Reviewer: Holly Suite 606 by J. D. Robb, Mary Blayney, R.C. Ryan, Mary Kay McComas
Series: In Death #27.5
Also in this series: Creation in Death, Strangers in Death, Salvation in Death, Kindred In Death, Naked in Death, Glory in Death, The Lost, Rapture in Death, Immortal in Death, New York to Dallas, Celebrity in Death, Brotherhood in Death, Fantasy in Death
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: November 4th 2008
Genres: Fiction, Anthologies (multiple authors)
Pages: 352
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Series Rating:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb headlines a hot new anthology of paranormal romance.
FEATURING A NEW EVE DALLAS NOVELLA.
J.D. Robb plunges Lieutenant Eve Dallas into the violent aftermath of a ritualistic murder.
Mary Blayney, investigates a deception that has kept two lovers apart for years.
Ruth Ryan Langan brings a lost man out of a storm to face a breathtaking twist of fate.
And Mary Kay McComas follows a mother, her son, and a wizard lost through the threads of time.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb headlines a hot new anthology of paranormal romance.
FEATURING A NEW EVE DALLAS NOVELLA.
I’m not going to lie. I only bought this because I wanted to read the Eve/Roarke entry. I’m completely obsessed with the series and buy each and every book that comes out – no matter the length. I’m sure you can imagine my surprise when it turned out the In Death entry wasn’t my favorite of the collection.
J.D. Robb plunges Lieutenant Eve Dallas into the violent aftermath of a ritualistic murder – and into the mind of an alleged witness who can’t remember a thing to save his life.
My favorite In Death books are the ones where Eve is taken out of her comfort zone, whether it be personally or professionally. As anyone who’s read the series knows, Eve is extremely uncomfortable with any kind of “woo-woo” stuff. A ritualistic murder that looks like something to do with the occult definitely falls in the woo-woo category. Throw in the fact that Roarke is determined to deal with it by unconventional means and a great story was in the making.
I really enjoyed all the elements of it, I was just a bit disappointed in how fast everything was wrapped up. I don’t know about the other fans of the series, but one of my favorite elements are Eve’s cases. This case was interesting, but it didn’t take long to solve and I didn’t like how little face time everything got. Naturally, as this is a novella, I wasn’t expecting a saga, but..I guess it was just a bit too rushed.
Still, it was a nice little entry and I wasn’t totally disappointed.
4 out of 5
Love endures for Mary Blayney, who investigates the connection between a ghost, a magic coin, and a deception that has kept two lovers apart for years.
I really enjoyed this entry. Summer and Stephen were madly in love, but due to a misunderstanding were separated and Summer married Stephen’s best friend, Reggie, instead. Several years later they’re reunited, but moving past old hurts may not be as easy at it seems – especially when you add an interfering ghost into the mix.
The dialogue was wonderful and the story well-told, but the author kind of lost me towards the end with Suite 606. In this entry Suite 606 is a magical place for couples to go to work out their differences. I think the cheese factor was just a bit too high for it to work for me.
I did really enjoy the resolution. It was kind of sugary sweet, but I liked it. I do think Reggie needed to get more of a comeuppance, but then we all know I’m kind of a bloodthirsty gal.
4.5 out of 5
Ruth Ryan Langan brings a lost man out of a pounding storm and into the arms of a welcoming woman for a breathtaking twist of fate.
The premise behind this story was a good one. Sam is a burned out cop who just lost his partner (kind of an overused element, but it worked) who needs time for himself. Mary Catherine and Anna are stuck under their step-father’s thumb until Anna, the youngest, is 18 and can leave. Mary Catherine and Sam are instantly attracted to each other and it isn’t long before they’re doing more than just waiting out the storm.
The problem is that the story didn’t really seem to go anywhere. BEWARE: SPOILERS AHEAD Sam is supposedly the best investigator when it comes to cold cases because he seems to just have an intuition about what happened. It turns out that he basically dreamt the whole thing. The thing is, there was really no resolution one way or the other. Things are left open in the past and open in the present. Had she firmed things up a bit this would have worked much better for me.
3 out of 5
And Mary Kay McComas follows a mother and son lost in the threads of history and an impaired wizard who must return them to their own world to fulfill his own destiny – in time.
This is by far my favorite of this anthology. It started off kind of slow for me, but after the first chapter it really picked up and I was drawn right in. The thread of this story shows up in each of the previous. I thought it was really clever and fun, especially since I wondered how things played out from the previous (I’m trying not to spoil it, but it’s hard!) stories.
All the elements of this novella worked for me. After being seriously injured in a car accident, Marie became addicted to prescription drugs. She’s been clean for several years now, but she’s still trying to mend the rift her addiction caused between her and her son, Hugh. The pain between them was real and went deep, and I like that the author didn’t try to just gloss over it.
They’re in a museum together when a glass case pops open and Hugh is transported back in time by the magical stone inside. Nester is the wizard the stone belongs to and the three of them have to find a way to get back to the present. The story was a lot of fun and really worked for me. I loved seeing the different places they traveled.
I loved the relationship between Marie and Nester. It wasn’t an “instant attraction”, but more a slow “getting to know you”. I really liked that it wasn’t rushed. I wasn’t sure how things were going to end up, but I was totally satisfied.
My only complaint? I didn’t want it to end. This is the first thing I’ve read by McComas, but it definitely won’t be the last.
4.75 out of 5
Overall this is a great anthology. I definitely found some new authors to glom.
4.5 out of 5
This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.