Customer Reviews

Dying For You

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First let me say that this book was 377 pages long which was at least 100 pages too long.

Lucie has chased after Sawyer McNamara for years waiting for a chance to tell him what really happened nine years ago. She works for him & yet they haven't talked about this for NINE YEARS? And why would she stay when he gave her the worst assignments that he knew she would hate? On the last assignment, guarding a has-been actor, she was almost raped and when she told Sawyer he said, "You don't look any worse for wear." This when he'd already talked to the "client" who told him he'd hit Lucie, among other things. She finally quit and took a job as a bodyguard in South America not knowing that Sawyer set it up.

We don't find out what made Sawyer so hateful and hurtful to Lucie, who as it turned out was completely blameless as was Sawyer, until page 368 and it covers it all of four pages.

What is it with all these women in love with men who don't appear to love them which is pretty much the case in the last few books of this series?

In "The Dying Game" Lindsey was in love with Judd who couldn't be with her because he was a mean, self-pitying, obnoxious, entitled, arrogant drunk who went out of his way to publicly humiliate Lindsey the Door Mat.

In this book we have Lucie who's in love with Sawyer who says he can't be with her because of something that happened NINE years ago.

And we have Cara who's in love with Bain who says he can't be with her because she's so rich and he's just a cop.

And we have Daisy who's in love with Geoff who says he can't be with her because he's too old.

And they all lived happily ever after.

THE END

If you've read the rest of the series you might as well read this one. Otherwise pass and read "Navajo's Woman" or "The Last To Die".

Barton ends her long running "Protector" series by finally bringing together three star-crossed couples that readers have wanted to see united:

Dundee Security head honcho Sawyer has always had a love hate relationship with agent Lucie Evans. When she has finally had enough, she quits and takes an assignment to guard wealthy Cara Bedell while on a trip to South America. Cara has loved detective Bain for several years but he cannot get over her wealth on his civil servant salary. Dundee secretary Daisy has loved world weary mercenary turned bodyguard Geoff for years, but his past and their age gap keeps him from accepting her love. When Lucie is mistaken for Cara in a kidnapping plot and Geoff is shot in the rescue, the men must confront their feelings for the ladies they have kept at arm's length, as well as their checkered pasts. But the person who arranged the kidnapping is still out there and could make a second attempt.

On the one hand, I am happy that rather than dragging the story out over three more volumes, she chose to tie up the loose ends to the stories her fans have been wanting for years. On the other hand, I think that each couple gets the short end of the stick. The story is nearly non-existent for Daisy and Geoff. One page he is saying no to her; the next he is ordering his tux. Cara and Bain definitely burned up the pages the most, but for me, the central storyline - Sawyer and Lucie was just not developed as much as it could be. I really felt like a lot of the story was left on the outline and never made it to the page. There were also a lot of typos that required re-reading passages. Overall, it is a good but average story.


© Tracy Vest, February 2009

I've followed The Protectors series by Beverly Barton for years...like many, I've been dying for Lucie Evans and Sawyer McNamara to bring their relationship to a head...and I'm so thrilled with the story Ms. Barton came up with for these charachters I've followed for years!!

Lucie Evans has had it...Sawyer McNamara has pulled his last trick out of his bag on her...she's through. She's hunge in there at The Dundee Agency for years, no matter how hard he pushed her to quit~~how could she leave, when there might still be a chance that Sawyer would forgive her? But she's finally seen the light...there is no hope. Or so she thinks, until she is kidnapped and her life threatened~~and Sawyer, CEO and a hands off man, takes a very hands on approach to her case.

Ms. Barton gives glimpses of the relationship Sawyer and Lucie has in the past...we get a clear view of why all the animosity between them, and it broke my heart to see the pain they've shared. But, oh, she does a superb job. I could totally buy the 9 year animosity...the guilt and anger they both experienced.

