Series: Argeneau

Guest Review: The Trouble with Vampires by Lynsay Sands

Posted May 21, 2019 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: The Trouble with Vampires by Lynsay SandsReviewer: Tracy
The Trouble With Vampires by Lynsay Sands
Series: Argeneau #29
Also in this series: Immortal Ever After (Argeneau #18), Runaway Vampire, Immortal Nights, Immortal Unchained, Twice Bitten
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: April 23, 2019
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss
Point-of-View: Third
Content Warning: View Spoiler »
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 380
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three-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

For close to three thousand years the imposing, impossibly handsome Santo Notte has fought in armies across the world and battled his own, more personal enemies. Of all the places he might expect to encounter his life mate, a quiet corner of upstate New York doesn’t seem likely. But as soon as he makes contact with history professor Petronella Stone, while hunting down a suspected rogue immortal, he knows that she will be the greatest adventure of his eternal life.

He expects her to be surprised, confused, even overwhelmed. What he doesn’t expect is that Pet has a secret history of her own. There’s no mistaking the mind-blowing, mutual pleasure they share. But as Pet struggles to protect her nephew from a danger lurking too close to home, Santo realizes there’s another threat to her safety—him. And claiming their passionate future will be impossible until he leaves his past behind, forever…

Petronella is babysitting her nephew when someone tries to break into her sister’s house.  She is saved by the guests staying at the house next door, but she recognizes them as immortals and doesn’t trust them at all.  What she really doesn’t expect is that the immortal named Santo would really be someone she fell in love with.

The immortals are at the house next door because they have followed a rogue vampire to a house on that street. When Santo can’t “read” Pet he’s shocked that he’s finally found his life-mate.  He’s even more shocked when he finds out that she knows about immortals.  Unfortunately the only experience she’s had with immortals is bad.  It takes some time to convince Pet that not all immortals are evil like the ones she experienced and that he can protect her and his nephew from the rogue.  What he can’t do is woo her properly because he has no experience.  He may fumble his way through but Santo finally wins the girl.

This was a cute story in the Argeneau series.  I liked the fact that Pet knew about immortals – even though she didn’t have all the facts.  Some things needed to be explained to her but for the most part she was in the know.  This was something different in the series and I liked that.  Santo and Pet were cute together.  I liked how protective they both were of her young nephew.

What I didn’t care for in this book, and what shocked me, was how dark a part of it was.  I’ve never read a Sands book that has dark undertones, and I truly don’t want to again.  It not only described the horrible way in which Pet’s sister & mother died, which was absolutely horrible, but then it went onto Santo and how his entire family was murdered.  OMG, both stories were horrific, but getting both in one book? No, thank you.  I read Sands because I know I’m going to get light romance – that was not this book and I didn’t care for it.

Except for those two parts of the book the rest was pretty light and I liked it.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Argeneau

three-stars


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Guest Review: Twice Bitten by Lynsay Sands

Posted March 28, 2018 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Twice Bitten by Lynsay SandsReviewer: Tracy
Twice Bitten by Lynsay Sands
Series: Argeneau #27
Also in this series: Immortal Ever After (Argeneau #18), Runaway Vampire, Immortal Nights, Immortal Unchained, The Trouble With Vampires
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: March 27th 2018
Format: eARC
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 384
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

For someone who’s been around for over a hundred and forty years, immortal Elspeth Argeneau hasn’t done a whole lot of living. Now that she’s moved away from her controlling mother, she’s tracking down rogue vampires and enjoying some overdue freedom. A fling would be fun. A life mate can wait. Yet to Elspeth’s surprise, her landlady’s hot grandson checks both boxes.

Wyatt fell instantly in love with Elspeth four years ago. He’s stunned to run into her again, especially as she has no memory of him. Then again, there are a lot of things about Elspeth that don’t make sense, like the miraculous speed with which her wounds heal. And the chemistry that transforms every touch into an explosion of desire. But with mysterious “accidents” besieging Elspeth, the ex-Special Forces soldier appoints himself her bodyguard. But time is running out to uncover the truth about her enemies—and rediscover the man determined to love her for eternity.

