30 Days of Books ~ Day 20

Day 20 ~ Favourite Romance Book

I read this series and there is romance in it... That counts right? I am sure there are other books that would work for this prompt, but I guess I don't think of books as romance and was really stumped! But, Roarke and Eve make a good couple in this series!

Judgment in Death by J.D. Robb (In Death Series, Book 11)

Judgment in Death by J.D. Robb

Completion Date: January 31, 2011
Reason for Reading: Carry on with Series; Sci-fi Experience

In an uptown strip joint, a cop is found bludgeoned to death. The weapon's a baseball bat. The motive's a mystery. It's a case of serious overkill that pushes Eve Dallas straight into overdrive. Her investigation uncovers a private club that's more than a hot spot. Purgatory's a last chance for atonement where everyone is judged. Where your ultimate fate depends on your most intimate sins. And where one cop's hidden secrets are about to plunge innocent souls into vice-ridden damnation...

Another adventure in the In Death series. Last year I caught up in the Women of the Otherworld series and felt very proud of myself. This year I would like to make a dent in this series. I hadn't read it since 2007, but I own almost all the series from the second-hand store. Reading two books in the series in one month is a lot better than I was doing! Hopefully I can keep it up and carry on with the series. I might not finish it this year, but even getting a few read is a big accomplishment. I probably have too many things I would like to accomplish in 2011, but even if I get some of them done I will be happy.

This book opens with the murder of a cop working in a private club for extra money. When it is one of your own, it makes things a lot harder for the cops investigating. Eve is a professional, though, and handles things really well. She is the last voice for those that have died and she is determined that by the end the voice will be heard. In the previous book I was rather surprised by the turn of events in the book, but in this book I had it pretty much figured out early on. It still was an enjoyable read and I am always looking forward to seeing if I am right. This book also had a lot of character development for Eve and Roarke's marriage. It is nice to have those personal touches worked into the book and I hope that they continue. When everything started to get wrapped up it also worked well. I like Roarke, but we are well-aware that he is not perfect, so it was worthwhile to see traces of his past in this book.

Once again it was an enjoyable read that I am glad I finally got around to. I enjoy Eve, Roarke, and the secondary characters. Doctor Mira, a recurring character, was in this one and I found her rather funny! I also enjoyed the case and watching it play out. Robb reads real page-turners and keeps the readers interested until the very last page. I am glad I am spending time with this series and its characters this year.

This counts for the Sci-Fi Experience hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings.

The Series:

Naked in Death
Glory in Death
Immortal in Death
Rapture in Death
Ceremony in Death
Vengeance in Death
Holiday in Death
Conspiracy in Death
Loyalty in Death
Witness in Death
Judgment in Death
Betrayal in Death
Seduction in Death
Reunion in Death
Purity in Death
Portrait in Death
Imitation in Death
Divided in Death
Visions in Death
Survivor in Death
Origin in Death
Memory in Death
Born in Death
Innocent in Death
Creation in Death
Strangers in Death
Salvation in Death
Promises in Death
Kindred in Death
Fantasy in Death
Indulgence in Death
Treachery in Death (forth-coming)

This book counts for the TwentyEleven Reading Challenge.

Witness in Death by J.D. Robb (In Death Series, Book 10)

Witness in Death by J.D. Robb

Completion Date: January 28, 2011

Reason for Reading: Carry on with the Series; Great Reading Swap of 2011; Sci-Fi Experience

Opening night at New York's New Globe Theater turns from stage scene to crime scene when the leading man is stabbed to death center stage. Now Eve Dallas has a high-profile, celebrity homicide on her hands. Not only is she lead detective, she's also a witness - and when the press discovers that her husband owns the theater, there's more media spotlight than either can handle. The only way out is to move fast. Question everyone and everything...and in the meantime, try to tell the difference between the truth - and really good acting...

This is the first book I managed to read for the Reading Swaps I have going on. I am going to have to do better than that in February or I will never read everything! It is also me finally reading on in a series that I haven't touched since 2007. That's just crazy and is sadly, not uncommon in my reading trends over the last few years. Between the desire to read way too many things and my books and me being separated for a couple years now, I am doing very badly on reading my own books. I have a few projects I want to accomplish this year and making a dent in this series is one of them. Since they are so easy to find second-hand and I often have book credit, I have most of the series on my TBR pile. It is just a matter of reading them.

It has always amazed me that I like this series. It is not my normal type of book at all and I have no interest in reading Robb's books written as Nora Roberts. Back in, I think, 2006 I found a copy of Seduction in Death on my mother's bookshelves and decided to give it a try. I do like thrillers to a point and I liked that this series took place in the future. I knew it was not the first book in the series, but I wasn't really using the library back then and I didn't want to buy anything without giving the series a try.

