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…
LYNSAY SANDS is the nationally bestselling author who is known for her hysterical historicals as well as the popular Argeneau/Rogue Hunter vampire series. With her witty and charming personality, Sands describes books as, “Waking dreams or stories, tales to amuse, entertain and distract us from everyday life.” She’s been writing stories since grade school and considers herself incredibly lucky to be able to make a career out of it. Her hope is that readers can get away from their everyday stress through her stories, and if there are occasional uncontrollable fits of laughter, that’s just a big bonus. Visit her official website at www.lynsaysands.net.
The following ratings are out of 5: Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙 Romance: 💙💚🖤💜❤️ Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔 World building: 🌎🌍🌏🌎🌍 Character development: 😳😬🤬😚🥰
The heroine:Petronella Stone (a.k.a. Pet) - a history professor who is watching over her nephew while their parents are away. This happens after Parker called 911 about the elderly neighbor he is worried about because the neighbor has a visiting cousin who he thinks is a man with Renfield Syndrome who poses a threat to the neighbor.
The Hero:Santo Notte - an Enforcer for the immortals, he works for a team that hunts down rogue vampires. Recently they have been tracking down Dr. Dressler who found out about the existence of immortals and has held some of them hostage while doing experiments on them.
The Story: Santo and a few of the others are in a neighborhood looking into some possible rogue vampires when they meet Petronella and her nephew Parker, who tells them about some odd happenings at the next door neighbor.
I love the Argeneau series and each one gets better and better. I love the back story of the immortals who they say are NOT vampires despite the fact that they drink blood. They have nano’s which are programmed to keep them in top physical condition and have to ingest the blood to keep the nano’s working. They all look like they are about 25 years old and they can go out in the sun, but don’t like to because the sun damages the skin and they need to drink more blood to overcome the effects.
The immortals drink bagged blood which differentiates them from the rogue “Vampires” who drink from live humans. That is why the enforcers find and put down the rogues who are breaking their laws and endangering humans. Santo Notte is from one of the oldest families of Immortals, along with the Argeneau family and he has been in more than one of the previous books. He is a huge man with large muscles, grey eyes and a shaved head.
I picked this book because I just listened to a few other books which were narrated by Brian Pallino and I really enjoyed his voice. When I found out this one was narrated by him, I grabbed it right away. His voice is dee, extremely pleasant and sexy, which matches Santo very well.
This book is a bit different than a lot of the previous books in that Pet is not your standard human who doesn’t know anything about immortals and their nano’s. She has some previous experience a group of immortals called the Brass Circle in China, and wants to get away from the immortals as soon as she can. They have to convince her that they are different.
This was literally the best of the series I have read so far and I have read about 13 of them so far. I expect these books to all have great stories with steam, suspense, romance and a bit of humor mixed in, but I didn’t expect so many laugh out loud moments that I had while reading this. Santo was born about 3000 years ago (something like 982 BC) and some of the discussions between him and Pet were just hilarious. I was so pleasantly surprised. I will definitely be picking up more of this series in the next weeks.
This is a good one. I enjoyed it immensely with one caveat.
I don’t think it’s Lynsay’s fault, but I listened to the audiobook and there was one thing about it that detracted from the experience: Marguerite is portrayed by the reader as having an Italian accent, which is wrong. Yes, her husband is Italian, at least as much as someone who was born before there was an Italy or an Italian language could be. Somehow the reader and the producers of this audiobook did not get that memo and it lessened my enjoyment of the book, particularly since Marguerite is one of my favorite characters. I refuse to fault the book itself for this since nowhere does it actually say that she is Italian.
Overall, this was a fun rousing adventure with the usual romance as another worthy finds his life mate, everything you could want in another installment of this fine series. Just to be fair, I should admit that I can never be impartial about these books since they will always hold a special place in my heart. I don’t think I need to go on and on about that but I have a few thoughts and observations I’d like to throw in.
It makes sense that, in a series about a bunch of immortals, the past looms large over everything. A number of these books has had horrible past experiences come back to haunt the main characters. In this case, both Santos and Pet have nightmarish stuff in their pasts, the kind of things that would, at the very least, leave you emotionally scarred for life or, at worst, completely insane. Lynsay isn’t big on explosions, but she can sure deliver the goods when it comes to horrific histories.
So now we have a Chinese martial arts expert whose name is Petronella Stone, which should get high marks for originality. Cool.
