Love Me to Death (Lucy Kincaid, #1)

Mar 30, 2013 Dindy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, mystery, audio

I wasn't really expecting to like this book because I do not like the mixing of the romantic suspense with the more hard core thriller. I prefer to have my mystery/thrillers without having to endure the formulaic romance storyline. For a great deal of the book I was on high alert for anything that would make me want to jerk out my headphones and go on to something else.

And for quite a while it teetered on the edge. Yes, it was pretty much hit-you-in-the-nose obvious that Lucy and Sean would get...more I wasn't really expecting to like this book because I do not like the mixing of the romantic suspense with the more hard core thriller. I prefer to have my mystery/thrillers without having to endure the formulaic romance storyline. For a great deal of the book I was on high alert for anything that would make me want to jerk out my headphones and go on to something else.

And for quite a while it teetered on the edge. Yes, it was pretty much hit-you-in-the-nose obvious that Lucy and Sean would get together, and we had to have the obligatory sex scene. I always wonder how the narrators on audio books feel when they are narrating those scenes. And the book just barely missed being patronizing about Lucy-- the characters were repeatedly amazed at her strength and poise despite all she had been through. I could just picture them patting her on the head. And I had a hard time relating to Lucy's outrage at finding out that predatory pedophiles were being murdered instead of arrested and sent back to prison. The passages about the dangers of vigilantism and the necessity of relying on the justice system were much too preachy.

SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT LIKE SPOILERS!

And yet... Although Lucy bordered on being too good to be true, I grew to like her as a character, just as I grew to like the other members of her extended family, and I liked the way they all put their various alliances aside to focus on rescuing Lucy-- oops-- there was something else I normally wouldn't like-- the fact that the heroine had to be rescued at the end.

Except here is where I really have to give credit to Allison Brennan. She actually came up with a plausible way to put Lucy into a dangerous situation without having to rely on her heroine being too stupid to live. Leaving aside the fact that the whole stalker subplot was utterly unbelievable and was clearly put in there just to set up a situation in which Lucy would need to be rescued by Sean, the actual kidnapping was carried out in such a way that it was clear Lucy could not have prevented it.

It made perfect sense that Lucy would want to go to the church for Cody's funeral without her current boyfriend accompanying her since Cody had been her previous boyfriend. It also made perfect sense that everyone involved thought all the danger was resolved with the arrests of the members of the vigilante group. It also made sense that Lucy's stalker was able to drug her as she was entering the church without her knowledge-- although the thought of a version of rohypnol that can be absorbed through the skin makes me shudder. And it made sense that once the drug started to work, Lucy would become ill and leave the church to get some fresh air, leaving her coat with the cell phone behind on the church pew. I might wonder why her sister-in-law, Kate, didn't accompany her to the church, just for support, but overall I think it is plausible.

Even when Lucy is kidnapped, she does not dissolve into victim mode. She largely keeps her wits about her, trying to learn more about where she is, looking for escape opportunities, and handling her captor adroitly. I can even forgive Brennan for sending the cavalry in to rescue her instead of letting her get herself out of the situation because, let's face it, there are some situations in which no matter how capable the person, there is no escape. And when Sean finds Lucy handcuffed and barefoot in the cage in the basement, she is clearly not in victim mode-- she unlocks her own handcuffs once she is given the lock pick tool by Sean, and she grabs Sean's throw-down gun to provide coverage for him while he is picking the combination lock that holds the cage shut (although why he didn't just shoot it, I am not sure.) She saves the life of her fellow captive and gets herself out of the basement because Sean has to carry the other woman out.

So the book redeemed itself at the end, and I ratcheted the rating up largely on the basis of how the kidnapping and rescue of Lucy was written.

