Grade A-/B+Narrated by Susan EricksenAs a professional butler, Sarah Stevens is trained to manage large household down to the smallest details. She’s also skilled as a bodyguard, which comes in handy in her present position as butler to a retired Federal judge. When an obsessed admirer sets out to secure Sarah’s services by any means possible, Detective Thomas Cahill is brought in to lead the investigation. As the mystery deepens, Sarah finds herself drawn into the investigation. Complicating matters is the attraction that draws Cahill and Sarah to each other.Susan Ericksen, best known for her outstanding narration of J.D. Robb’s In Death series, handles Dying to Please with the same skill. The pacing and dynamics of her performance are excellent. Ericksen’s reading feels natural and there is never any confusion about who is speaking during conversations. She proves her versatility by making Sarah and Cahill sound unique rather than copies of Eve and Roarke. Sarah isn't a typical heroine. She’s capable and tough but not the sassy, bad-ass kind of heroine authors often employ when they want strong female leads. Sarah, in keeping with her butler training, is reserved and professional instead of snarky. Ericksen gives Sarah a cool, understated voice, one that conveys strength and humor. Cahill is a great hero, although flawed and not always likeable. At one point in the story Cahill makes a huge error in judgment. Given Cahill’s job and his past relationship history, the error feels in character. Howard does a great job making us feel his pain when he realizes the damage he's done. It was refreshing to see Cahill take full responsibility for his actions, and I admired his determination to make it right. Ericksen aptly portrays Cahill’s wide range of feelings and emotions, always managing to make him sound completely male.The dynamics between the Sarah and Cahill is especially well done. Their relationship takes some time to develop, and the conflict in the relationship wasn't a misunderstanding that can be cleared up with a five-minute conversation. Instead, it packs an emotional punch.I recommend the audio version of Dying to Please for any romantic suspense fan. It’s a good introduction to Linda Howard, as well as a good introduction to the excellent narrative abilities of Susan Ericksen. In addition, there is this extremely hot wrestling scene, which is not to be missed.Reviewed for Speaking of Audiobooks:http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=8483
Ms. Howard does a fine job of setting up her heroine as being strong, tough and capable. However, I found Sarah Stevens to be a little too quick to fall for the tough guy we are given as her love interest. He knows, she knows and we know that Det. Thompson Cahill shouldn’t be with this woman. He’s involved in her murder case; she’s still a suspect; he’s recovering from the wounds dealt to him by his ex-wife. But he goes after her anyway (mainly because his obligatory happy-go-lucky player best friend urges him to do it) and they fall into a predictably heated affair. Mainly there’s a crazed psycho out there killing people close to Ms. Stevens but everybody seems to overlook the obvious clues of a ridiculously expensive pendant and a note given after a tv interview until there are two other murders.The book doesn’t go into the heavy technical jargon about forensics, DNA testing, telephone call tracing, etc., that some other books do. Instead, it focuses on the interplay between Sarah and Cahill, making this mainly a romance with thriller elements thrown into it. Cahill also uses coercion and sex to break down Sarah’s defenses after she goes into an emotional tailspin and I found that distressing as well as unconvincing. After everything she underwent, a good bout of therapy should be in order not bondage play. This is a book mainly for romance readers who like a touch of mystery with their hot sex. I wouldn’t recommend it for anybody else.
What do You think about Dying To Please (2008)?
Please don’t read this book. It’s not even a good airplane read. Sarah is a butler for a sweet retired judge, and she reminds me of Nancy Drew without the sex scenes. Remember her, who did everything perfectly and would wash her hair and it would be immediately dry. Well, Sarah is a brown belt at karate, does target practice in her spare time, and is short but good looking and weekly pedicures and manicures. A sociopath attaches to her, and a local detective Cahill who has a very hard body helps her. She does write creative graphic sex scenes. And thank god we are spared the Freudian background of the sociopath who usually has a disgusting and abusive mother. But golly gee why do they publish these things, or why did I read it?
—Annabelle
Setting: Present day ALGenre: Romantic suspenseSarah Stevens is a butler/bodyguard working for a retired judge. She foils a robbery and one of the detectives who comes to the scene is Thompson Cahill. They are attracted to one another, but each has a reason to avoid interpersonal relationships, so they go their separate ways. They meet again when Cahill comes out to investigate the murder of the judge. Sarah is under suspicion, but her name is soon cleared, leaving Cahill free to date her. They get involved, then her new employers get murdered, and Cahill is all like "what the heck? Is she a murderer? Did she fool me?" He has trust issues. There's suspense in the plot as in who's doing the killing and who will die next? Then there's suspense in regards to the relationship between Sarah and Cahill, after he gets all suspicious of her again, and she's all hurt about it.I liked the plot because even though bits of it are through the villain's point of view, I didn't know who it was. I also liked the development of the relationship between Sarah and Cahill. Even though they were attracted, they didn't give in right away. Then they actually dated before they had "hot monkey sex" as Cahill calls it. The writing itself flowed well, without superfluous points just to make it longer. It was an enjoyable story, told well.The narration by Susan Ericksen was great. The rhythm was good, and she did an excellent job with all types of characters - male, female, adult, geriatric. And she did so well with the villain with his quiet smoothness.I definitely enjoyed the time I spent listening to this novel. It was not so suspenseful that it kept me awake, but it was interesting enough that I wanted to get right back to it in the morning.
—Kym
This is a story told from the perspective if a butler, and a female one no less. Intriguing, right? Well, I found that after the gripping opening to the story there wasn’t much to deliver. The story is very formulaic and predictable. Sometimes I like my stories to be predictable and familiar. There is comfort in knowing the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. However, predictable dialogue is a story killer and I just couldn’t get over the cop jumping in the sack with someone involved in an ongoing investigation, suspect or no. I thought it was creepy. Once I lose my respect for the good guys, I usually lose my interest too. This book was no different.
—Erika