Both Pet and her sister are technically illegal immigrants, a nice touch in the xenophobic zeitgeist of our current age. I’d love to see ICE come after them. That would be fun.
There was a nice curveball at the end. That mysterious guy who was trying to break into Parker’s room and who attacked Pet at her apartment turned out to be Pet’s brother-in-law. Meanwhile the evil Dr. Dressler escapes to create mayhem in another book.
I guess Parker is used to not having friends his own age. He is not likely to find many among the immortals, given how rarely they reproduce. Maybe Livy is somewhere around his age. You never know with the way time passes in books.
I really hope that Quinn gets through the turn okay and manages to adjust. Since she’s Pet’s twin, I have no doubt she could make an excellent focus for a future book.
We'll be hearing more from the Brass Circle in future books. Bet on it.
The power of service dogs is displayed at the end of this story. A nice touch. Also, we see a practical use for shared dreams aside from the usual one.
Anyway, I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I always enjoy stories where a painful past is put in its place and the future looks bright.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This is an excellent entry in Ms. Sands' Argeneau series. The humor, intrigue, likable characters and romance are very entertaining. This book is a real page-turner, and is wonderful as a stand-alone and even better when read in order. I am looking forward to reading the next entry in this series, and I am awaiting Quinn's story with great anticipation.
Santo is searching for a "rouge" that has torched and murdered when the leads him next door to Petronella, Pet, a history professor baby sitting her young, but highly intelligent, nephew. After a little nudging from his Aunt by marriage, Santo test to see if he can read Pet's thoughts and realizes that she is his life mate. Pet quickly recognizes Santo and his family for what they really are...immortals, and discovers that they are on the hunt for a killer and both her and her nephew's lives are at stake. When the home is invaded the danger level increases and Pet gets a great big target on her head.
Some would think that Santo has is easy, since his very human life mate already knows about immortals...BUT, he stumbles his way through wooing Pet. Which made for some really good LOL situations and comments.
I enjoyed The Trouble With Vampires. It was fun, fast and enjoyable read but not much has happened in the progression of the series with a quick closing to the storyline.
I received this ARC copy of The Trouble With Vampires from Avon Books. This is my honest and voluntary review. The Trouble With Vampires is set for publication April 23, 2019.
My Rating: 3.5 stars Written by: Lynsay Sands On Sale Date: April 23, 2019 Ship Date: April 2, 2019 ISBN 9780062855176, 0062855174 Mass Market | 400 pages $7.99 USD, $10.99 CAD Fiction / Romance / Paranormal
Santo Notte has lived nearly three thousand years. He works for the Notte Construction Company as an engineer. He's presently volunteering as an immortal Enforcer. With his cousin Zanipolo and a family friend, Justin Bricker, and Julius and Marguerite Argeneau Notte, (uncle and aunt), they are watching Max Purdy's house to catch Dr. Dressler. He is a top priority target because he knows about, and has experimented on, immortals.
Quinn Peter calls her twin sister, Petronella Stone, to watch over her son, Parker, when her husband, Patrick, changes his plans on the week she has to attend a conference. Petronella (Pet) packs a bag and comes right over. Parker goes to school and Pet, a history professor, teaches classes. Parker is worried about Mr. Purdy. He's been acting strange and has not been taking care of his prize garden. Plus his cat, Mrs. Wiggles, is hiding at Parker's house.
Julius, Marguerite, Santo, Zanipolo and Justin come over to meet the Peters family. Pet introduces herself and Parker. She takes notice of Santo because of his height and the width of his shoulders. She also recognizes the group as immortals, but she doesn't know if the are good or bad immortals. That night Pet locks the house up tight. She stays up til midnight reading an ebook. After getting a glass of water, she walks by Parker's bedroom and hears growling. Opening his door, she notices the cat growling and hissing on his bed. Next, she sees a dark silhouette trying to get in through Parker's bedroom window. Parker wakes up and screams. Pet gathers up Parker, the quilt and the cat, and rushes to the bathroom, where her cell phone is charging. Telling her nephew to dial 911, Pet starts to leave when Parker screams no. She comes back into the bathroom, closes the door and duals 911.