And we get to see several charachters we've come to love finally get their stories as sidelines...The Dundee Agency's office manager, Daisy, has been in love with one of it's agents, Geoff Monday, for years. Finally they get their story. As well as Cara Bedell and Bain, the police detective the billionaire has loved for several years. How will he overcome the enormous difference in their lives?? Both side stories were just as compelling and wonderful as the main story.
I am so thrilled with this book...I started reading it at about 10 last night...and didn't stop 'til the last page. I'm sad to see The Dundee Agency go...I've loved these stories for years. Ms. Barton has always had a talent for switching them up...some are heart wrenching, some are sweet, some are amusing... but they're all, every one, great books. Up to this point I think Sweet Caroline's Keeper has been my favorite...but Dying For You goes over the top. She really takes this series out with class and style~~Don't miss this book!!!

STORY BRIEF:
Lucie and Sawyer work for a private security firm. Lucie has loved Sawyer for years. Sawyer also has feelings for Lucie, but he fights those feelings and has avoided her for nine years, due to a misunderstanding. Lucie quits her job and becomes a bodyguard for Cara, a billionaire traveling to S. America for business. While there, kidnappers think Lucie is Cara and kidnap her for ransom. Sawyer and his people go there to rescue Lucie. Sawyer arranges for Cara to be hidden away for awhile so no one knows the wrong person was kidnapped. Cara has been in love with Bain, a police detective. He loves her as well, but he won't have a relationship with her because he feels he can't fit into her rich lifestyle.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
The two love stories, Lucie/Sawyer and Cara/Bain are based on the guys refusing to act on their feelings and denying their desires for the women. The Sawyer conflict was worse. It was based on someone lying to Sawyer nine years ago. All he needed was a two minute conversation with Lucie to know the truth, but he refused to listen to her for nine years. Finally, at the end of the book, he listens to her, and they are together. I don't enjoy stories where the couple is apart due to vague communication and inaccurate assumptions, which was what this was. At times, there was too much pondering by Sawyer, thinking he wants her, but he must not let himself have her. Regarding Bain and Cara, Bain refused to have a relationship with Cara because she was rich. Later he changed his mind and agreed to marry her, but I didn't understand why he changed his mind, unless it was something about his feelings changing with the passage of time. I would have preferred an interesting reason.

CAUTION SPOILERS:
The second major storyline was about the kidnapping, who hired the kidnappers and why. That story was ok, but it could have been better. Some parts were told rather than shown which bothered me. Salazar was a local leader in Ameca. He told Sawyer that he had people searching for clues as to who abducted Lucie and where she was being held. After a day or so, Salazar told Sawyer exactly where she was. Sawyer then planned the rescue. I would have preferred seeing more details about how Salazar got that information instead of being told "here's where the hostage is being held." The same thing happened later with finding Josue. We are told that he was found and made to talk. No details were provided which could have been interesting.

DATA:
Story length: 369 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: 5. Total number of sex scene pages: 11. Setting: current day Ameca (a small South American country), Atlanta, Georgia, and Tennessee. Copyright: 2008. Genre: romantic suspense.

Lucie Evans and Sawyer McNamara have a history. A history neither one of them will talk about or discuss with each other. For years Lucie has done her best to try and make Sawyer understand that she is not to blame for past mistakes. Mistakes he holds himself and her responsible for. For the past nine years Lucie has tried to redeem herself by taking any and all jobs he has assigned her; jobs that were the worst of the worst. Not any longer. When her last assignment tries to manhandle her, Lucie has had enough and she quits. Ready to start her new life - without Sawyer - she accepts a new position as the personal bodyguard to an extremely rich heiress. While accompanying her new boss to a meeting in South America, Lucie is kidnapped by rebels who think she is their quarry. There is only one man who can rescue her, and that man is Sawyer McNamara, the one man she has always loved and who has never loved her back.

I engulfed Dying for You like Norman Love chocolates! Full of suspense, I did nothing for the time it took me to read this amazing story. Sawyer McNamara kept things close to his heart; especially his guilt. In doing this, he came across as hating Lucie Evans when in actuality, he yearned for her. He felt that he owed his brother for his secret obsession with Lucie and nothing would sway him. Lucie Evans loved Sawyer just as much but her heart was worn on her sleeve more often than not. Striving to overcome his anger, Lucie took a lot of flack from Sawyer and more than once I would have had to give him a piece of my mind. But, if there is anything that kept Lucie going, it was her knowledge that above all, Sawyer was loyal. And his loyalty is what was needed to save her.

