A Bite to Remember: A Review

A Bite to Remember
by Lynsay Sands

Once again Lynsay Sands tempts, thrills and humors us with her fifth book in the Argeneau vampire series.

After having seen to it that her children were happily involved with their "true life mates," Marguerite Argeneau travels to California to concentrate on her nephew, Vincent. She is afraid that after 400 years Vincent is beginning to become unhappy and bored with life, and that is never a good thing whether you are human or vampire.

Vincent, however, already has a full plate when his aunt arrives. He is rapt in trying to find out who is sabotaging his company and hurting his employees. He has even gone so far as to hire Jackie Morrisey, a private investigator recommended by Bastien, his cousin and Marguerite's son.

Soon this live-alone bachelor has a house full of people who are in pursuit and/or victims of this stalker whose crimes are escalating by the minute. The problem is Vincent is a pretty laid back guy who has never purposely hurt anyone in his very long life. He has no idea who could be doing these things or why.

To make things more complicated, his aunt has her cunningly sharp eyes on the way he and Jackie interact all while she is making friends with Jackie's gigantic assistant, Tiny. Jackie has a bad history with vamps, and Vincent is trying to keep his loving aunt from playing matchmaker with him as she has done with all her children, not that any of them are complaining ... now. However, Vincent just can't seem to forget how he really likes this girl - even when she is being bossy and rude.

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This heartfelt, witty, romantic-fantasy/horror(?) mystery has something that pretty much any reader would like. (As if you couldn't tell by that description.)

Whether you are a fan of fantasy or realistic fiction, who can't sympathize with a relative, especially an older one, butting into your personal life, even if it is simply to give advice, because they love you and think it is for your best interest? Marguerite Argeneau loves her family deeply and wants her "youngsters" to learn from her and have happy lives. A long life will seem even longer if it is unhappy.

The characterisation is probably my favorite aspect of these books. They are very real. Not everyone is the perfect size or shape. No one is an absolute jerk; if they are they have a good reason. And, some of the lines she gives to these characters keep me in stitches for hours.

For the romance lover, yes, there is some sex, lots of sexual tension and plenty of (gasp) real romance. It is almost impossible to find a vampire story without sex, but the sex in this one is nowhere near the focal point of the story. It is also part of the logical outcome of true romance and affection.

Fantasy and horror lovers will like this book (and series) if they aren't purists. I, for one, love the concept. Vampires are .... da da dat daaa ... Atlantians. Well, the oldest ones are. They escaped before the destruction. It is a really interesting concept.

And, all of these books have the element of mystery. The opportunity to figure out "who done it" is always a plus for me.

I adore this series of Sands' books. I haven't read her other series, but if her characters are like those in the Argeneau series, I am sure I would enjoy them as well.

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The titles in this series are: (by publication thus far)
Single White Vampire
Love Bites
Tall, Dark, and Hungry
A Quick Bite
A Bite to Remember

Curious about the future of these characters and books?
A quote from Sands' blog, http://spaces.msn.com/members/lynsaysands, says:

"...The right order should actually be A Quick Bite (Lissianna’s book) then Love Bites (Etienne’s book) then Single White Vampire (Lucern’s story) then Tall, Dark and Hungry (Bastien’s story) They were printed out of order, but should be in order from now on. Vincent’s story - A Bite To Remember - is the next one out, then Uncle Lucian’s story which I think they’ve changed the title to Bite Me If You Can. I’m working on Victor’s story now and hope to do Marguerite’s after, though you just never know with these guys."