I haven't been reading this series in order, but this book easily could be a standalone. Both main characters have horrible past histories. Both have tried to move on, but those histories still haunt them. They'll have to get passed the past before their love can fully grow. The plot and subplots are well crafted. The attention to detail is always impressive and satisfying. Some series become redundant because of the same plot points repeated ad nauseum. Ms. Sands's Argeneau series isn't in this category. Her tortured hero and heroine and their struggles to become more than their pasts are so realistic the reader feels like they know them personally. The pages tick by quickly as the reader immerses themselves into the story. I definitely recommend this series and this novel.
This one was just ok for me. I didn't really feel the I love you now lifemate connection that usually happens with couples in this series. Instead I was more interesting on both Pet and Santo's past. Pet because she knew about Immortals and Santo because of all the horrible things that happened to him. I thought the ending was a bit over the top with what happened to Pet's family, but am looking forward to seeing what happens to them.
The Trouble With Vampires is the latest release into the Argeneau series and I can't believe we are almost on number 30 in the series!!! Its incredible to see the growth in this series and you know....its not boring. I am still having a fun time with this world that Lynsay Sands has built. This book features Santos' story and a bit of a twist with the heroine that isn't the norm for what we see in this series normally so I had a fun time seeing Santos figure out what to do with his lifemate.
The Trouble With Vampires begins with our heroine and her nephew who are in a very delicate situation involving a rogue vampire. Petronella is taking care of her nephew while his parents are out of town for the week. But her nephew suspects that somethiing bad is going on with their next door neighbor. Petronella knows the truth about vampire/immortals. Petronella lost all but one sister to rogue vampires when she was just a girl and she is still haunted by those memories. But when a group of good vampires come to handle the situation with their next door neighbor, she runs into Santos. Santos is one of the oldest vampires at living three thousand years and never expected to find his lifemate but then he runs into a woman needing his help and Petronella is his mate and now he is at a loss. He has to talk and make conversation, he is confussed by the courting rituals of the modern era, and plus they have a rogue vampire to hunt down. Both Petronella and Santos have much more in common than they realize, but they will both learn that being lifemates isn't always the easy road...
I found The Trouble With Vampires to be a sexy and fun read that only Lynsay Sands delivers plus a sexy Italian hero and YUMMY!! I have become really impressed with how this author has written these books and developed this world and somehow I haven't become bored with it....not even when being on book 29. So CHEERS to Lynsay Sands for her storytelling talent that strikes a chord with this reader. There were so many unique elements that made this story grand but what really did it for me was the relationship between Santos and Pet. Neither of them have had easy lives and both have suffered some severe trauma so we see how this has affected their characters and their relationship.
Both our characters have some serious lessons to be learned if they want to make a relationship work. Our hero, Santos is OLD as time ...almost. He mostly is this big warrior who just grunts a lot and doesn't really talk ever. But when he finds Pet, he realizes he might need to carry on some conversations if he wants to convince Pet to take a chance on him as his lifemate. Pet, now she has her own issues that she needs to deal with and we see how she has to face up to her past in some difficult ways. But with Santos being an immortal, she does understand the life more than the regular mortal and I love how open she is with him. She doesn't shy away from his life or what being his lifemate could mean. Seeing them find their own journey together was priceless and I was all for the ride of bumps that they carry you on including the precious successes that we see them overcome.
Overall I found The Trouble With Vampires to be a vampire romance that is packed with thrilling suspense, an evolving world, a sexy Italian hero and a sassy heroine who both takes us on a journey of growth, maturity and a powerfully fight for love and...eternity!
The story started off well enough...for the first few pages. Soon into the novel, it started feeling more like erotica than a fantasy novel. The relationship was intended (I believe) to be passionate but there is no build-up in the relationship save for physical attraction. I get that she is his "life mate" and he's supposed to be smitten but I can't accept how 60% into the book, all the characters have done is think about sex, perform sex or almost have sex. There is a few points in the backstory but sex is so prevalent in the book that I found myself skipping the sexual scenes after the first three just to see when action related to the initial story line would take place. I gave up on the book along the way. I liked the book when i first started it because it was a somewhat different storyline (nanites making people immortal versus old-fashioned biting; the reason why sun "harms" them;etc). But the focus on sex in EVERY moment is too much. I ended up putting the book down and not continuing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
My problem with this book may stem from the fact that, although I read many of the earlier books in this series, I have missed all the ones in the middle. I picked this one up because I remember really enjoying them years ago.