Elspeth moved to Canada from England six weeks ago and she’s loving it.  Her mother is a control freak and she hardly let her daughters out of her site.  When Ellie comes home one day and her two younger sisters and her mother are there she’s ready to bail.

Unfortunately she has responsibilities but she can’t take care of them or herself because her mother is constantly taking control of her and making her do what she wants!  When she tries to make her break the Immortal law by drinking from the neck of a human, Ellie gets out of there as fast as she can. Unfortunately for her she’s then pushed off of a sidewalk and gets pretty beat up after being run over by a car.  That’s when Wyatt, her life mate, learns about Immortals.  Now Wyatt and a whole host of people are trying to protect Ellie from the person who is trying to kill them as well as her mother who will really stop at nothing to get her daughter back to England permanently.

In some ways this was a typical Argeneau series book in that the heroine is in danger and the life mate comes along and tries to protect her.  On the other hand there was the issue of Elspeth’s mother and her control issues that really put a different spin on everything.

When Mom has control issues to the point where she’s actually forcing her daughters to do things they don’t want to do, and they can’t fight back, it’s bad.  Ellie finally figured out that pain would be able to cloud her head so much that her mother couldn’t control her so she ended up stabbing herself quite a bit throughout the story which took a bit of getting used to. Lol I was happy when all of that was worked out in the end.

The romance with Wyatt wasn’t necessarily a romance but it was good.  There was actually an extenuating circumstance to their meeting (that I won’t tell you about) that made things interesting.  I admired Wyatt for his fortitude in the light of everything that was happening, and how his life was changing by being a life mate of an Immortal.  He was a good guy who had a good heart and I thought him and Elspeth were perfect for each other.

Argeneau Series

Rating: 4 out of 5

four-stars


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Guest Review: Immortal Unchained by Lynsay Sands

Posted March 28, 2017 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Immortal Unchained by Lynsay SandsReviewer: Tracy
Immortal Unchained by Lynsay Sands
Series: Argeneau #25
Also in this series: Immortal Ever After (Argeneau #18), Runaway Vampire, Immortal Nights, Twice Bitten, The Trouble With Vampires
Publisher: Harper Collins, Avon
Publication Date: March 28th 2017
Pages: 400
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Ever since Domitian Argenis recognized Sarita as his life mate, he’s been waiting for the perfect moment to claim her. Those fantasies did not include him being chained to a table in a secret lab or both of them being held hostage by a mad scientist. Somehow, they have to escape…

Sarita has seen some crazy things as a cop, but nothing to rival Domitian. A vampire? Seriously? But his healing ability, incredible powers, and their mind-blowing physical connection—none of it should be possible, yet her body knows differently. Now, not only do they have to save each other, but other innocent lives are at stake. Failure is not an option, for Sarita intends that Domitian show her exactly what an eternity of pleasure feels like…

Domitian is an Immortal but also a chef.  He takes a job with Dr. Dressler thinking that he can get onto the doctor’s island and find all the Immortal’s who have gone missing.  Unfortunately he ends up on a small island with his life mate, Sarita.

Sarita’s grandmother has worked for Dr. Dressler for many, many years.  When the doctor calls and tells her that her grandmother has taken a fall she heads straight from Canada to Venezuela to see her grandmother.  After hanging out at Dressler’s house for a few days thinking he’s off-island she finds out he’s on-island and in his labs.  She heads into the labs and finds a what looks like a corpse cut in half.  When Dressler comes in and brings the man back to life she’s shocked but doesn’t have time to voice this as she’s then sedated.  She too wakes up on a small island with a man chained to a table who is supposedly her life mate.

While Domitian tries to woo Sarita they both try to find a way off the island.  They both know that Dressler wants them for something but they can’t figure out what it is.  When they finally do make it to the doctor’s island once again they must try to find a way to save the kidnapped immortals, the innocents who are on the island along with each other.

I can’t believe this is book 25 in the Argeneau series!  How Sands keeps coming up with good stories is amazing to me.  This one was definitely a keeper.  I really liked both the romance portion of the book as well as the bit of mystery that was involved with Dressler and what he was doing with the Immortals and others on the island.

