Book Review - The Reef by Nora Roberts

Marine archeologist Tate Beaumont has a passion for treasure-hunting. Over the years, she and her father have uncovered many fabulous riches, but one treasure has always eluded them: Angelique’s Curse—a jeweled amulet heavy with history, dark with legend, and tainted with blood. In order to find this precious artifact, the Beaumonts reluctantly form a partnership with salvagers Buck and Matthew Lassiter.

Having to share this dream is more than Tate can bear, but she has little choice. As the Beaumonts and Lassiters pool their resources to locate Angelique’s Curse, the Caribbean waters darken with shadowy deceptions and hidden threats. Their partnership is placed in jeopardy when Matthew refuses to share information—including the truth behind his father’s mysterious death several years earlier. For now, Tate and Matthew continue their uneasy alliance—until danger and desire begin to rise to the surface…

Publication Date:  1998

Publisher:  Piatkus

Source:  Bought

Links:  Goodreads  /  Amazon.co.uk   /  Amazon.com 

My Review     10 out of 10

If you would like to see the video review, please see the end of this post. 

I have to confess that this is the first book I have read written by Nora Roberts and I was very surprised.  I had this preconceived (wrongly) notion that all Nora Roberts books were quite steamy and had lots of 'sexy times' in them.  That may be true with some of her books but this is definitely not one of those stories.  

This story takes place over three separate times which are split into parts; the first part starting in the past where we see Matthew Lassiter when he was younger with his father and a dark character called Silas Van Dyke.  His father and Silas are diving for a ship wreck when something goes wrong and Matthew's father comes back up the surface dead.  Matthew suspects that Silas was involved.  The next part of the story we see Tate Beaumont and her family who are avid divers and treasure/ship wreck adventurers.  This is where we see Matthew Lassiter again.  The last part is based in the future and what happens after the events of the present have occurred.

There are a few plots going on in this story.  You have the story of Matthew trying to find out what really happened to his father, following Matthew's relationship with his Uncle Buck (fellow treasure hunter), possible romance between Matthew and Tate and the hunt for Angelique's Curse.  

I absolutely loved this story.  For me, this story had the perfect amount of romance, suspense and action that just kept my attention throughout the whole of the book....  If you are a fan of Nicholas Sparks and stories like that, I would highly recommend this one...  Also, if any one of you have watched the movie Fool's Gold (starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson).

Best wishes

Debs