It turned out to be a perfect easy read for those moments after I have read something I love and have no idea what to read, or I just want to read something to say that I am reading and don't want it to be anything too complicated. I enjoy trying to figure out the mysteries, I like that Lt. Dallas is a strong female character, I enjoy that she is married to the very interesting Roarke, and I like the addition of all the secondary characters. I appreciate that the characters have stories and it is not just about the cases. As the series progresses you learn more about Eve, Roarke, and other characters that make repeat appearances. This is mainly why I keep reading and enjoying the series, even if I took a very long break from it.

In this one Eve is watching the opening of a Murder Mystery play that turns into a real murder. Sometimes the killer is known from the very beginning, or other times she includes a twist. I think this is the first time I didn't entirely have it all solved by the end. It was actually an original idea this time around and I quite enjoyed watching things be revealed. It was a good reintroduction to the series after such a long time away. The good thing is that even though there were... 4 years... between books 9 and 10, I still knew who everyone was and didn't have any problems remembering what had happened in previous books that was still on-going in this book. That's saying something about both series and my memory! All in all I enjoyed revisiting this series. It was like revisiting old friends and I really need to that more often with both this series and other series I have on the go!

This book counts for the Great Reading Swap, as Marg told me to carry on with the series! Mainly because we used to read them together and she is like 10 ahead of me by now! Then, I also think of it as sci-fi, so I am counting it for the Sci-Fi Experience.

The Series:

Naked in Death

Glory in Death

Immortal in Death

Rapture in Death

Ceremony in Death

Vengeance in Death

Holiday in Death

Conspiracy in Death

Loyalty in Death

Witness in Death

Judgment in Death

Betrayal in Death

Seduction in Death

Reunion in Death

Purity in Death

Portrait in Death

Imitation in Death

Divided in Death

Visions in Death

Survivor in Death

Origin in Death

Memory in Death

Born in Death

Innocent in Death

Creation in Death

Strangers in Death

Salvation in Death

Promises in Death

Kindred in Death

Fantasy in Death

Indulgence in Death

Treachery in Death (forth-coming)

This book counts for the TwentyEleven Reading Challenge.

Loyalty in Death by J.D. Robb

Completion Date: May 2007
Publication Year: 2004
Pages: 368
Owned Prior to 2007
Book Ten in the In Death series

This post will be another buddy review from me and Marg from Reading Adventures. I am in blue and Marg is in black.

#1 New York Times bestselling author J. D. Robb's phenomenal series has captivated readers with it tantalizing blend of romance, suspense, and futuristic police procedural. Now, New York cop Eve Dallas returns to face her most ingenious foe -- a "secret admirer" who taunts her with letters...and kills without mercy.

LOYALTY IN DEATH An unknown bomber is stalking New York City. He is sending Eve Dallas taunting letters promising to wreak mass terror and destruction among the "corrupt masses." And when his cruel web of deceit and destruction threatens those she cares for most, Even fights back. It's her city...it's her job...and it's hitting too close to home. Now, in a race against a ticking clock, Eve must make the pieces fit—before the city falls.

Eve Dallas seems to really attract the interest of all the crazy people in New York City. They have a personal interest in taunting her and staying one step ahead of her. They are determined to be the ones that are going to bring down New York's top cop. Dallas has still not fully recovered from having her badge taken away from her, so she is determined to do whatever she can to redeem herself. There's no question that Eve is a target for many reasons, but it is a tribute to her skill that Robb manages to still keep each book fresh, and without becoming too cliched.

This book starts with a case that seemed open and close, a woman kills her boyfriend and admits to it. It is a simple case compared to other books involving her. (Which in itself should have been a dead giveaway - nothing is ever that straight forward in Eve's world!) Then, things start to heat up and it is really a different book from the other books in the series. She finds herself involved in an organization that is determined to wipe out a entire city, not the normal serial killers that she is normally hunting down. This time it is serial destruction with taunting messages to test whether Dallas can get to the bottom of the case before they bring another building down and kill a lot of people. In some ways I found it quite poignant that Robb suggested that the Twin Towers at the World Trade Centre could become a target of terrorists, especially given that this book was originally published in 1998, and interesting that some of the other locations that are well known in New York could also be targeted in such a way.

One of the things that bothered me about this book was I sort of found Roarke annoying. He just always has to be in the middle of things. I suppose that is what happens when he owns most of the world's buildings, but I just found his meddlesome qualities annoying in this book. It was like he is going out of his way taking care of Eve in this book and that she is not capable of taking of herself. She gets to the bottom of the case and I really enjoyed it for a nice light read, but Roarke annoyed me. I think it might have something to do with this not being my normal genre and I think Robb goes too far to have Roarke involved. At least he was not a suspect, but sometimes it would be nice to just have a character and not always someone involved in every case. I actually thought that Roarke's presence was more real in this case than it has been in the last couple of books, and certainly didn't find it annoying. I like that Roarke knows when Eve is pushing herself too hard, even before she knows it herself, and takes steps to ensure that she does take care of herself. Yes, he is sometimes domineering, but to be honest, I think he has to be, because otherwise Eve just would not listen, and would push herself to the point of collapse on a regular basis.

