Bezeten!

Argeneau #2

by Lynsay Sands

Etienne Argeneau heeft het zwaar. Zijn succes heeft de afgunst opgewekt van een gevaarlijke gek, die bovendien heeft ontdekt dat hij een vampier is. Door toedoen van deze Pudge komt Etienne tot twéé keer toe terecht op de snijtafel van de aantrekkelijke lijkschouwer Rachel Garrett, die hem beide keren tot leven(!) weet te wekken.

Maar de prijs is hoog, en dan zit er voor Etienne niks anders op dan Rachel over te brengen naar de kant van de onsterfelijken. Terwijl Pudge nog steeds loert op zijn kans, wordt snel duidelijk dat Etienne en Rachel al net zo bezeten zijn. Van elkáár, welteverstaan.

Genres: Romance, Vampires, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Adult

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2004

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Jessica's Totally Over The Top Book Obsession · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was also okay. I liked the couple okay. I think Etienne should have been a little more smooth with the women being as he was over 300 years old but whatevs. So what if his game is a little weak. I could get over that. I would have liked it a whole lot better if the bad guy wasn't a big stupid turd. I mean his name was Pudge for fuck sake! Pudge!!! I mean he wasn't badass he was just a huge annoying shithook. Come on Etienne, this stupid geeky weak ass human has tried to kill you over 4 times and you are still trying to let him live? And how the hell did you let his stupid ass get the drop on you at least 5 times? He shoots you in the heart, blows up your car, breaks into your house and he almost beheaded you Etienne. Aren't you a badass vampire? Where are your awesome vampire powers? Really? Then he kidnaps your lifemate and stakes her in the heart and you are still going to let him live? I wanted to kill him. I wanted to reach though my kindle and snap his stupid neck but the big bad vamp family are letting him live. Pffff! I would have gave this book 4 stars had the bad guy died but since they went all peace and love and let his stupid ass live after all the shit he pulled I took a star away. Bloodthirsty? IKR!

[Jilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Everything's all fun and games until someone gets an ax in the chest.”

Yeah, I hate when that happens.
So, Rachel is a coroner who is kind of a perv. She's all creeping on this corpse, thinking how sexy he is. I seriously think that her boss should be apprised of this situation.



But, don't worry, her dream-corpse is actually a vampire, so it's not at all necrophilia for her to be having sex dreams about him.



Also, she throws herself in front of an ax-wielding maniac to stop him from cutting off her corpse-lover's head. Aaand gets an ax in the chest. Well, I gotta say.... she kind of deserved it. Also, maybe it's best if the chick who is excited to see a dead man's peen is out of the picture. How good could her life be if this was her bag?


She swears it isn't hers!

But, good news everyone! He turns her into a vampire so that she can spend all of eternity thinking creepy thoughts about corpses. Yay!

Necrophilia aside, this book was fun and cute. There were plenty of chuckle-worthy moments and I really like the vampire family. It's a solidly "good enough" series so far. Not gonna blow your socks off, but will moderately entertain you.

[willaful · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book contains a scene so gross, I'm surprised every other review doesn't begin "OMG, this book is so gross!" I don't think any other reviewer has even mentioned it. Is it seriously just me that is icked out when a very hungry vampire woman goes down on a guy and starts thinking about actually eating him like a sausage? And later he gets caught lying there naked by a relative, with a flacid, bite-marked penis. HURL!

Anyway, aside from that fun time, it was pleasant but on the dull side. Highlights were Etienne showing Rachel how wonderful the nighttime is. But coroner Rachel is implausibly ditzy; Ettienne is sweet in a boyish way, which is kind of a cute change of pace for a story about a 300+ year old vampire, but he sometimes goes beyond "beta" to "limp rag." The action scenes felt clumsy. Perhaps it's time for me to give up this series.

[Ꮗ€♫◗☿ ❤️ ilikebooksbest.com ❤️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great plot and lots of humor!



The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💚💜❤️
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌎🌍
Character development: 🤓😉☺️😍🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Solo Narration

The Hero: Etienne Argeneau - someone was out to kill him and shot him straight in the chest. Good thing he was a 300-year-old immortal, though a shot to the chest could still kill him if he ran out of blood before getting more. The nanos in his body needed a lot of blood to fix a wound like that. He ended up in the Toronto morgue.

The heroine: Rachel Garrett - she was a coroner, working the night shift and sick with the flu that was currently going around Toronto. When a shooting victim came in who was tall and beautiful with no other scars or distinguishing marks on his body, she was saddened that such a handsome specimen of a man was murdered.

The Story: when Etienne awakened in the morgue after Rachel removed the bullet from his heart, he was surprised to see the beautiful woman. Rachel thought she was hallucinating from the flu, after he spoke, and she looked into his silver eyes. Rachel passed out not long afterwards, when her coworker came in and found them like that, Etienne was able to get some of the blood he needed to survive.

The man that was trying to kill Etienne was someone he knew. His nickname was Pudge and he had suffered a loss and Etienne felt bad for him. Though Pudge found out Etienne’s secret and Etienne couldn’t control his mind due to his madness, to make him forget. Pudge latched on to the secret of the immortals as a reason to go on and was determined to kill Etienne. He wouldn’t give up. So, it wasn’t long before Etienne was back at the morgue on Rachel’s table.