Believe it or not, Dying for You is my first Beverly Barton novel. After having finished this book in record time, I am sitting here wondering where in the world I have been that I have never read a book by this author before. Her website states that Dying for You is the final installment of The Protectors series which just gives me gumption to go back and find every single installment! Spine tingling suspense, amazingly written, and romantic to boot, Dying for You has it all. I greedily savored every single word.

Talia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I absolutely love Beverly Barton's books - she has become a must read for me. Dying for You did not disappoint. Sawyer & Lucy have been hostile towards one another in many of the other books with no explanation. This book explains it all! It also ties up all of the other relationships that were left untied in other books. It's definitely bittersweet that we won't be able to read about the Dundee Agency anymore, but I look forward to reading more about Griffin Powell and his fellow agents.

The first book that I read from the Protector series was Time to Die with Deke and Lexie. I loved that book and wanted to read the rest of the series. I have all of them now. I could not wait until this book was released and I am glad that we got three endings instead of one. We got to see Cara and Bain finally realize that money should not be the reason they can't be together, or at least Bain realized that. We got to see Daisy get her man, and finally we learn the back story of the hostiliaty between Sawyer and Lucie. Their story was such a heartbreaker, and it was all due to their own stubborness, more on Sawyer's side and misunderstandings. It took Lucie to almost lose her life before the fog cleared away from Sawyers heart and mind. As Ms. Barton said it was a bittersweet ending to a great series. But I feel for Ty as he is the only main Dundee Employee that showed up in several books but did not walk away with a girl. Maybe he will quiet the Dundee Agency and work for the Powell Agency so we can see where his journey leads him to.

Beverly Barton has been writing the "Protectors" for many yrs and all of us have wondered when the three sets of unrequited lovers would get togather. I thought each would have his own book, but as a wonderful gift to her long time readers she has ended the series with a book that ties up all the ends. It is a good read and a great ending to the series.

Sawyer McNamara and Lucie Evans volitile relationship has it's reason buried in the past. They have had many screaming matches during the run of the series. But you always knew that she had feelings for him.

Cara Bedell and Bain Desmond met during the search for her sister's killer. Both fell in love but Bain can't see that they have anything in common. He is a detective for the Chattanougha PD and she is a billionaire.

Daisy Holbrook is Sawyer's efficent secretary and she has been in love with Geoff Monday since she went to work there. But Geoff is fifteen yrs older than Daisy and tho he flirts with her he shows no signs of a preference for her company.

For years we have wanted these three couples to commit to each other and now in one novel everything hits the fan and all feelings are left open. Lucie leaves The Dundee agency and goes to work for Cara as her bodyguard. She is kidnapped in Cara's place and that is the begining of the unraveling of the knots.

I don't want to spoil any of the rest of the book but I encourage you not to miss it. I loved the story and she fills in all the facts fully. Well worth the time and money as a matter of fact this one is a keeper.

Dying For You
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Very reasonable

Sawyer and Lucie's story was anticipated by me for a long time and I have to say it did not disappoint. I was dying to read their story from the beginning when the fireworks were clearly evident between these two in the other Dundee Agency books. Not only do you get their love story but you get three for the price of one. The secondary characters were wonderful as well. The only thing I would have improved upon was more of the book being devoted to Sawyer and Lucie and longer love scenes. As stated there were many characters in this book and several love stories and I felt they somewhat took away from time that should have been Sawyer and Lucie's, even though I loved those characters too. I couldn't get enough of Sawyer and Lucie. With so many stories interwoven into this book not enough time was devoted to them. It was really hard to put this book down after reading the last paragraph. I could have read on and on.

On another note I have to mention how many errors were in this book. Whoever the editor was needed an editor to edit their work. I could not believe the number of errors. I expect one or two in a book, no one is perfect, but this went well beyond that. In one sentence they actually used the word discussion for concussion. I lost count of how many errors there were, there were that many. Still, I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone.