Vampires Are Forever

Argeneau Vampires, Book 8

By: Lynsay Sands

Narrated by: Rick Robertson

Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Vampires don't exist...do they? Inez Urso is beginning to have her doubts. Her business associate Thomas Argeneau has some interesting traits, like an allergic reaction to the sun, excellent night vision, and not much of an appetite for food. And to top it all off, he just tried to bite her neck...but maybe that was a sign of passion. If so, she'd be happy to experience more, despite her determination not to mix business with pleasure. He's been waiting forever for a woman like her....

Well, if not forever, at least 200 years. Inez is the most beautiful woman he's seen in centuries. Those luscious lips, seductive curves, and her elegant neck...he just couldn't resist the temptation of one little bite. Now Thomas will do anything to convince her that only an immortal like him can satisfy her all night long.

Love in vein: listen to more tales of the Argeneau Vampires.

©2008 Lynsay Sands (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers

An enjoyable average

Setting: London, Amsterdam, York Contemporary
Genre: paranormal romance, erotic romance

Quick spoiler-free synopsis: Thomas has been tasked by his cousin Bastien, the head of Argeneau Enterprises, with finding his mother (who, as you will remember from previous books in the series, is also Thomas’ Aunt Marguerite). So off to London he goes, where he is to be met by Inez Urso, a VP in the company’s UK branch. Except Bastien didn’t tell Thomas he was being met, so he walked right by, which set the tone for the relationship — for about an hour. Anyhoo, Inez is to assist Thomas with his mission, and it’s complicated by her not knowing about the whole vampire thing. Further complicated by Thomas being unable to read or control her because she is - surprise! - his life mate. Once they get past Inez’s confusion and knee-jerk religious assumptions, they start their hunt. They spend time ruminating. They run around 3 cities looking for Marguerite and her party. And the whole thing is complicated by someone trying to interfere.
I’m writing this review based on my second listen, which resulted in the reduction of a star from my first rating. Listening the second time, since I remembered the gist of the story, allowed me to notice more. Like how much passive backstory there is. How self-critical Inez is. And frankly, I have to admit that I’ve gotten to the point where reading/hearing about the sex lives of fictional characters is just boring. But if you enjoy it, rest assured that while I definitely classify it as erotic, it is by no means raunchy or tasteless, and is actually well-written (and not the main focus of the book. In other words, if you took the sex out, there’d still be a story — though not exactly the same one). The book has some other positives. First, Sands is good at keeping her vampire/immortals world consistent. The same advantages and limitations for the characters are present across the series. The same rules apply, regardless of which of the books or novellas you wander into. She uses an ensemble cast of fully dimensional characters, though they play at varying levels of importance. For instance, I don’t think Thomas, despite being well-developed, has played more than a tertiary role in most of the books in which he has appeared. Couples from previous books appeared in this one as late secondaries, and it was enjoyable “seeing” them again.
Overall, this is an okay story. I think a better narrator could have pulled it up a little. Rick Robertson’s performance is consistently average. All the Canadian males sounded alike, which sounded like the narrative. Even the women, except for Inez, sounded the same. One of my biggest frustrations with this series is the lack of one excellent performer to read all the books. There are some I got in ebook because I hated listening to the narrator. I won’t preorder the next in the series until I know who the narrator is. I like a narrator who can help pull me into the story, and that just isn’t Mr. Robertson.

Horrible Narrator

Please, please keep the same narrator for every book in a series!! It is very difficult for a listener to switch between different narrators. This narrator does not do female character well, especially those with accents. This book had my favorate character of this series in it and I could barely listen to the entire book it was so painful. From now on I will not be ordering any books by this narrator, rather I'll buy the book and read it myself.

Skip the one if you hate dumb characters

Can long living vampires really be this dumb? This would be a much better book if they asked one intelligent question or had just one intelligent thought. The characters are slightly interesting but so frustratingly dumb. The situations are also just a little too contrived.

do not waste your credit on this one.

the worst book I have listen to so far and I listen to alot of books.

Sloppy storytelling

Probably the weakest in the series so far and the accents were weak. Marguerite's story would be much more interesting.

Horrible Narration

The story is probably good but thanks to the narration the heroine sounded like the mutant demon offspring of Lucille Ball and Ricky Ricardo. DREADFUL!