What I really liked about this book was that there was more going on than in her regular books. Normally she is just hunting one person, but in this book there is a lot more going on and the messages that the organization sends to her will get your brain thinking. There was a lot going on in this one, and I enjoyed the subplots in this one as well as the main story. The sexual tension between Peabody and McNab fairly crackled off the page, and provided much needed comic relief as they tried to hide their feelings from each other, and from those around them, and helped balance the seriousness of the main plot.

Another interesting book in the In Death series. I look forward to reading the next book. This is right up there with my favourites of the series that we have read so far! When are we reading the next one? Whenever you are ready, I own them, it is you that has to get them from the library. :)

Marg's Rating: 4.5/5

Conspiracy in Death by J.D. Robb

Books Read: 42
Completion Date: March, 2007
Publication Year: 2003
Pages: 400
Purchased Prior to 2007
Part of the In Death series

The #1 New York Times bestselling series featuring police lieutenant Eve Dallas.

New York City's most vulnerable citizens fall victim to a ruthless serial killer.

The pursuit of a serial killer leaves Eve Dallas's job on the line.

This is another buddy review with me and Marg from Reading Adventures. I am in blue, she is in black.

Conspiracy in Death is following on from Midnight in Death if you read the short stories, or Holiday in Death if you do not. It is still the winter months, as snow is mentioned several times through the course of the book, there is even one scene where Dallas and Roarke make snowpeople! Very cute little scene. Anyways, so a few weeks have passed since the last time Eve found herself in trouble, and she is on the move again.

This is the story of a very unusual case for Dallas. She responds to the death of a street sleeper, not exactly the high profile case that Eve normally finds herself on, but this is Eve and she speaks for the dead. She is determined to put this murderer to rest, and when other similar cases start popping up, she finds that she has a lot of dead to speak for. Only she did not bargain with the power of the murderer, he knows how to push the right buttons and take away the thing that Eve needs most.

For me the most interesting part of this novel was the effect on Eve when there was a chance that she could no longer be a police officer. It was very emotional to read this strong woman basically falling apart as the thing that she thinks makes her who she is taken away from her. There have been times in the earlier novels where we have seen Eve's feelings hurt, but this time it was more than that, it was a complete collapse that Roarke had to try and fight both for her and with her. This book is a growing book for Eve. She had a troubled childhood, and being a cop is the way that she has rose above her past. To Eve, her badge is who she is. If Roarke was not also a part of her life, it would be hard to see her surviving this aspect of her life, but Roarke knows the buttons to push to get her back up kicking butt.

I think it was interesting that the author chose to use Eve's professionalism as a police officer against her in this novel, especially in relation to the inept policewoman who makes the allegations against Eve. I have to admit that when a young policeman called Troy Truelove entered the story, I actually thought that he was going to be a murder victim, but in the end it didn't happen! I guess it doesn't mean to say that he won't make appearances in future books! Troy Truelove is a pretty funny name to include, but it offered a laugh. It was interesting for this book to show attacks on Eve's methods because she has been on the job something like eleven years, and this is the first time anything has ever happened to mark her record. It is hard when you reach the top and people resent you for it. I think Eve wrestled with a lot through this book.

This was very much an interesting book to read. In the other books, Eve might have her problems, but she is always at the top. In this book, she finds herself a very different one, and we see her grow as a person. It is impressive to see just how close she has come to the people that she works and interacts with after spending so much of her life alone and fighting to survive. This book is a typical Eve Dallas book, but at the same time, it more sentimental and inspiring than previous ones.

I look forward to reading the next one.

Rating: 4/5

4.5/5

To read the other books reviewed in this series, click the titles below:
Naked in Death
Vengeance in Death
Glory in Death
Immortal in Death
Rapture in Death
Ceremony in Death
Holiday in Death

Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb (Left over review from 2006)

This book was supposed to be my last G.I.F.T. post and my TBR challenge post, but I am a little late for both. Another joint review with Marg. I am in blue and Marg is in black.

No one likes to be alone during the holidays. For New York's most posh dating service, Personally Yours, it is the season to bring lonely hearts together. But Lt. Eve Dallas, on the trail of a ritualistic serial killer, has made a disturbing discovery: all of the victims have been traced to Personally Yours. Eve soon enters an elite world of people searching for their one true love - and one killer searching for his next victim. A world where the power of love leads men and women into the ultimate act of betrayal...

The next installment in the In Death series after Vengeance in Death finds Eve just returning to work after recovering from injuries sustained in the line of duty just in time for the holidays. The thing preying on her mind most though is what to get all of her friends for Christmas, especially Roarke in their first Christmas together. It is rather funny, everytime she runs into people she knows, she has to ask them if she should buy them a Christmas present. Christmas is a new thing for her, she has never had people to buy for before, so it is an experience reading her thoughts on the holiday gift giving.

