Die for Me: A Novel of the Valentine Killer

De: Cynthia Eden

Narrado por: Emily Beresford

Katherine Cole thought her fiancé was the perfect man - until he turned out to be the perfect killer. He left his victims stabbed through the heart holding a telltale single red rose and was deemed the Valentine Killer. Three years ago he vanished. Now he’s back. And he’s hunting the one who got away.

In New Orleans, Katherine dared to hope she was finally safe, yet somehow he found her. This time, Katherine won’t just sit silently by; she’ll do anything to stop the monster she once loved, even trust the sexy cop promising to keep her safe.…

Detective Dane Black never lets his emotions interfere with the job, even as the Valentine Killer surfaces in New Orleans to stalk his prey. But when Dane agrees to protect the killer’s ex-fiancée, he can’t ignore the passion kindling between them. After a single unforgettable night binds them body and soul, Dane won’t rest until Katherine is safe in his arms - and the Valentine Killer is dead.

©2013 Cynthia Eden (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Good, except for the narration

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed listening to this book. It was my first Cynthia Eden book. The biggest problem I had was the narrator. The way she portrayed the men was so over the top. I almost just returned the book. I am pretty disappointed that the next two in the series has the same narrator. She would be OK, if they had a second narrator for the men. Her outrageous portrayal of the men, just ruined it for me.

Wow

What a great story! I caught a couple of storyline inconsistencies, but they were minor. I was soooo intrigued by the mind of the killer and his relationship to the heroine. The plot also kept me guessing almost from the start. Great suspense with hot and steamy romance to go with it. The narrator’s rendition of The hero’s voice was a bit grating at first, but after an hour or so it was fine. Great listen.

Lots of twists and turns

This has me second guessing what I knew about characters right up to the end. A good listen.

a nice diversion

Any additional comments?

Ok, yeah, I am so not a romance reader. I spent a few weeks back in high school binging on a box full of them given to me because I was a reader and readers read everything, right? No, we don’t. Some of us are picky bitches and can tell with a few words in a blurb (notice “trust the sexy cop,” and “safe in his arms,” and “intensely sexy”) if the story is going to have a significant romantic bent.

But because I keep an open mind and just like I try a bite of food I hate every few years, I do try a romance. Still, I’m picky. It cannot be a straight up romance (ugghh). It has to have other elements that interest me. Like, of course, a mystery or something psychological.

The blurb makes promises. Yet, it’s like Cynthia Eden wrote the blurb and fit the pieces of the story and the characters to fit it. Some people like that. I like the unexpected. I like how characters determine their actions and feelings rather than have them scripted so tightly there is no other way to go.

Now, I am not saying this is a terrible book. On the contrary, I listened to the whole thing despite the predictability. So Catherine Eden has a Je ne se quoi that held me tight until the very end.

My thought? That it reads like a script and would do well performed on stage or on screen. As a straight out novel? Nope.

When we first meet Detective Dane Black, he’s rough and procedural, asking all the right questions. He lost me when within hours, his perception of Katherine changes so very quickly. Then it’s just a downhill slide into overprotective emotions for a woman he barely knows and when he met her thought she was a killer or at least an accomplice.

Katherine seems like a frightened woman throughout. While she isn’t the whiny type (which is definitely nice), the repetition of doing something to stop the killing gets pretty redundant. I feel like either she should take a beat and create a simplified mantra for herself, or just freakin’ knock it off. We know her motivations. It is not necessary to beat us over the head with them every other page.

The action bits were fairly smooth, I admit. The emotional bits came across as choppy and reaching, as if the characters slid into a mold that didn’t quite fit.

This one was too much for me and not enough. New Orleans is a setting that can be a character all its own. But this story could be set anywhere (I kept thinking San Francisco) for all the detail left out.

On the narration: Listening to a woman’s voice serves a purpose for me, usually keeping me alert during the day when working. After hearing a sample, I knew Emily Beresford would fit that bill. She did a wonderful job in adding dimension to Katherine.

My only suggestion for improvement is to have a male read the bits for Detective Black. But sometimes having more than one narrator is an unfeasible proposition. Emily Beresford didn’t present a variable range in scenes or characters. Nonetheless, she was pleasant to listen to.

Perfect

The perfect mix of suspense and romance. Can't wait for the next book. I will be in search for a previous book in this series.

Good Story, but Flawed

As a New Orleans native, I hesitate to listen to books taking place in the city. That being said, I enjoyed the crime\romance novel, although I flinched several times at the glaring errors. If you are going to write a novel featuring a specific area, do your homework regarding that city. First of all, New Orleans does not have trolleys; we call them streetcars. In addition, New Orleans is below sea level, so few homes have basements. The houses in the poorer areas and near the bayou would never contain basements. The author could have mentioned some of the actual street names instead of making up names for them. The city's street names are known by many outside of the area. I must say, the narrator surprisingly pronounced the city's name correctly. Unfortunately, she had no idea what a New Orleans accent sounds like. We do not have a Southern drawl. The accent is more like that of New Yorkers. The story was an edge of your seat thriller. It was similar to an episode of a Crimal Minds with some smoking hot sex between the blood and gore.

Bad Narration!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Story is more like soft porn than a mystery. Everything was predictable. Boring storyline. Wish I wouldn't have wasted a credit!

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Predictable!

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Narrator's voices and dialects for the characters were really bad!

Did Die for Me: A Novel of the Valentine Killer inspire you to do anything?

No

Die For Me A No el of the Valentine Killer.

It jas been great and enjoyable but with many surprises of course that no one suspected the doctor to be the copycat killer.

Alot better than some reviews

Listen to this book in one setting, ending almost had me hating it, but the twist brought it home.

Wonderful

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the romantic suspense genre. Very well written and narrated. Kept me wanting more!