Loyal. Beautiful. Professional. Impeccably organized. Potentially lethal. Sarah Stevens is a woman with many distinct qualities. First and foremost...
read full description
reviews
Aug 29, 2008
Eastofoz
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Aug 24, 2008
Gina
rated it: 
Why hire someone to do the dirty work…
Sarah Stevens had been hired by the insistance of retired federal judge, Lowell Roberts. A kind man who’d received threats a few years back, the family, especially the daughter, didn’t want the judge living alone. Sarah is a female butler, hired to watch and guard him. Sarah takes care of everything, from the mundane daily living to the higher stuff like parties. She also guards him; drives him wherever he needs to go, watches his back. When two More...
Sarah Stevens had been hired by the insistance of retired federal judge, Lowell Roberts. A kind man who’d received threats a few years back, the family, especially the daughter, didn’t want the judge living alone. Sarah is a female butler, hired to watch and guard him. Sarah takes care of everything, from the mundane daily living to the higher stuff like parties. She also guards him; drives him wherever he needs to go, watches his back. When two More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Nov 05, 2008
ElaineY
rated it:
From my 2004 review:
3 1/2 stars for this.
It's formulaic, simple, predictable. Entertaining, nonetheless, with definitely NO tstl moments on the heroine's part! Sarah was likable and attractive because she is independent yet not abrasive and touchy. Tom Cahill, the hero detective, is loving, caring yet totally masculine and sexy. Just the types I like!
Plot was simple - deranged banker who forms an obsession with Sarah who is a butler/bodyguard and murders her e More...
3 1/2 stars for this.
It's formulaic, simple, predictable. Entertaining, nonetheless, with definitely NO tstl moments on the heroine's part! Sarah was likable and attractive because she is independent yet not abrasive and touchy. Tom Cahill, the hero detective, is loving, caring yet totally masculine and sexy. Just the types I like!
Plot was simple - deranged banker who forms an obsession with Sarah who is a butler/bodyguard and murders her e More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Feb 10, 2012
Hannah
rated it: 
Actually 3.5 stars.
Dying to Please was a great example of a solid, entertaining, and somewhat gritty romantic suspense novel. Although I had a bit of trouble with the villain (Linda Howard didn't quite sell me on his motivations, but more on that below), the actions, dialog, and thought patterns of the main characters felt real and believable. I was so grateful that Howard didn't break the tone of the rest of the novel by trying to "make it all better" in the epilogue (or More...
Dying to Please was a great example of a solid, entertaining, and somewhat gritty romantic suspense novel. Although I had a bit of trouble with the villain (Linda Howard didn't quite sell me on his motivations, but more on that below), the actions, dialog, and thought patterns of the main characters felt real and believable. I was so grateful that Howard didn't break the tone of the rest of the novel by trying to "make it all better" in the epilogue (or More...
7 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jun 25, 2008
Miss Kim
rated it:
I loved this book! I really enjoyed the realtionship between Cahill and Sarah. Sarah is a butler and bodyguard to an elderly judge. A series of murders makes Sarah look like the top suspect. Cahill is the dectetive brought in on the case.
3 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Mar 23, 2008
Isis FG
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jun 22, 2011
Ning
rated it:
พระเอกเป็นตำรวจอีกแล้วค่ะเล่มนี้
ค่อนข้างชอบ แต่ตอนต้น ๆ แอบน่าเบื่อเล็กน้อยค่ะ
และในส่วนที่เป็นสืบสวนนี่ ไม่ค่อยน่าลุ้นเท่าไหร่
คุณตำรวจหาผู้ร้ายไม่เจอเลย .. ดูอ่อน ๆ ไปหน่อย
นางเอกดูเข้มแข็งดี แต่ตอนโดนจับกลายเป็นไมได้ใช้วิชาอะไรเลย
อุตสาห์ปูทางมาซะเยอะ น่าจะให้ใช้บ้าง
จะได้ไม่ดูอ่อนแอมากเกินไป
สรุปว่าอ่านได้สนุกดี
เพลิน ๆ ดีค่ะ
ให้ 3.5 ดาวค่ะ
อ่านจากเล่มแปล "สื่อสังหาร" More...
