Kiss Me While I Sleep (CIA Spies Series Book 3)

Lily is a much scarier female protagonist that many in other of Ms. Howard's books. She is a hired contract killer - mostly hired by the CIA. Without giving away the plot, which I hate when reviewers tell almost the whole story, Lily is going to meet her match in Lucas Swain who is even trickier than she is. Swain is more tender-hearted and feels that Lily has lost out on a lot of life. However, he was sent to take her out of the game and so falling for her is not a good plan.

How Swain and Lily wrestle with their personal lives and relationship and how the mystery they are solving unfolds and is resolved provides close calls, ingenuity and many plots twists that for me make this a very fun read!!

I have to agree with Silver Tarnished about this book, the latest from Linda Howard. I didn't believe in Lily for a minute--or care much about her--and while I could see that Howard was trying to write against type by making Lucas Swain easygoing, cheerful, and upbeat instead of the stereotypical dark and dangerous CIA operative, he didn't work well for me, either. Far from being a page turner, this Howard novel was slow going; I lost interest even while I was reading it.

In attempting to leave the romance novel behind for the more seriously regarded genre of romantic mystery, crafted so beautifully by writers such as Mary Stewart, Howard has lost her niche, in my opinion. She writes well enough, and as a romance novel author, she can be moving and comical--(the scene in Open Season when the heroine and hero discuss the colors mauve and puce is a good example)--but she doesn't seem able to pull off the plotting or the characterization in her later stories of intrigue and mystery. One example: The character of Lily in KMWIS is a contract killer of long duration who plans every move with careful precision and far in advance. Yet she walks through an airport carrying a tote bag and a carry-on which, when viewed later on security cameras, easily identifies her. It would have been so easy for Howard to have made the bag reversible, or substituted one bag inside the other, but how, then would the hero have discovered who she was and managed to track her? This is what I mean about plotting. Whatever Howard needs to happen, happens. Realistic plotting is difficult and if not done well, makes the whole concept look silly and artificial. Perhaps Howard should take notes from the seasoned writers of crime noir if she wants to continue writing in this genre.

I also grew very weary of the repeated reminders of Lily's love for Zia, her main motive for revenge. I was unconvinced mainly because Lily is not written deeply enough to make us feel what Howard says she (Lily) feels about the child, her friends, or her terrible need for revenge. In trying to convince us and, therefore, make her assassin heroine more palatable, Howard is guilty of--no pun intended--overkill.

I discovered Howard two years ago when someone gave me a copy of Mr. Perfect, an appealing if less-than-perfectly-written little comic/romance/mystery. I followed it with Open Season, which I liked quite a lot. I've since read all her older romance and historical novels, many of which I think are very well done. However, Cry No More suffered from some of the same flaws as Kiss Me While I Sleep, in my opinion. I look forward with a mixture of eagerness and trepidation to the book due in December. Like many other reviewers here, I think I'll wait for the paperback.

Howard misses the mark with this one. Besides being rather raunchy (not always a bad thing, but not plausible here) Kiss Me While I Sleep is boring. Sure, there's a female on the run, but the love interest doesn't even meet her face-to-face until the middle of the book, and we're supposed to believe they're in love by the end? Riiiggghhhttt...

Lucas Swain's character is supposed to be witty -- however, the dialogue is monotonous and boring. The characters were laughing, but I wasn't. Stick to Mr. Perfect if you're looking for witty banter.

I liked the idea of a female contract agent. I even liked the substory of the infectious disease plant. I just didn't get the romance, and that's what a ROMANTIC suspense is supposed to be.

It was certainly better than the second one of this series "All the Queens Men", but just not good enough for me to read another book by this author. Not believable enough for me to buy into a CIA agent behaving like this. Too slow getting to the reason for the story. Sorry, no more Howard books for me.

Sometimes when a writer goes against type, it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Personally, I liked this book a lot; it was very suspenseful and meticulously plotted. The characters are well drawn, the book moves along nicely, and there are some nice unexpected twists at the end. The heroine -- a contract CIA assassin -- is not particularly sympathetic, but she is quite interesting, as are the hero and secondary characters. If the reader approaches this book as a thriller rather than a romance, then it is very satisfying. But it is not a warm and fuzzy book, which was fine for me, but may not be for other fans of Linda Howard.

Howard's latest book marks just one more of several changes she's made in her stories over the years since her serial romance days. The time travel and delay of Grace and Niall's physically meeting in <I>Son of the Morning</I> was different compared to her previous books at the time. Likewise was the poignancy of Niema's widowing and the setting of her and Medina's first intimacy in <I>All the King's Men</I>.