Would I read another book in the series? I am not sure. I might read Fear No Evil, which details an earlier Lucy story in which she is kidnapped and held by a pornographer who videotapes her multiple rapes and posts them online. Love Me to Death repeatedly refers to it and I'm kind of interested to see more of the story. I might read another book in the Lucy Kincaid series to see if Brennan can focus more on the suspense aspects and drop the formulaic romantic crap. I certainly wouldn't buy it, but if it shows up at my library, I'll probably check it out. (less)

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Feb 13, 2013 Leya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-book, overdrive

I came across this book while I was browsing ebooks on OverDrive, ebook library provided through my local library. I have heard of the author, but I never got around to reading her books. Love Me To Death went straight into my virtual basket. I'm a sucker for romantic suspense and it's been a while since I read a really good.

I was hooked instantly! I did not want to put this book down, which I had to, it's been a very busy few days, but whenever I could out came my ipad and I went back to readin...more

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Oct 11, 2011 Suspense Magazine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

With sheer determination, Lucy Kincaid has beaten the odds. A one-time victim, she’s worked tirelessly to rebuild her life, focusing on her goal of joining the ranks of the FBI despite the lingering anxiety ingrained from a brutal attack and kidnapping six years prior. She survived and in a fitting twist of fate, made certain that her attacker didn’t. She’ll do what it takes to never be a victim again and try to help those that unwittingly step into predators' paths.
While waiting for word on he...more

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Jan 26, 2011 April rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A tale of suspense and deep darkness of the soul. Allison Brennan brings readers a story that will captivate them from beginning to end in Love Me To Death.

Upon beginning Love Me To Death, I was hooked. The suspense and action is constant throughout the entire story, taking the reader on a journey of unending twists and turns.

It has been six years since Lucy Kincaid was brutally raped, tortured and nearly killed. Through it all, she has come out strong and determined to save others from ever su...more A tale of suspense and deep darkness of the soul. Allison Brennan brings readers a story that will captivate them from beginning to end in Love Me To Death.

Upon beginning Love Me To Death, I was hooked. The suspense and action is constant throughout the entire story, taking the reader on a journey of unending twists and turns.

It has been six years since Lucy Kincaid was brutally raped, tortured and nearly killed. Through it all, she has come out strong and determined to save others from ever suffering as she once did. With the dream and goal of becoming an official part of the FBI, Lucy works for an undercover victim's rights group, whose main goal is to put rapists and attackers, out on parole, back into prison. What Lucy did not count on were the guys she "set up" through online chats, to end up dead. Exactly who is taking matters into their own hands and why are they making Lucy look like a suspect?

If she didn't have enough to deal with, Lucy discovers there is a stalker on her tail, and the terror of six years ago, which constantly haunts her, comes thrusting forward relentlessly. The one glimmer of light, filtering through the nightmare, is Sean, Lucy's brother's partner in a security firm. Sean is set on protecting Lucy, no matter the consequence, and will stop at nothing to keep her safe. As the flame soars between Lucy and Sean, the twisted and menacing mind of evil gets closer to Lucy and her dream of a "normal" life. Can she be saved before spiraling into an eternity of darkness and endless torment?

Love Me To Death focuses on a very real and very terrifying epidemic - online predators and sex offenders. This is not a book that can be read light-heartedly, nor without having a cruel reality thrown in the reader's face. However, this realism creates a memorable and hard-to-put-down read. The story is solid and I really enjoyed the characters. Particularly the strength and courage of Lucy and the sturdiness and love of Sean. They are both incredibly real and strong characters that work well off of one another, as well as together. I also enjoyed Kate, Lucy's sister-in-law, whose care and love of Lucy makes for a wonderful support system as well as an added dimension to the story itself.