ค่อนข้างชอบ แต่ตอนต้น ๆ แอบน่าเบื่อเล็กน้อยค่ะ
และในส่วนที่เป็นสืบสวนนี่ ไม่ค่อยน่าลุ้นเท่าไหร่
คุณตำรวจหาผู้ร้ายไม่เจอเลย .. ดูอ่อน ๆ ไปหน่อย
นางเอกดูเข้มแข็งดี แต่ตอนโดนจับกลายเป็นไมได้ใช้วิชาอะไรเลย
อุตสาห์ปูทางมาซะเยอะ น่าจะให้ใช้บ้าง
จะได้ไม่ดูอ่อนแอมากเกินไป
สรุปว่าอ่านได้สนุกดี
เพลิน ๆ ดีค่ะ
ให้ 3.5 ดาวค่ะ
อ่านจากเล่มแปล "สื่อสังหาร" More...
Jan 15, 2010
Mom
rated it:
Loyal. Beautiful. Professional. Impeccably organized. Potentially lethal. Sarah Stevens is a woman with many distinct qualities. First and foremost a butler par excellence, skilled at running large households smoothly and efficiently, she is also a trained bodyguard and expert marksman–indispensable to her elderly employer, a courtly gentleman whom Sarah has come to respect and love as a father.
Then one night she thwarts a burglary in progress, a courageous act that rewards Sarah her More...
Then one night she thwarts a burglary in progress, a courageous act that rewards Sarah her More...
Sep 10, 2010
Kayla
rated it:
DYING TO PLEASE by Linda Howard
My Thoughts:
This book was amazing! I have now read 2 books by Linda Howard and I can say for sure that I will be seeking out the others, I am a major fan of her novels already. DYING TO PLEASE (like ICE) matches suspense and fear with wonderful characters and hot romance in a perfect combo. In this book I loved Cahill, he was the perfect gruff and manly yet loving and sexy detective, and Sarah, falling for him fast and tipping her organized and routi More...
My Thoughts:
This book was amazing! I have now read 2 books by Linda Howard and I can say for sure that I will be seeking out the others, I am a major fan of her novels already. DYING TO PLEASE (like ICE) matches suspense and fear with wonderful characters and hot romance in a perfect combo. In this book I loved Cahill, he was the perfect gruff and manly yet loving and sexy detective, and Sarah, falling for him fast and tipping her organized and routi More...
Nov 07, 2011
Sana
rated it:
I was most certain that Dying to Please would be getting a 4 star rating but alas, it couldn't. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy it. Rather, something was amiss and I just couldn't bring myself to not be bothered about it. A female butler-slash-bodyguard is a way too intriguing story line for me to pass up on. Linda Howard has a peculiar way of making things heat up or cool down in a matter of minutes and that's what make her books such enjoyable reads.
What I didn't like about More...
What I didn't like about More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 26, 2010
Jane
rated it:
Liked it, but it was not as much fun as her other books. I wasn't as invested in the characters as I would have liked.
I did not enjoy the two times that Sarah was the main murder suspect. I'm not a fan of stories about an innocent person being accused. It was still an ok read.
STORY BRIEF:
Sarah is butler and bodyguard for a judge. Bad guy wants to hire her, but she refuses to leave her job, so he kills her employer the judge. She still refuses to work for him an More...
I did not enjoy the two times that Sarah was the main murder suspect. I'm not a fan of stories about an innocent person being accused. It was still an ok read.
STORY BRIEF:
Sarah is butler and bodyguard for a judge. Bad guy wants to hire her, but she refuses to leave her job, so he kills her employer the judge. She still refuses to work for him an More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 05, 2011
Mark
rated it:
I had never read anythin by Linda Howard, so I did not have any preconcieved ideas of how I might enjoy this book. The only thing I had really read was that she was a master at weaving sensual interpersonal relationships into the plots of her books.
I gave the book 3 stars out of 5 (I really wished we had a scale of 100 to rate upon as a 3 could range between 41 & 60,with much more room to place a book)...i would go around 50 on that type of scale. Was it great? Not by my estimation, More...