Yes, Lily is an assassin-- something no previous romance heroine has been. The notion takes some getting used to, but her motivations and opinion of her job are presented. I enjoyed reading <I>Kiss Me While I Sleep<I>. The plot twists are refreshingly unpredictable, and Lucas is a hoot with a shivery core.

Thanks for taking the risk, Linda Howard!

I had great anticipation for this novel but unfortunately, it was a disappointment. This is what didn't work for me: 1)charcterization was lacking here. Lilly was a challenge to begin with since she was an assassin and Lucas was a fast car, fast life, fast women kinda guy who is divorced with two grown children who enjoys the adrenalin rush of the job. I didn't much like Lilly or Swain. 2)The unprofessional attitudes of the characters - each are described as professional but are not. Lucas Swain - coming from another assignment in South America, is ordered to bring Lilly in and does so but decides to have a fling with her first. This is a romance novel after all but I didn't care for it. 3) Repeated introspection - I was tired of reading repeatedly about Lilly's love for Zia. It was rather annoying. 4) The writing style of "telling" more than "showing."

Good points about the book were the 1)Paris setting and the 2)Prologue which was quite suspenseful and well done. A book fails entertain me when it doesn't have the most important elements of a first-rate novel: characterization and good plot and good dialogue. The dialogue here was fine but not great.

My favorite Linda Howard novels in no order: Now You See Her, Open Season, Kill and Tell, Son of the Morning, Cry No More, After the Night and McKenzie's Mountain just to name a few. I am a Linda Howard fan but unfortunately, I didn't care for this book. Not recommended. My grade, C-/D+

There are 75 prior reviews posted on this book. Most are from fans of the author who seem disappointed in this effort. This is my first Linda Howard novel, however, and I liked it. I had sympathy for the hero and heroine, found the "avian flu virus threat" which is at the heart of the book to be believable, and discovered a couple of plot twists which surprised me. At 60 years old, I've read a great many thrillers in my life, and I'm glad I took a chance on this one. Of course, I got my copy from the library. Had I spent $20 on it, perhaps I would have been less impressed. But if you like "CIA/organized crime/paid assassin/who can you trust?" fantasies, this one should please you.

Mourning, killing, running from your life from your government as well as the mob family of someone you just killed, as well as having a major physical potentially life threatening ailment...add sex with a stranger that could be out to kill you - someone you are suspicious of but for some strange reason just decide to trust without thoroughly checking out (something that *really* makes no sense), and you have a plot that just does not add up. It's like her editor was on holiday and Linda stayed up too late to make a deadline. The main flaw, I think, is that the emotional life of the heroine just did not ring true. Re-read her last book instead of forking out the cash for this one.

I love Linda Howard and will probably eventually read all of her work. This story falls somewhere in the middle of the ratings. Not by any stretch her best--but still compelling, to a point. I chose to enjoy this story via the audio recording -- and quite frankly, that almost kept me from finishing it. I can't begin to understand why Dick Hill was chosen to read for Swain. He's obviously a very talented voice actor, but for this character his voice was completely wrong--- he sounded 40 years older than Lily -- and I had a really, really hard time overlooking that. It detracts so terribly from the story, I never could just lose myself in the action. I just kept thinking ... "Wow, Lily is getting turned on by Grandpa. Eww." I would strongly encourage the distributors to consider re-recording this with a younger actor. Joyce Bean was amazing, and Dick Hill is good-- but he's just NOT Luke Swain.

I really enjoy reading Linda Howard books, mainly because her characters are always so well drawn and so full of personality. I really liked this book, but the heroine being an assasin with obvious social/emotional deficiencies makes it necesarily difficult to get a feel for who she really is and why she chose the path that she did. Still, I wouldn't go so far as to say the heroine is unlikable, because she does inspire some empathy. It's just kind of hard to imagine why someone as entertaining as the male lead would fall fer her. Also, since the male lead is really quite funny and sexy, he makes up for some of the heroine's shortcomings. The book is fast paced and has pretty cool "spy" moments. Other than the stoic heroine, the only other thing that really detracts from the novel is its abrupt ending. While the majority of the book occurs over a span of two or three weeks, the last chapter alone encompasses like six months.

If you like books that are mostly romance you probably won't like this one. If you're more into romantic suspense, however, whether you're a Howard fan or not, you'll probably enjoy this book.

Lily and Lucas were a great couple. I love Linda Howard and thought this was up there with her better works. Poor Lily had been used and abused by the CIA and was naturally a little messed up. However, her big heart was just waiting for a chance to settle down and love someone. And what a someone! Good looking, competent and what a sense of humor! I actually laughed out loud a few times. Highly recommend this book.

