Rating: 
Summary: Not Linda Howard's best book
Review: I picked up this book a few days after finishing Cry No More, a Linda Howard novel that is very emotionally draining. I wanted to reread Dying to Please because I remembered that it was equally passionate but much more light-hearted. Although the issues it deals with are serious it is definitely not as harrowing as the aforementioned Cry No More. For me, this is a good thing, I like romance best when it is relatively angst-free and the characters aren't tortured beings searching for salvation. However Dying to Please is not Linda Howard's best. The characters in this book, Sarah Stevens and Thompson Cahill, are likeable and fun but not classics. Cahill is sexy, ripped and outrageous, but for me he lacks the x-factor that made Dane Hollister (Dream Man) and Ben Lewis (Heart of Fire) stand out. His messy divorce and cheating ex-wife have damaged him and made him question his trust in women (a little too much sometimes, if you ask me) and this makes him wary of a relationship with Sarah at first. Suddenly though he changes his mind and the relationship rushes into full swing - it all happens very fast after a fairly small amount of interaction in the first quarter of the book. Sarah is clever and driven and keeps Cahill on his toes and finds herself slightly bemused by how fast their relationship moves, rather as I was. Overall this was a good book, the chemistry between the couple was white hot. I thought that for a first love scene that the wrestling / handcuffs / drainpipe thing (not as weird as it sounds when you read the book!) was probably a bit too kinky, but it was also passionate and sexy. Linda Howard even managed to pull off a `betrayal' without making me want to poke things in my eyes (I've read far too many romances where the betrayals committed by the hero against the heroine are unforgivable and incredibly cruel. At least this one is explainable due to Cahill's flighty ex-wife, and he pays emotionally for what he does). If you're reading this from a crime-reader perspective then you'll probably be disappointed as the murders and sleuthing are secondary to the romance by a long way and the reason behind the murders is fairly outlandish. I would recommend this to Linda Howard fans, but to those new to her I would recommend starting elsewhere as this one isn't her best, try Dream Man / Heart of Fire first. JoAnne
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