20 replies to this topic

[Carole]

Normally I would not share a random review, especially of a 'past' book. But I found some of her points um...interesting. Like putting InDeath firmly in the romance genre, and "her crime solving Irish husband Rourke (sic)" and "Rourke is the main character and Eve Dallas is the wife he always has to rescue" and " I would not recommend these books for anyone under 14 or 15."

Book Review: "New York to Dallas"
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Pat Ivey
Blytheville Courier News

In the world of romance novels, one of the best-known authors is Nora Roberts. And perhaps some of the best novels written by Roberts are written under her alternate pen name, J.D. Robb.

"New York to Dallas" was published in paperback in 2012 by the Berkeley Group. It is part of the "In Death" series featuring Detective Eve Dallas, a homicide cop in New York City, and her crime solving Irish husband, Rourke.

Although to my mind, Rourke is the main character, and Eve Dallas is the wife he always has to rescue. But I guess that is why they are called romance novels.

Both Rourke and Eve survived horrific childhoods to become successful in their chosen areas; Eve Dallas in crime fighting and Rourke in crime. However, when they begin to make a life together early in the series, Rourke mends his evil criminal ways and instead spends his time and incredible cyber skills aiding his wife in her crime fighting efforts. The stories of those crime solving escapades are told in the series, which includes such best sellers as "Celebrity in Death," "Betrayal in Death" and "Portrait in Death." The entire series takes place in the future, when cars can fly, and there are human colonies (and penal colonies) on other planets and interplanetary transports.

In "New York to Dallas," Eve Dallas is faced with an old adversary, a rapist/murderer/child molester she captured early in her law enforcement career, who escapes from prison and sets his sights on payback against her. But along the way, some people from her past make this case more difficult to crack than it should be.

One of the more humorous aspects of the book is the setting, mostly in Dallas, Texas. Eve, a typical New York cop, cannot reconcile crime fighting with clean and spacious offices and polite law enforcement officers. The idea that total strangers will stop and have conversations with you on the street is almost too much for her to bear, and helps to break up the tension of the horrible aspects of the crime she and her team are working.

I can't say this one keeps you guessing, because like any good romance novel it follows a standard formula, and of course the endings in these books are always happy. However, as romance novels go, this and all the J.D. Robb books are in the way-above-average category.

There are, of course, love scenes. Some of you read books for those scenes; however, I do not, so I generally tend to skip over those pages. However, by the simple fact that the romantic male lead in this series is so strong and likable, and of course the added fact that Nora Roberts is among the best in that genre, I am sure these are some of the best love scenes of any of the romance novel category.

They are not, however, suitable for younger readers for that reason. I would not recommend these books for anyone under 14 or 15, both for the adult content and for the violent content. For that reason, I give this book 7 out of 10, and absolutely recommend it for any adult who enjoys romance novels. "New York to Dallas" can be purchased in paperback form from your local book store, or online at any book selling outlet including Amazon.

[susann]

Maybe that's why the publishers took Nora's name off the recent books and just had the JD Robb name on as author?? Maybe they felt too many people would think of these books as "romance" novels and not buy them- these reviews don't do any favors encouraging readers to discover how fabulous ID is, on many levels: crime, police procedural, futuristic & yes, romance. Especially if the reviewer cannot even remember the "main" character's name. I would give the review all the consideration it merits!

[Nandi]

You have to wonder if this reviewer has read an ID book at all. I'm only saying that because (a) they spelled Roarke wrong, (b) saying he is the main character, and © they stated that Roarke has to rescue his wife all the time. It seems this person only got her information by reading reviews of other people, and has never read An ID book EVER!!! All I can say is they should read before making an attempt at reviewing someone's work. My review of this reviewer is two thumbs down.

[AJ]

It's one thing to be dismissive about the genre and/or book...it's a personal preference thing...but...he/she can't even get the spelling of Roarke's name correct, when it's on just about every damned page? That's just laziness. Or complete ignorance. Or both.

AJ

[Nandi]

It's one thing to be dismissive about the genre and/or book...it's a personal preference thing...but...he/she can't even get the spelling of Roarke's name correct, when it's on just about every damned page? That's just laziness. Or complete ignorance. Or both.

AJ

I'm going with both,AJ. Any one of us here could write a better review. WHY???? Because we READ the books.

[Ms Joy]

Maybe she'd loosen up a bit if she didn't primly skip over the love scenes. I'm picturing an older woman with crappy hair and dowdy clothes - she only wears crepe-soled shoes, and keeps everything tightly buttoned up. I doubt that she has EVER been swept off her feet. I guess we should pity her.

[Nandi]

Maybe she'd loosen up a bit if she didn't primly skip over the love scenes. I'm picturing an older woman with crappy hair and dowdy clothes - she only wears crepe-soled shoes, and keeps everything tightly buttoned up. I doubt that she has EVER been swept off her feet. I guess we should pity her.

