To Die For : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: disappointed
Review: First and last time I read Linda Howard if this is her typical style. A little reality please. A police officer takes the victim home with him. Yeah sure. Happens all the time. A woman who pretends to be dumb when it suits her gives all woman a bad name. Makes me want to scream grow up Blair! Nobody cares that you were homecoming queen 10 years ago. Ex-husbands new wife is jealous of you, sure thing! I usually read murder mysteries and this is not even close.

Rating:
Summary: To Die For
Review: I BUY LINDA HOWARD BOOKS JUST ON THE NAME, DONT EVEN READ THE BACK. BOY DID I MAKE A MISTAKE THIS TIME. SHE WROTE IT IN THE FIRST PERSON, WHICH IS SOMETHING SHE'S NEVER DONE BEFORE. CAN'T READ 1ST PERSON. I REALLY ,REALLY TRIED BECAUSE I LOVE HOWARD BUT COULDN'T DO IT AND I'M REALLY UNHAPPY THAT I SPENT $ 8.50 FOR A BOOK I CAN'T READ. I'LL BE MORE CAREFUL NEXT TIME AND WONT JUST TAKE IT ON NAME ALONE.

Rating:
Summary: Fun read
Review: I enjoy Linda Howard. I would never miss one of her reads. Some books more than others but this can be said for numerous authors and books. I get done with one of her books and and am already waiting for the next read from her. I enjoyed this book from start to finish. The other reviews are like people...you cannot please all of the people all of the time. For me it was a winner and .... Thanks, Linda !!


Rating:
Summary: Creativity in action
Review: I have been a major fan of Linda Howard's since I first read "Son of the Morning". Her books are creative, interesting, insightful, and often nail-biters. Her characters are alive - very three-dimensional.

I was thrilled with the new twist in "To Die For", where the story was told in first person! It is so easy to see parts of myself in both the main characters. For those of you with a quick-witted sense of humor, this is not the book to read in bed at night - I was laughing so hard at certain places that I was waking up my husband. :-)

This is a new departure for Linda's style of writing, and I loved it as much as I love her other books. One thing that is true for me: If Linda Howard is the author, I know I'll love the book!

Rating:
Summary: Worth a second read
Review: I have to admit that when I first read this new novel by Linda Howard a couple of weeks ago, I was at first disappointed. It didn't seem to fit the usual style of books I've come to expect from my favorite author. However, I gave it a second look last weekend and took a little more time to really give the first person, bantering dialogue style another shot. Now this is one of my favorite Linda Howard books! It's fast paced, and intellectually interesting to read.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious!!
Review: I loved this book from beginning to end! The main charachter is sooooo funny. In a way I was reading it laughing out loud thinking why can't I be more like her?? A good read and thoroughly enjoyable!

Rating:
Summary: Lacks Suspense & True Reality
Review: I've enjoyed Linda Howard's books in the past. However this one was a total fizzle. I do not like reading in the 1st person format. Wish I had known before purchasing, eitherwise I would not have bought this book. The entire story line is so far fetched. All the dialogue & romance from the leading guy? Where did Linda dream up this guy anyway? He dumps a woman for no reason at all and then 2 years later, he's bedding her within 24 hours after hooking up with her again. First of all, any guy who stops calling and gives you no explanation, in no way, should ever be given a 2nd chance. But since the leading lady is a blonde, it shows how "fluffy" & "air-headed" and easy as we all suspect blondes are.

The leading guy, in my opinion is an arrogant, mister-know-it-all who stepped on others to rise through the police dept. I believe a lot of women would have never given him the satisfaction of explaining unless he begged for their attention and forgiveness BEFORE pushing them into having sex with him and telling you you have to wait for the explanation. Think about it: how many of today's women would want a man who dictates their lives like this guy did? I'd say not many unless they were truly desperate.

This book was a huge disappointment to me. I will be more careful to find out about the book the next time Howard is ready to publish another.

Rating:
Summary: Worst Linda Howard I have ever read
Review: Let me first say that I have read almost everything that Linda Howard has wrote, dating all the way back to the early 80's. This book was by far the worst thing that I have read from her. I honestly could not believe that Linda Howard wrote this. I hate saying this because I think she is a terrific author and can do so much better. The main character, Blair, was a dizzy self absorbed women. Half of the book was spent focused on how beautiful Blair was and how everyone wanted to be like her. Linda Howard fans, save your money on this one.

Rating:
Summary: I Love This Book
Review: Plenty of others have given the story line run down. I have to say I really enjoyed the dialog. Blair is sassy with a smart mouth and reminded me a bit of Sunny in A Game of Chance. I didn't mind the "first person" and thoroughly enjoyed the hero. Thought the hero was well developed through dialog. And he's right. Blair is very definitely high maintenance.

Rating:
Summary: Linda Who?
Review: What has happened to Linda Howard? She's never been a really smooth writer in that the writing often feels forced or awkward, especially when she's trying to be funny, but she has been able to create characters we care about and to tell a pretty good story. I've always liked her heroes, even when they are larger than life and too good to be true. After all, her trade is romance and the men were pretty much every woman's (read: reader's) fantasy--ruggedly appealing, strong, protective without being controlling, and in thrall with the heroine. I expect Howard really likes and appreciates men and that's why she does better by them; she seems to have more trouble with women characters, especially in her recent books. It is fitting that the narrator in To Die For is first-person because Blair Mallory is all about Me, Me, Me. Silly, selfish, manipulative, she makes you ask how the "to die for" hero, Wyatt Bloodsworth, could possibly be so smitten with her, unless it's the great sex, which Howard uncharacteristically leaves mostly to our imagination.

The mystery is a very thin thread through all this cutesy-ness that is mostly about Blair's "adorable" family, her athletic ability, her cheerleader past, her helplessness (she is continually carried from place to place by the big strong hero) in defiance of her continued assertion that she is an independent woman (while admitting that her gym business, Great Bods, is a direct result of blackmailing her ex-husband out of more than her share of their community property). The denouement feels last minute--as if Howard said to herself as she neared page 300, "oh, geez, I gotta decide on a villain, who can it be?"

I had to ask myself what this book is really about: and the answer is it is really about Howard's attempt at character study (and her belief that she has created a character, Blair Mallory, who is interesting, lovable, and appealing) and her attempt to write a light, comical, romantic mystery that will appeal to her readership. I think she failed on all fronts. Actually, as I read, I became convinced that this was an early, unsold Howard draft which she had updated with current references and offered to her publisher as a fill-in while working on her next hardcover. Reading it was like eating marshmallows--too sweet, mostly air, not very filling and less than memorable. Basically, a waste of time.

It puzzles me that Howard, unlike most writers, does not seem to improve the more she writes. In fact, her earlier stuff, written to strict formula, is actually far better than either To Die For or the very disappointing Kiss Me While I Sleep. I've liked many of her works, including Mr. Perfect and Open Season, both of which contain many of the same flaws as To Die For. The difference is that the characters in those books are more interesting and far more likeable, and the mystery is somewhat conceivable.

Again I would say to all writers, Ms. Howard included: to write romantic mystery, read Mary Stewart, for quirky, slightly damaged characters, read Theresa Weir, for comedy romance, read Jennifer Crusie, for pure old fashioned sensual romance, read Sandra Brown. There are other great examples, too; these are just off the top of my head.

I'll continue to give Howard a try but believe she has to do better than this if she is to keep her following of faithful readers....and buyers.