Customer Reviews

Brazen Virtue

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a follow up to Sacred Sins but it stands alone! A very entertaining and suspenseful read.

Here you meet Grace, a murder suspense fiction writer who after a long and tiring book tour comes to DC to spend some down time with her sister Kathleen. Her and her sister have never really gotten along and Grace hopes that her straight-edge sister and her can find a common ground. Kathleen has just divorce and lost custody of her son and is trying to make enough money to hire a lawyer to get him back. So full-time teacher, she starts working evenings as a phone sex operator. Grace is more than a bit concern but Kathleen promises that it is completely safe!

Ed Jackson just bought the house and lives next door....He is fixing the place inside and out to make it truly a home. He is also a detective. Grace and Ed hit it off but one night after coming back from a date, Grace finds Kathleen in her office murdered.

Grace is determined to avenge her sister's death. She believes that the key to the puzzle after a few more women are attacked, is the phone sex business and signs herself up as bait. She know that with her voice being very close to Kathleens, that she can help bring the murderer to justise! Together, they will unlock the secrets and find a home within each other.

A fun, thrilling, quick read. I highly recommend this one!

I loved this book but it had some underdeveloped sub-plots. The real plot, between Grace and Ed Jackson, is nicely constructed. Their interaction is described from the beginning as Grace liking his bedraggled house that he is redoing, and Ed liking Grace's cheerfulness the first time he saw her while working. The interaction was great till the ending too.

I had also liked Tess' character. She's the psychiatrist who ended up analyzing the killer. I liked the juxtaposition of her thoughts with the actual thoughts of the rapist/killer. Roberts wrote a good deal about the psychology of a rapist and how they think they are doing the victim a favor and I thought that was interesting.

But there were a few underdeveloped plots. Like I would have liked to know more about the marriage of Kath and her husband, Jonathan. Roberts only devoted a couple short paragraphs telling readers about them. Also, I would have liked to know the reaction of the son, Kevin, to all of these goings on. Readers didn't even get to know Kevin as a character. At the ending when Grace resolved her feelings for Jonathan, Roberts didn't go into what was said. A few chapters before the book ended, Grace said that she would call some other people and maybe Jonathan about Kath but the book ended without telling readers of the phone call so we were left hanging.

The book was great overall. It had a fast plot and I didn't have to skim over anything like I usually do if the book gets boring in the middle--which it didn't. This is my first book of the series and I understood everything. It can definitely stand alone as a wonderful suspenseful story. So I recommend it.

I bought this book after reading Sacred Sins and enjoying it tremendously. Usually If there is a second book about the other characters in the first book, I have to read it. Brazen Virtue was good, but it was disappointing that Nora Roberts did not go deeper into Ed's character, as I find him quite a fascinating one. With his obsession with healthy food and books, he would have been a lot of fun to get to know better.
The book ended too fast for me, as if Nora Roberts poured most of her creativity into Sacred Sins so that little was left for Brazen Virtue. All in all this was a good read, but Sacred Sins was more satisfying that Brazen Virtue

This book is entertaining, with likable characters, but I thought Nora could have worked a lot more suspense in it, like she did wonderfully in many other novels.

This is the first Nora Roberts book I have ever read. I first picked this one out because I thought it was very interesting looking. I believe that it is. The story just tells itself in a way it is just a really good read. In this book you really feel for all the characters and she writes it so real. When you got a peek at the killer it was very scary and she just gives the reader alot of perspectives with I think is cool. So I really this you should go and read this book.:)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! I went through it in about 4 days. This is the fourth Nora Roberts book I've read (the other ones were the Three Sisters Island Trilogy) and I've enjoyed them all! Lots of mystery, tons of suspense. Keeps you guessing and on your toes thinking and trying to figure out "whodoneit".

I truly enjoyed this book! The story is touching because there is a little "sisterhood" in the beginning. Anyone who has a sister and who is a sister should read this book. If I say anymore, I will give you the rest of the book and you will not read for your self. Enjoy!

When it comes to Nora Roberts', I've most enjoyed the stories in which she has included a lot in the way of scenic description. Unlike her Irish stories, or the Three Sisters Island trilogy, this particular story is quite straightforward and lacking in descriptive narrative. However, the suspense is nicely built, and the ending avoids the trappings of those nice and neat, everything figured out in a nutshell, kind of things.

It is quite obvious that the story takes place in the 80's (she dates the clothing and music in an extremely overt fashion), and her storytelling ability was not as tight and as interesting as in some of her newer novels.

Readers who aren't familiar with Roberts may want to begin with one of the newer books, such as "The Three Fates" (a more intelligent read).

Nora Roberts has once again written an excellent book.

I truly love Nora Roberts and have read much of her work. Brazen Virtue starts off great with a chilling murder and a budding romance. The whole story goes well until the last two chapters where the sparks of the story abruptly fizzle. The killer's capture is completely anticlimactic especially since you're told early in the story who he is and what his "political connections" are. The only thing you don't know is his powerful father's name which doesn't mean anything anyway since I didn't learn much about him. The fear I hoped would be incorporated through Grace and Ed is dud. I know this was an early work for Ms. Roberts and thankfully her endings have gotten more thrilling.