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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb headlines a hot new anthology of paranormal romance.
FEATURING A NEW EVE DALLAS NOVELLA.
J.D. Robb plunges Lieutenant Eve Dallas into the violent aftermath of a ritualistic murder.
Mary Blayney, investigates a deception that has kept two lovers apart for years.
Ruth Ryan Langan brings a lost man out of a storm to face a breathtaking twist of fate.
And Mary Kay McComas follows a mother, her son, and a wizard lost through the threads of time.
As her fans well know, in 1979 a blizzard trapped Roberts at home for a week with two bored little kids and a dwindling supply of chocolate. To maintain her sanity, Roberts started scribbling a story -- a romance novel like the Harlequin paperbacks she'd recently begun reading. The resulting manuscript was rejected by Harlequin, but that didn't matter to Roberts. She was hooked on writing. Several rejected manuscripts later, her first book was accepted for publication by Silhouette.
For several years, Roberts wrote category romances for Silhouette -- short books written to the publisher's specifications for length, subject matter and style, and marketed as part of a series of similar books. Roberts has said she never found the form restrictive. "If you write in category, you write knowing there's a framework, there are reader expectations," she explained. "If this doesn't suit you, you shouldn't write it. I don't believe for one moment you can write well what you wouldn't read for pleasure."
Roberts never violated the reader's expectations, but she did show a gift for bringing something fresh to the romance formula. Her first book, Irish Thoroughbred (1981), had as its heroine a strong-willed horse groom, in contrast to the fluttering young nurses and secretaries who populated most romances at the time. But Roberts's books didn't make significant waves until 1985, when she published Playing the Odds, which introduced the MacGregor clan. It was the first bestseller of many.
Roberts soon made a name for herself as a writer of spellbinding multigenerational sagas, creating families like the Scottish MacGregors, the Irish Donovans and the Ukrainian Stanislaskis. She also began working on romantic suspense novels, in which the love story unfolds beneath a looming threat of violence or disaster. She grew so prolific that she outstripped her publishers' ability to print and market Nora Roberts books, so she created an alter ego, J.D. Robb. Under the pseudonym, she began writing romantic detective novels set in the future. By then, millions of readers had discovered what Publishers Weekly called her "immeasurable diversity and talent."
Although the style and substance of her books has grown, Roberts remains loyal to the genre that launched her career. As she says, "The romance novel at its core celebrates that rush of emotions you have when you are falling in love, and it's a lovely thing to relive those feelings through a book."
Roberts sued fellow writer Janet Dailey in 1997, accusing her of plagiarizing numerous passages of her work over a period of years. Dailey paid a settlement and publicly apologized, blaming stress and a psychological disorder for her misconduct.
How in the heck do I rate "Suite 606"? This is a collection of four paranormal romantic suspense stories by four different authors, and I had four very different reactions.<BR/><BR/>First up (and the overwhelming reason to buy this sucker) is J.D. Robb's "Ritual in Death". Here we're treated to the latest doings of Eve and Roarke. When the glittering society party Roarke and Eve are attending is interrupted by the appearance of a very nude, very bloody man with a knife, Eve thanks whatever god is watching out for her and kicks into action. The corpse appears to have been a victim of a ritual sacrifice of some sort and Eve may have to resort to some extremely unorthodox techniques to catch this killer.<BR/><BR/>"Love Endures" by Mary Blayney is a historical about love betrayed and love regained...with the 'help' of a not-so-helpful ghost.<BR/><BR/>"Cold Case" by Ruth Ryan Langan tells of a modern burned out, bummed out cop and his arresting, and haunting vacation.<BR/><BR/>And the book closes with "Wayward Wizard" by Mary Kay McComas, another contemporary story about an estranged mother and child and the wizard whose unexpected appearance helps bridge their gap.<BR/><BR/>As expected, I LOVED Robb's story and for Eve & Roarke fans, this one alone makes shelling out the cash for the book woth every penny! Next best for me was a tie between Mary Blayney's story and "Wayward Wizard" even though both heroines took a bit of warming up to. As for Langan's story, it didn't particularly sit well with me and the ending was a bit jarring.
11 out of 11 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Bethere
Posted March 13, 2010
I found Suite 606 as much fun as any of the books that I have read from J. D. Robb and the extra authors that were included. As usual, some of the stories are really off the grid but still keep you hanging in to find the answer out.
I have all of the J.D. Robb series and as most have read it more than once. I enjoy the extra books with different authors also so have only a real positive to offer for anyone buying.
I have shared many of my books with friends and this last one with a neighbor who reads all the time and the ghost was her favorite. I stay with Dallas and her friends as my main reason for purchasing any book with Robb as the main author or a special part.
She always sends her characters into really great places and seems to knw just when to get you the reader really involved.
Suite 606 was very disappointing after the first chapter. It contained short versions of stories from 4 different authors. I guess I expected more story line like JD Robb's in the 1st section "Ritual in Death", but the following excerpts were more unbelievable. I enjoy books that I can "feel" and this was not one I could stay intrigued by long enough to even finish.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.chefgee
Posted December 27, 2008
I Also Recommend:
Writing short stories aren't as easy as some may think. For JD Robb, I think it's sometimes impossible. Fans complain that the four authors(Robb, Mary Blayney, Mary Kay McComas, and Ruth Ryan Langan)aren't writing the same type of story, therefore it's an uneven effort. I, however, beg to differ. While none of them on the surface have nothing to do with each other, the link is the title. I have a feeling someone floated the premise of using just the phrase "Suite 606" and asked all four ladies to run with it. While I preferred some of the stories more than others(Robb is tops, with McComas, Blayney, and Langan following behind in my likability scale), I appreciate how their minds work and their writing styles complimented each other. There is a thread that ties all four stories together(if one is paying attention)and it made me smile after I picked it up. I agree that the book may not be for everyone, but I'd go through a lot to get my hands on a new "In Death" story.
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Overview
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb headlines a hot new anthology of paranormal romance.
FEATURING A NEW EVE DALLAS NOVELLA.
J.D. Robb plunges Lieutenant Eve Dallas into the violent aftermath of a ritualistic murder.
Mary Blayney, investigates a deception that has kept two...