This story wasn’t the best in the series, but it was pretty funny and I liked the plot quite a bit. I read the series all out of order, which didn’t bother me at all, but it is obvious that Lynsay Sands got to be a much better writer and the series developed some differences in the immortals as the series went on. Rachel was pretty funny after waking up as an immortal, she didn’t believe Etienne when he told her, and she thought she was having a wet dream.

Like all the other books in this series, the characters were fantastic. Marguerite is Etienne’s mother and she is in many of the other books, Bastien is his brother and a few of the others played a part as well. Pudge was a pretty funny character. He had his own motives for wanting to kill Etienne and he thought all the things about vampires were true (sleep in coffins, vampire babes, sunlight burns them, and much more).

The audiobook was told in dual points of view via solo narration. It was narrated by Lisa Flanagan. She has a great voice and is good at showing her emotions through her voice. Though I do like dual or duet narration the best for romance audiobooks, Lisa did a good job on this one.

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[Hannah B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the romance but the villain was annoying (no one took him seriously until it was too late, duh)

I will say these are funnier and less serious at times than IAD bc my one complaint is the villains kinda get off and are definitely not dead which is, at times, frustrating ! !

[Izzah ꒰Duchess of Cabria ಇ ⭑✧ ᴏɴ ᴘᴀᴛʀᴇᴏɴ ✧ ⋆꒱ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nerdy low angst

It's been a while since I read a nerdy hero but it was just what I needed~

The hero is letting himself
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🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
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[♥Rachel♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the first one and super sexy!

[K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love Bites, by Lynsay Sands - Light PNR, Contemporary Vampire Series

I've only read one other book by Lynsay Sands ("Sweet Revenge"), which was one of her older historical romances. Although I liked "Sweet Revenge" well enough, it didn't compel me to want to snatch up her backlist at the time. Sands writing style is simple and easy reading, and since I prefer a deeper, more complex and emotional writing style in my historicals, I believe that's why I didn't pursue her after "Sweet Revenge." "Love Bites" follows the same style of writing, and in my opinion, this light and fluffy PNR series is probably a better fit.

The Argeneau family is like any other normal "family next door," if you don't consider the fact the members are hundreds of years old, have looks that are stunning (not to mention youthful enough to be confused as to who their mother is), can read each other's minds, wipe everyone else's memories clean like erasing a chalkboard, then pop a "blood bag" for a quick meal as we'd suck down a juice box! Rachel works as a medical technician in the City morgue on the night shift. She's fairly bored with her routine and frustrated about not being able to have a social life since she sleeps while the rest of the city goes about their daily lives, and shuts down right about the time she awakens. Etienne Argeneau is the best looking, sexiest man she's ever laid eyes on. Only one problem -- he's lying on her morgue gurney with a big gunshot hole blown through his chest! Not the situation you want when finally locating the man of your dreams. While Rachel laments the irony of her timing and begins going about her job, she starts to think she's imaging things when Etienne's mortal wound seems severely lessened every time she turns her back. Things get REALLY weird when she discovers her "stiff" is anything but! Convincing herself that a "thread" of pulse MUST have gone undetected by both her and the EMTs who brought him in, Rachel does fast mental work trying to somehow apply logic to a situation that seems impossible, if not completely creepy.

In the meantime, Etienne is efficiently going about the work of eliminating the "experience" from Rachel's head and making a quick break out of the morgue. Etienne's trip to the morgue hasn't been his first "accident," and he unfortunately has found himself a target of a wacko stalker -- a fellow envious video game creater who doesn't have the talent Etienne has to create the current video game craze, "Blood Lust." "Pudge" (a/k/a geeky Norman) has discovered a few of Etienne's unique "gifts," and convinced he's a vampire (which he is of course), decides he needs to be eliminated from the face of the earth and "Blood Lust" is the "how-to" manual to get the job done. Although Etienne narrowly escapes his first morgue trip, he soon finds himself back on Rachel's table for yet another go-around. Tragically this time, Pudge pursues him to the morgue and in an attempt to divest Etienne of his head (per "Blood Lust" game player's manual for killing a vampire), implants an axe into Rachel's chest when she interferes in his plan. Quick thinking on the part of Etienne saves Rachel's life by "turning" her into one of his own kind before her life slips away. The hitch is . . . Etienne can turn only one person in a lifetime, and it is typically reserved for a "lifemate." The reader quickly understands the ramifications of his split second decision for both Rachel and Etienne and their romantic relationship journey begins.