A vast disappointment. I love Linda Howard, but this was her worst book. Assassins are not feeling people, and this one was depicted as a feeling assassin who just needed some counseling as she was still very ready to kill. It never explained why this particular girl was an assassin-no murky background. The plot I had figured out in the first quarter, and you'd have to be an idiot to think the hero was going to kill her, so there went that bit of suspense. Superficial and I'm sorry I bought it at inflated canadian prices. I'll have to wait 2 years for her next one, as I won't be buying hardcover from her again, and will carefully scrutinise it and read reviews before I waste my money, something I've never done before with her. 0*

If you like intrigue, murder and steamy sex, than this book was made for you. The main characters are straight out of a James Bond movie and with all the trimmings. When you begin reading, I suggest that you fasten your seatbelt.

I loved this book! Lately I ahve been getting into watching strong female movies like Kill Bill, GI Jane, Alias, La Femme Nikita. And actually this book is riminiscent of all but GI Jane to give you an idea. The heroine is tough, ruthless, smart, no nonsense with a good heart. However, Swain the hero may just be the star in the story (think Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon) He was funny,care free, sexy, an Alpha Male but lovable. He doesnt say things that make him sound jerkish at all. I highly recommend this book.

This story had some good suspense when the characters weren't in down time waiting for their informants to give more information. Of course during those times, they were busy as bunnies. My only qualm with this story is that there were not enough red herrings to throw you off. It could have been very surprising, but I wasn't fooled because I had no one else to suspect. It did make me cry at the end though, so I gave it 4 stars for the raw emotion.

My favorite author is Linda Howard. I've read every single one of her books and noticed thru out the years how they have gotten better and better. I like her books because unlike alot of authors she has romance books with some mystery, along with great love scenes. Recently I read "Cry No More" which was really good but this one was more mystery than romance. Than I read "Kiss Me While I Sleep" and of course since she is such a great author the book was good, but I felt there was hardly any romance at all. It seemed just like alot of other authors out there. I was disappointed but if you like more mystery in your books its the one for you.

This story was hugely compelling as a thriller-style read. There are many authors writing similar kinds of stories in this genre, but Linda Howard is one of the very best. Her plot twists are amazing. I'm always in suspense. The sexy passages don't hurt either!

David Rehak

author of "Love and Madness"

I have every Linda Howard book on my keeper shelf. This one I will not be keeping.
Lily has been a contract killer for the CIA since she was 18. Lucas has been a field agent (killer owned by CIA) since he was 19. Not only are they killers but they believe they are doing it for their country! (HA! HA!)
Lily's friends and adopted daughter have been murdered by one of the worst criminals in the world. Salvatore Nervi is an arms dealer. He sells plutonium to terrorists. He is a major drug maker and dealer. He is wanted by many countries. A totally evil individual. So Lily sets out to take him out. She does.
BUT He is protected by the CIA because he has an agreement with them. He is sometimes an informant. Probably against his competitors. She knows that she will be considered a wildcard and possibly be sanctioned (murdered) by the CIA for taking him out.
Does this make sense? She kills for her country, and her country will kill her for killing a bad guy.
Lucas is sent to find her. He finds her and falls in love with her. She explains that Nervi had her friends and daughter killed because they blew up one of his labs. She is convinced that her friends had a good reason to blow up the bad dude's lab. So she convinces Lucas to help her. He only wants to get closer to her before he turns her in.
I am very unsympathetic to both of them. The first half of the book is trying to make you like these two people. The last third is the finding evidence against the Nervi organization, blowing it up, being betrayed by Lucas and finally being put in a sanitarium to help her get over being a murderer. wow.
In CRY NO MORE we are able to see Diaz for what he is, but we recognize that he is doing something that has to be done. Then we have Milla who is good, bad things had happened to her but she rose above it. At the end you feel she has made Diaz human and redeemed him.
Not so for this book. I look for a good read from Linda Howard, but this was a disgusting hero and heroine. Maybe the world needs people like these. But I sure don't want to read about them.

I usually read Linda Howard books in one sitting, however, i struggled to read this book, and only did the effort because i was hoping it would get better. After all, it is a linda howard book!!!. Main character, LILY, CIA Assassin, was such a wimp, her character was totally unbelieveable. .....I,m afraid Linda has fallen into the same game as alot of popular writers, spit out a book, through your name on it, and based on past books get a lot of readers to buy thier books. For her next one, ill just wait and get it from the library

Linda Howard has managed something quite extraordinary with this novel. The heroine is not your usual love-at-first-sight heroine. But the story is well written. It carries her usual racy signature. After reading the introduction to this novel, I was not sure that I would like the book. But I am pleased that I bought it. Linda Howard is a superb story teller. I love the unpredictability of her stories. And of course, both hero and heroine are wonderful characters that she manages to bring to life beautifully. If you are a Linda Howard fan, you will definitely enjoy this book. If you like thrillers, you will love it.

