Sunday Spotlight is a feature we began in 2016. This year we’re spotlighting our favorite books, old and new. We’ll be raving about the books we love and being total fangirls. You’ve been warned. 🙂
Dying to Please is a one of Linda Howard’s romantic suspense novels that the three of us here love. Cahill and Sarah were such great characters. They really came to life on page. Suspense, action, hot hot hot sex, strip-wrestling, humor and a kickass heroine make this a must read.
Dying To Please by Linda Howard Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: November 4th 2003
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 416
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Alternate-cover edition can be found here
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 an attempted burglary, a courageous act that awards Sarah her requisite “fifteen minutes of fame” with the local press. But the exposure is enough to catch the attention of a tortured soul who, unbeknownst to Sarah, will stop at nothing to have her for himself...
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Favorite Passages
Holly: While I love Cahill, Sarah is the best part of this book for me. She’s a female butler and bodyguard. She’s self-aware, comfortable in her own skin, has a killer sense of humor and is, in general, a total badass. I wouldn’t mind being her when I grow up.
“What about marriage, a family?”
“I hope to have those, too, just not yet. And if I never get married, I still enjoy my life and I’m pleased with my career choice. I’m happy with myself, which isn’t a bad thing.”
Sarah was the most self-possessed person he knew, Cahill thought. If she had lost control to that extent, she had been hysterical. She was frightened, and hurting, and he hadn’t so much as touched her hand when he’d gone to see her in the bungalow. No wonder she was hugging herself; someone needed to do it.
They have a great romance. When Cahill wasn’t acting like an idiot and screwing it up, anyway.
“That was good.” His tone was so low it almost rumbled.
“Yes, it was.” Her own tone was a tad . . . breathy. Where had that come from? She had never sounded breathy before in her life.
“Do you want to do it again?”
“We’d better not.”
“Okay,” he said, and kissed her again.
“What time did you get up?”
“Almost seven. I went for a run, ate the bagel, read the paper, twiddled my thumbs.”
“Poor baby.” She picked up her spoon and dug in. “What else did you do?”
“You still weren’t awake, so I had sex with your unconscious body—”
“Did not.”
“Did, too.”
“Okay, so you dozed off and were dreaming. What time did you wake up?”
“Nine-thirty.”
“So who says men have more guts than women?”
He grinned at the challenge in her voice. “No one. Men just tend to do stupid things out of pride. Now that I’ve admitted we’re all idiots, will you have dinner with me tonight?”
“What? Go out with an idiot?”
“Think of the entertainment value.”
“I’ll do my best to keep you entertained. How does that sound?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. What do you have in mind?”
“Well, for starters I thought I’d fuck your brains out. Then, as an encore, I thought I’d fuck your brains out.”
“Just what I like,” she said. “Variety.”
Even though Cahill makes does some boneheaded things, he’s still a great hero. He’s the perfect match for Sarah.
He was suspicious when something seemed perfect, but the way he and Sarah fit together was . . . perfect. Even when they argued, he knew he didn’t intimidate her—hell, he wasn’t certain she could be intimidated. And that was perfect. He didn’t have to handle her with kid gloves. The sex was hot and raunchy: perfect. They made each other laugh: perfect. Maybe it was because she was from a military family, but she seemed to get him in a way no other woman had: perfect. What wasn’t perfect was that she wasn’t with him.
He didn’t want to be “just” anything to her. He wanted to be her center.
Giveaway
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About the Author
Linda Howard
Linda Howard is an award-winning author whose novels include the recent New York Times bestsellers Shadow Woman, Up Close and Dangerous, and Drop Dead Gorgeous, as well as the Pocket Books releases Kill and Tell, Now You See Her, All the Queen’s Men, Mr. Perfect, and Open Season. She lives in Alabama with her husband and two golden retrievers.
I remember this book; Linda Howard has written some fun stories.
I’m looking forward to reading Sarah Morgan’s next book.