Sarita was a bit of a stubborn woman but she was tough cop so I didn’t hold it against her.  She had been told that Domitian had known she was his life mate for 15 years and had been having her followed so she was a little leery of him.  When he explained about that she was much more open.  I liked how they talked about themselves and got to know each other.  Of course they’d had sex by that time but…ok, it worked.  The thing that really didn’t work for me was the sex.  Not that the description of the sex was bad just that I wasn’t feeling the attraction between the pair at that time and that’s what felt off about it.  They didn’t seem like two people who would jump into it like that but yet they did.  I would have loved to have seen that the author made them wait, but that’s me. 🙂

The issues with the Island and the horrific things that Dressler was doing on it were written really well. Dressler was a monster and Sands didn’t sugar coat anything for us – she went for it and I liked that.  We really needed to see what a bastard the man was to appreciate all the horrible things he’d done.

Overall it was a good addition to the series and a good PNR in general.  I’m not sure where the series is headed next but wherever it goes I’m looking forward to it.

Rating: 4 out of 5

four-stars


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Guest Review: Immortal Nights by Lynsay Sands

Posted September 20, 2016 by Tracy in Reviews | 2 Comments

Guest Review: Immortal Nights by Lynsay SandsReviewer: Tracy
Immortal Nights by Lynsay Sands
Series: Argeneau #24
Also in this series: Immortal Ever After (Argeneau #18), Runaway Vampire, Immortal Unchained, Twice Bitten, The Trouble With Vampires
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: September 20th 2016
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Abigail Forsythe’s life hasn’t been easy lately. Still, if there’s one thing guaranteed to take her mind off an empty bank account and abandoned dreams, it’s a naked man locked in a plane’s cargo hold. A very big, incredibly gorgeous naked man. And when instinct prompts her to free him, Abigail must rely on this stranger for survival…a stranger who leaves her thrumming with need every time they touch.

Tomasso Notte knows he’s found his life mate in Abigail. Now he just has to hold on to her. They’re miles from civilization, hunted by his kidnappers. Abigail has no idea of Tomasso’s abilities, or of how intensely pleasurable their unique connection can be. But he’s about to show her, beginning with one wild, hot, immortal night…

Tomasso Notte is being kidnapped – for what reason he has no idea.  He is drugged and put into a cage then onto a plane.  On that plane is Abigail.  She’s with her friend, who is the pilot of the plane, just so they can have a little vacation.  Abs needs one desperately as she’s been taking care of her mother – who just recently died.

The men who chartered the plane stated that they wanted no one on the plane but the pilot, but Abs was already on it.  She hides in the cargo hold but when she looks under the tarp and discovers a naked man with an IV she’s shocked.  She takes out the IV and helps him but she wasn’t prepared for him to jump out of the plane with her in his arms.

Tomasso gets Abigail safely to a beach but he really has no idea where he is.  Abigail had hit her head on the way out of the plane so she’s not with it.  Tomasso needs to get to a phone to contact the Argeneau’s and to get blood.  Unfortunately there are no villages in site and he has no idea if the kidnappers will come after him.  He wants to keep Abigail safe because he’s a nice person but also because he’s realized that she’s his life mate.

When the pair finally get to civilization – after some pretty funny things happening – Tomasso is able to contact his people and get what he needs.  Unfortunately the kidnappers aren’t about to give up on their quest to kidnap immortals.

This was another cute story in the Argeneau series.  I thought that Abigail and Tomasso were very sweet together and I loved their interactions.  Tomasso, as we’ve read in previous books in the series, is a huge guy but he isn’t a brute.  He’s kind and caring and I loved how well he treated Abigail.

Abigail was in med school at one point in her life before she dropped out to take care of her mother.  She is a care-taker by nature and likes to take charge of a situation.  When Tomasso pulls some stupid stunts to stop himself from getting excited when he’s with her (prior to reaching civilization) Abigail is there to take care of him.  It’s so ridiculous but hilarious at the same time.  I also loved how Abigail handled the whole immortal thing.  She realized quickly that she wasn’t a soulless monster and dealt with it.  I liked that about her because she was so practical about it all.