Before she can even think about that, she has to deal with a serial killer who has decided to visit his victim dressed up as Santa Claus and who is planning to make each of his victims have some connection to the song The Twelve Days of Christmas. This means that before he is done, there will be twelve victims, one for each day of the song. The killer leaves behind his trademark on each victim, a holiday ornament pertaining to the days of Christmas.

Soon the connection between the victims becomes clear - they have all been clients of an exclusive dating agency. Now it is a case of trying to infiltrate the agency and work out who the perpetrator might be as well as who his next victim will be - even if that means putting one of their own on the line. This book has Peabody's first undercover mission, which is interesting to watch. She does not appear to do blind dates very often, because she leaves one guy out of the runnings for quite some time. Have to read the book to see exactly what happened, though, of course.

I really enjoyed the way that the author managed to infuse some humour into this book. The scenes where Eve had banned Peabody from going shopping and yet kept on finding things to buy for herself were laugh out loud funny. It certainly helped balance out what could have been a very dark book indeed. This book did have more humour than the others, and I also enjoyed reading it. Robb seems to be adding more comical characters at this point in the series, anyways, which is making for interesting reading.

For me, this was the best book in the series so far. Same here! I really enjoyed this installment. I think that Robb has gotten more confident in the series at this point. I also read the other holiday story, Midnight in Death, which carries on the interest. I think I will enjoy the series even more if all the future ones are like this one.

Marg's Rating 4.5/5
Kailana's Rating 4/5

A Book Review and a few other things...

To begin with, people should sign up for the Advent Calendar! It's the holiday season, why not take a day and give a gift your fellow bloggers! We still have a few days left to cover, so join in the fun. Marg is working on a more detailed follow up post, so I will say more about that later.

It is interesting, on the subject of Christmas traditions. The most depressing tradition seems to be happening at my house. Last year one of my cats, Maggie, was put down because it was discovered that she had cancer. This was Christmas Day that we discovered something was wrong when my sister picked her up and set her back down and her legs would not support her. Two days later, she was put to sleep. (I wonder, was "put to sleep" created to make people feel better about the whole enterprise?) Anyways, here we are a year later, 21 days before Christmas, and another cat is going to the vet, and likely will not be coming home. And, I am the unlucky person that has to go to the vet with it. It's my sisters' cat, but she refuses to do it, so my mother asked me to do it. I know why, every time something happens to an animal in this house, my mother is there when they put it down. I just think my sister should do it. I would want to be there if it was my cat, who is 12 and I can see joining the ranks soon. Then there is Sandy, who is 10. I hope that they don't all leave this earth during the Christmas holidays.

Anyways, off of the depressing note and on to other subject matters. I am going to post a review! Me and Marg, from Reading Adventures, have been reading J.D. Robb's In Death series and posting about it. She read Vengeance in Death last month, but I hardly read anything. So, I caught up today. I am just going to post her old post and add my part to it. And, everyone can just pretend I am not such a slacker... Marg will be the black text, I will be the blue.

He is an expert with the latest technology . . . a madman with the mind of a genius and the heart of a killer. He quietly stalks his prey. Then he haunts the police with cryptic riddles about the crimes he is about to commit - always solved moments too late to save the victims' lives.

Police lieutenant Eve Dallas found the first victim butchered in his own home. The second lost his life in a vacant luxury apartment. The two men had little in common. Both suffered unspeakable torture before their deaths. And both had ties to an ugly secret of ten years past - a secret shared by none other than Eve's new husband, Roarke.

Eve is looking forward to going home on time after having wrapped up a relatively straight forward case, when she is contacted personally and given a riddle to solve that leads her to find the badly mutilated body of a man in his luxury apartment. When another man is killed, this time in one of Rourke's empty rental properties, it soon becomes clear that whoever is killing these people is working his way towards Eve and Roarke himself, and along the way seems determined to make it appear as though Summerset might be involved in the deaths. As much as Eve dislikes Summerset, she finds it hard to believe that he would murder people, so as she deals with the killer, she has to find ways to either prove that her husband's close friend and butler is either guilty or not, as the case may be.

Just when you thought that maybe a case would not involve Roarke, it is back there once again. I find this particular In Death book really shows a side to the characters in the book that we have not really seen up to this point. As the case is related to Roarke and Summerset's past, we see a great deal of their history up close and personal. Summerset has always been included in the novels, but more as a minor character. In this novel, you get a very good taste of what Summerset came from and who he is now and was during his past life in Dublin. It gives him a more human feel and adds him better to the cast of characters. It talks about difficult subjects, but it makes both Summerset, and even Eve, all that more human.