Ms. Sands writing style throughout both her characters and her storyline interfered with my complete enjoyment of the book. She had a very creative cast of characters and story to work with, but her execution is hampered considerably by her writing. Etienne has a laid back, easy going personality, and he had lots of likeable and honorable qualities, but Ms. Sands writing gave him a milktoast feeling - very much the "tell" problem. The same for Rachel -- she was empathetic and sweet, but needed a transfusion of "spark" writing her personality, rather than another bag of blood! Sands has a unique ability to drag out each and every scene 50 extra pages when she should have moved the story along. My thoughts as I was reading went like this:

Rachel's in the morgue doing her thing [tick-tock, tick-tock - lots of filler/story going nowhere:]; Etienne arrives, still in the same scene - the morgue [tick-tock, tick-tock - lots of filler/story going nowhere:]; Etienne awakens and we get a moment of "What will happen/things have potential for excitement now!" [tick-tock, tick-tock - lots of filler/story going nowhere:].

This type of feeling happened over and over and I got bored with how many pages the characters spent in the same rooms. Sands effectively would build the story, re-peak my interest, have a cool and exciting sounding punchline all lined up, only to end up with a drawn out scene. It was literally a *wham and drag* feeling every 50-80 pages. You can imagine how frustrating that becomes when she keeps giving the reader an adrenaline injection only then to feel like you are in suspended animation with the story each time it reaches that crescendo. This author should probably work a bit on developing descriptives of her surroundings so that the reader doesn't feel like everything is a bit cardboard. You know the type of writer that can exhaust your brain with too much surrounding detail? Well Ms. Sands writing is the opposite of that. Her story definitely has interest and focus, but no punch to effectively engage the reader and bring the story truly to life.

Ms. Sands should also watch her use of regional expressions of the characters. I got the feeling the setting was definitely in the United States, but she kept having Rachel refer to her time "at University." That's not an expression of how Americans relate their time "in college" or "in school." The only time an American uses the term "university" is either by citing their school itself in whole (i.e. "I attended the University of Southern California"), or referring to the building itself ("I was at THE University). I find this a distinct difference in how Americans and Europeans use this term and it stuck out like a sore thumb for me as misplaced.

I see why Lynsay Sands is a successful writer. It's pretty clear she has a very imaginative ability to create characters that can be fun and a reader can love. If she could beef up how she delivers that story with the words on the page, I could see myself waiting excitedly for everything she wrote. I do plan to read the other book in this series I have on my TBR pile, and others have noted it's a better example of the series high points - I'll definitely give it another chance.

If you want a light read that carries an interesting premise and likeable characters, go ahead and pick this one up. Just don't expect it to be a re-read.
K.

[Contains graphic sexual and violence expressions without crude language applied; Mainstream R rated paranormal romance with a few more sexual scenes than the average; Recommended for ages 15 and above with parental review for individual standards.:]

[Darien · Rating 3 out of 5]

IT BITES AND IT SUCKS!!!

Love Bites is the second book in the Argeneau’s series. I must admit I read these out of order because I was unable to find books 2,3, and 4 but now I have them and I was not disappointed. A light vampire read filled with family and love.


Etienne is one of the youngest of the bunch being a little over three hundred years old, so he gets no respect from his brothers. His job is to create video games and his most popular is Blood Lust, a game about rogue vampires and their slayer. Who better to create a game about vamps than a vamp. His jig is about to be up, seems some crazy has figured out he is a vampire and is jealous of his success and he has set out to destroy him. Where as Etienne finds the situation exciting, he is about to realize that its become dangerous when him and a bullet become up close and personal.

Rachel Garret cant belive this beautiful specimen of a man is dead. Her first time lusting after a body after many years of being a coroner. It could be the high fever shes suffering from, but she doubts it. The man is beautiful, all lean and muscular talk about a waste. No doubt when this man was alive he was a lady killer, a destroyer of innocents. During the examination Rachel cant fight the feeling that his wound was way bigger, and he wasn’t breathing when they brought him in, definitely the fever is making her hallucinate. There is no way a dead man could be looking at her, and is he speaking no way. it’s the fever defianately the fever.

Again Etienne underestimates the skill of his arch nemesis, has a nice ring to it doesn’t it. This time he gets blown up and turned to a crispy critter and once again the sexy coroner from before has to examine him. To Rachel he looks like the gunshot victim before, but she knows that was all a dream, right? Then some axe weilding man enters her work are claiming the crispy critter is a vampire and he has to hack is head off, Rachel gets in the way of the axe and things just get down right dreamy from their on.

This book was funny, Rachel was a breath of fresh air with her dry humor and the way she believes that everything that’s happened to her has to be a dream or she’s in a coma from the axe wound. Etienne is sweet and so nto your average vamp, he’s all gekky in a sexy I wanna bite your neck way. His archenemy known as “Pudgy” is a total loon. Notice the canandian bird reference, this book takes place in Toronto another plus. I was laughing at the sheer stupidity of some of the characters, and I just loved it. This book pokes fun at all that is suck neck and I just love the Argeneaus. A 3.5 and the steaminess is about a two, which I find wasn’t really importand because the characters are also fun. Check this series out if you don’t want complicated or gore. Vampiric fun and games.

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our protagonist in this story is named Rachel. She is a coroner that works the graveyard shift. When an attractive dead guy gets rolled in, she can't believe she is attracted to said dead man. But that's alright because her "dead" guy is actually a vampire.

Etienne can't believe his luck. He's ended up in the morgue twice this week. Pudgy is really becoming a problem - especially since he just axed the pretty redhead coroner. She saved his life, so now he must save her the only way he can.




