To Die for

by Melanie George

Book Overview

Abby St James knows all about trouble, thanks to her twin sister Michaela, whose unnofficial nickname in New York society is the Black Widow. Someone who wants to hurt Michaela has begun to call and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821771213
• ISBN13: 9780821771211
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Zebra Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Riveting and Completely Original!

A first for me from this author. I was really impressed with the writing and depth. Its hard to find such depth and emotion, true emotion in a romantic suspense, but this had it. I loved the way the writer Ms George touched on a very sensitive subject in this and made us wonder in the end how it would turn out. There was no 'I knew it' or 'so typical' in this one.Written in more true and realistic form, it impressed me at her use of several touchy subject matter that I found refreshing in a romance novel. One being the heroine wasn't perfect nor was she flawless. She was flawed and real and I loved her.A different spin on the good twin bad twin storyline.Abby St. James finds herself suddenly at the mercy of a company her father has built and her twin has run without a safety net. Her sister is none other than the 'Black Widow,' or also known as Michaela St. James, three-time widow to old men...old rich men that is.Abby is nothing like her conniving and deceitful sister who loves money and men and designer everything. Abby is shy and reserved and every bit the 'country mouse.'Taking over her sister's designer shoes for a while in the trendy magazine called 'Bastian,' she comes face to face with Michaela's adversary and the very man her sister detests. Also the very man she has dreamt about for nealy ten years, Stephan Massari.Stephan mistakes Abby for her evil twin and soon Abby feels stretched beyond her limits. Despite his adverse taste for the hateful woman, he seems oddly attracted to the 'new' Michalea. And soon he feels she is playing a deadly game with him.Abby soon realizes impersonating her twin is not only dangerous with Stephan, for the man seems like he is about to snap, but another deadly game has begun...someone else seems determined on ending her sister's life and doesn't know who she is.Can Abby get through this alive? Is her sister's hide worth this trouble? How had she made so many enemies? A list a mile long is forming and the more the killer contacts her, the more she must trust to reason with Stephan, the only person who may be able to save her.Creepy and enthralling. I Loved it! A true delight. Tracy Talley~@

An Incredibly Touching Story -from a NYC resident

TO DIE FOR by Melanie George, A perfect "10" ... This is a suspense/romance book that takes place in ..., Manhattan, New York (how cool!). It is about a set of twins (Mickey & Abby) that trades places and the good twin, Abby, will try to take her place in running a magazine empire along side the yummy hero, Stefan. Stefan hates Mickey & therefore fights his attraction to Abby (not knowing they had traded places) but in the end loses, on top of that he has to protect the woman he loves from a crazed stalker. The author has admittedly said that this book is written dark and not in her normal light hearted style. As many authors often say, the characters had called to her to write it this way and so it must be. I think the author did an awesome job, I'm going to look for all her backlist stuff.Let me WARN you first, this book deals with the subject of rape and there is a near rape scene. However, it is also a story of survival, healing, sacrifice, hope and love. The story flowed beautifully, the sex was sizzling and tender and the emotions ran high. Get some Kleenex for the ending, cause it will tug at your heart strings, ...I highly recommend this book, it is a definite KEEPER!

Contemporary Perfection in an Italian Hero

Melanie George delivers a riveting and enticing novel with "To Die For." Rarely have I read such a heart stopping depiction of a contemporary romance hero. Although this story occurs in a corporate setting of a successful magazine publisher, the main characters definitely carry the majority of the story. Often, it seems, in a romance novelist's efforts to set the environment of the novel, the reader is deluged with facts and figures and sometimes dragged down in too many details. Most readers, I would presume, read a romance novel for the romance and we want it to be in a believable, accurate setting. But we are not reading the book, as in this case, to learn more about publishing. We are reading about the lives of the people who manage the publishing. This author has created an interesting publishing arena for her story that frames a remarkable romance.Abby St. James has just inherited her father's business, Bastion, a highly successful gentleman's magazine. Abby has never been involved in her father's business and lives in Idaho. Abby has not lived with her father since her parents' divorce when she was a child. She has lived with her mother, caring for her until her recent death. Abby's twin, Michaela, has both lived with her father since the divorce and has worked for his magazine.Michaela has a bad reputation with men. She has cruelly used men and actually married several older men, all who have died. Her reputation also reaches to the magazine publishing business where she is known to be vindictive, autocratic, and impulsive to a fault. Through her actions at work, she has alientated the publisher, Stefan Massari, and he hates working with her and distrusts her is all matters. When Abby inherits all of the magazine company, Michaela goes to Europe for an extended vacation and Abby begins working at Bastion. Upon her arrival at work her first day, she is blasted by the magazine's publisher, Stefan, for Michaela's actions prior to her trip to Europe. Abby has no intention of deceiving any one about her identity, but just as Stefan has mistaken Abby for her twin, others within the company do so as well. Almost immediately, Abby decided to keep her true identity a secret to give her time to assess the possible damage her twin has done within the company. Needless to say, no one likes Michaela and Abby contends with her enemies within the company as well as in her personal life.Stefan is appalled to find he is consistently drawn to Michaela when he has never before. He cannot figure out what she is up to because she is no longer the hostile, demanding, and selfish woman he remembers. Abby is a gentle spirit and as opposite her twin as possible. She is inexperienced with men and basically a very shy person. This is the person that Stefan is drawn to and Abby is definitely fighting a strong attraction to Stefan.This book is not a light read. It covers a lot of heavy issues such as rape, suicide, illness, sexual perversion,

Wonderful Romantic Suspense!!

Abby St James finally returns to New York, stepping in to oversee her twin sister Michaela’s interest in "Bastian" men’s magazine, left to Abby by her late father, but most recently to Micky’s best (?) intentions. From sexy Italian publisher Stefan to the secretaries, everyone mistakes Abby for Micky, and Abby decides it might be easier to accomplish her task if she lets everyone believe she is Micky. Except that everyone hates Micky, some enough to want to see her dead. Abby starts falling for Stefan, and vice versa. As Abby continues the deception of being Micky, the ensuing revenge against Micky escalates. So does the passion between Abby and Stefan, whose heart is definitely in the right place. Add a past history of sexual abuse, a life threatening illness and its culmination, this story line will keep you on the edge of your seat right up to the end. I found this is a somewhat emotional story for a suspense novel, but lends to the strength of the characters becoming who they are and giving them more depth. This us my first read by Melanie George, but definitely not my last. I immediately picked up "The Mating Game" and laughed through this whole entertaining book. Her heroes are to die for (no pun intended), and I look forward to reading the "Devil" series

Sizzling!

I just finished TO DIE FOR and LOVED it. It's a contemporary, with a virginal heroine who is afraid of men do to an attempted rape in college. The hero Stefan is a total Italian alpha male hunk who mistakes innocent Abby for her not so innocent sister Micky. The sex scenes are sizzling, and I balled my eves out towards the end. It's a bit grittier than most novels, the language is more crued, but I think that made the book more realistic. She didn't tiptoe around anything. You won't be able to put this book down!