Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts
A satisfying romantic suspense with a capable heroine. The romance lacks intensity, but a decent mystery plot keeps the pages turning.
The thing about Nora Roberts is that I almost always enjoy her books—just never enough to want to buy her next one and let’s not even contemplate her backlist. Chasing Fire is no exception.
Rowan Tripp is an experienced firefighter with the US equivalent of the rural fire service, but it’s a little different this time. She lost a jump partner in a freak accident the previous season, and it seems someone has put the blame squarely at her feet.
There are a pool potential suspects, even though Rowan isn’t comfortable thinking that any of them could be capable of sabotage and murder. Aside from staff at the base station, there’s her fellow fire fighters, who rely on each other’s trust for survival. There’s also the newest batch of smoke-jumping recruits—firefighters who get flown into a middle of a bush fire.
One of these recruits is Gull Curry—perhaps one of the least romantic names I’ve seen in the genre—who is immediately attracted to Tripp’s ‘package’ and ‘attitude’. Curry’s a nice guy…and remains so throughout the entire book. The romance develops gradually, but it’s not quite central to the story. It’s nice to have, but not essential.
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New York to Dallas by J. D. Robb (In Death, Book 33)
The plot brings nothing new to crime fiction. Nevertheless, this is a reasonably good thriller that should allow In Death series fans to finally get some closure on Eve Dallas’s traumatic past.
I almost didn’t finish this book. In fact, it was almost DNF before it even really began. I’ve read the first few J. D. Robb novels, and I read Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta series until the plot and characters went a bit WTF. So I’m not a stranger to crime fiction and the serial criminals that authors like to foist on readers.
But, for some reason, the beginning of New York to Dallas had my tummy churning. Serial child rapist Isaac McQueen was Eve Dallas’s first major arrest, and now he’s escaped prison. He’s determined to make Eve pay for putting him in prison, and forces her to return to Dallas.
Readers of the series will know that Dallas is where, as a child, Eve finally escaped from her abusive father by stabbing him as he tried to rape her. Eve thinks she’s dealt with her past, but we—and husband Roarke—know this isn’t entirely true.
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Viper's Kiss by Shannon Curtis
A fun romp, but lacks the depth I want in a romance and the plausibility I want in suspense.
I’ll be honest. This book is a bit all over the place. The title smacks of the paranormal—snake shifters, anyone?—but the story is romantic suspense and ‘Viper’ is the codename for a notorious spy.
The cover is beefy, but the more sympathetic character is librarian heroine Maggie Kincaid, who is mistaken for Viper and is trying to avoid arrest, capture and/or torture, depending on who’s doing the chasing.
Luke Fletcher is a private security operative—ex-Special Forces, of course—hired to track down Viper and the top-secret technology she’s stolen from a research facility.
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Border Watch by Helene Young (formerly called Border Watch)
In which we discover that an Aussie book by a real Aussie does not include the words ‘fair dinkum’.
You can probably tell that I haven’t read many Aussie authored novels. Or, if I have, I didn’t really know they were. Or they weren’t set here (or in this era!). Most of my Australian based romances came in category form, where characters lived in the outback, were written by Americans, said ‘ass’ instead of ‘arse’ (Kat’s mega pet peeve) and said ‘fair dinkum’ a hell of a lot. Now, there’s nothing wrong with ‘fair dinkum,’ but honestly I think I have heard it fewer times than the number of years I have been in this country.
Wings of Fear was nothing like the stereotypical category romance I read growing up, proving that if you want to write about Australia, you really do need an Aussie to get it right.
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Border Watch by Helene Young (retitled as Wings of Fear)
Intelligently written and down to earth without being boring, this is a book to refresh your romantic palate without completely departing from the genre.
This review was previously posted on the Australian Romance Readers Association blog.
The first in a trilogy based on Australia’s aviation industry, Border Watch by Helene Young is the story of Captain Morgan Pentland, who has overcome a childhood of violence to become a border patrol pilot, and Commander Rafe Daniels, a former SAS officer who suspects Morgan of leaking information to terrorists.
Sparks flew between Morgan and Rafe from the moment they met and when Rafe joins Morgan’s team, they share a combative banter, unwilling to admit to their attraction. A terrorist attack brings them closer and they develop a mutual admiration and respect for the other’s strength, but remain unwilling to get involved.
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Red Dust by Fleur McDonald
BOOK GIVEAWAY: Read on for a chance to win a signed copy of Red Dust. The contest ends midnight on Wednesday, December 23 AEST.
Fleur McDonald’s debut novel evokes the rugged beauty of the Australian outback through the eyes of a strong protagonist, but this might not be enough for genre readers.