Lynsay Sands has quite the imagination. When you combine that with her humor, you get a lighthearted paranormal romance. She has created such a unique type of vampire, and I like them. You see, they originated from Atlantis. Their scientist/physicians created a "nano" that goes into the bloodstream to help repair damage and/or trauma. It turned out to be ultra powerful and uses their blood to keep them strong and youthful. I mean, how awesome is that?

The big negative is how perfect everything works out. As a vampire, you can only change one human. Most of them wait to change their lifemate so they won't spend eternity alone. And it just so happens that Rachel is Etienne's lifemate. How ironic?! The villain wasn't much of a villain either. I know this is a lighthearted paranormal romance, but where's the action!? I don't appreciate the extra-cheesy conflicts situations. It isn't believable.

With all that being said, I give this a solid 3 stars. It was an enjoyable short read, but I didn't love it.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 2nd book in the series and another "this was hard to put down" book. Your basic love story. Rachel Garrett is a coroner who works nights at the morgue. Etienne Argeneau is a Vampire who keeps getting "killed" by his stalker - called Pudge. On his second trip to the morgue Pudge bursts through the doors with a gun and an ax and tries to cut off Etienne's head to finish the job - but Rachel jumps in front of Etienne and takes a direct hit with the ax. Etienne can't let Rachel die when she saved his life - so as Pudge flee's the room Etienne saves Rachel by giving her eternal life.

The rest of the story involves Rachel acclimating to life as a Vamp and them dealing with the Pudge issue. An enjoyable take on the vampire lifestyle and a fun read.

As I prepare to dive into the third story I have to wonder if every book is going to have a mortal spending hundreds of pages having to get used to the wonders of Vampire living. (Fireflies are brighter - and oh look - I am really strong now...) As charming as it was in the first two books I think it might get old by book 8 or 9. Guess I will find out!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another sweet little story, this one taking us gently through the experiences of a newly turned vampire named Rachel Garrett for at least half of the novel. Then the Bad Guy who started the story off, by axing Rachel so she had to be turned to save her life, returns for an elaborate encore and, surprise, there really is some action in the last hundred pages!

This is the second of thirty or so installments of the Argeneau series, centered so far on a loving vampire family in the Toronto area that consists of Marguerite Argeneau, her adult daughter and sons, and their cousin Thomas (who seems to enjoy being comic relief). Marguerite's more than 700 years old, and her kids were born a century apart, following a rule of one child per century to prevent vampire overpopulation, which would soon exhaust their food source (namely us).

So despite the frenzied efforts of the Bad Guy, whose name is Pudge (I pause to let you take that in; his real name, which he hates, is Norman, and his mother was Norma), this is really mostly a paranormal romance just like book #1 and probably the whole series, one couple per book I presume.

The couple in this case is Rachel (of course) and Etienne Argeneau, age 300 and some and unmated so far, as required for all vampire romances. These guys just can't seem to find love, can they, until we're introduced to them! Then it's all out--each one will meet his/her life mate one after the other as we watch, ending centuries of loneliness.

I have to say, though, in this case it takes a whole book for these two to work out that they're life mates, even though it's obvious to Mama Marguerite and all readers from early on; can we say both slow and hot burn? The extensive and graphic sex scenes have the value, I guess, of confirming that vampire sex is comfortingly like human sex but much, much more so. Yet the groan-worthy plot devices of romance novels show up too, for example the Romantic Misunderstanding (lovers can be remarkably stupid in fiction, not at all like real life, eh?).

I raised the first book from three stars to four for two special features that I thought were truly praiseworthy; this book continues exactly one of those features, so I'm rounding up from 3.5 this time. The idea is that vampires are simply the product of Atlantean science, which developed self-replicating nanobots to heal injuries; once injected, they turned out also to cure all disease and prevent aging, and all they need to do that is a little blood.

So when a vampire is injured, as often happens in these books, the "nanos" go to work with rapid healing, drawing on the vamp's blood supply, which has to be replenished quickly. In normal life, a little blood now and then is necessary to keep the "nanos" humming along. More if the vamp is out in the sunshine, etc.

The "nanos" provide super strength and speed (and sexual prowess), but it still isn't clear to me how the vamps get mind reading and mind control (which allow them to live freely and remain undetected by the human population). One clue comes in this installment, though--Marguerite tells Rachel the mental powers are something she has to develop over time.

Besides century-at-a-time birth control, the other rule that comes with immortality is that a vampire can only turn one person, who may or may not be a life mate. Etienne once wanted to turn a woman he loved but she refused, so he had to watch her from afar as she lived out her life. Then Rachel is mortally wounded (by Pudge, remember) when she takes the axe intended for Etienne. Heroically, he uses up his one and only turning allowance to save her life, and the story begins. I did enjoy it, and you may too--just think "comfort reading."

[Luana ☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

You would think that in summer vacation I would have more time to read but it is the other way around for me. That is why I usually choose paranormal romance instead of historicals this time of the year, the books are usually so cheesy and easy to follow that I find enjoyable.

