Book Review #3

Night  Tales #2- Nightshade by NoraRoberts

DeborahO’Roarke was already introduced in the earlier book, Night Shift, which dealt with the story of CillaO’Roarke, her  elder sister. In Night Shift, Deborah was still a student of law. This book deals with her story. Its a tale that tells us how an Assistant District Attorney (Yea! She’s the ADA) works to bust a gang of smugglers.

Deborah is a bold and headstrong ADA. She thinks that justice should prevail whatever be the circumstances. One night, while returning to her car after carrying out the required research for the case she’s working on, she is cornered by a thief. The thief wants to take complete advantage of the silent night and the beautiful company but before he can make a move comes Nemesis, the shadow that walks and protects the dark streets of Urbana. He saves Deb from the thief and disappears. Being a crime fighter herself, Deborah is intrigued by Nemesis’ way of work.

Within a few days, she meets the handsome, rich and a former cop, Gage Guthrie. Gage is bewitched by Deborah and makes advances towards her. Deborah, who is getting weak in the knees under Gage’s sophisticated charms, can not quite decide whether it is Nemesis she wants or Gage. It is only after another encounter with Nemesis that she finally makes up her mind.

The story is about Deborah’s fight against a drug dealer, EnricoMontega who wants Deborah dead. Enrico is also being chased by Gage who wanted to get even with him. It was Enrico that had killed Gage’s partner and injured him severely while he was working as a cop and it was that event that led Gage to leave the police duty and take law in his own hand.

Meanwhile, as Deborah spends time with Gage, she starts to fall in love with him. She also moves in with him as the gang attacks are getting closer and more dangerous than before. During the stay at Gage’s mansion, she discovers that when Gage was in coma, he was blessed by a super-human ability (discussing this will leak out an important secret, but then again, if the reader is smart then they can connect the dots).

In the climax, Enrico kidnaps Deb’s friend and Deborah is summoned to meet Enrico and hand in the evidences against him in return for the life of her friend. Its at the meeting point where the entire story unfurls and all the twists and turns are straightened to reveal a shocking truth. And since it is a ‘romantic’ thriller, its obvious Deborah is rescued in the end by Nemesis as expected.

The plot is good enough, but the idea of having a super-power while getting out of coma is a little out of the way. I also do not fancy stories that centre on a girl who can’t decide between 2 men. There are a few things that are not up to the mark and hence this book is not entirely as enjoyable as other Roberts’ books, but a passable read nonetheless.

My Rating: 3/5

Next Review: Night Tales #3- Nightshade by NoraRoberts

Book Review #2

Night Tales #1- Night Shift by NoraRoberts

With her velvet smooth, seductive voice, warm nature and the ease with which she can carry out a conversation, CillaO’Roarke is the most famous RJ of the KHIP radio station of Denver. She occupies the night slot, and loves being connected to people, talking to them and playing their favourite songs. All is going extremely well until she receives a call filled with ugly threats.

Cilla shrugs it off but her boss is not convinced and hence calls in the cops. Enter BoydFletcher and Althea Grayson, the cops in-charge of the case. While spending time together, Boyd manages to look through Cilla’s tough exterior and is charmed by the person he finds within and cant help but fall in love with her. Cilla loves him too but is afraid because she knows how dangerous the duty of a cop is. She doesn’t want to lose the guy she loves like how she lost her parents because of their profession.

While their personal lives are intermingling with each other, the threats from the mystery caller start to get too personal with things like “He killed himself for you. And now you have to die.” They realise that this revolves around jilted fan and someone is seeking revenge on his behalf.

One night, while Boyd is out getting coffee and Cilla is alone, the caller appears at the radio station. The identity of the caller is revealed. He tells her that he has ‘taken care’ of Boyd. This revelation makes her realise that the guy is really deranged and that its up to her now to do something and save herself. She comes up with an ingenious plan which gets the cops to the radio station in no time.

Boyd’s injuries are severe and so he is hospitalized. Cilla finally realises that cop or no cop, she loves Boyd and that she shouldn’t let things of the past decide the future for her. Cilla is on air and she professes her love for him and accepts his marriage proposal, while dedicating a song to him. And that’s how the book ends, in the parking lot of the station.

Now about this book, the character sketches are great, the story is fast paced and the suspense unfurls in the right way at the right time. As for the romance, it’s there but it doesn’t get too mushy like the usual love stories. If you’ve NoraRoberts earlier, you’ll understand what exactly I’m referring to. Over all, a short and good book.

