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Blair Mallory lives the good life. She’s pretty, confident, and the owner of a thriving up-scale fitness center. But in the shadow of success, a troubled member of the club develops a strange fixation on Blair, imitating her style and dress. Matters take a darker turn when the look-alike is shot dead–and Blair witnesses the horror.

As the media speculates on the tawdry details of the homicide and pushes Blair into the harsh spotlight, she locks horns with police lieutenant Wyatt Bloodsworth. He wants to lead an investigation without interference, while Blair is determined to probe the dead woman’s life on her own. But when someone begins to menace Blair with mounting threats, Wyatt takes notice: Was this murder indeed a lethal case of mistaken identity–and was Blair the intended victim?

378 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 16, 2004

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5003 people want to read

About the author

Linda Howard

223 books7,169 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Linda S. Howington is an American best-selling romance author writing under the pseudonym Linda Howard. After 21 years of penning stories for her own enjoyment, she submitted a novel for publication which was very successful. Her first work was published by Silhouette in 1982. She is a charter member of Romance Writers of America and in 2005 Howard was awarded their Career Achievement Award.

Linda Howard lives in Gadsden, Alabama with her husband, Gary F. Howington, and two golden retrievers. She has three grown stepchildren and three grandchildren.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 846 reviews
Profile Image for Blacky *Romance Addict*.
496 reviews6,582 followers
March 2, 2016


This is one of the most unique POVs I have ever read!  photo 279453.gif
The woman here is so epic, it's beyond words  photo 355146.gif
I loved every minute being in her brain, it was lots of fun and craziness  photo 706146.gif
The main guy is uber uber yummy  photo 72866.gif


Well, I went into this book without knowing a single thing about it, and I'm glad for it cause everything was a surprise :D
Huge rec for everyone who likes weird humor, here are a few quotes so you can see what it's like:


"I mean, show-business people are naming their kids things like Homer, for God’s sake. When those kids grow up and kill their parents, I think all the cases should be ruled justifiable homicide. Which brings up the murder I saw."

----------------------------

"“Go home. Leave me alone.”
As I spoke I unlocked the door and moved so I was blocking him.
He leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb and smiled down at me. “I wasn’t intending to force my way in, you know.”
“That’s good. Why don’t we pretend you’re a vampire and can’t ever come in unless I invite you?”"

----------------------------

"“So it’s a trust thing,” he finally said. “Good. That’s something I can work with.” He slanted a hard look at me. “That means you’ll be seeing a lot of me. I can’t earn your trust back if I’m not around. So from now on, we’re together. Got it?”
I blinked."

----------------------------

"“Some people,” I announced to the sky, “have better manners than to laugh at someone who’s been shot and is bleeding to death.”
“You aren’t bleeding to death,” Wyatt said, his voice showing some strain. Maybe, maybe not, but you’d think they’d give me the benefit of the doubt, wouldn’t you? I was almost tempted to bleed to death just to show him, but where’s the profit in that? Besides, if I died, then I wouldn’t be around to make his life miserable, now would I? You have to think these things out. "

----------------------------

"“How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” I said politely. I wasn’t, not really, because my arm was really, really throbbing and I felt weak from blood loss, but I was still mad at him and not inclined to lean on him. See, men want you to lean on them, because it satisfies their protective instincts, which are pretty much hardwired, and by refusing his sympathy, I was telling him he was in the dog house. You have to read between the lines on these things. His green eyes narrowed. He got the message all right."

----------------------------

"“What’s that?” I asked.
“I told you I’d get you a bush. Here it is.”
I stared at the poor bedraggled plant. The green strings had to be its limp little limbs. “What will I do with a bush?”
“You said the house didn’t have a single plant in it, like that somehow made it unlivable or something. So here’s your plant.”
“That isn’t a houseplant! That’s shrubbery. You bought shrubbery for me?”
“A plant’s a plant. Put it in the house and it’s a houseplant.”"

---------------------------

"“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Wyatt muttered as he parked me in his chair. “But it’s too late now to change my mind, so just sit there and make lists, okay? There are some guys here who have high cholesterol, so try not to smile at them and give them heart attacks. Don’t flirt with anyone who’s over forty, or overweight, or married, or under forty, or single. Got it?”"