The thing I didn’t care for about the story is that there just wasn’t a ton of depth to it.  Yes, it was a fun book and I understand that’s what it was supposed to be but I just wanted more.  I guess I’m greedy that way.

The story was a nice addition to the series.  We got to hear a bit more about why the immortals are being kidnapped (only a bit though!) and then we were left hanging without knowing anything in depth.  I guess I’ll just have to wait and read the next book in the series to find out the info – which definitely won’t be a chore. 🙂

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

three-half-stars


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Guest Review: Runaway Vampire by Lynsay Sands

Posted February 4, 2016 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: Runaway Vampire by Lynsay SandsReviewer: Tracy
Runaway Vampire by Lynsay Sands
Series: Argeneau #23
Also in this series: Immortal Ever After (Argeneau #18), Immortal Nights, Immortal Unchained, Twice Bitten, The Trouble With Vampires

Publication Date: February 23rd 2016
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Dante Notte has heard it said that love hurts. He just wasn’t expecting it to run him over in an RV. Still, a punctured lung and broken ribs are nothing compared to the full-body shock he feels whenever he’s near the vehicle’s driver, Mary Winslow. He needs to keep her safe from their pursuers while he rescues his brother. Most challenging of all, he needs to claim this smart, stubborn woman as his life mate.

The naked, injured, insanely gorgeous younger man who clambered into her RV insists they belong together. If Mary wasn’t feeling their incredible connection in every inch of her being, she wouldn’t believe it. But now that the men who took Dante’s twin are after her too, trusting her gut means risking her life for an immortal who’s the very definition of a perfect stranger.

Dante is running away from the men who had kidnapped him and his twin, Tomasso, when he runs smack dab into Mary’s RV.  He manages to pull himself into the RV and hide in the back but eventually Mary finds him when she stops to get gas.  She runs for help but soon everyone is leaving the RV saying that Dante’s injuries weren’t that bad.  She’s confused but then the naked man who she thought was at death’s door is up and around.  What?  He of course was mind-controlling them but he soon finds that he can’t read Mary which is a sign that she could be his life mate.  He soon finds out that she definitely is his life mate and he’s not about to leave her on her own since the kidnappers can identify her RV and might come after her.

Dante knows he needs help to find his twin but he’s not about to let Mary be on her own.  Trying to get her to believe that he’s an Immortal and that she is his life mate isn’t easy as Mary is justifiably in the non-believer category.  Dante finally convinces her but at the same time they’re running for their lives and the dangers they face will change Mary’s life forever.

Dante Notte is one of those characters that’s been in several different books along with his twin as secondary characters.  I’ve been anxious to get their life mate stories for a while and was SO happy when I saw that this was Dante’s book.  He’s definitely the strong silent type but he was open and loving with Mary and it was wonderful to see another side of his character.

Mary was a funny woman.  Some of her thoughts when she first met Dante had me laughing out loud (he was naked and trying to cover himself with a loose weave afghan).  I kept imagining her as someone who looked like Blythe Danner who is in her 60’s and still looks great.  Of course we all know (if you’ve read any of the books) that she gets turned into an immortal and this was of course, in my mind, Gwyneth Paltrow.  Don’t judge – it worked in my head! Lol.  Anyway she was a fantastic match for Dante and his quiet ways and I loved them together.

This was another good story in the Argeneau series.  I keep thinking that I’m going to get sick of the series eventually but Lynsay Sands keeps me coming back for more every time.  🙂  I can’t wait to read Tomasso’s story and find out what happens when he meets his life mate.

Reading Order:

A Quick Bite
Love Bites
Single White Vampire
Tall, Dark & Hungry
A Bite to Remember
Bite Me If You Can
The Accidental Vampire
Vampires are Forever
Vampire, Interrupted
The Rogue Hunter
The Immortal Hunter
The Renegade Hunter
Bitten by Cupid
Born to Bite
Hungry for You
The Reluctant Vampire
The Bite Before Christmas
Under a Vampire Moon
The Lady is a Vamp
Immortal Ever After
One Lucky Vampire
Vampire Most Wanted
The Immortal Who Loved Me
About a Vampire
Runaway Vampire

Rating: 4 out of 5

four-stars


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