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Born to Bite by Lynsay Sands

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


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I only had the epilogue left to read of my work book; therefore, I brought it home to finish. The book was Born to Bite by Lynsay Sands. It’s the 13th installment in her “Argeneau” series of paranormal vampire romance. The main characters in this one were enforcer Eshe d’Aureus and Armand Argeneau.

As an enforcer, it’s Eshe’s job to track down rogue vampires. Her latest case has her spending time with Armand Argeneau to learn if he’s a killer. Armand’s previous three wives all died grisly deaths that were deemed accidental at the time, but suspicions abound. It’s up to Eshe to determine if he’s a murderer or extremely unlucky in love. Armand agrees to take Eshe in, believing she is in danger and in need of a safe house. His immediate attraction to her is dismaying, because Armand has come to suspect that his wives were targeted for attack, and he isn’t willing to risk the life of another woman he’s come to care about. When odd accidents begin happening, it’s going to take Eshe and Armand working together to bring a killer to justice.

This was actually more of a mystery than a romance, but that was fine with me. I didn’t really care for the insta-love/lust, although that’s part and parcel of this series when vampires find their life mates. Eshe was better developed as a character than Armand was. Other characters were portrayed well enough, and there were cameos by characters from previous books in the series. The narrative seemed a bit choppy to me; I would have liked it to flow more smoothly.

Favorite line: “Life just isn’t worth living without chocolate and cheesecake.”

Nothing extraordinary about this one, average score of 3.

Vampires are Forever by Lynsay Sands

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Yesterday, at lunch, I finished the book I'd taken to work. It was Vampires are Forever by Lynsay Sands, and it's the 8th part of her "Argeneau Vampires" series of paranormal romances. Main characters in this one were vampire Thomas Argeneau and mortal woman Inez Urso.

When Thomas' Aunt Marguerite goes missing, his cousin Bastien sends him to London--Marguerite's last known location. There, Thomas is to meet up with Inez, one of Bastien's employees. Once Thomas discovers he can neither read Inez's thoughts nor control her, he realizes she is his destined lifemate. The only problem now is to convince her that vampires are real and that they are meant to be together.

Inez never believed in vampires, but she is soon forced to admit that Thomas is one. She's not as turned off by the idea of having a lifemate as she thinks she probably should be. It helps that Thomas is handsome and attentive to her. However, they still need to track down Marguerite--a task made more difficult when another, unknown vampire begins wiping Inez's mind and taking control of her. Now Thomas must not only rescue his aunt, but also the love of his life.

There was a lot going on in this story. Not only is it a romance, but there was also the mystery and excitement surrounding Marguerite's disappearance. Many characters from other books in the series put in an appearance. I would have enjoyed that more if it weren't for the fact that I seem to be reading these out of order. My bad. I was a bit put off by Inez's easy acceptance of a lifemate and somewhat creeped out by how blasé the vampires all are about blithely using mind control on mortals. Of course, it wasn't quite so nifty when someone used it on Inez. I also missed the author's trademark humor. That's sort of the reason I used to snap up Sands' books and why I've kept so many to read, even though I don't typically go for paranormal romance any longer.

Favorite line: "Get your soulless butt back on the other side of the seat."

I wasn't enthralled with the story, but it was well-written. Giving it a four.

A week or so ago, I finished reading Love Bites by Lynsay Sands. It was a "paranormal lite" story about vampires.

Vampire Etienne Argeneau has been targeted by a crazed mortal named Pudge, who is determined to kill him. Rachel is a medical examiner who works the night shift at the morgue.

When Rachel saves Etienne from Pudge and takes a fatal blow, Etienne must turn her to save her. The majority of the story revolves around Rachel coming to terms with her new reality and discovering her feelings for Etienne. For his part, Etienne is also falling for Rachel, but he doesn't want to scare her off by moving too fast.

I enjoyed meeting other members of Etienne's family, especially his meddling mother and cousin. This book is part of a series, and I do have others that I'll read eventually.

This one gets four stars:

★★★★