*buddy read with Glam <3 Thanks woman, I would never have picked this up on my own :**


13 reviews2 followers
September 20, 2011
I really hated this book. Not because of its feminist tone, but because of it's MASCULINE tone. You read that right.

Even though this book was supposed to be from Blair Mallory's POV, it was really from Wyatt Bloodsworth's. He goes out with the main character twice, and gets cold feet because he thinks she's high maintenance. From what I could see (and I am a man), all he wanted was lots of great sex. But since he didn't get it right away, he exercised his "right" to run to calmer (and easier) waters without offering any explanation.

Two years later Wyatt forces his way back into Blair's life, and in spite of all her hurt feelings, Blair gives in to Wyatt every time he makes a move. Someone gets killed, but it has absolutely no bearing on the story other than to give Wyatt an excuse to keep Blair isolated so he can whittle away at her resistance.

Even though Blair runs a highly successful business, it's revealed that she couldn't have started it without a hefty settlement from her divorce. She needs round-the-clock protection from someone trying to kill her. She's repeatedly described as a fluffy flirt instead of the smart, intelligent, savvy, industrious business woman she is.

Blair decides to try to have a reasonable relationship with Wyatt, but is made to give in to Wyatt's wishes every time he wants. The only women allowed to have any backbone at all is Blair's mother, Wyatt's mother, and Blair's older sister (the one with the tits), but even they are cut down to their looks and made to submit to male authority.

Is it too much to ask that Wyatt accept no for an answer, behave like a mature adult, not take advantage of a witness to a murder, listen to Blair's feelings, not yell at his mother, and for BOTH of Blair's parents to sit down with him for a Talk?

I kept wishing that the original murder had something to do with the plot, that it would turn out to be a case of mistaken identity and the intended victim really was Blair. I kept wishing that Blair would be murdered, just to give Wyatt something to think about besides his own wants and needs.

But no, the plot of this book can be summed up with "No matter what Women look like, think, feel, or accomplish, men are in control". This sort of plot would have been fine if this were still 1953, but in these enlightened times, having Blair spread her legs every time Wyatt touches her neck (and the sheer number of times Wyatt takes advantage of her) is inexcusable.
Profile Image for ♡Karlyn P♡.
604 reviews1,281 followers
October 30, 2008
OMG, this was funny. Written in first person and narrated by the heroine Blair. She was a hoot. I’d summarize it as a strong romantic sexy comedy with a very light mystery. Blair witnesses a murder, which brings Lt. Wyatt Bloodsworth back into her life. He was someone she dated a few years back, but it abruptly ended after only three dates. For me, the bigger mystery was finding out what happened between Blair and Wyatt two years earlier, and not who was trying to kill her. Wyatt was such a great hero. Even though we didn’t get to hear his thoughts, the interaction between these two more than let you know where he stood and what he was thinking.
Profile Image for Melissa (Mel’s Bookshelf).
518 reviews319 followers
January 29, 2018
"Good audio funny romance" I asked Google... "TO DIE FOR - LINDA HOWARD" Was an overwhelming response... Next time I won't ask Google. This book started off well enough, I actually was enjoying it. And then it took a turn and couldn't recover.

Blair Mallory is a confident blonde bombshell with an inner monologue to put any angsty teen to shame. She is a successful woman with her life nicely organised, running her own gym and driving her Mercedes convertible. Until someone who looks exactly like her is found dead outside her gym. Then she soon realises someone is out to kill her. Enter lieutenant Wyatt Bloodsworth, to help her find the killer, and of course re-ignite some mega sparks that he has with Blair left over from a few years earlier.

So, I enjoyed the first few hours of the audio version. I quite liked the narrator and the cute southern drawl. I enjoyed the banter between the characters and even though it was corny, I was enjoying the story and Blair's character. That is, until she got together with her man and all of a sudden it became the most annoying thing I've ever listened to. No woman complains that much. Her stupid and pathetic behaviour was laughable, yet I found myself listening on because I wanted to know who was out to get her. 

And then, when we finally do discover the perpetrator, it was the biggest and stupidest climax to a book I can remember reading (or listening to in this case). I literally cringed! Ekk! Yet if the book had just cut out about 3 hours of her jabbering about her stupid thoughts, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. 

