Vampires Are Forever: An Argeneau Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

I enjoy the Argeneau series, and I've enjoyed Thomas' character over the years. This was a fun book.

But man, do they have editors?? I try really hard to overlook spelling and grammatical errors, but sometimes they are so frequent that they interfere with the pleasure of reading. Ex: "She was starving and could have killed a cup of tea..." Now, perhaps Ms. Sands meant that Inez would have killed the cup of tea by drinking it, but I *suspect* what she meant to say was that she would have killed FOR a cup of tea. This is one of many, many, many spelling and grammatical errors throughout the book. I could have streaked this sucker up with a red pen all over the place.

Also, I can't help but agree with a previous reviewer that the main characters spent an inordinate amount of time just running around. Here I am in Amsterdam, and boy I just can't believe that Marguerite would go to the red light district, even though I know she's on a case and could easily have a reason to do so. Or gee I can totally believe that Marguerite, whom I've known all of my very long life, would mind-rape an innocent woman, even when a small look into her mind would reveal she's my lifemate. It just seemed so out of character for them to assume some of the things that they did.

While I didn't mind that the book wasn't a complete story in its own right, I didn't care for the fact that the book ended VERY suddenly and that there was absolutely no resolution to any of the questions brought up. And I'm not talking about plot questions! I can accept that more answers to THOSE will be forthcoming in the next book. But does Inez go to Canada, or do she and Thomas decide to live in the UK? Is she going to keep working the long, hard hours she has been, or does Thomas really fill the void that she was previously filling with work (Ms. Sands words, not mine)? It's as if poor Thomas got the short end of the stick when it came to rounding out his story.

Anyway, I guess I just came away from this book feeling as if it was lacking something. I DID enjoy it, don't get me wrong. It was also a very quick and easy read, which I like my romance novels to be. I just would have liked a bit more... oomph in the story.

Edited to add: It's truly amazing how people abuse the ratings system. Didn't find this review helpful? Okay, fine, but don't go through every review I've written and vote unhelpful on them out of spite or some sense of misplaced loyalty (reviews that have NEVER had an unhelpful rating now have TWO unhelpful votes? I don't think so). That's just obnoxious and immature.

Also Edited to Add: I finally got to read "The Accidental Vampire", and I must say I enjoyed it! It was edited much better than this one, and the story was very clever. I would give it a review, but it got a rating that I would have given it, so I'm okay with that. Hopefully "Vampire, Interrupted" (which is sitting on my nightstand) will be on par with "The Accidental Vampire", which is a much better representation of the series.

Edited again to add that I read "Vampire, Interrupted", which I very much enjoyed. It too has gotten reasonable reviews. While it had some of the same problems that this book did with re: editing/spelling/grammar, and I thought some of it was a bit far fetched plot-wise, I enjoyed the storyline and the characters. I think it's fair to say that this book ("Vampires are Forever" in case you've forgotten what this review was about, lol), was more of a fluke in the series than anything else.

When Argeneau matriarch Marguerite goes missing in London while on one of the first cases in her new private detective career, all the responsible Argeneau's are unable to break away to go hunt for her. So it is up to 'young' cousin Thomas, the surfer-talking prankster of the previous books, to step up and show the others that he can be trusted to handle the important search. When the very efficient workaholic V.P of Argenau Enterprises London branch, Inez Urso, is tapped to act as Thomas' guide, Thomas finds something even more important than his missing aunt, he discovers that the feisty curvy Inez is his lifemate. And while Inez accepts the whole vampire and lifemate stuff without too much trouble - after all it is pretty neat to cut out all that time consuming dating to find Mr. Right and have found your perfect match no muss no fuss - `turning' that's a whole other story. Thomas hasn't mentioned love and while Inez knows that Thomas finds her attractive living forever with someone who doesn't love you doesn't sound all that great to Inez. But while Thomas is clear it's forever or nothing, he doesn't clue Inez in that the reason he will let her go if she doesn't turn is that he couldn't bear to have her only 40 or 50 years to grow to love her even more than he does now only to lose her to old age and death.