I gave the book 3 stars out of 5 (I really wished we had a scale of 100 to rate upon as a 3 could range between 41 & 60,with much more room to place a book)...i would go around 50 on that type of scale. Was it great? Not by my estimation, More...
Jul 31, 2010
Darcy
rated it:
This book almost makes you want to become a butler no matter what you gender. I have never heard of a female butter, but Sarah seems greatly suited to be one, her steadfast traits a perfect compliment to the job. Her talents are tested during a break in where she works. It is during the aftermath that her life changes in good and bad ways. The good is that she meets Cahill, a police detective who really does it for her, and the bad, her actions call attention to herself, causing interest fro
More...
Sep 29, 2009
Annabelle
rated it: 
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 he
More...
Jul 28, 2010
Erika
rated it:
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 invo
More...
Jun 22, 2008
Susan Kat
rated it:
Linda Howard IS a Goddess.. and I own every one of her books.. but Dying to Please as well as some others are my TOP picks and always on hand for re-reads.
3 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 09, 2012
Ian
rated it:
There are things about this book I like a lot. I find the idea of the female protagonist being a butler / bodyguard quite intriguing, I really enjoyed the interplay between her and her employers. I didn't much like the antagonist, he was almost a caricature of what a villain should be. From the few Linda Howard books I've read, I've come to the conclusion that she doesn't write her villains very well. I was also a little disappointed in Sarah's love interest, Det. Cahill. He was very much a gen
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Apr 04, 2009
Louise
rated it:
Very, very good read indeed!
From back cover:
"Loyal. Beautiful. Professional. Impeccably organized. Potentially lethal. Sarah Stevens is a woman with many distinctive qualities. First and foremost a butler par excellence, skilled at running large households smoothly and efficiently, she is also a trained bodyguard and expert marksman-indispensable to her elderly employer, a courtly gentleman whom Sarah has come to respect and love. Then one night she thwarts an attemp More...
From back cover:
"Loyal. Beautiful. Professional. Impeccably organized. Potentially lethal. Sarah Stevens is a woman with many distinctive qualities. First and foremost a butler par excellence, skilled at running large households smoothly and efficiently, she is also a trained bodyguard and expert marksman-indispensable to her elderly employer, a courtly gentleman whom Sarah has come to respect and love. Then one night she thwarts an attemp More...
Nov 15, 2009
Tasha
rated it:
Ok, so I didn't actually hear this audio. I read the book Dying to Please and can't seem to find it in goodreads. So, this review is for Dying to Please only. I like Howard, she is one of the better author's for this genre and she did a great job with this book. I was really shocked in places (in a good way - like wow, way to go Mrs. Howard). Anyway, this is about a butler, who is female and a bodyguard who's charge is killed. She ends up dating the invetigator and things are going well un
More...
Nov 06, 2011
Gail
rated it:
Heroine is a butler with bodyguard training who thwarts burglars at her employer’s home. He’s a retired judge she’s very fond of, and when a job offer comes after someone sees her on TV, she turns it down. Then the judge is murdered. Hero is a detective with the local police department who’s had an ugly divorce and isn’t sure he wants to get over it. He eliminated heroine as a suspect, he and heroine get involved, then her new employers are murdered. Things get spooky-scary but come out all righ
More...
Jan 28, 2012
Carrie
rated it:
Originally read in print spring 2009. Listened to audiobook January 2012.
I enjoyed this book even more the second time around, and I think the narration was the key. When I first read Dying to Please 2 1/2 years ago, I enjoyed it and gave it a solid 3 stars. That was before I started marking half-stars in my reviews, or I would have given it 3.5* even then. But with Susan Ericksen's (narrator for J.D. Robb's In Death series) excellent reading, this is definitely a 4* audiobook.
More...
I enjoyed this book even more the second time around, and I think the narration was the key. When I first read Dying to Please 2 1/2 years ago, I enjoyed it and gave it a solid 3 stars. That was before I started marking half-stars in my reviews, or I would have given it 3.5* even then. But with Susan Ericksen's (narrator for J.D. Robb's In Death series) excellent reading, this is definitely a 4* audiobook.