Obviously not such a good idea. Without the back-stories of all the characters to (maybe) give it some depth, this story was nothing more than a surface only, rather silly, slow yawner.
And, no matter what else might have been better, that ending with Parker, Quinn etc. was way OTT with nothing on the other side - and then the epitome of annoying and abrupt with Pet and Santo.
This was a very good story. I liked Santo and Petronella and enjoyed their story.
Petronella is a history professor that has an unusual background. Petronella (aka Pet) grew up in China and was the step-daughter to an immortal. Pet's family was killed except for a sister and after the both moved to the US and were adopted. Pet is single and her nephew is the closest she has to a kid.
Santo is a civil engineer for his family's construction business and is also is in a band with his cousins. Santo is also an Immortal, which are humans from the city of Atlantis that have nanobots that give them traits that are similar to the vampires of legend, including their need for blood. Santo is in the US and is helping with a Rogue situation.
When the story begins, Pet is staying at her sisters' place to watch her nephew, Parker, while his parents are out of town. Pet and Parker quickly meet some new people staying on their street, Marguerite Argeneau, her husband and a few cousins (and Santo is one of the cousins). Pet knows about immortals and her experiences haven't always been good so she freaks when she recognizes what Marguerite and her family are. Marguerite realizes the issue (due to her ability to read minds) and reassures Pet that they're no bad immortals and are only there because they're hunting a rogue that they believe is in the area.
Pet is comforted by Marguerite's reassurance and the family's actions in general but she's worried about the rogue nearby and her need to protect Parker. Santos tries to get close to Pet but he's had a rough past and it's made him rather solitary and very laconic. His lack of communication skills cause issues with Pet though and Santos has to step out of his comfort zone to make any progress with Pet. There is drama, part from the rogue issues and some from Pet's own issues combined with the interpersonal issues that arise as Santo attempts to court her. Thankfully, everything gets worked out and the story ends with Santo and Pet happily together and heading towards and HEA.
This was a very enjoyable story. I liked Pet pretty well. She was a good heroine but made some moves I thought were caused more by plot needs than anything. Santo was a good hero once he learned to talk, hehe. There were a few points in the story that didn't see completely wrapped up and that bothered me a bit but it wasn't anything too major. Overall, I enjoyed the story very much and liked the characters so I would recommend it (and the series). :)
* note - I listened to the audio version of this story and the narrator did a very good job.
This book is in a long series. There are times when a book that has been part of a long series the newer book tends to suck. You want the author to just give it up and start writing a new because the ideas are repetitive and it hurts the series in the long run. I have had many series destroyed because an author just cannot let it go. However for Ms. Lynsay Sands that is not the case for this book.
I loved Santo at times. We knew a bit about him but did not know his story. I still feel as though I do not know his story. I know about some major life events however I do not know what he has been doing since something horrific happened to him. I still do not know how Dressler captured him in the first place. We got so much background when it came to Pet that Santo just seemed as an afterthought in this book.
There were so many great things that happened within this book and so many things that I was confused about. I have no idea what happened with the timeline. One minute someone is pregnant and then it is never mentioned again, it is a major player in the story as well. What happened with the pregnancy? Did Ms. Sands forget that she made this character pregnant or did she make a mistake and think that no one would catch it. Either way it had me confused and I kept going back to other books to make sure I was correct.
I enjoyed Parker, Pet's nephew. I cannot wait to see that happens with him. I am a bit concerned about Pet's sister, Quinn, I think there are somethings that Quinn is hiding. I have no idea what that is but I do think there is more to her then what Pet is telling everyone. I also believe she knows more about what is happening and what has happened but will not tell Pet about.
I am intrigued about the Golden Circle. I love the Argeneau's and the Notte's however I want to know more about the other Immortals that survived Atlantis. I understand that these two families are super important but there are a lot of different Immortals out there and I want to know more about them. With this book we learn a bit about them but nothing that would make me feel as though my curiosity was quenched. I need to know more about the different countries and all about the different people.
The next book in this series, Immortal Born, has a character that I know nothing about. I hope that the timeline is back on track because this being lost madness is just.. well.. madness.