I really liked in that book that Eve and Roarke went back to the mean streets of Dublin to meet some of the people from Roarke's past, reiterating that he is human (every now and again he seems to be almost too good to be true...just a little bit!). I enjoyed the scenes in Dublin as well. Roarke is a major character, but we often hear more about Eve's past than Roarke's. In these scenes we get a chance to know the person behind the perfect persona all that much better.

This book also sees the introduction of a new character that was given a lot of page time, so I presume he will be back. At the end of the last book, Captain Feeney was invited to take his family to Roarke's home in Mexico. When Eve needs technical assistance, she is assigned a newcomer by the name of McNab. I think we are going to see more of him, and I will be glad to. He seems to have a little chemistry going with Eve's offsider Peabody. Peabody is a very interesting character. I am glad that she stuck around and has became a major character. She tries and seem like this perfect cop, but during her undisciplined moments she adds the needed humour to off-set Eve's unflinching attitude. The two play off each other nicely, and adding NcNab to the mix makes things even more interesting. He plays off Peabody as well. It would be good if he became a bit more interesting of a character.

What amazes me with Nora Roberts in both her books written under the JD Robb and the Nora Roberts name is that she seems to have the ability to produce a lot of books, at a remarkably consistent quality. At the moment I am averaging one JD Robb book a month, and I am definitely enjoying the ride! What amazes me about JD Robb (I don't really read her as Roberts) is how the characters seem so real. There is the action showing Eve as a cop, but there are also all the background stories and her moments off work. It is not just about catching the criminal, the characters all have unique personalities and as the story progresses, the reader learns more and more about them.

Kailana's Rating: 3.5/5
Marg's Rating: 4/5

Click below.

Sorry, I had those reviews started and never should have posted that big long book list!

Click here for the review of Ceremony in Death.

Ceremony in Death - J.D. Robb [August/06]

I found this Robb novel harder to get into than the previous ones we have read. It is the fifth book in the series, and the beginning didn't draw me in as others had. Once again, Marg and me are doing a joint review.

Conducting a top secret investigation into the death of a fellow police officer has Lieutenant Eve Dallas treading on dangerous ground. She must put professional ethics before personal loyalties. But when a dead body is placed outside her home, Eve takes the warning personally. With her husband, Roarke, watching her every move, Eve is drawn into the most dangerous case of her career. Every step she takes makes her question her own sense of right and wrong - and brings her closer to a confrontation with humanity's most seductive form of evil...

Marg is in black, I am in my trademark blue.

Anyway, this book opens at the funeral of a fellow police office...a man who has seemingly died of natural causes in the prime of his life. When his granddaughter passes Eve a note to arrange a meeting, Eve starts to get suspicious about why. When the granddaughter ends up dead shortly after she talks to Eve and then another person is killed not long after talking to her as well, Eve is gradually drawn into a world where there are good and evil, witches and wiccans, power and sex, and ultimately danger and death for many people. It sounds like a good beginning, huh? A lot seems to happen in the opening pages, but I started this book, read the beginning and then put it aside for a while. I think Eve annoyed me in this book more than any other. I understand she is supposed to be tough and independent, but she does not back down at all in this book. Sometimes you just want to tell her it okay to believe in something. Her need to fight every thing gets a bit tiring from time to time. It hasn't been bad in others that I have read, but for some reason, she annoyed me in this book. Maybe because she breaks writing conventions and is not open-minded about what happens in this book at all.

It was obvious that there had been a lot of research done into the various practices and rituals of both the Wiccan's and the witches and I guess there were times during this novel when there was a hint of info dump, but for the most part it was well paced and interesting enough. In other words, zoning out periods.

There were a couple of stand out scenes in this book - I nearly cried my eyes out when Eve and Feeney had a falling out. I loved the fact that Eve is gradually realising that despite her terrible beginnings, it is possible for someone to build a family around them. I am not a "cry my eyes out" sort of person (no offense), but I agree that this was an interesting scene. By this point in the book I am getting over being annoyed with Eve's character and have started to once again enjoy the story. I think this is actually touching, with the argument, Eve's reaction to it, Roarke's reaction to it, and then the making up part.

The other interesting development for me in this story was the inclusion of Jamie, the younger brother of the young lady who is killed. He is an interesting character, with his ability with electronics, even being able to short circuit Roarke's security system. I wonder if he will continue to make appearance throughout the series, as there definitely would seem to be some scope for him to be included. He was an interesting character. You were never really sure what to make of him, but the kid has brains. If it wasn't for him, some very bad stuff might have not been prevented. He was determined to get the people that hurt his sister, which made for some interesting scenes. My favourite was when he broke into Roarke's yard, my there were some scenes as a result of that where you got to see other sides of Roarke.

Overall, I would say that whilst this wasn't the best of the series, it was still remarkably consistent in terms of it's quality. Not my favourite by her either, but enough that I will read more of the series. Every series has their slight faults, Robb is no exception. I must say though, was it just me, or does there seem to be even more sex scenes in this book than normal? I hope that doesn't become the norm...