If there’s one type of contemporary romance I’d like to see more of, it’s the good old outback romance. I don’t mean generic romances set in the outback where the hero is a land baron with money to spare. I mean romances set in the harsh landscape of rural Australia, where people struggle against the vagaries of nature, and where I can feel the hot dust on my tongue as I read the story.
If there’s one thing Red Dust does well, it’s capturing the beauty and roughness of outback Australia.
When Gemma Sinclair’s husband dies in a plane crash, she takes on the task of managing Billbinya, their 100,000-hectare sheep station. Although she’s managing to stay afloat
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Dark Country by Bronwyn Parry
BOOK GIVEAWAY: Read on for a chance to win a free copy of Dark Country. The contest ends midnight on Friday, December 11 AEST.
Bronwyn Parry’s second novel is a much more intricate thriller that balances romance and suspense in a way that should appeal to the broadest possible audience.
Dark Country opens with Morgan ‘Gil’ Gillespie’s return to Dungirri, hinting at his troubled past and discomfort at returning to a place that holds nothing but bad memories. He’d been involved in a fatal car accident that landed him in prison, so he’s not expecting a warm welcome from the town. Along the way, he meets police sergeant Kris Matthews. Gil is wary of cops, but an incident sparked by old grievances puts him under Kris’s care for the next 24 hours.
The next day, a dead woman is found in the boot of Gil’s car, and as violence escalates, Gil realises he’s endangering the people he cares about and that it may be impossible to walk away from the town this time around.
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As Darkness Falls by Bronwyn Parry
The first I heard of As Darkness Falls by Australian author Bronwyn Parry was a small blurb in the Dymocks Booklovers catalogue. I was intrigued because it sounded like a romance (just because the catalogue says it’s romance doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be genre Romance), it’s set in Australia, and it looked meaty. When I finally got my hands on the book, the cover promises: “If you enjoy reading Nora Roberts you will love…” That is a big call, I thought, especially since it’s the author’s first novel. But after reading As Darkness Falls, I think it really is a book that Nora Roberts fans might like. It’s a shame, then, that so few Australian romance bookstores have it in their catalogues.
As Darkness Falls centres on Detective Isabelle O’Connell, who has isolated herself from society to recover from some serious personal trauma resulting from an investigation into a child killer. Not only had she been unable to find the killer in time, she had been unable to protect a local suspect from falling victim to an angry mob. But when she receives a visit from Detective Chief Inspector Alec Goddard informing her that another girl has gone missing in her hometown of Dungirri, Isabelle is compelled to go back home and help solve the case.
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Shadow Hawk by Jill Shalvis
Shadow Hawk has been doing the blog rounds. Jill Shalvis is an engaging writer–you only have to visit her blog to know that–but I’m sure the yummy cover also has something to do with the popularity of this book. (Hey, notice the different cover on the Aussie Blaze? We don’t cut off the sexy model’s head!) I’m not really into beefcake, but even I was mesmerised. (The comments I got when I added this book on Facebook!) The suspense in this story is a bit thin, but the wooing and the cavorting are fun to read.
The heroine
Abby Wells used to be a great ATF field agent until she was captured and tortured by the bad guys. Now, she’s not quite sure of herself, and even though she’s back on the job, she still carries some heavy emotional baggage. She’s also sworn off personal relationships, even if the sight of Hawk makes her … sweat.
The hero
Conner Hawk is an ATF field agent who’s determined to nail the mastermind of a scheme to blackmail corporations using kiddie bombers. Hawk suspects someone high up within the ATF but has no proof.
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High Noon by Nora Roberts
It’s clear why Nora Roberts is beloved by so many romance readers. Her voice is gentle but not wussy, and her characters are interesting but real. While I have some stylistic issues with this novel, they weren’t enough to distract me from a well-crafted storyline and believable, lovable characters.
I bought this book on the strength of Rosie’s post here. What struck me most about the story is that even though the characters’ circumstances are sometimes unusual—Phoebe’s mother has agoraphobia, Duncan won a bazillion dollars in a lottery—they still felt very real to me. Roberts does an excellent job of keeping the characters consistent, and I never felt that any one of them, including the secondary characters, acted out of character throughout the novel. The suspense plot isn’t shoddy, either, although it sags a little in the middle. Roberts gives enough information for me to understand what’s happening and to create the right atmosphere. It *felt* right, which is all that matters to me since I know nothing about law enforcement.
I do have an issue with some of Roberts’s POV choice because not all of the transitions in the narrative are smooth. Readers who hate head hopping will probably find this a problem.
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