Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Drop Dead Gorgeous by Linda Howard ****

Drop Dead Gorgeous is the sequel to To Die For, featuring former cheerleader Blair Mallory. To Die For recently became my all-time favorite story, so needless to say I was really looking forward to reading about Blair again. It was a sweet bonus that I got a hardcover large print version from PBS (my eyes thanked me over and over).

I guess I can say I'm a little disappointed that I didn't love it as much as the first book, but it was still fun. It's a sort of thriller - Blair seems to be attracting nutcases who are trying to kill her again, and somehow she has to deal with that while trying to pull off a wedding in 4 weeks as well. It's pretty inconvenient all around, and fiancé Wyatt, consummate cop, decides she's being a little paranoid and perhaps a tad high maintenance about 1 near-miss in a parking lot and some hangup phone calls.

Blair has a way of dealing with life: lists. She kept a list of Wyatt's transgressions in the first book, and starts a new one when he doesn't pay attention to her concerns. But when he finally actually accuses her of stepping over the line and expecting him to drop everything whenever she calls, it dawns on her that maybe there is a more serious issue to be dealt with in their relationship, and maybe the wedding planning should come to a halt.

The stalker quickly ups the ante and Wyatt finally starts to pay attention - both to the dangerous situation with the stalker and the explosive situation with Blair over his attitude about her.

It's the same tone and first-person POV as the first book, but somehow it didn't enchant me as much this time around. That and the coincidence of the identity of the stalker made me rate this a 4 instead of a 5 star read.

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