Nora Roberts/JD Robb
Feb. 12th, 2023 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lightreadsNightwork
3/5. He is a self-taught international jewel thief who meets the love of his life in Shakespeare seminar, then quickly abandons her when his past comes calling. They meet again a decade later when he is taking a sabbatical as a high school English/drama teacher and she is writing a book, like you do?
I keep wondering why these Nora Roberts standalone modern romances are so compelling. It’s not the romances, we’ve established that. Those are always too heteronormative for me (not all het romances are, but hers…yeah). And it’s not the plots, those are window dressing and she knows it. So WTF is it? I think it’s that she gives good life writing. You know, here’s 50 pages in which someone lives a decade, with just the right amount of specificity and the right amount of blur. And I think, specifically, that she writes life studies rather than character studies. How they turn, how they change, where the road goes, where it doesn’t. All of that illuminates character, but that’s a result, not a cause. It’s not the sort of thing I would say I like, but she is damn good at it. I suppose she better be, at this point.
Content notes: Death of a parent to cancer, threats of violence, thieving made sexy.
Desperation in Death
3/5. Yet another big international evil organization book, in this case sex trafficking. Interesting to me not for that – these are my least favorite subtype In Death book, they make no god damn sense. But this one is about how much things have changed for Eve, how much she has integrated her trauma, to be able to work the case the way she does. It’s a bit of a victory lap, tbh. Fair.
Content notes: Captivity, grooming, sex trafficking
Encore in Death
3/5. A return to the twisty, personal, complicated murders. It’s kind of about the compromises you make in marriage – for love, specifically – and the sacrifices you don’t. But that part doesn’t have any real teeth as it is not really reflecting on Eve and Roarke. Also, the timeline of this series continues to be absolutely boggling – she’s been writing these for a quarter century, and they’ve only covered what, barely three years of story time? In sixty books?Nora Roberts These people really are workaholics.
Content notes: Murder
3/5. He is a self-taught international jewel thief who meets the love of his life in Shakespeare seminar, then quickly abandons her when his past comes calling. They meet again a decade later when he is taking a sabbatical as a high school English/drama teacher and she is writing a book, like you do?
I keep wondering why these Nora Roberts standalone modern romances are so compelling. It’s not the romances, we’ve established that. Those are always too heteronormative for me (not all het romances are, but hers…yeah). And it’s not the plots, those are window dressing and she knows it. So WTF is it? I think it’s that she gives good life writing. You know, here’s 50 pages in which someone lives a decade, with just the right amount of specificity and the right amount of blur. And I think, specifically, that she writes life studies rather than character studies. How they turn, how they change, where the road goes, where it doesn’t. All of that illuminates character, but that’s a result, not a cause. It’s not the sort of thing I would say I like, but she is damn good at it. I suppose she better be, at this point.
Content notes: Death of a parent to cancer, threats of violence, thieving made sexy.
Desperation in Death
3/5. Yet another big international evil organization book, in this case sex trafficking. Interesting to me not for that – these are my least favorite subtype In Death book, they make no god damn sense. But this one is about how much things have changed for Eve, how much she has integrated her trauma, to be able to work the case the way she does. It’s a bit of a victory lap, tbh. Fair.
Content notes: Captivity, grooming, sex trafficking
Encore in Death
3/5. A return to the twisty, personal, complicated murders. It’s kind of about the compromises you make in marriage – for love, specifically – and the sacrifices you don’t. But that part doesn’t have any real teeth as it is not really reflecting on Eve and Roarke. Also, the timeline of this series continues to be absolutely boggling – she’s been writing these for a quarter century, and they’ve only covered what, barely three years of story time? In sixty books?
Content notes: Murder