And vampires are usually my favorites stories but this particular series is over the top cheesy and I find the vampire race here extremely weak. They need blood like we need food, meaning that if they don't have it, they are physically weak to the point of extreme pain. The hero in this book spent most of his time in bed recuperating from injuries. So not sexy lol

Every single thing that "hurts" them, uses blood and consequently needs to be refilled. So yeah, the romance is cute but the plot of this book downright sucks. First book was better. And another note, I don't like when books are so focused on their sexual relationship that you see nothing else and believe even less when they say they love each other. But don't get me wrong, there were some funny moments as well.

[Mitticus · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a funny, fluffy read until near the middle when became boring for me.

Rachel is a forensic pathologist when Etienne Argeneau (believed dead) and personal stalker intervene in her life. The dialogues when she wakes up are funny, and the first Argeneau family reunion.

But I didn't care Etienne's personality after that (misleading Rachel to keep her), and the 'push' of Thomas.



(Pudge reminds me at the end of BTVS's Andrew)

[za_pomniane · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally persevered with this. I had picked it up a few times, read the first couple of chapters then put it down again. I usually would have given up on it by then, but I had interloaned it from another library and so didn't want to "waste" it.

Anyway, after all of my hesitation, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was indeed a light read, not as funny as the first in this series, but a great read all the same. I love the Argeneau family. My only real negative for this book, was the fairly easy acceptance that came with being a vampire... and I think this is true for the last book as well. I mean there could be a lot of play made about it, but there is not a lot in these first 2 anyway.

Having said that, this is a wonderful lighthearted book which cleanses the reading palette for more grittier books. I enjoy both types and this was a good one. Recommended to all who like a light dose of PNR - not to be taken seriously!

[Inara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dr. Rachel Garrett a coroner working at the hospital´s morgue doesn´t feel very well. She has fever but nonetheless she wants to see through her nightshift and do her work. When a corpse of a shot man is brought in she starts the examination but suddenly the corpse comes to life again. Etienne Argeneau, a vampire, was shot by a self-proclaimed vampire hunter and needed some time to repair the damage to this body and seemed to be dead. When he tries to eleminate the memories of him ever being in the morgue in Rachel´s mind he is very surprised that he can´t get into her thoughts. But because of Rachel´s fever she´s convinced the talking corpse was only a fever dream. But Pudge the vampire hunter doesn´t give up that easily and when Etienne ends up again on Rachel´s examination table and Pudge turns up to finish him off once and for all Rachel gets lethally injured by accident. Etienne sees only one solution – to turn her...
I liked the first book "A Quick Bite" of the Argeneau family about Lissianna and Greg but honestly this one didn´t meet my expectations. It was neither very funny nor suspenseful only boring. I couldn´t connect with the main characters and their so-called romance. Etienne seems to be a little dumb sometimes and Rachel, well she whines constantly about being turned and that she is expected to lie about what had happened. And what I found completely unbelievable was that two strong vampires (even hurt) weren´t able to overpower the nutcase Pudge. Really how pathetic can supposed super-strong vampires be? Sometimes I wished them to be more "vampiric", they don´t bite (at least only in emergency situations) and are not really enigmatic and seductive like I imagine a vampire to be. Etienne seemed more like a puppy dog to me. The only vampire with some potential seems to be Lucian – hopefully his story won´t be such a bore. I will read the next books because there are two more brothers and other family members and I´d like to read how they find their life-mates but I´m happy I didn´t start reading this series with this book – I wouldn´t have bothered to read more about the Argeneau family..

[Umaiya ❄️Ramblings of a Scattered Mind❄️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This too was an okay read but I think it bears mentioning again that this is one weird-ass series. xD

Hears the thing, I'm never gonna reread this. And even though I finished this just this morning and yeah I do remember it, plot, characters, everything, it still feels like I don't. As if I read this over a week ago and am only just getting around to writing the review, you get?

Ah but yes at the end I was looking for Bastien to be next rather than Luc but yeah. I hope I make it to his book, they're starting to drag and I've only read three books. . .

[Lady Tea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.8 / 5

Definitely a different story than the first book in this series--but then, that's what you want, right?

It definitely goes to show how many directions this series can go in, given how different Etienne's story is from Lissandia's. The older brother of the first book's heroine is...well, being hunted by a wacko, so to speak, who's found out that he's a vampire and is intent on killing Etienne. And why doesn't our immortal hero just go something about it?--> Because he feels sorry for the poor guy, who's otherwise a pathetic loser named Norman (yes, with a dead mother named Norma) that had really nothing going for him, and who's mind is such a painful place that even putting a whammy on him is painful to contemplate.

A bit...contrived, yes, but it does make for some badass scenes in which both Etienne and his love interest, Rachel, have their lives in peril, so it's worth it.

And speaking of Rachel, she's the human-turned-vampire in this equation who...to be honest, I didn't feel had much of a personality, apart from being slightly socially awkward just like Etienne is, and who is otherwise made to be his perfect match. The two of them don't really have as much of a presence as Lissandia and Greg did, unfortunately, and so it took me a bit longer to get invested in their romance. Add this with a final "misunderstanding, they don't love me" plot that kind of wraps up the ending after the villain is taken care of, and you'll see why I had minor parts of annoyance with this couple.

