Customer Reviews

Dying to Have Her

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Once again Ms. Graham takes us to the fictional soap opera, Valentine Valley that she wrote about in her previous novel. A new costar is mysterious murder. Clues disappear; accidents begin to happen without reason. The target seems to be Serena McCormack, the temptress everyone loves to hate on the soap opera. In order to protect their star, management hires Liam Murphy. Murphy was once a police officer, but now is a private detective. He knows how to protect Serena since they were once lovers. Everyone begins to fall under suspicion, from the stars to writers to directors, even the people who handle advertisement. I enjoyed Ms. Graham previous novel about the fictional soap opera Valentine Valley. I thought it was campy and just sounded like a soap opera. However, I did not enjoy Dying to Have Her. In fact, I almost didn't finish it and I always try to finish a book, hoping it will get better. Instead of having characters that I could like and care for, I found myself irritated with them. The characters seemed overly dramatic and just plain silly. The plot was weak and didn't keep me in suspense. As much as I like Ms. Graham's contemporaries, I do wish I had read the reviews on this one before I bought it. I could have saved myself some money.

Jane Dunne felt she finally was on her way to becoming a star. Though not quite there, Jane is a prima donna known for her temper tantrums on the set of the soap "Valentine Valley." During a fit over having the TV show hire her own personal makeup man, a huge spotlight falls from the ceiling, killing Jane. Is the incident a tragic accident or was homicide committed and if the latter, occurred, who was the intended target as other people such as the director Jim Novac and the star Serena McCormack have enemies.

To protect Serena, the show hires the best private investigator in the area, Liam Murphy. They were once a hot entry before he dropped her. As the old attraction ignites, accidents pile up with Liam doing double duty to protect the woman he loves from an unknown assailant.

DYING TO HAVE HER just substantiates what the romance world has known for years and fans of suspense thrillers should discover quickly if they want to read a taut tale. Heather Graham is one of the best at providing suspense-filled and action packed story line containing two understandable lead charcaters and a strong secondary cast. Ms. Graham does it once more with this Valentine Valley tale that never slows down for a moment. Readers who try Ms. Graham for the first time will quickly be DYING TO HAVE HER long list of fantastic romantic suspense thrillers.

Harriet Klausner

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a little bit hard to get into, but definitely worth the wait. I don't know why this book has so many negative comments. I surely didn't guess who the culprit was, and just ended up reading through the night.

Wow, I am very surprised. I had never read any of her books before, but I gave this one a try and couldn't put it down. So when I saw how bad her reviewes were I was really surprised, but it gives me hope. I have read all of my favorite author's books and need a new one to read. I love Julie Garwood, Judith McNaught and Linda Howard so now that I read and liked this book and this is I guess a bad one for her I am really looking forward to reading more.

A disappointing book from a usually excellent writer. However, if you are going to write a murder mystery, then you should consider having motive and opportunity and supposedly highly qualified investigators actually considering this aspect. No one in this book considers either including the author. I also don't think it is necessary to have ignorant main characters just to have action. Still even with a horrible plot and weak characters her book has a good pull.

This book is the second in a trilogy taking place on the set of Valentine Valley, the hottest fictional soap around. I really enjoyed the first in this series (Long, Lean, and Lethal), so I couldn't wait to start this one!

This book features Serena McCromack and Liam Murphy as the lead characters, both of whom are also in the first book. I started this with the expectation of catching up with old friends, but this one didn't have the suspense or mystery of the first book. I kept wanting to put it down, I only read on to find out who the killer was. I disagree with fellow reviewers that it was easy to figure this mystery out, I was surprised at the ending.

What also bothered me was how childish all these characters keep acting, for being in their early 30's, they act like teenagers! Also, it seemed unrealistic that everyone would stay up all night after something bad would happen (don't want to spoil anything) and then go to work the next day looking great and feeling refreshed. Then the next night, the same thing would happen over and over again. I kept thinking they must have great make up people on this soap opera, I know how I look and feel after one night without a lot of sleep!

I would only recommend this if you are a Heather Graham fan and following the trilogy. Otherwise, I'd skip this one and read any of her other great books.

I have always enjoyed reading Ms Graham's books. But I'll tell you she wasn't even close to her previous romantic suspense thrillers. The characters were weak. The dialoge stunk. This is suppose to be a murder mystery where everyone is a suspect. A lot of twisted personalities in the this story. It was easy to discount the obvious but the actual bad guy was a real stretch. Don't waste your money on this one.

Errr...fluff like this is what gives the romance genre a bad name. Overall, Heather Graham is a wonderful author, but this particular story had me choking on the cloud of stink it emitted. The characters were unrealistic & cheesy...the storyline a puff piece. Granted, we all know that is what makes soap operas famous, but PLEASE! I couldn't even make it halfway through the book without having to place my head between my knees and gasp for air. Yes, it was THAT nauseating. If I want to indulge in cartoon capers, I'll flip on Scooby Doo. I was severely disappointed, and I didn't even spend $ on it. I checked it out from my local library!! = O

I haven't been very impressed with this author in the past, but as a soap opera fan, I expected to like this trilogy. I was mistaken.

The book really wasn't that suspenseful, and I was disappointed to find that due to the poor construction of the story, I'd managed to figure out whodunnit it extremely early in my reading, and never even wavered from it to suspect anyone else.

While I didn't mind the main characters (though I didn't exactly like them), I really didn't like any of the numerous secondary characters, most especially Jennifer. Even though she wasn't a very major part of this book, as soon as I started reading, everything I hated about her in the first book of the trilogy came flooding back so that I cringed each time I read her name.

The main problem I have with this author is that the dialogue between characters seems very forced and contrived...and ends up sounding very unnatural. I also find myself bothered by her constant use of the words "hell" and "damn," which she seems to toss in wherever she can get away with it, whether it's appropriate or not, in order to punch up the writing and make it more...I don't know...dramatic, maybe.

I don't like to leave things unfinished, so I'll most likely pick up a copy of the next one at the library or a used bookstore. However, after that, my days of reading Ms. Graham will be over.

This book was better than the 1st in this series, but it still wasn't nearly as good as other Heather Graham novels. I agree with those who've said this book is a bit shallow and childish. One thing I don't like about this book and other Heather Graham novels is that she doesn't bother to tell you if you are reading a series. While I realize that each book can stand on its own, it would be nice to know if you're reading a trilogy or series. I actually read Dying to Have Her before I read Long, Lean and Lethal and didn't realize Dying to Have Her was the second book in this trilogy. In fact, I have yet to figure out what the third book in this series is. Dying to Have Her wasn't something that I had trouble finishing, but neither was it something I couldn't put down. If I find out the third in the series, I will probably read it just because I've read the other two, but if you haven't read any in this series, I'd opt for her civil war series; they are truly great books.