And Ms Howard! What on earth was with the sexism?? It was everywhere! So painful. This one was a definite miss from me. 

Would I recommend To Die For?

Nope, some of her others are much better!

I purchased the audio version of To Die For at my own expense via audible.com
Profile Image for Mindy Lou's Book Review.
2,998 reviews799 followers
July 17, 2025
What a riot!

This has got to be one of the most entertaining couple I have ever read! I loved how Blair made Wyatt work for it after he ghosted on her two years ago. He’s one of those men whose never had to work for a woman before. Due to that, he doesn’t know the word compromise. He sounds like a jerk but he really isn’t. He’s just used to getting his way. The way Blair taught him how his way would get him no where fast had me laughing so hard throughout this book. This was a gem!

2025 re-read
I did a re-read with the audiobook and unfortunately, I don’t recommend it. The narrator wasn’t the right choice for this book. She made Blair sound like a 70 year old woman. Mind you, Blair is only 30. I still love the book and hopefully the author redoes the narration in the future considering there were many complaining of the same issue.
Profile Image for Bibi.
1,287 reviews133 followers
August 16, 2020
So much fun. Blair was a hoot!
Profile Image for SamJ ★Needs a HEA★.
615 reviews894 followers
June 20, 2020
★Book Basics★

Genre : - Contemporary Romance
Series : - 1st in the series - but could be read as a stand alone if you did not want to read the 2nd Blair Mallory book.
Writing First person POV (Blair)
Love triangle? -
Cheating? -
HEA? -
Would I read more by this author? - Yes
Rating - 5 stars


★Review★


I first read this years ago - when I actually still owned paperbacks!

At the time, I pretty much read historical romances - but always made an exception for Linda Howard (along with 1 or 2 other authors)

I think this was the first book I ever read that had me laughing out loud (or at least snorting in amusement) for large parts of it.

If I met someone in real life like Blair, yeah, I would probably try to kill her too, or at last just injure her a little to get her to settle down a bit, but still, I loved her in this.

Loved Wyatt, and how he knew the crazy he was getting, but just decided "ah screw it" and went for it, and adored them together.

With a little bit of suspense and mystery thrown in, this is one of my most re read and favourite books, not just of Linda Howard, but ever.
Profile Image for Vintage.
2,714 reviews718 followers
April 20, 2017
I loved this. I adored the heroine and her voice. Countdown to crazy.

I was raised in Texas, went to school in Tennessee, and I could relate to her craziness and her code of conduct as a Southern girl. In some cases, her rules were antiquated by today's standards, but I could really identify with her. I checked Linda Howard's bio, and yes, she lives in Alabama and has the Southern chick sensibilities down pat.

Blair is sassy, intelligent, sexy, self-sufficient, funny and about a thousand times smarter about men than I am now or have ever been. Too bad someone wants her dead. The upside is it brings back yummy detective Wyatt Bloodworth, a huge crush from two years ago who dropped her like a hot potato just when things got interesting.

Blair is as interested in NOT being shot as she is in Detective Wyatt. Not being a forgiving sort, she makes him earn his way back into her good graces although she can't resist it when he puts on the rico suave southern boy moves. Turns out Wyatt is crazy about her, but suffers the indignities of his whole quad knowing how crazy he is for her while Blair giving his Chief fashion advice and experiences more death attempts than any boyfriend wants to see. There are some holes with Wyatt and his two year hiatus, but Blair is so much fun with an inner voice many if not most women can identify with.
Profile Image for Glass.
646 reviews4 followers
June 6, 2014
My second Linda Howard novel was enjoyable read - humor and banter between main characters were the best part, but unlike After the Night, this book had more similarities with Kristen Ashley writing.
Beginning was the weakest point for me because it took me a while to get into the story and at times it was hard to follow narrator's train of thoughts.
I'd give it 4 stars because it made me laugh like crazy, and 3 stars for the writing.
Profile Image for Eve.
778 reviews52 followers
March 30, 2023
Series: Blair Mallory, #1
Contemporary Romance / Romantic Suspense
Publication date : December 28, 2004

lg

Oh, yeah. The police lieutenant Wyatt Bloodsworth had to do some serious crawling to get back in good terms with Blair Mallory. After all Blair was raised by a woman who knew her worth, and she teached her daughters firmly to believe that life is much better for a woman when a man has to work hard to get her. After all "It’s human nature to take better care of something you’ve worked for, whether it’s a car or a wife." But Wyatt fights to win, which means he fights dirty.

Another enjoyable story by Linda Howard. I enjoyed humor, romance, mystery and witty banter. Blair and Wyatt were so much fun together. Blair with her witty talk and sass. Wyatt was an alpha male who nobody ever said "No". Till Blair. Its good there's follow up to their story: Drop Dead Gorgeous

“You only fear something that hasn't happened. Once it has happened, all you can do is deal with it.”
Profile Image for Jamie.
1,048 reviews935 followers
May 18, 2020
***5/18/20 yet another re-read of a favorite Linda Howard but this time on audible. OK, the narrator sucked.. but after the first couple of chapters I managed to over look it. But dang she does not have Blair Mallory's voice at all.


5 stars the 3rd time around! Blair and Wyatt are one of my all time fav book couples. Was going to try the audible but went back to actually reading it... the narrator was AWFUL-- sounded like she was around 90 and her voice was NOT working. AT ALL.
Profile Image for Jane Stewart.
2,462 reviews964 followers
September 27, 2010
Not enjoyable because I did not like the heroine. The heroine, Blair, was mouthy, snotty and unpleasant.

My take on Blair is if you're beautiful, you don't need kindness or sincerity. Following is an example of her personality from page 344. She wakes up early at 5 am. She then wakes up her fiance, asking him to leave the room to turn down the thermostat and get her something warm to wear so she can get out of bed. He does so and returns to bed to sleep. She then gets up and tiptoes out of the bedroom because she "didn't want to disturb him." On page 375, she tries to do a backflip and messes it up but kicks the bad guy by accident. Some policemen are impressed with what they thought was a karate move. She thinks she is clever by letting them continue to think that, without telling them that it was accidental dumb luck. Throughout the book I was turned off by her thoughts and actions. Her love interest, Wyatt, says she's high-maintenance but he likes her because he's never bored. I would have preferred he find someone else. I did enjoy Wyatt's personality and actions, but Blair ruined the book for me. At the end of the book, the author dedicates the book as follows. "This is to my dear high-maintenance friend who provided me with so much inspiration for this story." Ok. So Blair is modeled on someone she knows. I prefer not to read about it.

DATA:
Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: three. Setting: current day, North Carolina. Copyright: 2005. Genre: romantic mystery and suspense.
Profile Image for Jena .
2,313 reviews2 followers
December 21, 2022
Reread 2021 - 5 Stars then, 4 Stars now as a romantic-com. This heroine is one of my favs!


-Hilarious, but it doesnt have that annoying chicklit vibe where the author tries too hard to be funny and end up just being cringey (I despise chick-lit). Absolutely recommend this lol.

-h is sassy, beautiful, sexy, intelligent, and strong, but she has that body betraying thing going on.

- no virgins
Profile Image for atomickitten.
995 reviews161 followers
August 23, 2021
2 stars

DNFed with a heavy heart @ 50%.

It started off really well but sth went very wrong along the way.




The heroine is a sassy southern girl. And I loved her witty comebacks, her ott attitude and her standards towards men and dating. She cracked me up a lot at first.

However, her standards went out of the window pretty quickly, her sass turned into a childish whine, the hero popped the question after a week or so, and the whole story simply lost its spark.

Maybe I'll finish it later but this is not what I thought this book would be about.
Hence the disappointment and the rating.


Profile Image for KatieV.
710 reviews494 followers
September 17, 2018
LH's foray into romantic comedy. I listened to the audio and laughed out loud several times. This book is not to be taken seriously. The characters are caricatures and this is played for laughs. The suspense is nothing more than an excuse to throw the H/h together.

Blair is a stereotypical southern princess and Wyatt the ex-football player alpha turned cop (who also drives a sexy truck). I recognize the southern girl sensibilities, this character actually reminded me of a high school friend, but Blair is way over-the-top. Her inner monologue is hilarious, although I'm not so sure there's enough meat left on the bone for a sequel. I may hold off on that one for a while and stick with the pure, silly enjoyment of the original.
Profile Image for Glamdring.
508 reviews111 followers
January 21, 2018
*Buddy read with Blacky <3<3<3*

To Die For is the thirty-fourth book out of hers 54 I've read by Linda Howard and saying that I had a lot of fun reading it is an understatement.

