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I would say The Vampire Most Wanted was a good book. As it’s one of the first few books I’ve read by Lynsay Sands, I can’t really say whether or not it measures up to her other works, but I certainly enjoyed it. It wasn’t revolutionary, but it was certainly satisfying.
The first thing you need to know about The Vampire Most Wanted is that Basha Argeneau does not exist for most of the book. Basha is an unwilling member of the powerful Argeneau family who disappeared centuries ago to create a different life for herself. Or rather, several new lives. Currently she’s a carnival fortune teller known as Divine. Not once does Divine think of herself as Basha, although she does acknowledge that she once was.
This threw me off at first, but over time I came to accept Divine being Divine, and not Basha. Basha was a young girl who endured some awful things, and Divine is an old vampire who’s never vulnerable to any sort of attack—or so she likes to think. Understanding Basha/Divine’s horrific past makes her choice to change her identity acceptable, although it’s difficult to write this review, not knowing what to call her.
Marcus Notte is a Rogue Hunter who’s recently been told to track down Basha Argeneau. After investigating various traveling carnivals, he’s finally stumbled across Divine and her group of friends. He’s instantly suspicious of her, but unfortunately can’t read her mind to see whether or not she’s actually Basha. At first he thinks the problem is simply that she’s older than him—vampires can read anyone’s mind except for that of their life mate or an older, more powerful vampire. Soon, however, Marcus is picking up on other signs and realizing he’s finally found the one thing all vampires search for—a life mate.
Divine, unlike Marcus, is not so ready to jump into the business of being a life-mate. She has more problems on her plate—specifically her son and grandsons. Divine knows there’s some sort of problem brewing with her boys, and she doesn’t want Marcus to get hurt by it. Marcus, however, knows far more than Divine about the antics of her progeny, and eventually convinces her to let him help.
My one major complaint about this book (aside from the Divine/Basha confusion) would be that the romance got a bit shortchanged in favor of the intrigue surrounding Divine’s son. The existence of life mates made it a little too easy for Sands, I think. All Divine and Marcus had to do was notice their symptoms—no mind reading, no mental shields against the rest of the world, and a sudden appetite for human food—and they knew they had met their match. No real wooing was involved. They just accepted each other, had sex, and moved on.
This isn’t to say that Divine and Marcus weren’t great as a couple—they’re tender and sweet, always listening to and taking care of each other. Still, I did miss the courting stage of their relationship. The mysterious plot surrounding Divine’s son was well written, and I think the romance could have been equally well done, had it just been made to develop a little slower. Overall, though, this book was a good one, and I’ll definitely be on the lookout for others by Lynsay Sands.
Grade: B
Book Type: Vampire Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 10/03/14
Publication Date: 2014/02
College student by day. Book enthusiast around the clock. With any luck I'll eventually be able to afford food AND books. But I've got my priorities straight.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.