After centuries of battling enemies both external and within himself, Santo Notte has yet to find his life mate and he certainly didn't think he'd find her in upstate New York. But when he meets history professor Petronella Stone while investigating a rogue immortal, things finally change for him. Pet just wants to keep her nephew safe and with danger lurking ever closer and sketchy neighbors all around her sister's house, she's not really sure who to trust. Santo has waited so long to find his life mate that he almost doesn't recognize her at first, but now that he's found her, he has to figure out how to properly woo her and he has no idea where to begin. Pet recognizes the immortals for what they are but isn't sure if they're the good sort or the bad. Santo is amazed that she knows what he is and even more so by her acceptance of him once she sees he's not a corrupt immortal.
But with a rogue immortal now living next door, Pet and her nephew aren't safe. She had her life torn apart by such rogues when she and her twin sister were young and Santo vows to keep her safe now. They're both amazed by the electricity between them but Pet isn't sure if it's real or something Santo is using his immortal abilities to manufacture, so she tells herself to stay away; that's safest for her nephew anyway. Santo has his own inner demons from years spent being held captive and tortured and Pet's own experiences with immortals have taught her that none of them are safe to be around. She's determined not to get attached to Santo or get to know him beyond the physical pleasure he can give her. With other threats to contend with these two have more keeping them apart than just their communication issues. But unless they can both overcome past traumas, they won't have much hope of a future together.
I've never read any of the books in this series and I'm only just starting to branch out into this genre a bit but I've read other books by this author and loved them so I wanted to give it a try. This book was action and suspense from the start that drew me in immediately. Santo was adorable with his total lack of social skills and I loved Pet as the strong heroine because she was believably so and without being snarky or unlikable. I also don't think I've ever read a hero who suffered quite so much torture as this one. This book kept me glued to the kindle and sucked me in right from the get go. It was also quite unexpectedly hilarious. There was a satisfying ending, but lots of loose ends left undone that I'm hoping will be addressed in later books and which I'm very much looking forward to.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I know this is a famous series for the prn fans and I heard so many good things about it and this book especificaly, but I just didn't like it.
The h, Petronella 'Pet', has shown from the start how irresponsible she was with not only hers but most importantly, with the life of the child, her nephew, under her care while his parents were out of town. She knew that there were immortals (please author, just call them vampires since the word is even in the title of your book) in the neighborhood. She knew that they were capable of manipulating mortals into doing whatever and she had no way of knowing if they were trustworthy or not. Not even her terrible past trauma involving others like them was enough to make her take the kid (his name is Parker) and run for her apartment, at least until his parents came back. Oh no, she stayed and from that moment on she failed him a lot. Sometimes she even forgot about him. Not that this was the only irritating thing about her, oh no. She had the habit of making the most stupid questions and remarks and her actions were eye rolling quite a few times.
Parker was a little shit in the beginning, not listening to his aunt and talking too much. I guess all kids act this way when treated as adults when still in diapers. That's society nowadays apparently.
The other characters, I didn't like a single one. They mean well but were so intrusive and with the reading your every thought and all it was just too much.
The H, Santo, was a three thousand yo dumbass that turned the h before making sure she was in fact dying, told her she was his life mate (the special kind of mate that is the only person that can bring you peace, emotional stability and sexual satisfaction) with whom you can, if you want, spend eternity with, only to abandon her to his mother's care. He simply shifted the responsibility for his mate to someone else and turn his back on her. He didn't even say goodbye to her before he left like the coward that he was. All bc he discovered from a cousin that sometimes he had violent night terrors resulted from PTSD, and decided that it was preferable to leave her behind than working his shit out. I mean, she wasn't all that important for him to at least give it a try. What a poorly excuse for a male old enough to know better.
And his mother to the h: I will train you so that you be strong enough bc my son needs you? Fuck that shit.
Mittlerweile schon Band 29 und immer wieder fällt der Autorin etwas neues ein.
Dieses Buch hat mir wieder richtig gut gefallen.
Das erste Aufeinandertreffen der Protagonisten war gut inszeniert und wie dann dieser wortkarge, wirklich alte Unsterbliche auf die gebildete und wortgewandte Pet trifft - es war schon amüsant. Ich liebe es, wenn das angeblich schwache Geschlecht, keinerlei Angst zeigt, sondern sich mutig dem Mann stellt und dieser große starke Unsterbliche versucht, es seiner Lebensgefährtin recht zu machen. Bei den beiden funkt es eigentlich sofort, aber auch hier gibt es Hürden, die die beiden überwinden müssen.
