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JD Robb/Nora Roberts roundup
Sep. 16th, 2020 08:21 pmShadows in Death
3/5. She's just going to keep elaborating everyone's backstories for all of time to pull villains from empty air, eh? I'm okay with it. Less okay with the end of this book, which is a straight up exercise of police brutality which we are supposed to believe is character growth.
Content notes: Animal harm. Poor kitty.
Hideaway
3/5. Daughter of Hollywood royalty gets kidnapped as a child, rescues herself, and lives with the various and propagating consequences for many years. I should say for honesty's sake, though, that this will always in my mind be the book with sexy cow milking. Yes, really.
Roberts in my favorite mode, which I've been calling "romance in context." That is, a story that takes the heroine through several decades of life, in the rich context of her family and friends, to show how her eventual long-term romance isn't so much a destination but another turn in the road. And one that makes sense, given what has come before. This book also has some of her usual childhood trauma and suspense stuff, but she's honestly not very committed to it here and wraps that part of it up with a vague gesture. She's right, it's not the point.
Content notes: Child endangerment, child harm, bad parenting, one offscreen incident of racist violence.
Under Currents
3/5. Lawyer/landscaper romance in the small town where one grew up and one has fled. Phew, I had to skip big chunks of the first quarter of this one (child abuse, a lot of it) and this book in general is very . . . well, it's about a sweet, emotionally slow-burn romance complete with a cute dog and plucky teenagers, except around the edges there are multiple utterly depraved or hateful human beings ready to terrorize and murder. I realize that's the genre, but *shakes head* there's something off with this one. Too much brutality porn.
Content notes: Child abuse, gaslighting, spousal abuse, misogyny.
3/5. She's just going to keep elaborating everyone's backstories for all of time to pull villains from empty air, eh? I'm okay with it. Less okay with the end of this book, which is a straight up exercise of police brutality which we are supposed to believe is character growth.
Content notes: Animal harm. Poor kitty.
Hideaway
3/5. Daughter of Hollywood royalty gets kidnapped as a child, rescues herself, and lives with the various and propagating consequences for many years. I should say for honesty's sake, though, that this will always in my mind be the book with sexy cow milking. Yes, really.
Roberts in my favorite mode, which I've been calling "romance in context." That is, a story that takes the heroine through several decades of life, in the rich context of her family and friends, to show how her eventual long-term romance isn't so much a destination but another turn in the road. And one that makes sense, given what has come before. This book also has some of her usual childhood trauma and suspense stuff, but she's honestly not very committed to it here and wraps that part of it up with a vague gesture. She's right, it's not the point.
Content notes: Child endangerment, child harm, bad parenting, one offscreen incident of racist violence.
Under Currents
3/5. Lawyer/landscaper romance in the small town where one grew up and one has fled. Phew, I had to skip big chunks of the first quarter of this one (child abuse, a lot of it) and this book in general is very . . . well, it's about a sweet, emotionally slow-burn romance complete with a cute dog and plucky teenagers, except around the edges there are multiple utterly depraved or hateful human beings ready to terrorize and murder. I realize that's the genre, but *shakes head* there's something off with this one. Too much brutality porn.
Content notes: Child abuse, gaslighting, spousal abuse, misogyny.