It’s time once again to Review the Reviews, and this time Glory in Death is on trial.
And wow. People have feelings about early-series Roarke.
We start at the bottom of the Goodreads barrel with reviewers calling Roarke toxic, controlling, boundary-stomping, and desperately in need of therapy. And… okay. We’ve criticized plenty of Early Roarke Behavior ourselves. But AJ and Tara dig into something these reviews often miss: both Eve and Roarke are traumatized people who learned completely opposite survival strategies.
Eve survived by telling herself: Don’t need anyone. Don’t let anyone too close.
Roarke survived by deciding: If I want something, I grab on and don’t let go.
Put those two people in love for the first time and, congratulations, you have Glory in Death.
From there, the reviews somehow get even wilder.
We meet readers who are horrified that Eve is beautiful, thin, successful, and yet somehow still has the audacity to be traumatized. Someone informs us that we’re all “disgusting horny morons” for finding Roarke attractive. Several people are shocked—SHOCKED—that a book written by Nora Roberts contains romance and sex.
Friends. Google was available.
Then we meet a gentleman with sixteen hundred reviews, thirteen followers, and one really impressive vocabulary word who would like Nora Roberts to know that he has some concerns about her verisimilitude.
Yes, he uses it twice.
No, Tara is not impressed.
We also tackle complaints about the futuristic setting, Nora’s infamous head-hopping, Eve’s police work, sex scenes that apparently contain an unrealistic number of orgasms, and one reviewer who thinks the series would make much more sense if Roarke eventually turned out to be a mastermind serial killer.
Sir.
This may not be the series for you.
Things improve considerably once we hit the four- and five-star reviews, where readers finally start appreciating what makes this series work: Eve and Roarke figuring out how to love each other, the growing cast of Peabody, Nadine, Mira and Feeney, solid mysteries, snark, romance, and—of course—the absolute brilliance of audiobook narrator Susan Ericksen.
And then we find perhaps the ultimate Roarke review.
Forget the murder. Forget the investigation. Forget all those pesky details.
This reviewer would simply like to discuss:
“Perfection personified. A wet dream of a man.”
Panties: apparently gone.
Finally, we have some Podcast Business! Listener Sally proposes an Ultimate In Death New York City Tour, complete with Cop Central coffee, an Eve-and-Peabody murder mystery, Does Roarke Own This?, Galahad Easter eggs, the Down and Dirty, and enough Roarke money to make the whole thing happen.
Tara is, unsurprisingly, ready to go to New York.
AJ has never been.
We may need to fix that.
Also in this episode:
DNFed? Did not finished? Whatever. Apparently we’re making words now.
“Show us on the doll where Eve hurt you.”
Early Roarke: therapy recommended.
Why being attracted to a fictional man is apparently now a moral failing.
The difference between criticizing problematic behavior and completely misreading a scene.
Why your personal relationship boundaries are not automatically Eve Dallas’s relationship boundaries.
Eve has childhood trauma. She’s not just “moody.”
“If I want a sex book, I’ll look for one.”
Straight people fucking again.
Verisimilitude.
No, seriously: verisimilitude.
Why setting a book in the future does not require hitting readers over the head with FUTURE! every five minutes.
Susan Ericksen remains flawless.
Roarke had sex with women before Eve. Everyone remain calm.
No, he does not need to buy a new mansion every time he gets a new girlfriend.
Somerset is still a shithead. (At least at this point in the series.)
The rare and beautiful five-star review that reminds us why we actually love doing this.
And finally: “I can’t stop thinking about Roarke.”
Honestly?
Same.
We’re heading back to Glory in Death, and this time Tara is along for the ride! There is A LOT happening in the second In Death book: we meet Peabody! […]
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