Tuesday 15 April 2014

The Collector by Nora Roberts

     


Lila Emerson is fascinated by other people's lives. As a house-sitter, she loves looking after the glamorous, sophisticated homes she could never afford herself. And as a writer, she enjoys watching the world go by, dreaming up stories for the people she sees from her window.

But then one day she witnesses something only too real - the brutal and shocking murder of a young woman living across the street in
New York. And now, because of what she saw, Lila's own life is in immediate danger from an audacious, single-minded assassin who kills for profit and for pleasure.

With the police following a false lead, Lila is on her own. Her only hope is to team up with Ashton Archer, an artist with his own complicated reasons for getting involved. Lila wants to trust the passionate, quick-witted Ash - but is she letting her feelings blind her to his motives? Either way, Lila will never watch from the sidelines again...




Advanced copy received from publisher for an honest review 

I have to say, I have enjoyed every book of Nora Robert/JD Robb I have read so far, and this was no different with The Collector.

Professional house sitter and writer Lila enjoys a bit of people watching, making up tales for herself of the people she observes.

Until the night she witnesses a murder.

What ensues is a tale of romance, murder, suspense, mystery, intrigue. 

Enter Ashton Archer - brother of one of the murder victims.  And now things get interesting.

Ash and Lila's worlds are already more interweaved more than they realise, but now they are forever entwined. 

We are drawn into a world of murder, mystery and priceless antiquities.  We have a story that shows us just what lengths some people will go to to get what they want.   And what other people will do just for the love of it (definitely not my kind of fun!)

While this is a suspenseful book, the suspense is not in the "who dunnit?" aspect of the story, as it is not really a secret who does things,  It is more of a where and when suspense. 

There are secondary characters in The Collector, some that I loathe and some that I love.  I love love love Luke and Julie.  With a little history of their own which plays out in the story, they are the perfect balance for all that is happening in Lila and Ash's life.

Whether writing as Nora Roberts or JD Robb, I am always taken on a ride with her stories.  We ride the highs and the lows of her characters and their relationships and she draws us right into their lives.  

While I did miss the little twist in the tale that we usually get when writing as  JD Robb (who doesn't love Roarke and the In Death series), this leans a bit more to the romance side of things, which I still love love love.

Ms Roberts could write the telephone book, and I would still read it!



ABOUT NORA ROBERTS
(taken from her Goodreads profile)

Eleanor Marie Robertson was born on October 10, 1950 in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. She was the youngest of five children, also the only girl, of a marriage with Irish ancestors. Her family were avid readers, so books were always important in her life. She attended a Catholic school and credits the nuns with instilling in her a sense of discipline. During her sophomore year in high school, she transferred to a local public school, where she met Ronald Aufdem-Brinke, her future first husband.

In February 1979, a blizzard forced her hand to try another creative outlet. She was snowed in with a three- and a six-year-old with no kindergarten respite in sight and a dwindling supply of chocolate. During the now famous blizzard, she pulled out a pencil and notebook and began to write down one of her stories. It was then that a career was born. Several manuscripts and rejections later, her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981 under the authorship of Nora Roberts, a shortened form of her birth name Eleanor Marie Robertson, because she assumed that all authors had pen names.

Eleanor wrote, under another pseudonym (Jill March), a story titled "Melodies of Love" for a magazine.

In 1992, she adopted another pseudonym so as to publish a futuristic-suspense novel series. She first decided to use the pseudonym D.J. MacGregor, but discovered that this pseudonym was used by another author. In 1995, her first "In Death" serial novel was published under the pseudonym J.D. Robb. The initials "J.D." were taken from her sons, Jason and Dan, while "Robb" is a shortened form of Roberts.

Eleanor has also been known as Sara Hardesty, because when the "Born In" series was released in
U.K. it carried that name instead of Nora Roberts. She has since changed publishers.

 
A founding member of the Romance Writers of America (R.W.A.), Eleanor was the first inductee in the organization's Hall of Fame. She also is a member of several writers' groups and has won countless awards.