It's kind of inevitable when you work in libraryland that at some point you will start talking about books. When I first started at my new place they asked me what I liked to read and I gave a few examples - to be honest I'll pretty much read anything. I have no bias towards one genre or another and embrace them all. Some are winners, the majority fall somewhere in the middle, and then there are the massive losers: step up J.D. Robb and the Eve Dallas series.
"Oh you have to read the Eve Dallas series - so good". This was the majority statement from most of my new work colleagues. Duly noted, I looked up the first in the series, Naked in Death, (hello, Fantastic Fiction, you rock!) and added it to my bedside reading pile.
What a load of hoo-ey old granny pants! Rubbish! Loser with a capital L. I properly took against it.
First of all, it's set in the future. Erm, what? No-one told me this in their recommendation so it was a huge surprise from the first page to find it set in a time when there are flying cars, coffee doesn't exist, and everything is controlled by machines that you speak in to when you want something to happen.
Second of all, the so-called hot romance between Dallas and Rourke is about as sexy as soggy fish. I am not a prude in any way shape or form, but the shagging scenes mainly made me feel uncomfortable. As did the swearing. So much swearing. But not really in context, almost just thrown in there to try to be edgy and all down with the kids. When you look at her other books, when she is Nora Roberts, they are all the colours of the pastel rainbow and sound a bit soppy/sappy. I don't get it at all.
The storyline was hardly page turning either. Basically the whole experience was like a soggy fish to me - unappetising and a bit stomach turning.
Lessons learned from this experience:
1. My new work colleagues like to read strange books...
2. ...and we probably don't share the same taste in books
3. J.D. Robb will not be featuring in any more of my book reading pile
4. Nor will Nora Roberts
5. Soggy fish are not sexy
Anyone else out there read this series? I'd love to know what you thought - do you stand with the fish or the libraryland peeps?
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