Love By Design

Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: I think I must be this writer's biggest fan ever! I loved this story! I was completely lost in the plot during the entire story! This book is by far better than Ms. Roberts last few! Welcome Back Nora, I have missed you!

Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: I think I must be this writer's biggest fan ever! I loved this story! I was completely lost in the plot during the entire story! This book is by far better than Ms. Roberts last few! Welcome Back Nora, I have missed you!

Rating:
Summary: Early, Awful
Review: I wish the publishers of Ms. Roberts earliest novels would NOT publish them as new releases. The two stories in this book are just awful. Really awful. They are as bad as some of the junk that other romance genre writers churn out even to this day.

I love Nora Roberts books from about 1998 on. And I am very fond of her J.D. Robb murder series. Especially the latest which are hip, sharp and witty which makes them selectively collectible.

However, with this offering save your money because Love by Design really sucks.

Rating:
Summary: Early, Awful
Review: I wish the publishers of Ms. Roberts earliest novels would NOT publish them as new releases. The two stories in this book are just awful. Really awful. They are as bad as some of the junk that other romance genre writers churn out even to this day.

I love Nora Roberts books from about 1998 on. And I am very fond of her J.D. Robb murder series. Especially the latest which are hip, sharp and witty which makes them selectively collectible.

However, with this offering save your money because Love by Design really sucks.

Rating:
Summary: Storyline
Review: Loving Jack by Nora Roberts
Somehow her own fictional brooding hero had turned up in person right under her own roof, and now all romance writer Jackie MacNamara had to do was convince stubborn Nathan Powell that happily-ever-after began at home - and in her arms....

Best Laid Plans by Nora Roberts
She was the sexiest thing in a hard hat that architect Cody Johnson had ever seen, but structural engineer Abra Wilson also had a will as strong as a steel girder - and just about as flexible. But Cody had plans for Abra that not even this spirited beauty could resist....

Two classic novels from #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts.

And don't miss Lawless - the historical romance written by the heroine of Loving Jack, coming next month from her creator, Nora Roberts!

Rating:
Summary: Ouch.
Review: Well, if nothing else, these two books (published originally in '89) do serve as examples of how terrible Roberts' writing was back then. First off, this is an overpriced collection of two old Silhouette novels that were rehabilitated into a more attractive package with Nora Roberts' famous name plastered in very large letters on the front.

The first story, Loving Jack, was *terrible*. Through a bizarre set of circumstances, a slightly unserious female with a heart of gold ends up living in the same house as a man unwilling to commit due to his Tragic And Lonely Past. The plot itself only has the fault of being cliched - it's her characters that are truly awful. Jackie is overbearingly perfect - she's a wonderful cook, charismatic, good at giving parties, and also possessing of a brilliant mind with in-depth knowledge in painting, architecture, Latin, and various other skills, but for the moment has decided to do what her heart compels her - romance novel writing. One cannot shake off the slightly terrifying feeling that Roberts is doing some sort of psychotic cameo in here, and it lingers throughout the entirety of the novel. [To make matters worse, the book Jackie writes really was published by Roberts as a historical Harlequin novel in October '03.] As for the love interest, Nathan, he is a staid sort of male. He has all the right characteristics - a brooding, confused, handsome sort of guy afraid to commit because of aforementioned Tragic And Lonely Past, all resulting in the most boring male ever in a Roberts book. The addition of the goddess-like Jackie MacNamara results in pure and undiluted tedium.

The second story, Best Laid Plans, isn't that bad, all things considering. Cody is a determined, amusing sort of fellow, and one who takes having a beer dumped on his head considerably well. An architect (partners in a firm with Nathan from the previous book) meets the hard-headed engineer on a desert resort project. He pursues, she refuses, also due to her Tragic And Lonely Past, and narrowly escapes being the most tedious female character in Roberts' novels because she has the very beginnings of a personality. Abra, despite her being a strong and smart female on a largely male-dominated area of work, falls into the hole of needing a man to save her at important moments. Take a scene near the beginning where she's in danger - she stands still, he saves her [bacon]. Take a scene near the end - she finds a dangerous object and immediately starts screaming for him. She is incapable of thinking without her man, which is very annoying. Aside from this, though, the novel ends (rather predictably, but not badly) and is concluded with a rather cutesy epilogue. The End.

On the females in these two novels: I think these novels were written in a stage where females had to possess only the concept of independence; at important or dangerous moments, the character reverts to "clingy screaming woman", the kind that it's very tempting to slap around. Jackie is perfectly domestic, Abra is perfectly dependent, and they both get their men and live happily ever after, plus children. Though it's not exactly a terrible fate, the characters are inevitably flat. One expects a better level of writing from Roberts now, but don't go looking for it here.

Rating:
Summary: Ouch.
Review: Well, if nothing else, these two books (published originally in '89) do serve as examples of how terrible Roberts' writing was back then. First off, this is an overpriced collection of two old Silhouette novels that were rehabilitated into a more attractive package with Nora Roberts' famous name plastered in very large letters on the front.

The first story, Loving Jack, was *terrible*. Through a bizarre set of circumstances, a slightly unserious female with a heart of gold ends up living in the same house as a man unwilling to commit due to his Tragic And Lonely Past. The plot itself only has the fault of being cliched - it's her characters that are truly awful. Jackie is overbearingly perfect - she's a wonderful cook, charismatic, good at giving parties, and also possessing of a brilliant mind with in-depth knowledge in painting, architecture, Latin, and various other skills, but for the moment has decided to do what her heart compels her - romance novel writing. One cannot shake off the slightly terrifying feeling that Roberts is doing some sort of psychotic cameo in here, and it lingers throughout the entirety of the novel. [To make matters worse, the book Jackie writes really was published by Roberts as a historical Harlequin novel in October '03.] As for the love interest, Nathan, he is a staid sort of male. He has all the right characteristics - a brooding, confused, handsome sort of guy afraid to commit because of aforementioned Tragic And Lonely Past, all resulting in the most boring male ever in a Roberts book. The addition of the goddess-like Jackie MacNamara results in pure and undiluted tedium.

The second story, Best Laid Plans, isn't that bad, all things considering. Cody is a determined, amusing sort of fellow, and one who takes having a beer dumped on his head considerably well. An architect (partners in a firm with Nathan from the previous book) meets the hard-headed engineer on a desert resort project. He pursues, she refuses, also due to her Tragic And Lonely Past, and narrowly escapes being the most tedious female character in Roberts' novels because she has the very beginnings of a personality. Abra, despite her being a strong and smart female on a largely male-dominated area of work, falls into the hole of needing a man to save her at important moments. Take a scene near the beginning where she's in danger - she stands still, he saves her [bacon]. Take a scene near the end - she finds a dangerous object and immediately starts screaming for him. She is incapable of thinking without her man, which is very annoying. Aside from this, though, the novel ends (rather predictably, but not badly) and is concluded with a rather cutesy epilogue. The End.

On the females in these two novels: I think these novels were written in a stage where females had to possess only the concept of independence; at important or dangerous moments, the character reverts to "clingy screaming woman", the kind that it's very tempting to slap around. Jackie is perfectly domestic, Abra is perfectly dependent, and they both get their men and live happily ever after, plus children. Though it's not exactly a terrible fate, the characters are inevitably flat. One expects a better level of writing from Roberts now, but don't go looking for it here.