Die Geschichte war einfach schön zu lesen und überhaupt nicht langweilig, vor allem mit der überraschenden Wendung zum Ende hin hatte ich gar nicht gerechnet.
Der Schreibstil ist wie immer flüssig zu lesen und ich habe mich auch wieder sehr gefreut, auf alte Bekannte zu treffen. Ein Buch, dass ich gerne weiter empfehle.
Ich freue mich schon auf die nächste Geschichte mit den Argeneaus im September 2020.
Die Argeneaus: 1. Verliebt in einen Vampir 2. Ein Vampir zum Vernaschen 3. Eine Vampirin auf Abwegen (für mich Band 1) 4. Immer Ärger mit Vampiren 5. Vampire haben’s auch nicht leicht 6. Ein Vampir für gewisse Stunden 7. Ein Vampir und Gentleman 8. Wer will schon einen Vampir? 9. Vampire sind die beste Medizin 10. Im siebten Himmel mit einem Vampir 11. Vampire und andere Katastrophen 12. Vampire küsst man nicht 13. Vampir zu verschenken 14. Vampir à la carte 15. Rendezvous mit einem Vampir 16. Der Vampir in meinem Bett 17. Ein Vampir für alle Sinne 18. Vampir verzweifelt gesucht 19. Ein Vampir für alle Lebenslagen 20. Ein Vampir zur rechten Zeit 21. Ohne Vampir nichts los 22. Tatsächlich … Vampir 23. Ein Vampir im Handgepäck 24. Frühstück mit Vampir 25. Ran an den Vampir 26. Vampir für dich 27. Was der Vampir begehrt 28. und ewig lockt der Vampir 29. Vampir & Vorurteil 30. Vampir allein Zuhaus (September 2020) 31. Vampir on the Rocks (März 2021)
I was torn on this one. I loved that the heroine wasn't the usual in these books..whining and crying and in general acting like an idiot. Pet was actually smart and logical. On the downside... the plot is getting old and Santo was basically Lucien 2.0. I'll continue with reading the series... but depending on how this Dressler thing goes, it may not be for much longer.
THE TROUBLE WITH VAMPIRES: New Twists & My Alma Mater http://fangswandsandfairydust.com/201... A three thousand year-old man might be the Mr. Right for a professor protecting her nephew.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader’s copy of this book. No remuneration was exchanged and all opinions presented herein are my own except as noted. This book takes place in Albany, NY which is where I was born and grew up, and the main character is a history professor at The University at Albany where I went to college. That was enough to really get me into the story: would they go to any of places or streets familiar to me, eat at my sister’s restaurant. A town in Massachusetts next to the town where we have a cottage was also mentioned.
But, sadly for me the references were pretty generic and it could have been in any city with a university. That’s really neither here nor there, unless you’re me and grew up in the book’s locale.
If I think about it most of Lynsay’s books are pretty generically located, even the St. Lucia location in Under A Vampire Moon. This is a personal disappointment but preferred than the brand placement in some other series.
And, what a series – book 29. Not every author can pull it off. And, the books are romantically formulaic with an immortal finding a lifemate, a threat to that relationship and being changed to an immortal. This one is no different. The differences come in the heroine’s story, and in the unexpected ending which I found a little empty or glib. The characters’ back stories are a little more horrific than I have experienced in the series before.
Sands is trying hard to inject new life into her series to greater or lesser effect. Less successful is the use new locations without exploring them. More succesful is is adding heroines, and humans more able to protect themselves.
I also found some of the language strange. For example, the characters often refer to going downstairs in a house with a more nautical term, “going below.” Also Lynsay refers to a history professor being “trained.” I have taught college courses and no one ever “trained” me in my field. And Sands worked very hard to vary phrases, for example “mad passionate sex,” versus “mad passionate love.” Changing one word in a cliche doesn’t make it less cliche. But, after writing love scenes for as many books as Sands has I think I understand why she would want to use some different language.
Sands has the best explanation for vampires, and because of her characters’ immortality an unending supply of new characters. If she is able to further open up the series and give it new life; perhaps further varying the plot lines, she can keep it going for at least a few more books.
I was looking for something fun and engaging to perk me up a bit, and this really hit the spot. I enjoy most of the books in this series and have been reading it almost as long as I've been reading romance, but this one was particularly good imo. Pet and Santo are both interesting and likable characters, and they're very cute together. Their backstories added a lot of flair. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Pet's family in future books. I'm getting pretty close to catching up, so I'm definitely looking forward to reading the next book.
