Lynsay Sands Follow

Oh my gosh! This book hit all my marks and it did so in a delicious manner!

Calan was the biggest, toughest highlander laird with a heart of gold. I melted everytime he displayed all his soft and gooey tender care with Allissaid. He was protective and gentle and his concern over what she was offered to eat was too freaking cute.

I enjoyed the bit of mistaken gender identity that Calan experienced. It’s definitely a favorite trope of mine as long as it doesn’t continue for long and this one did not. I actually wouldn’t have minded a little more of it. The same with the amnesia trope.

I was pulled in within a few turns of the page and soon I couldn’t stop. This had the perfect amount of danger and drama laced throughout with humor that had me grinning. The chemistry between Allissaid and Calan was displayed in a believable and heat inducing manner. With secondary characters that added to my overall enjoyment of this book, I’m highly recommending this one to anyone who enjoys a highlander romance.

Meant to Be Immortal (Argeneau #32). By Lynsay Sands. 2021. Avon (ARC eBook).

I have kept trying to get into the Argeneau series. I’ve read or listened to several of the beginning books, some in the middle and some of the most current and they just have never engaged me. The series’ premise for vampires and their mates is unique, but Macon and CJ unfortunately just didn’t bring to the table anything substantial enough to keep me coming back to this series.

*Avon ARC via NetGalley

I’m supposed to be reading my sister-in-law’s newest book right now, but I’m not in the right frame of mind for reading suspense. (Sorry, Suze!) I finally decided to scour my bookshelf for a funny, slightly ridiculous romance and landed on this book. I have to say I pretty much got what I wanted.

On the one side, you have a depressed writer with his quirky family whose favorite word is “no.” He also happens to be a vampire. On the other, there’s his spunky new editor who is determined to get him to do some/any form of publicity for his latest bestseller, a vampire romance novel. When the only response she can get from him is “no,” she decides to drop in on him in person. Let the hijinks ensue.

Lucern is depressed when we first meet him. He rarely leaves the house, doesn’t turn the lights on, and has no food in the cupboards. Well, he does have some blood in the fridge. Sometimes, you need that one person to give you a kick in the pants back to living. It’s nice to watch him come back to life as the book progresses.

Kate knows what her boss and the fans want and how it will help Lucern in his writing career. She is willing to cross borders, come up with excuses, and fall in with his mother’s plans to help him. Kate keeps a level head on her shoulders even when faced with crazy situations like learning her writer is a vampire. The explanation behind how vampires came into being threw me for a loop, but it is a different reason from most vampire novels.

I like the fact that the humor revolves around the circumstances that the characters are in or misunderstandings, rather than the characters acting stupidly. There are ridiculously over the top antics (the raunchy search for condoms comes to mind), but for the most part, it is light-hearted fun. Scenes like a group of vampires being accused of smoking pot out of the back of a van when they’re drinking blood to Lucern realizing he got conned by his mother into attending a convention for romance authors and readers kept me giggling through the book.

This book is an excellent introduction to the Argeneau family. From the matriarch, Marguerite, who is willing to help Kate through a decision she had to make centuries earlier, to crazy siblings like Etienne, who likes to lay in a coffin to help himself think, the Argeneau family is full of delightful characters. I will be picking up more books from this series to see how the rest of the family finds love.

Note: I try to read books in the order they were published. Even though this is listed as book #3, it was the first Argeneau novel published.

It took several tries to get past the first part of the book, but once I accomplished that, it was well worth the effort. The Argeneaus have a unique brand of crazy, and it is fun to watch them bumble, fumble, and rumble with the trouble that comes their way.

Etienne, especially initially, is too carefree about threats to him, and it lands him, Rachel, and the family in a heap of trouble. After she first turns, Rachel’s early interactions feel forced for laughs and don’t fare any better when deja vu strikes. I put down the book several times during this section, but I wanted to finish, and this time I finally got past it.

Etienne and Rachel turn into a cute couple, while the rest of the family poke their noses in to cause chaos in the name of helping, of course. Thomas, in particular, was entertaining as both a troublemaker and a wingman. There was one thing that I expected Etienne to get raked over the coals about, but circumstances intervened.

Events with Pudge did not pan out as I expected. His story is both funny and sad. It also showcased precisely how vulnerable the vampires are and how much power they can wield. There is a fine line that they walk to protect themselves without exposing themselves to more scrutiny.

By the end of the book, I was happy with how everything turned out. Although, I was looking forward to Rachel yelling at Etienne. Oh well, maybe it will crop up in a future book in the series.