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Remember When

Remember When

List Price: $39.95
Your Price: $27.17
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Nora Teams with Nora!
Review: Tongue in cheek, Nora Roberts teams with her alter ego, J.D. Robb, to create a two-books-in-one surprise.

This is one of those Nora blockbusters that you simply can't put down, and that you love every step of the way. The first story, which takes place in the present day, follows Laine Tavish, owner of an antiques store in Angels Gap, MD, and sexy hunk Max Gannon, who has been sent to Angels Gap on the trail of missing diamonds worth countless millions.

Good at his job, Max has already found out Laine's deep, dark secret: She is the daughter of a well-known thief who has eluded police for years. What Max doesn't know, however, is if Laine knows about the diamond heist--or knows that a major, cold-blooded killer is after her and the booty he thinks she has. Forced to investigate further, Max meets Laine, and in true Nora Roberts fashion, sparks fly. Next thing you know, Max and Laine are embroiled in a hot-hot love affair and a quest that now threatens both their lives.

Fast-forward over 50 years. Now J.D. Robb (Nora) takes up the story with our favorite New York cop, Eve Dallas. When a series of brutal murders of innocent young women grips the city, Dallas becomes embroiled in the case--and uncovers a strange connection to a diamond heist that happened many decades before. It seems that Samantha Gannon, granddaughter of the very same Max and Laine, has written a best-seller about her grandparents' one-time involvement with the famous heist. Her book states that a quarter of the booty was never recovered...and with that information, the book sets off a crime spree that can only be solved by delving into the past.

Perfect Nora--perfect Robb. Read this book!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An author that does the work of two...
Review: In the present, Laine has made a new life for herself by pulling the biggest con of her life. She reinvented herself into a respectable antique dealer, someone no one would suspect of being Jack O'Hara, conman's, daughter. In one fatal moment, her past catches up to her when her "uncle" comes back into her life only moments before being run down by a car. His last words are ones she takes as incoherent ramblings, until insurance investigator Max Gannon shows up looking for diamonds that her father and uncle were responsible for stealing. Max is not the only one looking for the treasure; Jack and his deadly partner are as well; and the partner, Alex Crew, wants all the diamonds. Anyone who gets in his way, including Laine, is a target for murder. Max, Laine, and Jack partner to find the diamonds and stop Alex before more people die. In the process, Laine and Max fall in love.

Fifty years later, Max and Laine's granddaughter has capitalized on their love story and written a bestseller about how three quarters of the treasure was found. One fourth is still lost, and though Alex Crew is dead, there are still people who want to kill for them. That makes them Eve Dallas' business. When bodies begin turning up near Samantha, Eve and Roarke step in to put the saga to rest once and for all.

***** Remember When perfectly meshes the two halves of Ms. Roberts' persona into a novel that goes down smooth as Irish whiskey. Whether you love her romantic books or her futuristic thrillers, you will enjoy this. Her trademark flair combines with originality to keep you rooted to the edge of your seat, and sorry to turn the last page that you have been compelled to race to. ***** Amanda Killgore

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pretty good
Review: I have to agree with one of the other reviews on this book in regards to Part 2 not really involving the Samantha Gannon character. When I first started reading it I had assumed that Part 2 would be about Laine Tavish's granddaughter, but it wasn't. It only referred to the book Samantha was writing. Samantha was a big part of the first chapter of Part 2, but then that was it. The rest of Part 2 was about Eve and Roarke and being I haven't read any other J.D. Robb novels I can't say I understood their humor, marriage, or background nor did I really care for the character of Eve. I found Eve to be rude, obnoxious and down right nasty to the "little" people like waiters, doormen, security guards, receptionists. It appears Eve claims her rude personality is a privilege for her lieutenant position and thinks nothing of treating those in lower positions like dirt. She even encourages Peabody to do the same. As a prior receptionist and security guard, I can guarantee there are detectives and lieutenants that do not conduct themselves in this childish manner and still get what they need to do their jobs. I've always gone out of my way in order to help police personnel and never once was I treated the way Eve treated everybody. I guess I'm writing a book on this topic, but it's really the only thing that annoyed me in Remember When. I won't be reading any more J.D. Robb novels, but I will still read books by Nora Roberts. Overall, it was a good mystery, but I kind of figured out who the killer was after the second chapter in Part 2 which left me flipping pages on Eve and Roarke's awful sex scenes just to finish the book. Part 1 gets a 5, Part 2 gets a 3, overall a 4.