Book #29 in the Argeneau series. It's been sometime since I've read a Lynsay Sands, Argeneau novel. It was a quick read, fun & distracting (just what I needed). The Argeneau novels all seem to follow a rather predictable plotline, just with a different cast of characters. I'll probably be picking up another Argeneau Novel real soon.
Another enjoyable Argeneau paranormal romance. Again a different interesting view of a relationship with an immortal. I liked the heroine with her good instincts and not putting up with the hero's non-communicative ways. Professor Pet is babysitting her genius nephew and she has her suspicions about the new neighbors who appear next door including giant size Santo.
You Go Girl. Lynsay, just finished Santo's story and it was great. Just knowing some of the things that he has gone threw in his life. Life has been hard for him. The only thing that was driving him was his need to find Dr. Dressier and putting him down. That was all until Santo met a woman Pet,and her nephew, Parker. Still not knowing the changes that these two people will make in his life. Pet, also has had a lift no no one Santo has met before. She and her twin sister Quinn has seen horrors and lived. Pet and her sister Quinn also knows just what immortals are. (How?) Which is a shock for Santo and the others to learn. Can these two broken souls heal each other and find the life as mates that they were meant to be to each other? Awaiting for the next book. Have questions about Pet sister Quinn? Where in the hell is Dr. Dressier now? Whom or what is the Brass Circle? I got it today. Couldn't put this book down until I had finished it.
You’d think after 28 books in this series that the 29th might just feel like the same ol’ same ol’. But NOPE! Still hot romance. Still humorous. Still suspenseful. But a different story every time. I love the Argeneau family and hope the books continue for a long time to come.
The Trouble With Vampires by Lynsay Sands is book 29 in the Argeneau Series. This is the story of Santo Notte and Petronella 'Pet' Stone. I have read the previous book (and Loved it) but feel you can make this a standalone book if you wish to do so. Pet has come to watch her nephew Parker when she was asked to by her sister. Pet is a History Professor and her nephew is a very smart 6 year old. Santo is now hunting down the immortal rogue who captured and tortured him. Santo has been finding armies for centuries so this is just more personal mission but what he didn't expect to have was to find his mate. Pet knows what Santo and his family are but she also has her secrets. Danger of course is following them both, so we get some drama with their love story. I am such a fan of Ms. Sands, so her books are a must read for me.
I find myself without much to say about this installment. I like Santo and Petronella together and I love little Parker. It will be interesting to see what happens with Pet’s twin, Quinn in the future. I’m a little behind on the overall story arc as I haven’t read the two books before this but I’m working on catching up.
Overall this was a great addition to the series. I love the characters and the wit Ms Sands always brings to her stories.
More of a 4.5 but goodreads denies the existence of half stars.
For once, nobody does anything stewpid for lols. Yay. And the niggles are side characters or last minute drama.
The h is aware of immortals, being as how her mother was one's lifemate. She's also an orphan because apparently her stepdad was an enforcer who was targeted by a crime ring. (I'd actually like to know what happened with that. I'm sure there are plans somewhere or it wouldn't have been mentioned and left dangling like a carrot). She has a twin sister, sister's husband, and a nephew. Sister may or may not remember what happened.
Dressler has shown up...sortof (we never actually see him), and the story opens with the kid calling 911 to report the elderly neighbor being possibly in danger and possibly having Reinfeld's syndrome. Being as how the child - 8 - is exceedingly gifted and how the parents - a surgeon and an oncologist - apparently let google raise him... The kid is a niggle. His being exceedingly smart I can handle. His complete disregard of safety...not really. He's 8. He should know better than to charge the front door to greet a complete stranger.
And then there's Santo - H. He first appeared many books ago in Christian's tale. He takes tall, dark, and silent maybe a bit too far as he speaks a combination of trollish and si/no. This infuriates the h who asks him a question and gets a grunt.
Eventually, they get together. Eventually, the h is turned (and I'm not so sure it wasn't by accident as it seemed to happen awfully fast). And everything is mostly going great until... Oh crap; I need x number of pages. Let's introduce some DRAMA in the form of cousinous interruptus and revelations about the H's PTSD, which results in his bolting because as the h tells him, he's an ass. It does work out in the end but I'm a bit vindictive and he would have groveled for running off with his tail between his legs.