My Rating: 4/5

Next Review: Night Tales #2 – Night Shadow by NoraRoberts

Book Review- General Introduction

Night Tales By NoraRoberts

“Night Tales” is a set of 5 books written by NoraRoberts. The 5 books- Night Shift, Night Shadow, Nightshade, Night Smoke and Night Shield, belong to the genre- Romantic thrillers. The really nice thing about this series that I liked as the base of the story. Roberts has introduced characters and carried them till the end of the series, focussing on each one as the story progressed. As a result, all 5 books had a cosy family environment. Their friendly banters, good natured teasing and undying faith they have in each other literally makes you fall in love with them; you feel as if you are one of them. So much so that when the last book got over, I didn’t know what to do; I didn’t want to bid farewell to those lovely friends I’d met while reading the book. That is the hidden power o f reading books, they leave you with friends who’ll always stay in your heart.

So, here’s the book review of the first book of the series, Night Shift.

Book Review #1

Brighter Than The Sun by Julia Quinn

First of all, writing a review for this book was a bit difficult for me because I am a fan of Judith Mcnaught’s writing. I simply love the way she writes and brings the characters to life in her books. “Brighter Than The Sun” being a book telling the tale based in the early 1800s, I couldn’t help but compare the book with Mcnaught’s books which deal with the same time frame. But then I realized that I was killing the fun by doing that and so got prejudice out of my head so that I could enjoy the book.

The story revolves around a young girl, Eleanor ‘Ellie’ Lyndon and Charles Wycombe, the Earl of Billington. Charles falls at the feet of Ellie, literally, from a tree and that is how they meet. Charles is a handsome, dashing and incorrigible guy whereas Ellie is a heard strong, smart mouthed and intelligent girl. Charles proposes her the same day itself. Not out of “love at first sight” but because he has to get married before he turns 30 or he’ll lose his fortune. And the damsel in distress, considers the offer and accepts it so that she can get rid of her father’s fiance who wants to get her married to hideous men or keep her as slave.

As Ellie and Charles begin their married life, Ellie tries to participate in the household but all her efforts backfire and turn into life threatening accidents including a fire in the kitchen. Ellie is convinced that someone from the family is not happy that Charles chose her as his bride but no one believes her, not even Charles. It is only after Ellie gets severely hurt during a mishap, that the culprit surfaces and confesses their crime.

The story moves on Charles and Ellie finally profess their love for each other. They think that things well be fine again, but will they really? Ellie suffers a bout of food poisoning, the saddle of Charles’ horse is tampered with and they finally realize something terrible is happening when Charles disappears. There is someone very evil who is scheming to get Charles and Ellie out of the way.

You can almost guess who is the mastermind here. Of course Charles is rescued in the end and they live happily ever after. But the way the suspense at the end unfurls is, in a way, disappointing. It lacked action and as compared to the length of the book, occupied very little of the story. It didn’t seem quite exciting because it was introduced and rounded up in a jiffy. A greater portion of the 2^nd half of the book could have been used to introduce this suspense and let it grow. It would have kept the readers engrossed along with the crazy banters that Charles and Ellie have.

Nonetheless, it is a good book and the main characters are thoroughly entertaining thanks to the peculiar habits that they seem to have. I am a softie when it comes to romance so my view might have been biased. But die hard romantics can always read and enjoy this book because a love story, no matter how it is told and whom it is between, it is always a love story and manages to reach the heart.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Next Review: Night Tales by Nora Roberts

New Avenues…

I have been doing many forms of writing- mostly poetry, a little bit of prose, short stories, letters etc. I thought that it’s high time I turn a new leaf and try something new. Out of my curiosity to try something different and as suggested by my dear friend Archana, I have decided to start writing book reviews.

Let me also mention here that I am no literary genius and hence not exactly qualified as such to applaud or criticise an author. So instead of calling them “Reviews”, I would rather call them my opinions since ultimately what I write will be my opinion about the book and how I perceived it.

So here I am, planning to start a new venture. I will try my best to give a proper overview of the book, mention what I liked about the book and what I didn’t and also the loop holes, if at all I feel that the book has any. And most importantly, I will definitely not be a spoiler and leak the plot. So don’t worry about it… 🙂

Upcoming Review: Brighter Than The Sun by JuliaQuinn