Are There Any Movie Adaptations Of Nora Roberts Romance Novels?

My only interest in 'divorce romance' is for my parents to get back together. I would not be interested in watching a movie about that because the arguing scenes would be too real.

I have come to realize that Roberts writes about ‘normality’ being disrupted. The heroines of her best novels (The Obsession, The Liar, etc.) are usually trying to lead normal lives. They may be building a house, raising a child, starting a business. Then, suddenly, the past or a long hidden truth erupts into their lives. The romance is about finding safety in the arms of someone who loves them to return to a normal life. So Roberts’ top romantic suspense novels aren’t just about danger and romance. They are about themes of safety, home and reclaiming. And that’s what keeps me reading long after the plot twist is revealed. It’s satisfying to see a heroine confront whatever is threatening her and be rewarded with her happy ending.

This is one of my favorite parts of comparing a book’s cover to the movie’s casting. Book covers are so often idealized paintings of the main characters. They can be beautifully posed in amazing settings. In contrast, the actors who end up playing these characters in the movie can look completely different in real life. It’s interesting to see how different filmmakers perceive the “look” of characters and often end up completely opposite of how one imagined. The online discussion boards are often flooded with comments about whether or not an actor looks like how one pictured the hero or heroine. I think this is a small but fun part of being a part of a fandom. It’s a fun game of matching your imagination to reality of a person. This is a lot of fun matching your imagination of the book characters to reality of the actors chosen for the roles.

Adapting spicy books into films is a tricky job and often the best ones aren’t 100% faithful to the original material. In order to translate the core emotions of the story into another medium (i.e. visual), sometimes characters have to be combined or locations/plot points have to change in order to get the same feeling. Also, the internal monologue of the original story doesn’t always translate well. I remember the film adaptation of The Hating Game took the office setting of the original and streamlined it in order to really make the chemistry between the two leads work. And The Space Between Us was one of the worst adapts of a ‘spicy book’ because it tried to include ALL of the original plot points and therefore lacked the soul of the book. The very spice that people loved about the book was lost in translation.

But there are so many amazing, popular hockey romances written by self-published and indie authors as well (so, so many of them). Trying to get one of these adapted into a film or TV series would be an even more complicated journey than with a traditionally published work. Indie authors might need a literary agent who specializes in film and television rights to shop their work to producers. So a huge Amazon hit in Kindle Unlimited might never make it to the studios of Hollywood, even when published traditionally. It’s not fair but it’s reality.

Most adapted films fall pretty far short of the original work, but not the film version of The Notebook, based on the novel by Nevada author Nicholas Sparks. Made in 2004 by Nick Cassavetes and starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as the young lovers, it is a cult favorite that is vastly superior to the book as film. (There’s even a memorable rain kiss and a lovely summer porch scene where young lovers express their yearning for each other in physical terms.) The steam is so good because it is earned from the portrayal of their young, wild love as well as their enduring connection decades later. The movie sticks to the few really explosive moments in their relationship and they are all so vivid and intuitive. It makes their tender connection so powerful as well as all-consuming. In many ways the adaptation of The Notebook has become more iconic than the novel itself and that is largely because it captures the passionately dreamy and romantic heart of the story in a really effective and visual way.

You might remember the Crossfire books by Sylvia Day, which were sweeping the nation after Fifty Shades had readers hooked to the billionaire romance scene. There were even talks of making the book into a TV series but it apparently didn’t work out. Perhaps it’s because the author is already a known name but the show still needs to find a way to adapt to a format that will do justice to the book? Same goes for The Black Dagger Brotherhood books by J.R. Ward, which have a HUGE fan base already. They’ve been optioned for TV years ago, but no green light yet. While some of the books have darker themes, most of them have paranormal elements that will of course increase production costs but also create more problems with regards to adult content. Many of these optioned books are sold as something to lock up potentially very lucrative IP, and then they stall because no one can figure out the creative or commercial solution to bring them to life. The success of Outlander, adapted from the historical time-travel romance novels by Diana Gabaldon, is evidence that novels featuring mature themes, violence, and lots of sex can be adapted into a hit television series. But that series has the added benefits of being a work of historical fiction with a unique time-travel twist. A contemporary dark romance just doesn’t have the same additional genre hooks to draw in a larger audience, and thus is a more marginal, riskier investment.

Just wanted to mention “The Hiding Place”. This novel by Corrie ten Boom and her daughter is an amazing autobiographical work of a family’s efforts to hide Jews in Holland during WWII and their subsequent sojourn in a concentration camp and their experience of and response to their faith through all of it. The movie made of this novel in the 1970s is also excellent – a powerful, straightforward, amazing movie of great virtue. The movie captures well the hardships Corrie endured and her many moments of peace and inspiration including the little trouble-making fleas in the barracks where she was being held. A great adaptation of a book of incredible true events of extreme hardship and radical faith and an excellent film for those of younger years or those that can’t get into books!

‘Firebird’ (2021) is a film set in the Soviet Air Force during the Cold War. It is based on a real story and the novel ‘The Story of Roman’ as well as the memoirs of the pilot on which it is based. It is a tense dramatic story of a forbidden love affair between a young soldier and a fighter pilot in the KGB terrorized Soviet Union. It’s a handsome period drama, somewhat conventional but full of historical truth. The greatest power of the film is the real story of the love affair that continued through many letters, periods of separation and even the end of the war when the man was expected to stay in the Soviet Union while the other could leave for France. This true story is a powerful tale of love that succeeded in a society bent on crushing it. Knowing that it is true makes it even more powerful than a purely fictional story.

I watched the film before I had the chance to read the novel and absolutely adored the film. Once I did read the novel however, I felt that the film had only touched the surface of the actual story. The novel was so much more than I had initially anticipated and the movie is akin to a beautiful sketch whilst the novel is the full, complete painting with so many more layers, a far richer and deeper story and characters. For people who have only had the chance to watch the film – do yourself a favor and read the novel – it is a far more challenging but in the end a far more rewarding read. The characters are multi-layered and their spiritual journey far more in depth and 'real' as well as being more 'historical' and gritty. Actually, reading the movie as a first gateway to the book was perfect. The movie sketched out the broad strokes and the emotional arc of the story. Then the book filled out the rest of the details in a breathtaking and impressive depth. The movie was a great starting point for me, and I am now happily referring to the book as one of my all-time favorites. That should be the ideal for all adaptations – serve as a gateway to the full and detailed source material.