Rating 4/5
Rating 3.5/5

Rapture in Death - J.D. Robb [July/06]

We are back! Another novel, this time the fourth, in the J.D. Robb In Death series. After much pestering, this is the review from Marg and me. (She wasn't really pestering, I was just being slow). This book is for the July TBR Challenge. The criteria was to read a romantic suspense, and I can safely say, she is the only romantic suspense author I even own. This review follows on the heels of Immortal in Death, our last review. Anyways, without further ado, the reveiw.

Marg is typing in black and I am in blue.

They died with smiles on their faces. Three apparent suicides: a brilliant engineer, an infamous lawyer, and a controversial politician. Three strangers with nothing in common - and no obvious reasons for killing themselves. Police lieutenant Eve Dallas found the deaths suspicious. And her instincts paid off when autopsies revealed small burns on the brains of the victims. Was it a genetic abnormality or a high-tech method of murder? Eve's investigation turned to the provocative world of virtual reality games - where the same techniques used to create joy and desire could also prompt the mind to become the weapon of its own destruction . . .

Title: Rapture in Death

Author: J D Robb

Year published: 1996

Why did you get this book?
I only started reading this series a little while ago, and so I am now working my way through the series. I got this book because it is totally different. I am not a romance reader, my genres are normal fantasy, historical fiction, and Canadian literature, so this series is something new for me. Plus, my friends read her, more so than some of the other authors I read, so I have a topic to discuss.

Do you like the cover?
I had a completely different cover, which featured a noose and a blue woman on a gold background. Whilst it fitted the story in a way (and no there were no blue women in the book!) it wasn't terribly attractive. Yep, it is a very descriptive cover, but at the same time there is something artsy about it. Something else liked my cover too, because there is something sticky on it... Have to wash that off.

Did you enjoy the book?
I did! I am going to be hopeful and say this is a series I will read all of, but one never knows. I enjoyed this book and hope to go on enjoying them!

Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again?
Yes. I've already been to the library to pick up the next book in the series. Not a new author, no. This is my fifth book by her (remember, I snuck ahead for the first one). I plan to read book 5 as soon as Marg has her's from the library. (Which she tells me she has already)

Are you keeping it or passing it on?
It's a library book so keeping it isn't really an option. If I was buying this series so far they are all keepers. A keeper. I have been buying this series second hand, and so far I have not found that I haven't got my moneys-worth.

Anything else?
I really liked the fact that Peabody seems to be taking a much bigger part in this novel, and the fact that there is a friendship developing between Eve and Peabody helps to take some of the hard edges off of Eve. I imagine that Peabody was added just for that, to add some humour to what could be seen as a dark series of novels. There was humour before, but it was not central to the novel. I think Peabody as the comic relief was a good idea on Robb's part. I do hope though that Roarke doesn't keep on being suspected of being connected to the murder in every one of the remaining books. I like Roarke being the suspect, remember, I don't like romance novels, so when he isn't being the suspect he is generally at it with the main character, so it is nice to see him in roles that don't happen in bed. I think you really got to know Roarke in this book by the things that happened to him! I like that Lt. Dallas isn't the only one that is getting built up, we are learning about other characters as well. One thing that does bother me a little bit about some of these books is that there doesn't actually seem to be any real clues dropped along the way to help the reader guess who the murderer is. In this book it was obvious that the person that was the main suspect wasn't the killer because there was so much focus on that person, but I don't know that there was anything that could have given the game away as to the identity of the real killer. I have to disagree, I found the killer obvious. There was a moment where I doubted it, but then something happened and I knew I was right before the end of the book. I don't know if it was obvious or I just got lucky, but the person that ended up being the killer just made sense to me, and I think there were little clues. I did guess a few pages before it became clear (and then I peeked at the end to be sure! (Peeking is cheating! I don't know how you do it, I would hate to know the end before it is time. That's why I rarely read prologues, they give too much away!)) but it felt to an extent that the solution came completely out of the blue. I do like the way that the world building is happening, and how she puts in little facts such as the fact that someone has a tobacco license but that they had to have an anti-cancer innoculation in order to get that license! I think that Robb is trying to make a "perfect" world by this series. Perfection is not ever perfect, though, it is unattainable, but she shows that there are different ways to define perfect with this series. A lot of the stuff happening in this book I wish we had, though, I know that much. (Including Roarke!)

Immortal in Death - J.D. Robb [June/06]

Following quickly on my review of Glory in Death, me and Marg (from Reading Adventures) decided that we were going to do a review together as we are both reading the In Death series. It is sort of fun to have similar tastes with someone, even when I prefer fantasy to her romance novels, we still have read many of the same books.