Ha, very funny!!!!

[bigd_041555]

Book Review: "New York to Dallas"
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Pat Ivey
Blytheville Courier News


"New York to Dallas" was published in paperback in 2012 by the Berkeley Group. It is part of the "In Death" series featuring Detective Eve Dallas, a homicide cop in New York City, and her crime solving Irish husband, roarke.

This woman can't spell and she demoted Eve!!!! It's Lieutenant Eve Dallas - not Detective Eve Dallas!

[Nandi]

Book Review: "New York to Dallas"
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Pat Ivey
Blytheville Courier News


"New York to Dallas" was published in paperback in 2012 by the Berkeley Group. It is part of the "In Death" series featuring Detective Eve Dallas, a homicide cop in New York City, and her crime solving Irish husband, roarke.

This woman can't spell and she demoted Eve!!!! It's Lieutenant Eve Dallas - not Detective Eve Dallas!

Demoted Eve and gave Roarke a new job, crime solver. now I know this person has never read an ID book ever.

[Donna]

Book Review: "New York to Dallas"
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Pat Ivey
Blytheville Courier News


"New York to Dallas" was published in paperback in 2012 by the Berkeley Group. It is part of the "In Death" series featuring Detective Eve Dallas, a homicide cop in New York City, and her crime solving Irish husband, roarke.

This woman can't spell and she demoted Eve!!!! It's Lieutenant Eve Dallas - not Detective Eve Dallas!

Demoted Eve and gave Roarke a new job, crime solver. now I know this person has never read an ID book ever.

We need to use a stunner on her!

[susann]

Where exactly was this "review" published? The Twililght Zone?

[IDFAN]

Yeah, having Roarke misspelled repeatedly, having Eve referred to as Detective Eve Dallas, feeling the need to sneer at the 'romance' genre and even saying that these are 'romance' books means this person hasn't read the books. Sorry, but I'm sure I could write just as good of a review of the flippin' 50 Shades books. I haven't read them, but I've head about them. So, it could be Christian Gray or Grey, because I haven't read it. It could be considered 'romance' because there are sex scenes. The female character could be an administrative assistant or a secretary. I don't know really, because... I don't care enough to read the books.

And, frankly, I wouldn't recommend ID books to a 13-14 year old either, but not because there is loving and passionate sex that occurs between two characters in a committed relationship, but because the subject matter, murder/serial killers/abuse etc. is not appropriate for that age range. I have a 14 year old nephew who got hooked on Criminal Minds and watched a bunch of episodes. Now, when he sees a white panel van, he tells his mother to drive a different way, because he's sure there's some creep inside trolling for unsuspecting children. He's half joking, but I still don't think he should watch the show and sex has nothing to do with it.

[CourtyWilli]

Oh wow. Just wow.
Lemme rant here for a moment.

WHAT. Just... Okay like all of you have mentioned, HAS SHE READ THESE BOOKS?! I mean seriously. I want to push her face into a Amazon Kindle and be like READ CHICK. 'cause Seriously I feel like she has no idea what the heck shes talking about!

Secondly, Roarke being the lifesaver all the time? WHAT. No. Thats not it at all, Eve is perfectly capable of taking care of herself!
Seriously, she's been beat up enough without Roarke that like does this chick think that Eve needs Roarke all the time? Its so REDICULOUS.

Okay, and my third point is.
Yes, no one under the age of 18 should read these novels. If you're going to skip over the sex then you're not going to get the characters relationship. At all, its not like Eve hooks up with a random male transvestite prostitute all the time. Seriously.

