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

Another Winner from the Argeneau Family

What can I say!! This is Thomas and Ines' story, and it was LOL funny, had action and intrigue. When Thomas's cousins Etienne and Bastien enlists his help in locating their mother he becomes quite alarmed, after all Aunt Marguerite had raised him and it wasn't like her to go a day without checking in with the family especially with her only daughter due to give birth any day. The trouble starts when Thomas gets to his hotel room in England and finds that the blood bank wouldn't deliver the blood until much later and he needed sustenance now, so he bites Ines and finds out he can't wipe her memory and realizes she is his life mate. What is he going to do now??? The story progresses from there, Inez shows how resourceful she is in finding out things that Thomas is reluctant to discuss with her about Vampires. Inez takes everything in stride and agrees to continue to help Thomas look for his aunt, however it appears that someone has it in for Inez. With trouble brewing, and trying to locate his aunt, keep Inez safe poor Thomas has his hands full. The story was interesting from the beginning, had several LOL moments, and some scary parts too. A good entertaining read. Just that.....ENTERTAINING......not pulitzer worthy.

Why so many bad reviews?

I don't understand why this book got so many bad reviews, if you've enjoyed the first 7 books in this series, you should enjoy this one as well! Each book can be read as a stand alone story, the author does well to explain enough so the reader wouldn???t be lost if done so, but there is a lot of back story about who???s who and their relationships in the other books. The narrator isn't the best for sure, but neither is he the worst either! My only complaint was how abruptly the story ended, that???s partly due to the writing, but the narrator didn???t modify his speed or cadence in which he was reading and basically ran the last sentence into the end credits!!

This story chronicles Thomas Argeneau finding his life-mate and their search to find the Argeneau???s missing matriarch, Aunt Marguerite, who at the end of book 5 decides to become a P.I. and flies off to Europe on a case (she goes missing at the end of book 6). The story includes the usual ???vampire-(a-la Ms. Sands style) boy-meets-mortal-girl-who-turns-out-to-be-his-life-mate-then-proceed-to-get-it-on??? but also includes a great mystery laced with some pretty intense nail-biting scenes. Thomas and his life-mate Inez (a Portuguese import to Brittan) are lead on a wild goose chase throughout the story, and although we are left (mostly) satisfied with Thomas and Inez???s joining, the story as I mentioned, ends quite suddenly with no resolve to Aunt Marguerite???s situation. It appears the next book in the series is all about Marguerite, but there should have been some wrap up to that effect at the close of this book IMHO, but as I???m thoroughly engrossed in this series, I plan to continue to find out what has happed to her.

Thomas Finally Gets the Girl

Would you listen to Vampires Are Forever again? Why?

Yes, I would listen to Vampires Are Forever again because Thomas is one of my favorite characters in this series, and he finally meets his match!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Vampires Are Forever?

I loved it when Inez was so angry at Thomas for ignoring her at the airport that she was scolding him in Portuguese and in response, he drew her a bath and provided her with a hearty English breakfast to make up for the mistake.

What about Rick Robertson’s performance did you like?

I think Rick Robertson did a wonderful job! Certainly better than Victoria McGee, who breeds in very odd places, and is so breathy that there's rarely a motion in her reading. Mr. Robertson does not have this problem at all and he has a good sense of comedic timing as well.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes, this book made me laugh out loud more than once.

Amsterdam, I'm on my way!

Where does Vampires Are Forever rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Fun stuff. I love a good romp through Europe.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Smart girls are cool, and the nice guy wins!

What about Rick Robertson’s performance did you like?

A good narrator is almost as important as a great story. And while l may overlook a weak story line ( which this is not) a bad narrator will have me pushing the return button as fast as you can say, really?

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Who makes up these lame questions?

Love the book and the narrator's voice

This is probably my favourite Lynsay Sands book read so far!

Really enjoyed

I've read some books by Sands and from her Argeneau series, I was a little dissapointed with this book from her series, but still enjoyed. Would have rathered seen Thomas with a more outgoing and fun female since his character come across like that when he is featured in the other books.

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!

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.

Great story!

Great story, easy to listen to. Love the narrator. I love this series. More please.

Good Story & Great Narration

I enjoyed this story. It was serious story with an almost silly scene with Thomas drinking the wrong product, but it turned into not so much silliness as it was sexiness. Rick Robertson did a great job in the narration. His Portuguese accent was believable and his ability to narrate to the emotions in the book was very good. I always know when I am hearing a great narrator, when I don't focus so much on their reading and just fall into the story.

great

i love these novels, theare great to listen too and always have a twist in them