While I greatly enjoyed the story weaved by Ms. Brennan, I do have to be honest in saying that as I read Love Me To Death, I often felt as though this was actually a continuation of a prior story. I did a bit of searching and did not come across anywhere that mentioned this book being a spin-off of another or part of a series, so I am not exactly sure what to think of this aspect. This prior story, did unfold throughout the main story, however as I read, I often felt questions popping up in my mind, as well as feeling as though I was missing something, somewhere. I am not sure if this was intentional, on the part of the author, as a way to draw the reader in and make them continue to read to try and figure the questions out? Whatever the reason, it did take a bit away from the story, for me. While I loved the characters and plot, I was unable to completely feel as though I was within the story, for reason of lacking information. I do enjoy Allison Brennan's writing style and her ability to create a fantastic story, so I still recommend Love Me To Death to readers looking for a great suspense story, however I did want to mention my trepidation on the background story, to make future readers aware of it. Overall, Love Me To Death is a great read and held my attention from start to finish.(less)

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Jan 10, 2011 Darcy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

This book had a ton of twists and turns and a large cast of characters. As I read I could tell that many of these characters were probably in other books, so while this one says #1, it seems like there are related series, and it is for this fact that the book looses 1 star from me. I do plan on going back and checking out those other books and characters.

Lucy sure has had a past filled with events to really make a person question the old saying, "The world won't give you any more than you can ha...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Jess rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, romantic-suspense

I've read a few of Brennan's trilogies, but I think I might have missed one. Although this is the first book in a series, I think it's related to one or more of her other series books. I remember a few of the characters, but some I found myself trying to place and I had a hard time doing it. It didn't really effect my understanding of the story but it was a little bothersome because I would occasionally find myself thinking about where a character was from rather than focusing on the story itsel...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-on-cd, brothers, child-molesters, crime, evil, family-relationships, family, fbi, vigilantes, pedophiles, internet-crime

Six years ago, Lucy Kincaid was attacked and nearly killed by an online predator. She survived. Her attacker did not. Now Lucy's goal is to join the FBI and fight cyber-crime, but in the meantime, she's volunteering with a victim's rights group, surfing the Web undercover to lure sex offenders into the hands of the law. But when the predators she hunts start turning up as murder victims, the FBI takes a whole new interest in Lucy.With her future and possibly even her freedom suddenly in jeopardy...more

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Sep 29, 2011 Amber rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm nearly finished, but it has been difficult to continue this book. I love Allison Brennan's prose in the books that followed 'Love Me to Death'. Thankfully, I read those first...if I started with this one, I wouldn't have given any of her other books a chance.

The plot is fabulous, but there is entirely too much romantic focus with the lead characters. So much so, that at times it reads like a true romance novel. I'm not a fan of romance and I find that this aspect takes away from the heroine...more

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Jan 04, 2011 Dren rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Six years after surviving an assault by an online predator, Lucy Kincaid wants to work for the FBI’s cyber-crime team. Until then, she volunteers for a victim’s rights group called Women and Children First where she surfs the Web hunting down sex offenders. But when several of the predators that Lucy has turned over to the police are murdered, the FBI finally comes knocking on her door and it’s not about the application she submitted. Family friend and private investigator Sean Rogan steps in to...more

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Jan 16, 2011 Silver James rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: keeper

I'm a long-time fan of Brennan's and I'm happy to see her return to her roots of suspense, with an added dash of romance. Lucy Kincaid, the main character in LOVE ME TO DEATH, first appeared in Brennan's book FEAR NO EVIL. On her high school graduation day, Lucy was kidnapped and held captive. She was raped while a live feed of the "event" went out on the Internet. Her brother, Dr. Dillon Kincaid, and FBI Agent Kate Donovan saved her from being killed. This first book in the Lucy Kincaid series...more

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Jan 21, 2011 Kelly Houser rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Review: I received a review copy of this novel from TLC Book Tours. Many thanks to Lisa for providing me with a copy. I was really excited to receive this book, as I have been wanting to read something by Brennan for quite awhile. I had a really mixed reaction to this novel.Let's start with what I liked.