New York To Dallas was one of my favoites I've read so far, since I'm in Celebrity right now, and like, For her to demote and say the things she did about it, just URKS me to no end!!!!!!
When will people find common sense.
Obviously this woman has no - idea what work Nora puts into these novels, and how beautifully written they are!
GAHHH!.
~~~

/endrant.


From me!

[Joe]

Once again, I'm agreeing with Lelani. This has to stop.

Other than the fact that this woman is bonkers, I'm not sure she even read the book (or any of them), and if she did/does she just "skimmed". I'm used to the sneering. It's annoying, but I just figure that people who do this at romance novels are ignorant, even though they claim to be "smarter" and "better informed" than all of us "bottom feeding romance readers". Of course, they read books that make sense to NO ONE, including them, but that's what makes them "smart" books. But this woman doesn't seem like this type, just the type that sneers and reads them anyways.

She repeatedly refers to Roarke as "roarke" (which is annoying and we've bitched about that for years), and "Detective" Eve Dallas (which again, is annoying, but it's something that's even been put into the "blurbs" that came from the publisher ). But really gets me is the idea that Roarke has to "save" Eve, and the reviewer feels like that's okay because it's part of the "formula" of "romance novels".

Um....really no. Not so much. Roarke doesn't save Eve in anything but the personal aspect. Yes, he's helped her on the job, but he hasn't "saved" her. That's just a ridiculous statement.

As for the "inappropriate for anyone under 13-14" comment, I do agree with that. But again, as Lelani said NOT because of the sex. I'd rather have teenagers reading the ID books, that contains sex between a loving couple who are married, than the 50 Shades books. Hell, I'd rather have them reading ID than Twilight (Edward and Bella did NOT have a healthy relationship!). However, I think Eve's (and even Roarke's) past might be too much for someone that young to handle. And the violence in the series is another issue that I would have a problem with kids reading. Of course, most of them watch horror movies and all kinds of crime shows and whatnot. The violence in these books probably wouldn't phase them at all. But that doesn't make it right.

Anyways, it's annoying review, but in the grand scheme of things, why bother getting upset about it? The woman is obviously someone who doesn't really understand the series. And I doubt anybody but us will really notice it. NYTD on the whole got GREAT reviews, so "Pbbbtttt" to her.

ETA: I forgot about the "autocorrect" for Roarke's name. So bear that in mind with my post.

[larsonkoala2]

and that was why i did not finish reading this article. if she cannot spell roarke's name correctly or have eve rank correct i will not bother. i don't need somebody telling me that series is a waste of time. and to be honest, all but one of the people who i have turned onto this series love it. the one who did not started with creation and it scared the hell out of her, which i get. i tried to get her to start again, but with naked but she just did not want to. no problem.


but, to me, if you are going to review a book, damn it get the characters name spelled correctly.


nancy

[Carole]

Maybe she'd loosen up a bit if she didn't primly skip over the love scenes. I'm picturing an older woman with crappy hair and dowdy clothes - she only wears crepe-soled shoes, and keeps everything tightly buttoned up. I doubt that she has EVER been swept off her feet. I guess we should pity her.

Hey, I'm an older woman who wears comfort shoes and I am buttoned up (office dress code) and I have never been swept off my feet so please don't put her in the same class as me!

What makes me say "huh?" is that she seems to actually like the books. Even though she can't spell the character names, even though she skips the love scenes and even though she has the impression that they are romances and not murder mysteries. That last part makes me really wonder about her, though, if she skips the romance parts, she must be reading something which would seem to leave the murders yet she still classifies it as a romance?

This is a review that was published in a newspaper, by the way. I have google alert set up on Nora to pick up stuff like this.

[Nandi]

Maybe she'd loosen up a bit if she didn't primly skip over the love scenes. I'm picturing an older woman with crappy hair and dowdy clothes - she only wears crepe-soled shoes, and keeps everything tightly buttoned up. I doubt that she has EVER been swept off her feet. I guess we should pity her.

Hey, I'm an older woman who wears comfort shoes and I am buttoned up (office dress code) and I have never been swept off my feet so please don't put her in the same class as me!

What makes me say "huh?" is that she seems to actually like the books. Even though she can't spell the character names, even though she skips the love scenes and even though she has the impression that they are romances and not murder mysteries. That last part makes me really wonder about her, though, if she skips the romance parts, she must be reading something which would seem to leave the murders yet she still classifies it as a romance?

This is a review that was published in a newspaper, by the way. I have google alert set up on Nora to pick up stuff like this.

I don't see how it is possible that she has read any of the books if she thinks Eve is some weak wife who is constantly being rescued by Roarke. I mean if this person has actually read even one of these books, they would see Eve can take care of herself and did so way before Roarke came into her life. This is one reason I find it hard to believe that the reviewer has read any ID book. But maybe that's just my women's lib part that is coming out. It disturbs me to no end that Eve is reduced to second bananas to Roarke's he-man persona according to a talentless reviewer.

[Teresa50]

Um, if the reviewer states this is a "romance" that "follows a formula", then why are the JDRobb's found under Mystery at Barnes & Noble? I hope those going to their local bookstore will be able to find them easily. *sigh*

[mog614]

Um, if the reviewer states this is a "romance" that "follows a formula", then why are the JDRobb's found under Mystery at Barnes & Noble? I hope those going to their local bookstore will be able to find them easily. *sigh*

I was one of those romance snobs. I'd never read them. Then I found "Survivor" in the mystery section in my library and got hooked. I've read a lot of other romances since then, some good, some bad; but at least I read them before I judge them (now ).

[CourtyWilli]

Yeah - I agree with all of you, maybe the answer for this review is that she was paid to read New York to Dallas and only had read that book and skimmed over it. Maybe thats what happened and thats why she feels the way she does about Roarke and Eve's Relationship?

I d k.

But stil. Oh well.