Unlike her other books this one is written in the first person. Blair's POV. She's hilarious (among other things her lists of transgressions made me LMAO), sometimes ridiculous (in a funny way), or outrageous but never boring. I also really loved her no nonsense attitude and that she took shit from no one.

"[...] You didn’t think I’d let the backstabbing little hussy get away with it, did you? Not that I don’t love Jenni, but she’s the baby of the family, and she thinks she should get anything and everything she wants. Occasionally she has to be shown differently."

Wyatt, like all LH heros is über alpha, over sexed and isn't afraid to play dirty to get what he wants and what he wants is Blair. He's also a smooth talker, and if KA's hot bunch have a mentor it's definitely and without the shadow of a doubt Wyatt.

“What’s that?” I asked.
“I told you I’d get you a bush. Here it is.”
I stared at the poor bedraggled plant. “What will I do with a bush?”
“You said the house didn’t have a single plant in it, like that somehow made it unlivable or something. So here’s your plant.”
“That isn’t a houseplant! That’s shrubbery. You bought shrubbery for me?”
“A plant’s a plant. Put it in the house and it’s a houseplant.”


Like other LH books, the focus of the story is on Blair/Wyatt relationship. They fight a lot, none of them do it fair and it's highly entertaining. I also enjoyed the secondary characters.



If you are looking for a fun, fast paced and hard to put down book, this one is for you.
Profile Image for Kathleen.
1,375 reviews28 followers
January 6, 2015
3.75, maybe 4. Definitely comedy-romance, and quite well done! Linda Howard is one talented writer. Vivid action. Vivid descriptions. Great dialogue. Hard hot hottie. But a lame mystery.

This was better than expected, given that some readers despised the heroine, Blair. I actually liked her. It's written in first-person POV -- Blair's -- which I usually don't care for. But I liked this book. I chuckled. Yet too much sex too fast, and I didn't think too much of Wyatt's reason for dumping Blair two years before the book began. But I liked him for what he did for his family, and after awhile, I kinda trusted that his love for Blair was true.

The suspense / mystery was lame. Who could ever have possibly guessed the identity of the killer?

Great secondary characters. Her family. His mom. I enjoyed the scenes with the police officers. The French blue shirt. The cookies.

The blitzing computers. Two of them, at work and at home. I was sure they were a clue. One even crashed. To pieces. What a meltdown. A breakdown. But how was it part of the plot? Another red herring, or just light comedy?

Contents: Numerous sex scenes, but most of them fade-to-black. Some F-bombs and some religious profanity. Some bloody violence.

Lots of funny scenes. Blair plays the blond bimbo, but she ain't no piece of fluff.

I also read the sequel, Drop Dead Gorgeous. It was okay, but not as good, IMO.
Profile Image for Izy.
927 reviews78 followers
August 6, 2015
Rating ~ 2.5 stars

I read this during my binge reading session in Jan/feb and well when I binge read, I just move on the next book, especially if I don't enjoy one book so I never got around to reviewing this (or you know many others).

Where to start....hmmmm I love Linda Howard's books and I frequently reread them and never actually thought I'd find a book in which I wouldnt like the protagonists or the couple together. I was confused because Blair thinks she's smart (or I'm supposed to think she's smart, a brilliant business woman etc) but her behaviour was either of of a complete ditz or very manipulative. Some (ok, most) of her inner monologue made my eyes roll back (also, cringe at times) and the hero was no prize either. The hero, Wyatt had previously dated Blair two years ago and to quote:

“Honey, if you look up ‘high maintenance’ in the dictionary, your picture is there. You want to know why I walked away two years ago? Because I knew it would be like this, and I figured I could save myself a lot of trouble by getting out early.”

Why is he dating her now then? huh why? Give me a reason!



The suspense/who dunn it part was a let down as well *Sad sigh* What does it take to get a good murderer plotline.

