Come Lie with Me

By: Linda Howard

Narrated by: Lesa Lockford

Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

After a terrible accident, Blake Remington struggles to regain the ability to walk. Therapist Dione Kelly is his final hope - if he can bring himself to trust the woman whose past is shrouded in mystery.

Dione's soul is as paralyzed as Blake's body. Dione wants only to help Blake recover, but as his strength returns, so does his desire to unearth her secrets. When they give in to the passion that flares between them, Dione just might find that her patient is the only one who can heal her private pain.

©1984 Linda Howington (P)2016 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Physical Therapist Dione takes on Blake~ 5 STARS~

PLOT: Physical Therapist Dione takes on grumpy/ HUNK Blake Remington complete with nasty attitude and self pity......

Dione is known as the BEST Physical Therapist who takes on the "most hopeless cases"....she is hired to help wealthy Blake Remington who was disabled in a mountain climbing fall~ She finds a man who has given up all hope of recovery and is full of self pity. Complete with surly attitude she makes him a bet..... she can 'beat' him at arm wrestling ~ if he wins ~ she leaves~ if she wins....He has to complete therapy.....even if it is against his will~ guess who wins....? LOL....Blake has hired and fired several therapists~ enter lovely Dione who does not give an inch in the battle of wills~ she puts him on a course of recovery and drives him hard. Blake after a few weeks of HARD work..... is finding the 'benefits' of therapy include the pretty "Therapist".....he is more than attracted too. Dione slowly allows Blake to learn she has been abused~ as a child by her alcoholic mother and her husband. So the road to recovery is on both sides~ Dione to learn to trust in Blake and Blake to walk and show Dione how to love~ One of the best early Linda Howard stories~ does not drag. Reader Lessa Lockford is very good. 5 STARS all the way.

I really enjoyed the first 2/3

but I did not like the end. Author used a stupid reason to separate the couple.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
This is one of Linda Howard’s early novels. It isn’t as good as her later works, but it’s ok. I enjoyed reading about the healing process through diet, massage and exercise. I did not like Dione’s reason for leaving Blake. He proposed marriage. He repeatedly said he loved her. But she thinks “I’m no good for him so I’m going to leave” and “he doesn’t love me and he will be glad when I’m gone.” That didn’t make sense. I felt like the author couldn’t think of a way to separate the couple so she used those inaccurate assumptions. It hurt the book.

STORY BRIEF:
Dione was raped at 18 and fears intimacy and love. She hasn’t been with a man since (12 years). She works as a physical therapist with one patient at a time, living with them for months, helping them build and regain the use of their bodies. Blake was a successful engineer who was injured in a mountain climbing accident. He has been in a wheelchair for two years. He has no will to live, doesn’t eat, and will die if he doesn’t change. His brother-in-law hires Dione to help Blake. She moves in and motivates him by making him angry. She oversees everything in his life, his food, his sleep, his exercise. They end up helping each other heal and falling in love along the way.

AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR: (Not Good)
Lesa Lockford was very good reading female voices and general narration. But she was awful doing Blake, the hero. She made him sound like he had laryngitis. The narrator spent so much effort trying to lower her voice that she was way off with emotional interpretation for Blake. He did not sound sexy or seductive - just weird.

DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Story length: 242 pages. Swearing language: mild. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: about 5. Setting: 1984 mostly Phoenix, Arizona area. Copyright: 1984. Genre: contemporary romance, paraplegic romance.

Disappointing

The characters in this story were boring in comparison to most of Linda Howard’s other stories. The book was a disappointment to me.

Curiousity

If you could sum up Come Lie with Me in three words, what would they be?

Enjoyed Very Much

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dione made me believe Physical Therapy is possible

Which character – as performed by Lesa Lockford – was your favorite?

I enjoyed Dione - she felt like a real person and a personality was described.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I enjoyed the reading very much.

Any additional comments?

very enjoyable to Listen to and the story was beautiful.

1984 Classic Ms Howard

Audible Escape
this is a wonderful you can do it story from the 80’s. Those stories were classic core romances, where men are “we can take care of you”, and women are struggling to get out of that scenario! I am a huge fan of Ms Howard. Of course, After the Night and Shades of Twilight are great on Audible read by Natalie Ross, the best. Ms Lockford male voice does not appeal to me and takes away from the Howard classics Dreamscape produced. Such a shame as I have waited years to listen. If you are a fan of Ms Lockford, then all the Howard classics are great stories brought forward. I do use the 1.25x speed to bring an 80’s story into 2020.
Were my comments of help?

Totally BIASED Review: Been Waiting FOREVER!

Any additional comments?

First things first...I haven't even listened to the audio book, but I've read the book...let's just say several times and leave it at that.

I have been waiting on this book for years-literally!!! This is an EARLY Linda Howard that has always sucked me in. I've returned to it often and can honestly say I am so very THANKFUL it is FINALLY an audio book.

Can you tell I'm excited??

Once I actually listen to the performance, I'll update the review.

Predictable but kinda romantic

While I have always enjoyed Linda Howard's books, this audiobook just didn't knock it out of the park for me. The heroine is a totally insecure woman who is afraid of men, due to her early marriage being so awful. The hero is a high powered businessman who was injured while mountain climbing and has given up on walking again. As a RN myself, I don't know of injuries that behave like this man's, so the author needed to do more research into spinal cord injuries. The characters seem so needy/angry/fearful that the story just was not believable for me. The narration wasn't so hot either, I didn't like her voice especially when she tried to do male voices.

Oh Brother

What disappointed you about Come Lie with Me?

This book seem to use all the clichés in one book. Beautiful strong woman, handsome bully of a man, strong woman turns in to a crybaby and everybody lives happily ever after. What a waste

What could Linda Howard have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Since this is an old book I can't say she needs a new approach, because obviously she has gotten more enjoyable to listen to over the years. I will not listen to any old books again, they are just too painful.

How could the performance have been better?

Have listen to this narrator before, but seemed this time she just mutilated the men voices.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment yes, frustration that I wasted time on the same old same old. Female is tough and able to deal with a difficult man and then turns in to an insecure whiny woman. What is up with that?

Very WEAK

It was a weak Harlequin novel. Narrator did what she could with what was there but not great with the male voices. I absolutely love most of Linda Howard's work and own many but this was a bad early effort I will try to forget about it. I could not wait until it ended and wish my token back.