I enjoyed Brennan's writing style. It was really easy to get into the story because her writing style was very inviting. Brennan is very skilled at creating detailed settings that sprang to life...more Review: I received a review copy of this novel from TLC Book Tours. Many thanks to Lisa for providing me with a copy. I was really excited to receive this book, as I have been wanting to read something by Brennan for quite awhile. I had a really mixed reaction to this novel.Let's start with what I liked.

I enjoyed Brennan's writing style. It was really easy to get into the story because her writing style was very inviting. Brennan is very skilled at creating detailed settings that sprang to life in my mind.

So, what didn't I like? As I said, I've never read anything by Brennan before, and I know the description states that Love Me To Death is the first book in the Lucy Kincaid series, but I got the distinct feeling that I had dropped into the middle of a series, or at least that these characters may have been in other books that I haven't read. I don't know that that is the case, but it definitely had that feel to it and here's why.

There was an abundance of back story regarding Lucy's kidnapping and rape. At the same time, none of her ordeal got any page time in this book, so I felt like I missed something or that this back story may have been a part of a different novel. This was bothersome to me.

Additionally bothersome was the shear volume of characters. There was Lucy, her 3 or 4 bothers, her sister-in-law, an ex-lover, a private investigator team which was made up of several siblings, Lucy's boss, many FBI agents, and about 10 bad guys and victims. Because of the volume of characters, I had trouble keeping who was whom straight and this prevented me from totally engaging with the story.

The plot itself was interesting, but with Lucy's back story and the present plot, I felt a little lost. I felt lost because I felt like I didn't have all the details on Lucy and the current plot seemed very tied to that back story.

Overall, this book ended up just being OK for me. I really did enjoy Brennan's writing and will definitely pick up something else by her. If you are a fan of Brennan's then you will most definitely enjoy this book. If you are new to Brennan, like I was, I wouldn't recommend this book as a starting place.(less)

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Apr 05, 2013 Cat Case rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2013

I am not sure I can blame the book or Brennan for how much I disliked it. First, it's a romantic suspense, and with very few exceptions, I hate this hybrid genre. It takes the worst elements of both genres and combines them into a goo that either makes the violence sexual or the sex violent. Thankfully, Brennan is light on the romance here and the one sex scene is segregated to a chapter that I could easily skip. It's not that I didn't like Lucy and Sean getting together, it's just that it was s...more I am not sure I can blame the book or Brennan for how much I disliked it. First, it's a romantic suspense, and with very few exceptions, I hate this hybrid genre. It takes the worst elements of both genres and combines them into a goo that either makes the violence sexual or the sex violent. Thankfully, Brennan is light on the romance here and the one sex scene is segregated to a chapter that I could easily skip. It's not that I didn't like Lucy and Sean getting together, it's just that it was so beyond formulaic that I was just waiting for it to happen (so I could skip over it).

Speaking of Sean and Lucy, well, they're pretty much every hero/heroine couple you find in romantic suspense. Had I waited to write this review, I am sure I'd have mixed them up with a Lisa Jackson pairing. Lucy has a tragic past - from the book Fear No Evil - and, while this book is the first in a new series focusing on Lucy, I found it difficult to follow at times because of the constant reference to the events and characters in Fear No Evil (which I am reading now so that I can better understand this book). There's a new mystery, two actually, but the big drama comes about due to the probation of one of the men whom raped and tried to murder Lucy back in Fear No Evil. Family drama happens, Lucy is a feisty justice leaguer with a heart of gold, yadda yadda yadda. Seriously, so stereotypical I yawned. I am yawning as I write this. Sean is a family friend, alpha male extraordinaire and everything Lucy didn't know she wanted until her body became so turned on by him. *gag* I liked Sean up until the part that he interviewed a former porn actress who had been raped and exploited by Trask, again from the other book, and had some lame internal monologue about how it was sad about what happened to her but this actress had been complicit in her situation unlike St. Lucia. *more gagging* It was gross, in case I am not being clear.