Still, this book is overall a worthy read for expanding the worldview and rules of the Argeneau's, adding on to Book 1 and basically giving the reader more details and background on them all. It definitely had me salivating over Lucern, who sounds like MY type-a guy, and feeling super sorry for Bastien, who's also got a romance coming his way!

Think I'll pause on continuing the series just yet though, and wait for the moon to strike me to continue on with Lynsay Sands's writing yet again, which I have no doubt will happen soon. For the moment though, I'm ready for something completely different.

[Katherine 黄爱芬 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Etienne Argeneau diincar oleh seorang maniak yg dijuluki Pudge. Sudah berkali-kali Etienne "dibunuh" oleh Pudge, dan serangan yg belakangan malah melibatkan dr Rachel Garrett, koroner cantik yg menyelamatkan hidup Etienne tetapi malah menyebabkan Rachel hrs membayar dgn nyawanya. Etienne memaksa keluarganya utk mengubah Rachel krn dia berutang nyawa pd gadis ini.

Dlm keadaan tak bisa ditanyakan... ya iyalah udah mati gitu... Rachel kaget saat dia bangun dia sudah menjadi vampir, tanpa sekehendaknya. Rachel pun misuh-misuh, mengeluh dia selama 3 thn terakhir ini dia hanya di malam hari dan kini seumur hidupnya harus hidup di malam hari. Etienne memang pria romantis, dia mengajak Rachel "berdugem ria" setiap malam (dan tidak lupa percintaan super hot).

Pudge ini memang penjahat yg gak bakal stop sblm menghancurkan Etienne. Usut punya usut ternyata Pudge iri hati keblenger dgn kesuksesan video game besutan Etienne "Blood Lust". Jadilah Pudge mjd Van Helsing versi komedi ini. Pudge menculik Rachel utk memancing Etienne, sayangnya saat Pudge tertangkap polisi, tak seorangpun percaya pd tuduhannya bhw Etienne adalah seorang vampir.

Krn saya baca seri ini gak urut, ini novel ketiga yg saya baca. Agak kecewa dgn buku yg ini krn greget cinta antara Etienne dan Rachel kurang menggugah saya, pengecualian sex scene mereka yg menggebu-gebu sampai pakai acara pingsan segala (malah bikin ngakak). Karakter Etienne itu too good to be true, cowok super sabar dan baik hati, rela melakukan apapun demi Rachel. Demikian pula dgn Rachel yg rela berkorban apapun demi Etienne, bahkan sblm mengenal diri Etienne yg sebenarnya. Rachel ini jd mirip bucin-nya Etienne low version lah. Sayangnya gak ada unsur surprise dlm novel ini, so so saja dah.

[Kimberly #Audiofile · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t read these in order so this one definitely isn’t on par with the ones later in the series.
I do like the original stories these brothers and their mother are in almost all the books and I like hearing from characters before they meet their mates. I enjoy going back and forward. This one is three stars and you can tell it’s one of the very first. Author still finding her stride here. Still worth the listen.

[Merri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was AMAZING! The chart on the back, states that it is Gothic- definitely an old, overly large house, though with a modern blue touch. Romantic- YES, YES AND YES! Those were the screams coming out of the bedrooms of our characters, leaving me slightly warm (if you know what I mean). Action packed- in the first chapters people are shot, people are blown up- definitely covers that and more! Funny- I cracked up from the first chapter and the laughs continued till my stomach was in cramps. Sexy- Etienne (our lead man) is the sexiest geek I have ever had the delight of reading about, mature, smart and sex on legs- oh me oh my, I do so love my Etienne pie ;D

I have not laughed out loud in such a long time, it gave me renewed hope of paranormal romance once again. The story was fast moving and filled with none of your cliche vampire myths; if anything in its humour gave realism to the story. I actually believed this could actually happen- the reactions of all the characters were- normal. Not just normal, but wonderfully not predictable. I loled so much, that my mum tried to hit me over the head, but finally my attention was held in a remarkably realistic romance. Our leading man Etienne was a computer geek and I swooned, he was REAL (I know I keep writing that, but nowadays a realistic paranormal romance is a one in a billion gift and Sands more than accomplishes this). Etienne is of course gorgeous as is a necessity of a vampire (duh). Yet he shows vulnerability when with Rachael (our hot and fiery tongued lead) and he geekiness is sweet and I had to hold back jealousy over his perfect imperfectness. Now Rachel, lol she was a woman with attitude, not only does she seduce Etienne in a...unique belief of her 'change' being a 'wet dream' she also learns quickly how to kick butt and be sexy while still retaining an independent intelligence that any feminist would be proud of.

All in all this is a paranormal romance to be reckoned with, it captures you, leaves you steamy and the most rational person contemplating the possibility...Could it really happen? That's a question so weird-I better leave that up to you to answer. Read Lynsay Sands, it will be the best thing you ever decide to do: relax and let the paranormal take you away :)

[Francesca the Fierce (Under the Covers Book Blog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost want to say I enjoyed this book more than the first one! In typical Argeneau fashion, this book was exactly what I expected. A fun, sexy, light read.

