Runaway Vampire by Lynsay Sands

Title: Runaway Vampire
Author: Lynsay Sands
Series: #23 in the Argeneau series
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Avon  (February 23, 2016)
Source: Purchased
Rating: ☕☕☕

Synopsis: Dante Notte has heard it said that love hurts. He just wasn't expecting it to run him over in an RV. Still, a punctured lung and broken ribs are nothing compared to the full-body shock he feels whenever he's near the vehicle's driver, Mary Winslow. He needs to keep her safe from their pursuers while he rescues his brother. Most challenging of all, he needs to claim this smart, stubborn woman as his life mate.

The naked, injured, insanely gorgeous younger man who clambered into her RV insists they belong together. If Mary wasn't feeling their incredible connection in every inch of her being, she wouldn't believe it. But now that the men who took Dante's twin are after her too, trusting her gut means risking her life for an immortal who's the very definition of a perfect stranger.

My Thoughts: A nice quick read that had some underlying issues I had a hard time moving on from.

The Good: I liked the back story of Dante and Tomasso's capture and Dante's escape. It added a bit of intrigue to the book that had me wanting more. This storyarch looks to be something that will take place in multiple books and I'm looking forward to reading more about it. I liked Dante's character as well but found the relationship between the H/h problematic.

The Bad: Mary. She is a recent widow who claims to have loved her husband so very much but the more we learn about their relationship the more I was convinced it was terrible. Mary was less of a woman in my eyes for putting up with her husband and to stay in a marriage and making all involved miserable as well, UGH! She also had hangups about her 60-ish self and the hot stud that was Dante. Everytime she would mention it (which was all the time) I was pulled out of the story and thought, well maybe she is right. Which is NOT who I really am but when you get beat over the head with it over and over and over again you start to think it as well. Because Mary had so many issues I had a hard time with their romance. I also hated there was no real ending to this book. The interesting backstory of Dante and Tomasso was left dangling and Dante and Mary's HEA felt lackluster.

In a Nutshell: Like I said, it was a quick read. It kept my interest but nothing I'd encourage someone else to read unless they are already fans of the series but I will continue to read The Argeneau series anyway.

The Reluctant Vampire by Lynsay Sands

Synopsis: Has this immortal finally met her match?
Rogue hunter Drina Argenis (from the Spanish side of the Argeneau family) has been many things in her years as an immortal, but bodyguard/babysitter to a teenage vampire is something new. There's an incentive, however: the other vampsitter, Harper Stoyan, may be Drina's life mate.
Trouble is, having just lost a life mate, Harper is resigned to being alone. He's completely unprepared when sexy and unpredictable Drina bursts into his life to reignite his passions. Can Drina, with a little matchmaking help from their teen charge, tempt this reluctant vampire to take a chance?
Or will a dangerous, unseen renegade kill Drina and Harper's one chance at happiness?

My Thoughts: An average installment of a series that has gone on for a long time...maybe too long.

What Worked: The females....Drina is an amazingly strong and independent woman with a complicated and intriguing background. Her history was the best thing about this book. Granted the romance was not bad but Drina really was the bright spot in this installment. How could you not like a woman who has been a Pirate for Pete's Sake? In addition to Drina, the teenaged Stephanie was also a bright spot in the story even though she should have a lot more traumatized than she appeared. I'm looking forward to seeing where her character will go from here. An honorable mention goes to Beth, who, even though she wasn't in the book in person, her story told from Drina's point of view was enough to make me want to see more of her.

What Didn't Work: Harper.....Not that he didn't work but I don't think Harper was as well suited for Drina as I would have liked. Perhaps it was more of him not having as much back story as Drina. Even with his past complicated tale of life mate gone wrong there just didn't seem to be enough to balance what Drina brought to the story.

The Mystery/suspense aspect of this story also didn't work. Although there is an underlying story-arc happening over the past few books involving a really bad Immortal which allowed Drina, Harper, Stephanie and a whole lot of other Immortals to come together, this book failed to bring closure to that storyline. As a matter of fact this book not only failed to bring closure, it failed to propel that storyline forward even an inch. While the threat of the big bad Immortal hung over their heads the seemingly kick butt Rogue Hunters forgot all their training while most of them hooked up with their life mates for some sexy time. Oh, and lets not forget life mates faint after having monkey sex together. Nothing like naked, incapacitated Immortals who are supposed to be guarding one little teenager while someone is actively trying to kill them all. Really?

In a Nut Shell: Although I didn't care for the mystery aspect and thought Harper was a bit to vanilla for Drina the book balance out to be an average read for me. With some really good female characters that I'd like to see more of in the future the book was not a waste of time but it could have been oh-so better.

Oh and by the way, this book brings in a second branch of the Argeneau family, called the Argenis family from Spain. Drina also mentions a 3rd branch but I can't remember the name she gave them (Argen-something). The only purpose of this, in my eyes, is for Sands to be able to continue this series indefinitely. Personally I think she should have stopped the after Vampire Interrupted but maybe that's just me.