So the new mysteries are basically tied to the old, sort of. Lucy's stalker storyline seemed to just be there in order to have a last act. The mystery concerning who is killing the online pedophiles was slightly more interesting but it was quickly DOA for me as Lucy decides that she is morally outraged by the vigilante justice being meted out. I mean, what? This is just not realistic. Maybe Lucy's upset that people are dying and she helped lure them to their death, unknowingly too, but the whole moral indignation and her last words to the dude who did the shootings rang hollow and full of hypocrisy. I don't know, maybe I am just used to the raw honesty of Dennis Lehane and Laura Lippman to not roll my eyes at this sort of character dishonesty.

Yet even for its one star I am reading the previous Kincaid family books and I'll probably read the rest of the Lucy series, but mostly out of necessity. I have next to nothing to read at the moment and even a bad suspense book is better than anything else.(less)

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Jan 17, 2011 Elizabeth A. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lucy Kincaid graduated from college with a double major in psychology and computer science, has interned with the United States Senate and Arlington County Sheriff’s Department, and currently works as both an intern with the D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office and volunteer for Women and Children First! (WCF), an organization dedicated to fighting the sexual exploitation of women and children.

It’s an impressive string of accomplishments for anyone, but doubly so for Lucy. Six years ago she was abduct...more Lucy Kincaid graduated from college with a double major in psychology and computer science, has interned with the United States Senate and Arlington County Sheriff’s Department, and currently works as both an intern with the D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office and volunteer for Women and Children First! (WCF), an organization dedicated to fighting the sexual exploitation of women and children.

It’s an impressive string of accomplishments for anyone, but doubly so for Lucy. Six years ago she was abducted by a sexual predator she met online and was brutally tortured and assaulted, all broadcast live on the internet. She survived her ordeal and emerged with a single goal: join the FBI and fight the kind of crime she fell prey to.

While waiting for word on her application to the Bureau, Lucy and WCF are running an online sting designed to catch sexual predators on parole in situations that will send them back behind bars, before they get a chance to reoffend. But instead of ending up behind bars, the people Lucy and WCF are targeting begin turning up dead. Murdered. Suddenly Lucy has the attention of the FBI in a way she never wanted.

Complicating matters even further, Lucy also appears to have acquired a stalker. Whether there’s any connection between her “admirer” and the vigilante murders is just one of the mysteries Lucy must solve in order to get her life back on track toward the goal she’s worked so hard to attain.

Previously having appeared as a minor character in the books Speak No Evil and Fear No Evil, Lucy finally moves front and center in this new series and she makes for a fascinating lead. Author Allison Brennan strikes a delicate, believable balance with Lucy. On one hand she’s a strong, driven young professional on the cusp of a burgeoning career in law enforcement. On the other, she’s still very much a physically scarred, psychologically damaged young woman constantly fighting to put her brutal assault behind her.

The two-pronged plot (the vigilante murders and Lucy’s stalker) provides both Lucy and the reader with non-stop action, and there is no shortage of suspects and investigative twists to keep everyone on their toes. The main villain, who the reader comes to know as “Teacher,” is extremely creepy and the descriptions of his activities are quite disturbing. Brennan expertly builds the tension to almost unbearable levels, to the point the reader will alternately be hoping for Lucy to get a chance to confront the baddie and praying she doesn’t have to go through another traumatic showdown like she’s already endured once in her life.

The only (very slight) potential drawback of Love Me To Death for a reader new to Allison Brennan’s writing is the somewhat large cast of characters, many of whom are series regulars from previous novels. Brennan does, however, provide enough context and backstory for each player that a reader paying close attention – and with this plot believe me, you will be! – should have no trouble keeping up with who’s who.(less)

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May 23, 2013 Anita Truong rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, mystery, 2013-reading-challenge, book-one, contemporary, e-book-library, enjoyable, romance, romance-cute, suspense