Not too much action, not too much evil. The Argeneau family is, as many families, very involved. They all want to know what everyone is doing, and they want to be involved and help.

Etienne is so sweet. Even though he's 300 years old, he's never been in love. But when he has a human trying to kill him when he figures out he's a vampire, he ends up in the hospital, at the morgue... twice. He meets Rachel the first time around, but then he glamours her into not remembering about him or the fact that her corpse is really alive. But the second time, she's not that lucky. And in an effort to prevent Etienne from being axed, he gets killed. Etienne knows he can only turn a lifemate, but after seeing her for the second time, and noticing how beautiful she was, and now she had given up her life for his, he decides to turn her.

I loved when she first awakes, and thinks she's having a wet dream about her "corpse" since she kept thinking while doing her work at the hospital that he was the hottest dead guy she had ever seen (yeah, she needed to get a life!) And then his mom walks in on them!

Once she finally agrees that she is a vampire, and he wants to keep her there long enough to get her to fall in love with him, he keeps feeding her bad blood so she'll think feeding while on her own won't be easy.

I love his cousin Tom. Rachel first meets him at the nightclub, and he gives them both drinks that make them horny, which finally, after weeks of denying their attraction, led them to have sex for the first time.

Oh, and lets not forget the funniest part of the book. She actually bites his *** to feed on him while she was ***, and she takes so much blood that he passes out and his brother Bastian has to feed him a few bags of blood before he can even move. LOL

And, a huge plus, I didn't have that many *eye-roll* moments as in the first book. These characters were more believable to me and they just made such a cute, quirky couple.

[chucklesthescot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rachel is a hospital coroner who gets a shock when a dead body comes back to life. Etienne, a vampire, was killed by a vampire hunter and
reanimates after some recovery time. Pudge the vampire hunter bursts into the morgue and fatally injures Rachel so Etienne feels obliged to turn her to save her. Trouble is, Rachel refuses to believe she is a vampire and Pudge won't give up on killing them both.

What did I like about the book? I loved Pudge! He was so pathetic and weird and a total nutjob and I liked the scenes after the kidnap where he is prancing around in his fake teeth and flapping cape! His interview with the police was very funny as well. He was the best thing in the book though I also liked the plot itself.

BUT...

Etienne wasn't the smartest of vampires with his half-assed attempts to explain to Rachel what she was. He wasn't smart enough to realise that maybe he ought to see Pudge as a threat since he'd killed him several times already! He was a bit annoying. Rachel was the whineist bitch on the planet. Every chapter we got her refusal to accept the facts so it had to be explained to her AGAIN. Then you got her snotty attitude and lack of gratitude for being saved AGAIN. And on and on it went. It was too much plot repetition for my liking and the whole middle of the book was pretty much a bore.

Compared to the first of these books I read The Accidental Vampire, this one was not very good at all. Perhaps more Pudge and less of Rachel's whining could have made this a really good book.

[Paula Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel starts off a bit like the TV Series Tru Calling if you have ever watched it starring Eliza Dushku with Rachel a young 25 year old Night-shift worker at the local morgue. The other main star of the novel is Etienne -a 400 year old silver-eyed vampire whose always trying to be killed. The first encounter between these two is when Rachel , not feeling well -gets a body brought to the morgue of a gunshot victim . The victim is silver-eyed Etienne , he starts to sit up and this causes Rachel to think she is hallucinating and faints. The next time is when Etienne is brought into the morgue as what Rachel calls a "crispy critter"- a burnt victim . While doing her morgue-stuff on him , a Vampire hunter rushes in by the name of Pudgey/Pokey and whams an axe through Rachel. Etienne in debt to her , decides to turn her into one of them. Fast forward a couple of days and Rachel wakes and is told she is a vampire. It is at this moment the humour sets in as Rachel believes everything and I mean everything is a dream. Once Rachel realises that she has turned into a Vampire , its all downhill from there as the onyl experience and knowledge she has of Vampires have come from Books and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Can Rachel accept the fact she has turned into a Vampire and her and Etienne work out their differences or is it going to take threats , kidnapping and a bridal shower for Rachel to accept her destiny. This is a fun Vampire story about the dysfunctional lives of the Argeneau family and their Vampire mishaps more than everytime involving mortals.

[Felicity Heaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love Bites is a far better offering than the first book in the series, A Quick Bite, and is probably suitable for readers looking for a lighter paranormal romance who don't mind sacrificing plot for the sake of their warm fuzzies and who can overlook some fairly glaring wrong words and poor editing (whoever missed some of these errors should be shot).

It's a quick read and the character development in this novel is certainly better than in the first, although the plot seemed terribly familiar towards the end. It seems Ms Sands likes to have her protagonists kidnapped in order to give a little conflict to the story. The characters are more likeable though, and I did find that the hero had a certain attractiveness about him and wasn't as flat and one dimensional as the hero in the first book.

I think this is a series that will improve as it progresses and hopefully the writing and editing will too. I don't really have much else to say about it. If you don't mind a flimsy plot and very little conflict, and want something that basically equates to fluff, with a hero who isn't too vapid and flat but could use his masculinity / alpha side pumping up a touch, then you'll probably enjoy this.