SPOILER ALERT!! DON'T READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU HAVEN'T YET READ THE BOOK!!

I think a mistake the author makes alot in her books is that she tends to give away vital information that takes away from the mystery of the book. Re: Hidden Riches among others. For example, in the part when Max and Jack O'Hara went into Ohio to see Alex Crews' ex-wife she should've taken out the fact the there was a son involved and that they supposedly moved to Florida. It ruined the whole mystery.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Offended
Review: Did anyone else find this use, of Gods name, in its various forms, to be offensive??
I have read all Nora's books, but cannot "remember when" I have seen so much attention to Our Lord's Name. I am a great fan, but I find this new road to be very offensive. There are multitudes of writers out there that I might expect this from and was very disappointed to find that Nora is becoming one with them.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Happiness meets Disappointment
Review: I am a devoted Roberts fan. Part I of this book delivered. However, Part II was very lacking especially following 'the story' in Part I. I agree with previous reviewer that Part II would possibly been better if a romance had been woven into the plot. I too figured out 'who dunit' and flipped through the chapters to end the boredom. Eve's 'attitude' started wearing on me after a while.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Roberts vs. Robb: can you be pitted against yourself?
Review: I won't comment on the plotline of the book, which has been more than adequately covered in several other reviews and the synopsis. The story is pretty much as described and to me, was formulaic romance/thriller stuff.

I'm a big fan of the Robb alter-ego, not so much of the recent Roberts' work. This book turned out to be no exception, as I found myself flipping through the first half of the book in my haste to get the the second half.

I was completely unimpressed with the storyline to begin with - there are only so many times we should have to hear the story of some plucky little heroine with a charming rogue of a daddy who did something bad and sent the family into ruin. It's been done to death, and Roberts adds nothing new to it. I was not intrigued or interested in the pairing of the two romantic leads, mostly because they just seemed so bland and I felt like I'd probably read about them before in one of Roberts' other books.

Skipping ahead to part 2, we're treated to Eve Dallas being brought into the storyline, which perked it up considerably to me. I disagree with others who say this was the same old, same old from Robb. This was a wonderful chapter in the continuing story of how Eve and Roarke are learning to live with each other and how Eve is starting to let people get close to her while still maintaining that tough cop attitude that is so much fun. The whole wrapping up of part 1 by Eve in part 2 was boring, but that had more to do with the bad start than it did to the Eve/Roarke characters or the "Robb" writing which is as crisp as ever.

I was pleased to read more Eve and Roarke, but sincerely hope Roberts doesn't pull a stunt like this again and try to merge her two writing personalities. They don't go together and when she forces the two side by side, we're reminded again that this woman has written so many books (a great many of them wonderful) that characters and plots are all starting to sound alike.

I'm looking forward to the next Robb book, less than happy that now that she's been "outed" as Nora Roberts that her publisher decided to start printing those in hardcovers too. There is such a thing as having too many books out at once, something I hope Ms. Roberts and her publishers realize before putting out something like this again.

The first part of the book got a 2 from me, the second half, a 4.5, with a median score of just over 3 in total. I'd recommend the book for someone looking for some mindless romantic reading, but this really isn't one of Roberts' best efforts.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: decent but not great
Review: I had such high hopes for this book. I loved the first half, written as Nora Roberts. It was funny, sexy, fast-paced, exciting and just great. The characters were lively and well thought out.

Then I read the second half, the J.D. Robb story. It was a typical Eve Dallas tale and not bad as such. But the plot was obvious and I had the killer figured out from the beginning. It was too predictable and became boring quickly.