I didn't enjoy Love Me To Death as much as I had expected to, but then again, maybe I'd been expecting too much considering all the great reviews I'd seen about this book. I'm going to chance that this isn't the type of book for me; nonetheless, it was well written with a great concept and story line. The characters were great as well, but at the same time, they seemed really detached from the story itself up until the halfway point. For me, it was like watching a bunch of actors trying to figur...more

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Feb 14, 2012 Melanie Chabrol- rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Woderfully written....Lucy Kincad 6 years ago was brutally attacked, and took awhile to heal, be confident,successful and competent. she took many courses to become the one thing she always wanted to be a FBI agent and fight cyber crime.one of the many jobs she has is volunteering at a victims right group and finds out that someone is breaking the law. Suddenly she does some soul research and finds out that every person she has pinned and set up has died somehow, will she ever get into the FBI w...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Angel Walker rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Let me start by saying that it only took me a day to read this book. I couldn't put it down and each time I told myself that I needed to go to bed, I kept telling myself just one more chapter. I would recommend this book to people who like a good intriguing mystery. People who like to put themselves in the role of police officer and try and figure out who the bad guys are. I had a difficult time figuring out the players in this book, which is what kept me reading throughout the night.

At first i...more

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Feb 06, 2011 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Note: This review was originally written for Night Owl Reviews.(www.nightowlreviews.com)

For me, this book was a visit with familiar characters. Allison Brennan is the author of several novels featuring the Kincaid family, so it was fun to "catch up" with these characters and also to read the first of a new series by Brennan featuring the youngest Kincaid, Lucy.

In one of those novels, Fear No Evil, teenager Lucy Kincaid is brutally attacked and almost killed by a man she met online. Her brother P...more Note: This review was originally written for Night Owl Reviews.(www.nightowlreviews.com)

For me, this book was a visit with familiar characters. Allison Brennan is the author of several novels featuring the Kincaid family, so it was fun to "catch up" with these characters and also to read the first of a new series by Brennan featuring the youngest Kincaid, Lucy.

In one of those novels, Fear No Evil, teenager Lucy Kincaid is brutally attacked and almost killed by a man she met online. Her brother Patrick ends up in a coma and Lucy ends up killing one of her captors.

In Love Me To Death, it is 6 years after Lucy's attack and now she has moved from California to Washington DC, and living with her brother, Forensic Psychiatrist Dillon Kincaid and his wife, FBI Agent, Kate Donovan. She is hoping to join the FBI and also volunteers at a victim's right's group helping to put online predators behind bars. But when the same people Lucy is targeting start turning up dead, the FBI suddenly starts to take a closer look at Lucy.

Lucy teams up with her brother Patrick's business partner, Sean Rogan, to dig up the truth about who is behind these killings, why they are happening and clear Lucy's name for good. But someone else is watching Lucy, too. Someone with plans for Lucy, and they aren't good plans.

As usual, Allison Brennan fills this novel with lots of suspense touched with a bit of romance. I had a hard time putting this book down. I found myself guessing with each page just who might be the killer. Is it someone Lucy knows? Is it someone who wants revenge for Lucy having killed one of her captors 6 years ago? Is someone setting her up? Is her ex-boyfriend, Cody involved? These are all questions I kept asking myself. This novel kept me in constant suspense as I kept changing my mind on who I thought was involved and at the same time, I was enjoying the sparks between Lucy and Sean, hoping for a romance.

Fans of Allison Brennan's other novels will enjoy this new novel and readers not familar with her work will soon become fans. I am excited that there is more to come for Lucy Kincaid in the upcoming novels in the series. As always, Allison Brennan delivers a page-turner filled with suspense , romance and thrills.