I've read nearly everything Linda Howard has written. This book was gripping from the start. My stomach was in knots. It's another great book where I wanted to add my 5 stars although I wish Linda Howard would do a little more time travel and psychic stories.

This might be my favorite Linda Howard novel. Terrific characters, great action. I never thought I could like or have sympathy for an assassin, but Ms. Howard painted Lily in a way that made her a believable assassin as well as a soul worth redeeming. She was also very likable, too. I had no trouble seeing how torn Lucas became between duty and his own feelings.

Ms. Howard goes back to her espionage storyline with her latest effort. We were first introduced to this type of story with "All The Queens Men" which, was really not one of her best either. Now in "Kiss Me While I Sleep" we are thrown back into the spy thriller that truly lacks any thrill for the reader.

Ms. Howard seems to be trying to make the jump into mainstream fiction which is fine, but at the same time she seems to want to stay with her romance roots. Again this is okay but a balance must be found which I will admit is probably easier said then done. For the most part both main characters are cold...well, they are assasins but then we are led on a sad path where Lily has lost a set of friends which pushes her to the edge and takes matters into her own hands. Now she has gone rogue and the CIA sends in Lucas Swain into the fray in order to pull her back. What follows is a confusing relationship where Lucas is lying to Lily for the ENTIRE story and Lily is unsure whether to trust Lucas but yet they build a relationship? Based on what???

This story was hard to get into and it never grabbed me as a reader. The characters were cold and unfeeling for the most part, and the storyline was convoluted to say the least. This was a hard review to write since I have been a long time fan of Ms. Howard but, the sad fact of the matter is she was off her game with this book. I look forward to her next effort with hopes that she is back to her talented self.

Official Reviewer for [...]

This might be my favorite Linda Howard novel. Terrific characters, great action. I never thought I could like or have sympathy for an assassin, but Ms. Howard painted Lily in a way that made her a believable assassin as well as a soul worth redeeming. She was also very likable, too. I had no trouble seeing how torn Lucas became between duty and his own feelings.

Ms. Howard goes back to her espionage storyline with her latest effort. We were first introduced to this type of story with "All The Queens Men" which, was really not one of her best either. Now in "Kiss Me While I Sleep" we are thrown back into the spy thriller that truly lacks any thrill for the reader.

Ms. Howard seems to be trying to make the jump into mainstream fiction which is fine, but at the same time she seems to want to stay with her romance roots. Again this is okay but a balance must be found which I will admit is probably easier said then done. For the most part both main characters are cold...well, they are assasins but then we are led on a sad path where Lily has lost a set of friends which pushes her to the edge and takes matters into her own hands. Now she has gone rogue and the CIA sends in Lucas Swain into the fray in order to pull her back. What follows is a confusing relationship where Lucas is lying to Lily for the ENTIRE story and Lily is unsure whether to trust Lucas but yet they build a relationship? Based on what???

This story was hard to get into and it never grabbed me as a reader. The characters were cold and unfeeling for the most part, and the storyline was convoluted to say the least. This was a hard review to write since I have been a long time fan of Ms. Howard but, the sad fact of the matter is she was off her game with this book. I look forward to her next effort with hopes that she is back to her talented self.

Official Reviewer for [...]

I really think that this book was great. I loved "All The Queens Men" and this one more so. The twist in the end will keep you wondering if he's done the ultimate act of betrayal or not. Though, the relationship between Swain and Lily should have been developed more. It's hard to grasp what made them click apart from desperation. All in all this was a good book.

While old favorites are growing stale ( nora roberts, julie garwood, jude devoirox sp?) Linda Horward is just getting better!!! From the first word to the last this book is like a fine wine you just can't get enough. I would highly recomend this. The only draw back will be when you start the next book and it can't hold up to this one:)

I usually really like Linda Howard's books, and often read them over again after a year or so. I doubt that this book will be a re-read. I just didn't like the "heroine" and I thought the "hero" was shallow and annoying. One must suspend disbelief to enjoy novels, and I never got past the awareness that I was reading a book. And it was one I kept putting down-probably a first with Linda Howard. Hope her next one is more enjoyable.

I could never give a Linda Howard one star - yes, I agree, it is not one of her best, however she is still my favorite author. There are worst books out there, but compared to her other books, which I can read again and again, this one I will probably not reread but I will keep anyway.

This novel was really good in my opinion. I would recommend it to anyone who has free time, and who likes to read a book that makes you smile in the end. I wanted to read more when the book ended, but that's normal for me. God Bless!