I'm giving it three stars because it's a vast improvement on the first book, which gained a single star from me.

It's a throwaway quick read but not wholly satisfying.

[mlady_rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light quick easy read, which was just what I wanted in the midst of reading 3 different thinky books ("Ardeur", "The Fountainhead", and "The Paradox of Choice" (nf)).

This is one of those "vampires as people with fangs" book. In other words, vampire light. It's also one of those books that are heavy on the romance and determined to have a perfect HEA. The heroine is the hero's one and only chance at a lifemate. I know, a bit on the cheesy side, but it fit my mood that day.

Besides, it was in a pile of paranormal romances I bought several years back when I was going for anything and everything in the genre.

Overall, if you're in the mood for more romance than vampire politics, this might be your series. I believe the other books in the series focus on brothers in the same family.

[Caro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book. I loved the characters, their personalities, the plot, and the ending. This was great and definitely had me reading into the wee hours of dawn. There were emotions, humor, some fun, suspense, a little action, craziness (of the good and bad variety), tough and good moments, and a good HEA. I actually laughed out at some parts, held my breath, and wanted to pull some kung-fu (like I would really know what to do though). ;) This is something I definitely wouldn't mind reading again and another great impression on this series. You just really gotta love this family. Totally Enjoy!

[Ashley (Red-Haired Ash Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series: Argeneau #2
Rating: 3 stars - I liked it

Rachel Garrett doesn’t expect this night shift as a coroner to be any different from any other, but when a madman comes in wielding an axe and raving about vampires everything changes in a split second. Now she has to come with being a vampire and falling for her savior.

Etienne Argeneau is a 312 year old vampire who creates video games. He doesn’t expect to find his mate, especially in a morgue after he wakes up from an attempted murder. While I really enjoyed how this couple met because it was a very unique situation, I found Etienne to be a bit annoying overall. I can understand making exceptions for being attacked by a crazy person one time, but four separate murder attempts and a kidnapping doesn’t change his mind from doing something drastic with the villain.

Also the villain in this is just ridiculous. His name is Pudge and he is so cheesy and dumb, yet can get the drop on a 300 year old vampire really easily. It was just a little too ridiculous for my liking and made it harder for me to enjoy this story.

My other issue with Etienne was that he gives Rachel bad blood to prevent her from learning how to feed properly so she can’t leave and he has time to try and woo her. This made me not like him even more and it is never addressed at all afterwards. He doesn’t admit it and his family, who can read his mind really easily right now, never call him out on it, which isn’t cool. Basically, Etienne wasn’t my favorite.

Rachel and Etienne’s story was a bit slow building. They are both attracted to each other but the circumstances of Rachel’s turning get in the way. At first, Rachel is struggling with being a vampire and really doesn’t understand what Etienne had done in turning her. While I did enjoy the progression of their relationship, I still struggled a bit with it because of Etienne’s actions and the terrible villain.

Overall, while I still really enjoy this series, this book is not one of my favorites. I think I would have liked Etienne more if he had been a bit smoother, smarter, and honest. I look forward to reading the next book to see which of Marguerite's children will fall in love next.

TW: gun violence; car explosion; kidnapping; blood and injuries;

[Candace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rachel Garrett is a coroner working the night shift at the city morgue. Etienne Argeneau is the designer of the video game Blood Lust. The two first meet when Etienne comes in as a corpse shot through the heart. Rachel is very ill but still at work. She removes the bullet and thinks it is her high fever which is causing her to hallucinate. She notices the bullet hole is healing and she thinks the corpse might have breathed. When Etienne sits up and talks to her, Rachel definitely believes it is a hallucination.

When Etienne comes into the morgue a second time as a crispy critter (a burned victim), Rachel thinks the corpse looks remarkably like her hallucination. She notices the burnt skin falling off and pink new skin in its place. Rachel puts her ear to the corpse's chest and thinks she hears a beat. She is interrupted from her remarkable discovery by a gun carrying, axe wielding crazy man. The assailant turns out to be Pudge, who claims the crispy critter is a vampire. When he raises his axe to cut off the corpse's head, Rachel jumps in front of Etienne to save him from Pudge. She is mortally wounded and left dying on the morgue's floor.

I would have liked to know more about the protagonists, besides Rachel being a coroner and Etienne being a video game designer. They are attracted to each other. The plot is a romance. We learn a lot about the vampires' world. The Argeneau family, or clan, is just like human families, except for the fact that they are the predators, and the humans are their prey. The clan resorted to bagged blood for their nourishment, though biting a human neck is permitted in emergency situations. The descriptions to some might seem gory at times, but I feel they tie into the characterization and the plot. The intercourse scenes are detailed and express the attraction between the protagonists. Outside of misunderstandings between them, the sex scenes are the only other form of deep emotional connection. The dialogue is realistic and flows well. The novel's setting is Toronto, Canada

This Paranormal Romance is the second novel in the Argeneau series. I found the novel an entertaining distraction. I plan to read the third novel, Single White Vampire.