An entertaining read, but not one of her best.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Disappointment Part II
Review: This combined storytelling of Nora Roberts and alter ego J.D. Robb was brilliant in its conception, but a little short on execution. While I enjoyed Part I very much, I was very disappointed that Part II didn't stray from the Eve Dallas formula in order to tell the story of Samantha Gannon from her POV- which I was hoping would happen. Don't get me wrong, I like the Eve Dallas novels, but after reading the story of Laine Tavish, I was really looking forward to reading a romance that involved her grand-daughter, and not the old been-there-done-that romance of Eve and Roake. Plus I figured out who the perp was in about chapter two...doesn't make for too great of a mystery. My advice - try it if you really, really can't get enough of Eve Dallas.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: She's done it again!
Review: When I realized that Nora Roberts was "co-writing" a book with her own alter-ego JD Robb, I began to bounce up and down like a child on christmas morning. I have been a Nora Roberts fan since I was around 17 or 18 (she being one of the only romance writers I can enjoy) and have been devouring her work since. I got hooked on her JD Robb stuff about 5 years ago, and now whine my way through the 6 month gap between books. So, you can imagine my anticipation for this book.

First of all, I bought it in hardcover, which is a rare purchase for me. With the exception of Nora Novels, I rarely buy hardcover...too much money. And I read it in one night...couldn't put it down.

It starts out as a Nora Novel, with the events happenning in 2003. Then it flashes over 50 years forward and Eve Dallas (one of the best characters ever) becomes entangled in a case involving the descendants of the first part of the novel.

What a great melding of her two styles, while staying true to both aspects of herself.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sexy story of love overcoming human damage
Review: When her father and three partners is responsible for a multimillion dollar jewel heist, Laine Tavish is torn. She's put her con-man father in her past but she still loves him. She can't just turn him over to private investigator Max Gannon. On the other hand, her father's life is in danger because one of the partners has decided to keep all of the diamonds for himself. Keeping herself, and her father alive become the challenges. It doesn't hurt, though, that Laine has fallen in love with the hunky Max. And Max will do anything he can to help her. Anything except give up on the diamonds.

In the second portion of the story, Laine and Max's granddaughter has written a best-selling book about the diamond heist and her grandparents' role in its solution. When she returns from a publicity trip, she finds her house has been ransacked and her housesitter murdered. Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas and significant other billionaire Roarke discover that the murder is connected to the now-ancient diamond confidence scam. Someone thinks that the granddaughter knows the secret to the share of the diamonds that went missing and will stop at nothing to get them for himself.

Author Nora Roberts (the book is billed as a collaboration between Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb, a Nora Roberts pseudonom) combines sizzling sensual attraction with exciting adventure and a pair of women who refuse to back down and let the men in their lives handle the rescuing. Roberts' writing is strong and compelling, dragging the reader into the action. The story of the missing diamonds and the way that they are hidden is clever and believable, but the real strength of the story is in the strong female leads and their romances with the men in their lives.

I'm not sure I buy into letting the final quarter of the diamonds alone at the end of the first half the novel--for me, the justification seemed weak and I don't see how Max would have gone for it. But without it, we wouldn't have the second half the novel so I can't complain too much. I found Roberts/Robb's descriptions of mid-twenty-first century police work interesting and largely convincing. Advanced computer technology, hyper-extensive databases, and sophisticated pattern matching algorithms are reasonable extensions to current research and continued traffic problems are a no-brainer. Roberts assumes that diamonds will still be precious and rare in 2059. I'm betting on dirt-cheap diamonds thanks to synthetic production, but my forecasts are far from perfect.

The attraction of REMEMBER WHEN isn't the futuristic insights or clever cons, though. It's in the romantic entanglements between complex men and women, and the sensuous bonds that bring them together and allow them to overcome the wounds that damaged them and threatened to cut them off from humanity. In Nora Roberts' world, love really does work miracles and she makes us buy into the myth.

Very nice indeed.


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