I seriously considered DNFing this at many points but I didn't, I should have but curiosity killed the cat or in case my Linda Howard streak.
Profile Image for Pamela(AllHoney).
2,688 reviews376 followers
September 17, 2017
The first book in the Blair Mallory series by Linda Howard. Blair Mallory witnesses a murder but doesn't know it at first. She thinks someone is trying to kill her and calls the police to report a shot. When they arrive the police discover the body of a woman, Nicole Goodwin, who used to be a member at Blair's gym. Then in comes Detective Wyatt Bloodsworth. Two years before Blair had dated him 3 times before he left and never called again.

I love Linda Howard and I have no idea why I avoided this series. Maybe because of the 1st person point of view but truly, that was stupid of me because it turned out to be a delight to read. Blair was definitely a "high maintenance" woman but I loved her anyway. I adored Wyatt for putting up with her. Now on to the next book in the series...
Profile Image for Canan .
1,083 reviews71 followers
May 21, 2021
Geçenlerde aklıma düştü yine. Serinin ikinci kitabı Türkçe olmadığı için yeniden bir okuma yapayım dedim. Dile kolay tam dokuz yıl olmuş ben okuyalı. Ve hala eğlenceli, komik ve keyifliydi😂 Ama dürüst olmalıyım.İlk okuduğum zamanki zevki vermedi. Bunun başlıca sebebi Blair'in fazla dağınık düşünceleri. Aslında bende zaman zaman konudan sapan birisiyimdir. Bu yönden pek sorun yok ama bu içsel konuşmalar uzadıkça sıkıldım biraz. Ve o düşünceler...😂🤭
Blair bir cinayete şahit olur. Haberlerde de çok mantıklı olarak tam adı ve tanık olma durumu yansıtılınca Teğmen J. W. Bloodsworth hanım kızımızı hemen koruma altına alır. Hani şu iki yıl önce ateşli bir kaç randevudan sonra ne arayıp soran o pislik. Şimdi bir de gelmiş en güvenli yer benim evim diyor. Millete çıktıklarını söylüyor 🤦 Sırf aklı birden başına geldi diye Blair'in hemen Wyatt'ı affedecek hali yok. Sürüm sürüm sürünsün pislik! Ama o pislik zayıf yönünü çok iyi biliyor😒😂😂
Hikayede Blair'in başına gelmeyen kalmıyor. Kaç defa ölümlerden döndü. Dolayısıyla sevdiklerine de ecel terleri döktürdü. Bu esnada ailesi ve çılgınlıkları beni sık sık güldürdü.😂Bu kız annesine çekmiş resmen🙈Baba da garibim durumu idare etme derdinde. Wyatt'a da bu konuda tavsiye vermekten çekinmiyor 😂
Çiftimiz arası iletişim de güzeldi. Daha doğrusu Wyatt'ın aynı evde kalıyoruz, zaten yattık da... Bu benim kitabımda biz sevgiliniz demektir iddiası ile Blair'in daha bir randevuya bile çıkmadık. Bana kur yapmalısın kavgası sizi gülümsetiyor.
Profile Image for amanda s..
3,115 reviews95 followers
January 6, 2021
This book is GOOOOOOOOODDDD..

I laughed and cried while reading this book. Like seriously. There are times when I don't really like books with murdering theme, or detective theme, but Linda Howard's writing is exceptional. I'm officially addicted. Sure the detective theme is a bit thicker than I usually read, but the romance? Hubba hubba.

Let's just say the police officer is an Alpha male who will not take "no" as an answer. He's demanding, domineering, hard and annoying, yet at the same time kind, gentle and protective. Ugh, I love him!

I'd definitely read another books by Linda Howard. It's a promise.
Profile Image for Sunny.
1,452 reviews
January 31, 2015
Slapstick and sexy, this one surprised me . I didn't expect something so light and fun from Linda Howard but it just shows her versatility . It was like reading a story inspired by both Designing Women and Murder She Wrote. I read this book in one night. Highly, highly entertaining.
Profile Image for Sevgi.
340 reviews
September 20, 2019
Ölümcül Hata tavsiye üzerine okuduğum ve iyi okumuşum dediğim bir kitap oldu.😍Yazarın kalemiyle ilk kez tanıştım. Keşke kendisini daha önce okusaymışım.
Çok çok güzel bir kitaptı. Her sayfasından keyif aldım. Her sayfasında sırıtarak okudum. Wyatt ve Blair harikaydı.😍İkisinin her sahnesinden güldüm diyebilirim.

