Someone’s Read it Already

This novel, the sequel to Tuesday’s novel, is the third and final in the series (well, trilogy); that most likely means that there will not be any Nora Roberts reviews for a while. (Or at least until I go buy a few more.) However, Nora Roberts is in general such a sterling example of the genre that I encourage readers to go try others of her books. The first of the J. D. Robb books is entitled Naked in Death; I’ve also heard that Carolina Moon is excellent. I enjoyed Midnight Bayou for its New Orleans (pre-Katrina, obviously) flavor. She’s a frequent commenter at Dear Author and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

Finally, after Malory and Dana have their turns, it’s Zoe’s turn. Zoe is a mother; her son Simon, born when she was sixteen, is nine now. Her mother was a hairdresser, who worked out of the double-wide that she raised the family in; Zoe aspires for a lot more. Her part of the business that the three own is a salon/spa, complete with haircuts, mani/pedis, and heat wraps and the like. She has the final key to find, and Bradley Charles Vane IV, heir to the HomeMakers empire, to help her find it. However, she’s got Simon to protect; she’s very afraid that Kane (the evil sorcerer) will hurt him. Can she find the key, get the business running, deal with Brad, and keep Simon safe? (more…)

This novel is the second in her Key trilogy; I reviewed the first one here. Yes, they’re romance novels; paranormal romance novels, to be precise. Yes, it’s that Nora Roberts; the one who’s almost constantly on the New York Times Bestsellers List; she’s published well over a hundred novels to date. It’s hard to find a romance novel reader who doesn’t, at the very least, respect Nora Roberts for all that she’s done, being an amazingly positive face for the industry, as well as her writing talent. Non-romance readers might also try her J. D. Robb books; they’re near-future romantic suspense with a slight SF edge.

In the first novel, we meet Malory, Dana, and Zoe — each a protagonist of a volume. The first volume was about Malory; she worked at an art gallery. Through some propitious timing, all three women are at interesting places in their jobs when an offer comes by that they can’t refuse — try to find a set of keys to unlock the box holding the souls of some demigoddesses, and they get $25,000 apiece. Malory succeeded, and now it’s Dana’s turn. Of course, she’s got a complication named Jordan Hawke; he was the first man she fell in love with, and he broke her heart. Now he’s back in town, and he wants to help — with the business they’re starting, with her quest for the key, and with her heart. Will Dana succeed? Will Jordan? (more…)

This is the single book that I have paid the least for this week; I think I paid twelve and a half cents for it. It’s a little warped, but the words are intact. Uh, by the way, Heather Graham the author isn’t Heather Graham the actress; the author’s actual name is Heather Graham Pozzessere, I guess, and I’m assuming she’s a little bit older, based on the years she’s been active. She also writes under her real name and under Shannon Drake; I stopped counting how many books she’d written after thirty, and I was nowhere near done. She writes historicals, suspense, and paranormals, among other things; this one is a paranormal suspense.

Lauren, Deanna, and Heidi are all from L.A.; they take a trip to New Orleans for Heidi’s bachelor party. On their first or second day there, they decide to get their fortunes read; the fortune-teller, Susan, tells Heidi that she will have a solid marriage; Deanna that she has a lot of passion; and Lauren, she warns, must get out of town immediately because her life is in danger. That night, since they obviously don’t leave, Lauren meets a tall, dark, and handsome man named Mark who mistakes her for his ex-fiancee; the next day, a headless and bloodless corpse turns up in the Mississippi River. Is she actually in danger? And why is Deanna acting so strangely? (more…)

I don’t very often review romance novels, but I was out of town all weekend and this was the only book I read in four days. (My apologies for how late it is.) In any case, it’s a paranormal/fantasy romance, so I’m claiming it. Nora Roberts, as a lot of people know, is one of the dominant forces in romance novels. She’s written a little bit of everything (except, I think, historicals) — suspense, fantasy, sf, southern, northern, eastern, western, etc. She’s famed for her strong storytelling and excellent dialogue. Her online persona is also a genuinely nice person, as evidenced by the boards at Dear Author and the Smart B*tches (see sidebar for links).

In this book 1 of 3, Malory Price is an art dealer/gallery manager in small-town Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, she and the boss’s new wife have issues, and she’s on the verge of losing her job when she gets invited to a reception at an amazing historical house in the area. When she gets there, only two other people — both women — have been invited. She, Dana, and Zoe were invited specifically by the couple who has rented the house because they are linked. The three of them are the only women alive who have a chance of finding three specific keys which can save three women from the fairy-tale hell they’ve been trapped in. This is literal, not metaphorical: actual physical keys to unlock the box that contains their souls, or something like that, so the young women can be awakened like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. Unfortunately, there are a few things working against her, primarily lack of information and, oh yeah, the guy who put them there in the first place . . . (more…)

This is not the usual kind of book that I review on this website, and I feel I must disclose that I won this book in a contest on Dear Author. The condition of the winning is that I read it and promote it somehow on its release date, which is today. The conditions, of course, didn’t state that I had to like the book, or that I had to give it a good review, but cheerfully, I liked it quite a bit. This is Ms. Thomas’s first release, and I am quite looking forward to the next.

The setting is 1893, in England. Lord and Lady Tremaine have been estranged for ten years, but he has returned home because she wants a divorce. For some reason he cannot yet name, Lord Tremaine is not quite ready to let his wife go without a — well, a discussion at least. This is Victorian England, of course. (more…)