My thoughts are going to be written in blue, whilst Marg's thoughts will be in black! First, about the book:

It is 2058, New York City. Lieutenant Eve Dallas uncovers a world where technology can create beauty and youth, but passion and greed can destroy them.

She was one of the most sought-after women in the world. A top model who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted -even another woman's man. And now she's dead, the victim of a brutal murder.

Police lieutenant Eve Dallas puts her life on the line to take the case when suspicion falls on her best friend, the other woman in the fatal love triangle. Beneath the façade of glamour, Eve finds that the world of high fashion thrives on an all-consuming obsession with youth and fame-one that leads her from the lights of the runway to the dark underworld of New York City, where drugs can fulfill any desire, for a price.

I am happily working my way through this series slowly, and in this the third book in the series, I was pleased to see that this time Roarke was not a suspect!! Mainly because we could not have the perspective groom in jail on the wedding day! Or because people like him too much to keep having to bite their nails, and hope that Eve leaves the poor man alone.

This time Eve is called in to investigate the death of one of her weasels, someone who is willing to give her information about what is happening on the streets.

Not long after there is a seemingly unconnected death of a beautiful, high profile model, Pandora. She has a power that has gotten her to the top, a love of the high life and a poster girl for the one-night stand. She comes across as glamourous, but Eve quickly learns that there is more to her than meets the eye, especially when it seems as though her best friend Mavis is the prime suspect and Eve is called in as a friend and the primary investigator. When Mavis finds the dead body of Pandora, a beautiful woman who no one really likes, it seems inevitable that the clues will all point towards her - a classic set up. One of those predictable scenarios found in the most gripping cop novels.

When Eve has no choice but to arrest Mavis, she has to deal with her feelings in relation to betraying one of her few true friends, or as Roarke points out, her family. But Eve is a determined cop and with her battling it out for her friend, we know that justice will be served.

All of this is going on whilst Eve is trying to get ready for her wedding to Roarke. Roarke is taking care of most of the details, but there are a couple of things that Eve is determined to choose herself, and pay for herself, including the wedding dress… and all the things that her designer, Leonardo, seems to think that she needs. Since Leonardo is the one that connects Pandora and Mavis, being lovers to both of them, he turns out to be important to the novel in more ways than one.

As more bodies turn up that are brutalized in the same horrific manner, it becomes clear that there is a connection. It appears to be a new illegal drug, that is actually poisoning the addict slowly. A drug that is that is very pricey to produce because one of the ingredients is only available off-planet. Before destroying the user, though, it makes them appear and feel younger and sexier - definitely attractive to the masses, especially if they don't know about the side effects! Good for the significant other too because it offers a heightened sex drive! Watch out for the mood swings that follow, though.

In this novel, Lieutenant Dallas gets Officer Peabody added to her office, and we get to know the wise cracking officer who seems to be quite a good foil to Eve's apparent seriousness and troubled self, once you get under her stiff, cop-like exterior. We also begin to understand the relationship between Roarke and his butler, Summerset, when in a rare moment Roarke reveals an aspect of his ‘shady’ past to a very troubled Eve. If that is not enough deep psychological dealing for you, it is also the novel that Eve finally figures out the past that she has tried to forget for over twenty years, and then deal with the emotion that stirs up.

As far as the villain goes, as soon as he came onto the scene I didn't like him, but it didn't really seem as though we were really provided with all that many clues to point at him until all was revealed right at the end! But everyone knows that it is better to be in the dark than have the mystery solved in the first two pages. The whole fun of a Robb novel is the fact that there are usually twists and turns at every flip of the page.

My rating: 3.5/5
Marg's rating: 4/5

Glory in Death - J.D. Robb [June/06]

Welcome back to the life of Lt. Eve Dallas in the second book in the long-running series. As the blurb about the book states:

The first victim was found lying on a sidewalk in the rain. The second was murdered in her own apartment building. Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas had no problem finding connections between the two crimes. Both victims were beautiful and highly successful women. Their glamorous lives and loves were the talk of the city. And their intimate relations with men of great power and wealth provided Eve with a long list of suspects including her own lover, Roarke. A a woman, Eve was compelled to trust the man who shared her bed. But as a cop, it was her job to follow every lead... to investigate every scandalous rumor... to explore every secret passion, no matter how dark. Or how dangerous...

It is not all the time that I find an author I can read so close together, I normally like to have some variety, but I find myself enjoying this novels enough to read them frequently. I am already started on book 3 of the series. It is interesting to watch Dallas deal with cases that many times hit close to her own dark and damning past. Her father treated her cruelly and now she is watching women die for much the same reason. Men and their need for power over women. In a crime novel Robb is pointing out that even in the future, if things don't change, men will be killing women because they believe that women have too much power. That is what this novel boils down to, power.