I could see what Thomas found so intriguing about Inez, she was great even with all the bizarre vampire stuff thrown at her and she faced her fears and did what needed to be done, and she was perceptive enough to figure things out even when Thomas held out on her. It was nice to see a woman that is supposed to be successful and competent, actually portrayed that way. And Thomas, what a catch. Thomas Argeneau has replaced his cousin Bastien as my favorite of the Argeneau males. While it was fun watching the oh so serious Bastien loosen up in Tall, Dark & Hungry (Argeneau Vampires, Book 4), here I loved seeing the other side of fun-loving Thomas. Sands did a great job of developing Thomas and showing his more serious considerate side while still showing enough of his appealing grinning self to keep him still Thomas and I couldn't help but root for him to win his lifemate the volatile yet shy and competent intelligent Inez. I especially loved watching Thomas endure the karmic pay back for feeding sweet ecstasy to Etienne and Rachel while they were dating in Love Bites (Argeneau Vampires, Book 2) even though fate had a nasty way of sobering him up. And I really liked how Thomas' persuit of Inez matches the character that Sands has created for him. Thomas gave Inez time to fall in love and he valued Inez so much that even when they were all heated up, and responsibilities intruded, he didn't rush and succumb to his hormones and give into his attraction for her. Instead he waited until he had the time to make it perfect for her.

While I really liked Thomas and Inez, there really wasn't much of a background plot in Vampires Are Forever. Inez and Thomas just ran around and it served no purpose other than to put Inez in peril and force a choice that she had already made. I think that the intention was to set up for the next book, but if there was anything significant gleaned here, I missed what it was and I went back and reread the book looking to find it. Also a very minor nit, Sands went a little overboard on the family reunion of the four pairs from previous books that turn up to look for Margerite, only Bastien, Terri, Rachel and Etienne really contributed and newcomers to the series will have no idea who all the rest of the folks are.

Vampires Are Forever isn't the strongest of the eight Argenau books so far, but then it had a hard act to follow with its very original predecessor The Accidental Vampire (Argeneau Vampires, Book 7). Still it had some nice steamy stuff and I loved Thomas -- I could imagine keeping him around for a few centuries -- so 4 stars from me and I can't wait to see what Sands does for Marguerite in the next book, Vampire, Interrupted (Argeneau Vampires, Book 9)due out next month.

This is another episode in Lynsay Sands' Argeneau vampire series, with Thomas Argeneau as the hero. Thomas is one of the younger Argeneau Immortals and he thinks that the others see him as rather an aimless kid, despite being 200 years old. When the family release that Thomas's aunt Marguerite has gone missing he is the only one able to drop everything and go to London, where she was last seen, to pick up her trail. Bastien, Thomas's cousin, arranges for one of his UK employees, Inez Urso, to help with the search.

Thomas realises as soon as he meets Inez that she is his lifemate. However their mission to find Marguerite means he can't concentrate just on her but has to follow any leads for his missing Aunt. They travel to Amsterdam and then to York in England on the trail of Marguerite. Unfortunately someone else seems to be trying to stop them and is occasionally taking control of Inez and wiping her memories. Can they find Marguerite, can Inez be kept safe - and how will she take the news that Thomas is a vampire and that he's her destined lifemate?

The Argeneau series is generally good fun and written in a lively way with reasonable pacing. This book, however, was rather a disappointment to this reader. Firstly the overall sub-plot, that of the search for Marguerite, wasn't resolved; not only that, the identity of the baddie or baddies wasn't revealed so the book didn't feel completed. Most of the action seemed to be various Argeneaus phoning each other up to talk to each other or Thomas and Inez sitting at a café in various cities. The descriptions of Amsterdam were good but the lack of meatiness in the plot meant that this book wasn't very satisfying. Fans of the series will enjoy it but it isn't one of the better offerings in this series.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

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