Bu güzel kitabın konusuna gelirsek; Blair boşandıktan sonra kendi ayakları üzerinde durmuş ve çok keyifli giden bir hayatı vardır. Baştan sona kadar kendi emeğiyle yaptığı spor salonu vardır. Ve onu kendisi işletmektedir. Tek sorunu Nicole adında üyelerden biri saplantılı derecede kendisini taklit etmektedir. Saçını, giyimini, makyajını, arabasını ve yaşam tarzını. Adeta Blair'i kopyalamıştır.
Birgün spor salonu çıkışı Nicolu otoparkta beklerken görür. Ve hiç hesapta olmayan bir şekilde Nicole gözünün önünde cinayete kurban gider.
Devreye eski polis sevgilisi şimdilerde Teğmen olan Wyatt da girince olaylar başlar. Cinayetin tek tanığı ise Blair'dir. Başı katille beladadır.

Polisiye ve romantiğin iç içe olduğu güzel bir kitaptı. Blair tam seveceğim tarzda kendini ezdirmeyen, kurnaz ve fena biri😂Böyle kadın karakterlere bayılıyorum. Wyatt arada sırada öküzlük yapsa da oda çok şekerdi 🤗Bir o kadar da fena. Hayat ona Blair gibi birini verdi belasını buldu.😂
Blair'in annesine babasına ayrı bayıldım. Annesi ile olan diyologları harikaydı. Bir bakışla birilerini anlamaları aynı düşüncede olmaları. Kardeşlerini de ayrı sevdim. (Biri hariç 😒) Blair'in yerinde olsam yanıma 500 metre yaklaştırmazdım 😄Neyse ki sonradan sevdirdi biraz kendisi. Mallory ailesi harikaydı.😍
Kitabın diğer çok sevdiğim şeylerinden biri Blair ve bitmek bilmeyen listeleri😄Kesinlikle en iyisini yapıyor. Unutmamak lazım.🤓😈

Sonlara doğru herşey yavaş yavaş açığa çıkarken tahminlerimde doğru çıktı. Sadece nedenini biraz saçma buldum ben daha büyük bir şeyler bekliyordum.😂Yine de bayıldım. Harika bir kitaptı. Her sayfasından keyif aldım. Kitabın kötülerine bile sempati duyuyorum😄
Sanırım kitabın devamı da var ama bizde çevirisi yok malesef 😞
Kesinlikle tavsiye ederim. Romantik, polisiye ve komedi hepsi bir arada harikaydı.😍
#alıntı
🌹
Wyatt yine çok romantik😄
🌸
"Nedir bu?" diye sordum.
"Sana çalı alacağımı söylemiştim, buyur işte."
Zavallı ıslak çiçeğe bakakaldım. Yeşil şeritler onun küçük, zayıf yaprakları olsa gerekti. "Çalıyı ne yapayım ben?"
"Evde tek bir çiçek bile yok dedin, nasılsa ev yaşanılır bir yer mi olmuyormuş nedir? İşte ben de sana çiçek getirdim.
"Bu evde yetişen çiçeklerden değil! Çalı bu. Bana çalı mı getirdin?"
"Bitki bitkidir. Eve koyarsın, ev bitkisi olur."
"Hiç anlamıyorsun bu işten," diye patladım, zavallı şeyi elinden almak için uzanırken. "Bütün gün, bu sıcakta bagajında mı tuttun? Pişirmişsin. Ölürse hiç şaşırmam. Belki vitamin vererek yaşayabilirim, gerçi. Kapıyı açacak mısın? Bunun için vitaminli bir şeyler getirdin mi?"
"Bitkiler yemek mi yiyor?" diye ihtiyatla sormadan önce kapıyı açtı.
Ahh Wyatt ahh😄
🌸
Kapının kolunu tutarak bir müddet durdu ve yeniden annesine baktı, bu sefer polis ifadesini takınmıştı. "Ona çok iyi göz kulak ol, gelecekteki torunlarının annesi o."
"Değilim!" diye çığlık attım, şok içinde kısa bir saniyenin ardından.
"Ben de öyle düşünmüştüm," dedi annesi aynı anda.
Kapıya yetiştiğimde çıkmıştı bile. Hızla açıp Wyatt'a bağırdım. "Değilim! Bu yaptığın çok sinsice, yalan söylediğini sen de biliyorsun!"
Profile Image for gremlinkitten.
449 reviews107 followers
May 4, 2008
Hmm, I'm having a hard time describing how I feel about this book. I liked it enough, Blair was a decent character, but there was something (or things) missing. I'm not one of those who hate first person narratives (I really have no preference - both first and third person narratives are fine with me, as long as they work for the book), but for some reason it felt weird in this book and didn't quite work for me. Also, I don't know how I feel about Wyatt. His reason for leaving Blair two years ago was lame and I can't believe she let him off the hook so easily; not to mention he was rather one-dimensional. The mystery was hardly that and it seemed as if the author forgot all about someone trying to kill Blair until the end, deadline was near, and just added some cockamamie, loony-tune ending that was a total let down and came from left field. Not to mention, the whole someone-wants-to-kill-Blair thing was pushed aside for all the petty arguing and sex. Now I liked Blair giving Wyatt a hard time and all, but some of the stuff she said or did was overkill and the editor needed to trim a good fifty or so pages of it out of the book. It didn't help that going into the book, I thought it was a more serious romantic suspense, which is what I really wanted to read at the time.