(less)

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Oct 30, 2012 Katey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: suspense

I have to say that I think Brennan's series about Lucy Kincaid will be my favorite. The very first book I read by her was in this series and I was hooked from the beginning. I feel I can relate to Lucy quite a bit, because the author made her a swimmer, saying she swam through high school and college. I swam for 12 years, and enjoyed it very much. I like how she introduces Lucy's relationship with Sean, because I can tell it's going to be a really good one. I can also see why Lucy's series is co...more

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Jan 13, 2011 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Actually 3.5 Stars
From my book review blog Rundpinne...."Fans of Brennan’s should really enjoy Love Me to Death as it is a very well written suspense with a bit of romance thrown in and a lot of plot twists and turns. I truly enjoyed the premise of the book as well as Brennan’s writing style, unfortunately the lack of character development was quite disappointing considering this book is supposed to be the first in the Lucy Kincaid series, hence my rating.".....The full review may be read here ...more

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Feb 08, 2011 Cindy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great start to her next series. This series is about Lucy Kincaid who was kidnapped and tortured in Brennan earlier Evil Series which her siblings were the main characters. This book is 6 years after the end of Fear no Evil. Allison always has multiple POV in her books and she does it in a way you are never lost from the change. She also loves to have more than one bad guy... I am not going to give to much away on the plot but for those of you that are fan's of the Kincaid family and wanted a mo...more

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Jan 18, 2011 Bewitched Bookworms rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: review-posted

I didn't figure out who the bad guys were in this book until it was revealed towards the end. I really love when I'm surprised by an author. Red herrings abound in this book, but the subtle clues spread throughout the book don't tip the author's hand in an obvious manner. This was a page turner, full throttle thriller with some romance thrown in. When Lucy and Sean finally get together, you can practically feel the steam coming off of the pages.

Read the full review here.

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May 17, 2011 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-owned

I love Allison Brennan's writing and am glad she is writing about the Kincaid family. This book is very suspenseful and centers around Lucy Kincaid. She works for Women and Children First (WCF), an agency that tracks sexual predators, and is now involved with tracking paroled offenders who prey on children. Lucy tries to lure the predators to a meeting via chatrooms on the internet, and the police are there to arrest the predator. But now Lucy has been targeted by one of these predators who fear...more

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Aug 10, 2012 April rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Allison Brennan ranges from 2-3.5 for me. She'll probably never go higher than that because she relies too much on telling not showing, using the killer's internal monologue (a device which I almost never think is done really well) and her character development is inconsistent. When it's good, it's good, but when it's bad it's abysmal. This book is one of the better ones. It would probably rate a 3.5 but I think she would have done better to stick to just one mystery, and there was also a reappe...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Elli rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, suspense

Possible to read without having gone through the previous series of Brennan's, but you'll get more out of it with those under your belt. Start of series that always includes Lucy Kincaid and Seth Rogan, so its more of an ongoing romance than one wrapped in just a book (which is how most of Brennan's other novels work). Personally, I thought there were too many bad guys and Lucy deserves a break, but I couldn't put the book down until I was at the end and look forward to the next one. I like Seth...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This series reminds me a lot of Catherine Coulter's FBI series. From the very beginning you are introduced to two characters who you KNOW will fall in love -- it just takes them the entire book to realize it. The crime/mystery part was good -- not too predictable, thank goodness. I didn't realize that there were other books leading up to this series...I wish I had read them first, although they aren't official part of the Lucy Kincaid series. At any rate, I will read more from this author -- nic...more

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Jun 21, 2011 ~Megan~ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cops-military, romantic-suspense, tormented-heroine

Having read the previous book in the series regarding Lucy Kincaid's kidnapping, I was really excited to read about her all grown up. This is by far my favorite Allison Brennan book...it reminded me a lot of Karen Rose.

Lucy is such a strong character. She's been through literal torture and though she has her moments of weakness, she has come through it all with determination. I loved her decision to try and help others by taking scum off the streets. Sean was a super hot, perfectly protective, r...more

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May 27, 2012 Stephanie (Once Upon a Chapter) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: the-shelf-of-awesome, read-in-2012, ebook-read

What I Loved: Allison Brennan is guaranteed to give me chills. I go into one of her books expecting it. She didn’t disappoint! I think the best part of the book was that there were two unknowns, so my mind was unable focus on one or the other. While I had an idea of who the big bad guy was, I didn’t actually know who he was. All I had was a profile.

