Remember When

This two-part novel begins with a romantic suspense title and ends with a futuristic mystery.

Laine Tavish is the owner of an antiques shop in rural Maine. She has a hidden life. Once she was the daughter of conman Jack O'Hara and taught by him how to do a wide variety of scams. However, after one too many broken promises, her mother divorced Big Jack and the two learned to live straight. But when an old colleague of her father's comes to see her and dies in a hit-and-run, Laine is pulled back into her father's world.

Max Gannon is a private investigator working for an insurance company and trying to track down a missing lot of diamonds worth several million dollars. Leads take him to Laine whom he suspects of working with her father and show more his colleagues to hide the diamonds.

However, Laine is innocent but has now become the target of one of the conspirators who believes that all of the diamonds should be his and that it is a good plan to kill his "partners" in order to accomplish his goal. He believes that Laine knows where the diamonds are and is willing, even eager, to kill her to find them.

Laine and Max fall in love while he's protecting her from the killer. The pair does manage to locate half the diamonds and, after capturing the villain, manage to find still another quarter of the haul. Leaving one-quarter in the wind.

Fast forward 50-some years to New York City in 2060 where granddaughter Samantha Gannon has written a best-selling novel about her grandparents and the diamond theft. When she returns home after a whirlwind author tour, she discovers the body of her friend and housesitter Andrea gruesomely murdered. Enter Homicide Detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas...

Apparently, someone has read the book and wants to find the lost quarter of the missing diamonds and thinks that Samantha either has them or knows where they are. Eve and her team including civilian consultant and husband Roarke are on the case and unravelling both the past and the present to bring the murderer to justice and maybe just find those last missing diamonds.

Both parts of the story were excellent. Roberts cut her teeth on writing romances and romantic suspense and all the parts work well. Laine and Max are great characters who just mesh. Neither was looking for love and both were hit upside the head with it. And the In Death portion of the story was also excellent. Eve and Roarke also have a timeless sort of love. And the mystery woven through both parts of the story was compelling too.

For me the strength of the writing is in the relationships between the characters which is full of respect and love. Strong people finding each other is at the heart of the romances. Add in brains and the story is complete. show less

This two-part novel begins with a romantic suspense title and ends with a futuristic mystery.

Laine Tavish is the owner of an antiques shop in rural Maine. She has a hidden life. Once she was the daughter of conman Jack O'Hara and taught by him how to do a wide variety of scams. However, after one too many broken promises, her mother divorced Big Jack and the two learned to live straight. But when an old colleague of her father's comes to see her and dies in a hit-and-run, Laine is pulled back into her father's world.

Max Gannon is a private investigator working for an insurance company and trying to track down a missing lot of diamonds worth several million dollars. Leads take him to Laine whom he suspects of working with her father and show more his colleagues to hide the diamonds.

However, Laine is innocent but has now become the target of one of the conspirators who believes that all of the diamonds should be his and that it is a good plan to kill his "partners" in order to accomplish his goal. He believes that Laine knows where the diamonds are and is willing, even eager, to kill her to find them.

Laine and Max fall in love while he's protecting her from the killer. The pair does manage to locate half the diamonds and, after capturing the villain, manage to find still another quarter of the haul. Leaving one-quarter in the wind.

Fast forward 50-some years to New York City in 2060 where granddaughter Samantha Gannon has written a best-selling novel about her grandparents and the diamond theft. When she returns home after a whirlwind author tour, she discovers the body of her friend and housesitter Andrea gruesomely murdered. Enter Homicide Detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas...

Apparently, someone has read the book and wants to find the lost quarter of the missing diamonds and thinks that Samantha either has them or knows where they are. Eve and her team including civilian consultant and husband Roarke are on the case and unravelling both the past and the present to bring the murderer to justice and maybe just find those last missing diamonds.

Both parts of the story were excellent. Roberts cut her teeth on writing romances and romantic suspense and all the parts work well. Laine and Max are great characters who just mesh. Neither was looking for love and both were hit upside the head with it. And the In Death portion of the story was also excellent. Eve and Roarke also have a timeless sort of love. And the mystery woven through both parts of the story was compelling too.

For me the strength of the writing is in the relationships between the characters which is full of respect and love. Strong people finding each other is at the heart of the romances. Add in brains and the story is complete. show less

I enjoy reading most of Nora Roberts books. However, I just haven't warmed up to the novels that she has written under the name of J.D. Robb. "Remember When" was published in 2003. I found a copy at the semi-annual "Friends of the Library" book sale. This novel started out with a lot of promise. I liked the unique idea of spreading the plot over two parts, covering the past, present, and future. The characters were interesting enough. However, it just dragged on too much. I found myself skipping pages, without missing any of the plot. 100 pages could have easily been deleted, to keep this novel more on track.

I enjoy reading most of Nora Roberts books. However, I just haven't warmed up to the novels that she has written under the name of J.D. Robb. "Remember When" was published in 2003. I found a copy at the semi-annual "Friends of the Library" book sale. This novel started out with a lot of promise. I liked the unique idea of spreading the plot over two parts, covering the past, present, and future. The characters were interesting enough. However, it just dragged on too much. I found myself skipping pages, without missing any of the plot. 100 pages could have easily been deleted, to keep this novel more on track.

This is really two novellas with an over-lying story: the theft of 28 million dollars worth of diamonds. Part One is set in 2003 -- that's the Nora Roberts contribution. Part Two is set in 2059 -- that's the J.D. Robb contribution.

Part One: Like most of her contemporaries, Nora Roberts manages to pull off a realistic piece of fiction. The heroine is lovable and tough. The hero is strong, arrogant, and lovable. The thing that always draws me back to books by Roberts is her ability to make me like her characters; and her stories no longer depend on restrictive stereotypes (i.e. weak women that need strong men or emotionally crippled men that need a woman to make them whole again).

The basic story line for Part One: The daughter of a small show more time con man and a PI hunting down said small time con man are thrown together after 28 million in diamonds is stolen by four men.

Part Two: I will ALWAYS read an Eve Dallas story. Beyond the futuristic world and the rather gruesome murders/murderers that Robb creates; Robb has caught my interest with Eve Dallas, Roarke, Peabody, McNab, Feeney, Baxter, Trueheart, Nadine, and Mavis. I couldn't even begin to tell you why all the characters in a J.D. Robb book hook me everytime. Just know that the characters seem very real.

The basic story line for Part Two: 56 years later some of the 28 million dollars in diamonds are still causing trouble. Eve (and the regular cast of characters) is determined to stop that trouble. show less

This was a new style for a Dallas book. The 1st half is about robber and the Heroine fall for the person who is supposed to find the stolen good, it was set in out time. The second half was set in 2059, maybe 2060. The way the 1st half is presented to the 2nd half is pure genius in my mind, but I won't spoil and tell you how it is done. The stolen gems have become Dallas's problem because they are linked to a murder. It thought it was a lot of fun to see the past being linked to the current story of Dallas.
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Part one of this romantic suspense was set in current day and part two is fifty years later. The first story with the romance was pretty good but I got bored with the second half which was just continued crime solving without romance. Laine gets drawn into a theft that might involve her father and PI Max is investigating.