Some of my petty annoyances with the book came fairly early on: I don't get why Blair (and/or the author) thought Jason Carson or Jenni Mallory rhymed. Now if his name was Jason Cayson, I'd understand, or Jenni Menni, but just because Jason and Carson both end with 'son,' it doesn't rhyme because it's the same thing. I don't know if I'm saying that right but oh well. My other thing was that Blair couldn't wear some underwear because the bra got ruined. Uh, okay. Now I like my undies to match but that wouldn't mean I'd never wear the underwear again because the bra that matched got ruined. That's just snobby and stupid. Yeah, I know, ridiculous things to find annoying in the book, but we all have something. LoL

After I finished the book and went to Amazon I saw that there's a sequel. I'm not sure if I'm up for another trip into Blair's mind or not, but if I come across it real cheap or someone gives it to me, I might read it. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book, I did, but I liked Blair up to a point, but when it got to around page 250, she was just a bit too much for a 378 page book. Maybe if we weren't in her head the whole time, or the book was shorter, I would have liked the book better.

Here's part of an Amazon review I liked:

'Wyatt had stayed away from his soulmate for two years and only came running with an engagement ring when he thought she had been murdered. How long would he have stayed away if nothing had happened to Blair? Also, Blair was supposedly only a 'dumb blonde' when it suited her. But I question the intelligence of anyone who thinks someone who cuts her brake line is just stupid and someone who shoots her with intent to kill is just a nitwit. I wonder if these things bothered anyone else. Still, these problems did not take too much away from my enjoyment of the book.'
Profile Image for Lindsay.
2,234 reviews512 followers
November 6, 2014
This book was beyond amazing!!!

I seriously love Linda Howard's books, but I tend to forget that she has other books aside from my favorites that I reread over and over again. I know this one has been out for a while (quite a while) but it's one I hadn't read before...and I deeply regret that because this book had everything I could want in a book. It had mystery, suspense, romance, alpha guy, sassy girl, funny bits that had me literally LOLing. I can't remember the last time I read a perfect book with no issues (for me) and no complaints. Honest to god, I swear I have 3/4 of the book highlighted as parts I loved.

While this wasn't as steamy as some of her previous books, there was still decent steam to it. This will definitely go down as not only one of my favorite books by Linda Howard, but also of all time.
Profile Image for Lena.
1,216 reviews332 followers
March 9, 2019
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Just as enjoyable on reread. Linda Howard is my go-to-gal for romantic suspense. Both the Blair Mallory Series and Veil of Night are rare because of their humor and the special mother-daughter bonds depicted.

I will leave you with this quote in honor of International Woman’s Day and because I like it:

“I was raised by a woman who knows her own worth, and her daughters firmly believe that life is much better for a woman when a man has to work really hard to get her. It’s human nature to take better care of something you’ve worked for, whether it’s a car or a wife.”
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