It's been a while since I picked up one of Sand's Argeneau family books. Once I opened the pages and devoured the first chapter I realized what a mistake I made by letting them go so long. With all the heavy hitting, punch-in-the-gut vamp romances available, this series is a blessed refuge when I need a little pick-me-up and a good dose of laughter. Much as I love the harder, more eerie vamp romances, I know I'll always come back to this series because of its humor and great characters.
Leigh has finally built a decent life for herself. She's a businesswoman, independent and she's finally starting to feel a bit safe. After getting over a recent bad marriage, a girl's got a right to such things, so when a vampire comes along and turns her pleasant world inside out--again--she's not going down without a fight. Too bad the wrong place at the wrong time ends her up in the sights of Lucian Argeneau. Notorious hunter of evil vampires, he's not inclined to give Leigh the benefit of the doubt. He's lived for two thousand years and seen and done too much to have any sympathy. Much as he wants to wash his hands of the troublesome woman though, he's hard pressed to see her dead. A mutual enemy still wants her though and suddenly Lucian becomes the protector when all he's known is killing. Can he remain aloof enough to finish what he started, the killing of a devious master vampire, or will their emerging relationship impede his quest? For the first time, Lucian's got a tad more on his hands then he knows what to do with and it's all woman!
What a great installment to reintroduce myself to the series with! I'll be up front and say that I did not like Lucian one bit for the first few chapters. He's so hardened after thousands of years of killing and I was amazed that this was to be the hero of the book, a comedy at that. But Leigh now, neither he nor I really saw her coming. What an effect she had on him! It's not an easy transition from centuries old killer to vamp-in-love, but to watch Lucian take that journey was very exciting. Everything from their desperate attempts to foil Morgan, to Lucian's small team of vamp exterminators ties so well together. Here's seriously hoping that his two cohorts, Mortimer and Bricker get their own stories one day or at least more cameos--they're very interesting! As usual, Sand's splices up the story with plenty of wit and laughter, but reserves plenty of sweet, suspenseful and doubtful moments for us to keep turning the pages. Sands writes yet another vamp comedy with enormous style that can only be admired and envied. Five very big stars and more!