, and finished it in 3 days!

The characters are great - both the lead and supporting characters. The story is set mostly in a wildlife refuge in the Black Hills of South Dakota --- not your usual setting for a book, and definitely very interesting. More...

Twelve year old Cooper Sullivan didn't want to spend his summer in the Black Hills with his maternal grandparents whom he didn't knnow but his parents were off to Europe to try and prevent their fractured relationship degenerating into a divorce. Coop is surprised to find a friend in a 10 year old neighbor girl who is as avid about baseball as Coop. Their teen summers are spent forming a friendship that turns into a romance. However, Coop is determined to achieve success as a New York Police and More...

This was pretty typical Nora Roberts - suspense, romance, and action. I found it a quick and entertaining read, and I would recommend it to Roberts' fans.

The suspense was pretty good, although the reader is told who the killer is about halfway through the novel, so it's not really a who-is-it mystery as much as it is a when-will-he/she-act mystery. I felt myself anxiously waiting for the killer to strike next, just like Lil was, so in that respect I think Roberts did a nice job. The action also More...

City boy meets country girl in South Dakota when Cooper comes to stay with his grandparents for the summer. Coop and Lil become fast friends, and when Lil is 18 and Coop 20, they become lovers. But distance and circumstances separate the two young lovers, and the rift created by their breakup seems difficult to overcome. Years later, Lil runs a wildlife refuge specializing in cats, and Coop has come home to help his grandparents with their farm and business. But, a serial killer has targeted Lil More...

Coop and Lil were childhood sweethearts, but their paths diverged. Coop became a cop, then private investigator, and Lil realized her dream of founding a wildlife refuge on her parents land. When Coop's grandfather takes a fall and breaks his leg, Coop comes back to help out. He and Lil have a lot to work out, which is complicated by the fact that a psycho serial killer is stalking her.
I don't know why, but I was really emotionally connected to the characters in this book. Every time any of the More...

"Black Hills" by Nora Roberts
(from inside flap)

A summer at his grandparents' South Dakota Ranch is not what eleven-year-old Cooper Sullivan's idea of a good time. But things are a bit more bearable now that he's discovered the neighbor girl, Lil Chance, and her homemade batting cage. Even horseback riding isn't as awful as Coop thought it would be. Each year, whith Coop's annual summer visit, their friendship deepens from innocent games to stolen kisses, but there is one shared experience that

More...

If you have nothing nice to say about Nora Roberts' books you can at least mention that they're well written. They're engaging. They're fun. You get into the swing of reading one and have a hard time putting it down. And this is a very, very good thing.

Fortunately for me, this was a good book. Lil and Coop were dynamic. They both had issues to work through and they both did exactly that. Plot? Childhood friends Lil and Coop grew up and fell in love in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Time and pr More...

Nora Roberts has always been one of my favorite authors, from her romance novels to her murder series, written by her pseudonym, JD Robb. So, whenever a new book is published, I pick it up, no matter what it's about!

Twelve year old Cooper Sullivan was sent to the Black Hills to stay with his grandparents for the summer. He hated it initially because he was away from his friends and was of the opinion that he was stuck out in the country, but after awhile, he came to like it. He met Lil, a ten ye More...

i guess that there's a possiblity that this review contains spoilers....
(view spoiler)[
me and my husband (bert) have a guilty secret - we like watching nora roberts movies... especially if heather locklear is in them.
then bert said i should read a nora roberts book and i knew we were in trouble.
so, black hills is my first nora roberts's book and I could not stop reading it - it's a winning mixture of ridiculous AND amazing, the plot is kind of crazy - Lil and Coop meet when they are kids, date for a while, br (hide spoiler)] More...

There's nothing sweeter than a childhood-sweetheart love story. And who better to write them if not Roberts herself? But you do not expect the normal boy-meets-girl kinda story from this great author. No, you don't. You will expect drama, suspense, mystery, romance and those things that made a great novel.

Sets in Black Hills, South Dakota, The Black Hills tells the story of childhood sweetheart, Lil and Cooper. Lil is the country girl who has the fondness for the wilds. Her dream is to build a s More...

Lil Chance fell in love with Cooper Sullivan when he first came to her small town in South Dakota. His parents were making gestures at saving their marriage, he was being packed off to his mother's parents. They fall in love over the years and then, suddenly, he stops coming back.

Lil is gutted but moves on, and twelve years later he returns. Both of them have changed and matured, but can she forgive him. To add to their complications, there's a serial killer out there and he appears to have Lil More...

One Sentence Summary:
Can Dr Lillian Chance and ex-cop Cooper Sullivan outwit a crazed serial killer to save Lil's Wildlife Refuge and reignite the passionate flame of first love?

Favourite Quote:
"Loving you made a man out of me," he said when he let her go. "It's the man who came back for you." (Page 374)

My Review:
Being an Aussie who lives half an hour from the beach and has ridden a horse only once in her lifetime; I loved this Nora Roberts novel! There is just something about the American Wild More...

While I did really enjoy the book. It wasn't a stand out for me like some of the others. After finishing Birthright I didn't know which book of Nora Roberts' to pick up next. I read some reviews and synopsis of her books and decided on Black Hills. Honestly, I liked that whole "they met and fell in love when they were children" aspect to the story. I know that she's written a few books that take this turn with the hero and heroine, but this is the first that I've read.

I think, for me, that's wh More...