Eve also has to keep trying to work out her personal and professional life. Roarke is involved in most things that happen in the world and off it, so she finds herself constantly up against the man that she loves without even meaning to. It tests her again and again to understand that not everyone out there is going to hurt her, there are people she can trust. When she slowly starts opening herself to the world around her, the reader gets a chance to not only see her bring the bad guys down, but also come to terms with herself as a person.

3.5/5

Naked in Death - JD Robb [May/06]

I finally back-tracked and read the first of the "In Death" romantic suspense novels from J.D. Robb. I don't know what it is with her. I have found many of the later novels in the series, but have yet to see anything between two and seven second-hand. I ended up buying book 2 new because I wanted to see how the story continued. Plan to read that book this weekend.

Anyways, this review is a little easier to write. With Seduction in Death it was later in the series, and I know someone reading this series from the beginning, so didn't want to give anything away.

This novel is described as:

Eve Dallas is a New York police lieutenant hunting for a ruthless killer. In more than ten years on the force, she's seen it all - and knows that her survival depends on her instincts. And she's going against every warning telling her not to get involved with Roarke, an Irish billionaire - and a suspect in Eve's muder investigation. But passion and seduction have rules of their own, and it's up to Eve to take a chance in the arms of a man she knows nothing about - except the addictive hunger of needing his touch.

Having known a bit about this series from reading a later novel first, I found it sort of interesting. A lot of the characters that Dallas meets in this first book as contacts are still present in the later novels. She had been a cop for ten years and she was only now working out a group of people to rely on. I found that a bit unbelievable, but Robb likely wanted to have Dallas as seasoned and then be able to introduce all the characters properly.

Roarke is a recurring character, though. I liked reading about him in the beginning, see where he came from and what he was like. He reminds me of Jean Claude, the head vampire in the Laurell Hamilton novels. Only Roarke is alive, while Jean Claude is the living dead. They just have similar mannerisms about them. Likely because they are both the lead romantic interests and have to be characters that female readers can believe in and fall for.

Anyways, in this book Eve is faced with the murder of the granddaughter of a powerful senator. In this world, as I mentioned in my other Robb review, guns are not used anymore. So when a 1980's gun is found at the scene as the murder weapon, it adds a new dimension to the investigation. Dallas is called in as the chief investigator, following a very disturbing case where a little girl was killed by her father. Dallas has violence in her background, so her last case is still giving her nightmares. Eve is a very determined investigator, even when the senator puts pressure on her and tries to limit her activities to save the family reputation she manages to get the job done. When other women are killed in the same manner and notes left to imply that there will be six victims by the time the killing is through, Dallas begins a race against the clock to insure that the killer does not make it to six.

It is interesting, so far in these novels the killer turns out to be a female hater or a man that believes that women should still be in a subordinate position in society. All of the murdered women in this novel are prostitutes, the man controls them and then he kills them. One of the victims even reveals that he likes to be called "Daddy", a very controlling form of seduction and then murder. The good thing about this murders, though, is that Roarke is believed to be a suspect because he collects rare guns and owns a large percent of the world, including some of the locations where the murders take place. If he hadn't been suspected, he would not have been added for the female readers enjoyment.

I like this series, I like how Dallas is not just your typical crime/suspense character. She has a past, it is not all about solving the cases that present themselves.

4/5

Seduction in Death - J.D. Robb [May/06]

This is a very odd reading choice for me. For those that don't know, J.D. Robb is also known as Nora Roberts who is not someone that I would normally read. People on a forum I belong to were discussing her books, and when I learned they were set in the future, I was intrigued. This is book 13 in the series, but since it was available to read at my house, I decided to start with it and see if I liked it. I did, actually, so much so that I purchased more of the series at the second hand store the other day.

The novels follow the life of Lt. Dallas, a police officer in a world quite different than the one that we are living in now. While the books are only set about 50 years from now, technology has made many advances that I find myself wishing we had now. Guns have been outlawed, which I found very interesting. It is a gizmo age.

I think the thing that most attracts me to the novel is the character of Lt. Dallas. She had a rough childhood that has turned her into the character that we witness in these novels. She has a deep understanding of the degragation of women, having been sexually abused herself. As a result, many of her cases have a personal feel to them that makes them not just cases to her, but a chance to take down terrible men one at a time and slowly make the world a safer place. The added addition of her past makes the novel more than just a murder mystery, it is a personal experience.

In this particular part of the series, Dallas is investigating the murder of women who think they have found love in internet chatrooms. The man woos her and then he drugs her to death so that he is the last man to touch her. It is a disgusting idea, but these are men that have always gotten what they wanted out of life and have a deep hatred for women. Why this is becomes known as Dallas comes closer and closer to cracking the case. In this particular book, we know who the killers are. Robb has made it so that we see all sides of the case as opposed to being just as in the dark as Dallas. It makes it more interesting because we get to know all the central characters before the bad guys are brought down.

A really interesting series, I can't wait to read more about Dallas and her adventures.

4/5