I fell in love with Lucy when she first made her appearance. I’m as proud of who she’s become as I would be a real person. Sean Rogan is just what Lu...more

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Mar 19, 2011 Bethany rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not a young adult book! :-) I needed a good page turner (to help me put off Dostoevsky) and this one was pretty good. It reads like a good suspense/thriller movie, and was written fairly well. The characters are believable (but there are a lot of them! Many of them have appeared in previous books, so that was confusing a bit.) The author doesn't hold back. There were some descriptions (the serial killers thoughts, for example) that I skipped through, but overall it was a quick but fairly satisfy...more

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Jun 07, 2011 Kelli rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks

I listened to the audiobook of Allison Brennan’s Love Me To Death, narrated by Ann Marie Lee. While this review has some commentary on the plot, most of it is related to the audio aspects.

After a traumatic past involving her abduction, rape, and various life-threatening situations for her family, Lucy Kincaid is diligently pursuing her goal of becoming an FBI agent. While volunteering for Women and Children First (an exploitation prevention organization) Lucy becomes unknowingly caught up in a v...more I listened to the audiobook of Allison Brennan’s Love Me To Death, narrated by Ann Marie Lee. While this review has some commentary on the plot, most of it is related to the audio aspects.

After a traumatic past involving her abduction, rape, and various life-threatening situations for her family, Lucy Kincaid is diligently pursuing her goal of becoming an FBI agent. While volunteering for Women and Children First (an exploitation prevention organization) Lucy becomes unknowingly caught up in a vigilante justice scheme targeting repeat sex offenders. At the same time, she has been targeted by a stalker/serial killer/overall creepy guy. Complicating (or perhaps helping) the situation is her growing romantic interest in her brother’s business partner.

I have read one of Allison Brennan’s previous books but not one that would provide a back-story to a lot of the characters in this novel (and there were a lot of people to keep track of). I didn’t find that to be a distraction, however, because although reading the previous books about the Kincaids may have increased my emotional investment in the current narrative, the back-story was deftly woven in to the plot without the need for info dumps or awkward scenes with characters suddenly rehashing the past. The story was a decent romantic suspense plot with two interwoven threads that kept my interest but didn’t keep me up late listening. I found it easy to be a bit detached from the characters because I like a hefty dose of emotional growth in conjunction with a suspense story-line and I didn’t feel I got that.

I am not going to classify the narration as bad – Ms. Lee has a pleasing voice and her style may suit a lot of listeners - but it was distinctly not to my taste. While I was able to tell the characters apart, I didn’t hear the level of voice distinction that helps an audio flow effortlessly from scene to scene. Ms. Lee has what I would characterize as a softer voice/presentation that didn’t enhance the telling of a romantic suspense story with some pretty gritty scenes and events. In addition, the stalker’s first-person scenes as written combined with a vocal characterization that missed the creepy mark made him sound like a badly monologueing villain. To my ear, almost all of the scenes containing intense emotion were performed with the same inflections and tone so that anger, frustration, fear, sadness, and even playing the bad cop during an interrogation sounded the same.

In the end, this audiobook ended up being just ok, hence the two star rating.
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Jan 02, 2011 drey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-reads, romance-suspense

Love Me to Death is a page-turner that will suck up your time, so don't pick it up unless you can finish it--or you'll be ignoring everything else going on, so that you could finish it. Gee, that took quite a few words, didn't it?

Character: Lucy Kincaid is a strong woman. She has to be, to get through her past and keep moving forward with her life. At times, though, Lucy needs to admit that she cannot do it all herself, and she can rely on those who love her, without it looking like weakness. Al...more

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title link	preview: Love Me to Death
avg rating	preview: Love Me to Death Goodreads rating: 3.96 (1761 ratings)
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Love Me to Death (Lucy Kincaid #1)

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