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Mar 05, 2011
Karla
rated it:
This one was just Ok for me. I didn’t connect with the two characters as I have in her other books. I usually blow right threw her books, and with this one I kept getting distracted. At one point it was just too much, blah, blah, blah...she did this, he did that, and it was going nowhere fast. Then it would pick up, and we would be right back where we started. I guess I’ve just come to expect more from her. On the whole she is a 4-5 star read for me…this one not so much.
Jan 24, 2009
Anna
rated it: 
This is the first Linda Howard book that I've read, and she seems to fall into the same romantic suspense genre as Catherine Coulter's FBI series, Sandra Brown or Julie Garwood, to name a few.
"Dying to Please" was a solid 2-star rating - the main characters were clearly sketched albeit predictable, the plot was solidly crafted, and the dialogue was okay.
This would be a good airplane book, or a good read if you have a few hours to kill.
"Dying to Please" was a solid 2-star rating - the main characters were clearly sketched albeit predictable, the plot was solidly crafted, and the dialogue was okay.
This would be a good airplane book, or a good read if you have a few hours to kill.
Jan 25, 2010
Trina
rated it:
Very good. I loved the main character, not helpless, organized and precise. She had an understandable background that made her characterization believable. The love interest was not a push over and was guarded after a bad breakup I appreciated the way he was portrayed. Linda Howard sucks you in and gently deposits you in a well thought out conclusion. You know the main characters are meant to be together and everything is going to be ok!
Sep 03, 2011
Darcia
rated it:
This book is romantic suspense, heavy on the relationship drama and light on the suspense. I loved some parts. The dialogue/banter between the two main characters had me chuckling at times. I liked both characters and the storyline was interesting, if not a bit predictable.
Unfortunately, for me, too many things didn't work. I found the story dragged, with lots of repetitious inner thoughts about the merits of each character getting involved in a relationship with the other. I didn't More...
Unfortunately, for me, too many things didn't work. I found the story dragged, with lots of repetitious inner thoughts about the merits of each character getting involved in a relationship with the other. I didn't More...
Mar 14, 2010
Sharal
rated it:
I really enjoyed the story; lots of action and adventure with a very creepy villain. Also, I found it disturbing how easy it was for the villain to stalk the heroine and the level to which his obsession went.
I enjoyed the interaction between Sarah and Cahill. I like strong-willed characters and these two were right up there.
I recommend this story for fans of suspense novels.
I enjoyed the interaction between Sarah and Cahill. I like strong-willed characters and these two were right up there.
I recommend this story for fans of suspense novels.
Aug 18, 2011
Applefruit
rated it:
I really, really, really did not like this book. I'm giving it two stars only because Linda Howard is such a good writer. I'm sorry, but I don't want a romance novel where the heroine is a bodyguard (ugh) and where she makes more money than the hero (double ugh). Sure, that's old-fashioned of me, but I read romances for fantasy--not reality. This was a one-time read.
Feb 05, 2009
Pat
rated it:
Okay, with Linda I either like her heroines or hate them with a passion. This one I HATED!!!! There is a chapter or two that brought to mind Erica Jong's Fear of Flying. That aside, I enjoyed as usual the hero but again, because he liked the chick, he wasn't all that. Its one of the few books by her I don't habitually go back and re-read. But it is a keeper.
Feb 12, 2012
Shanna
rated it:
Linda Howard is my go to author when I want an easy read. Her books have just enough mystery, suspense, and romance in them to keep me interested but not up until 3:00am because I can’t go another minute without knowing what is going to happen next. Dying to Please is her typical book…strong independent woman that finds herself in the middle of some murder mystery, cue the hot and sexy law enforcement type man to try and sweep her off her feet, cue the hot sex, cue some murders, then cue the m
More...
Sep 04, 2011
Neha
rated it:
My current obsession with Linda Howard is marring my progress of The Game of Thrones series. Sigh, but its so worth it. I can't seem to get enough of her brand of writing. Hot men in fields of authority with the finesse of a T-72, capable women, steamy, raunchy passion, dry humour and a murderer thrown in as icing.
