Love Bites by Lynsay Sands is the second book in her series about the Argeneau family. 

This book is the story of Etienne and Rachel who the reader will have previously met in Single White Vampire.  It seemed rather strange to be reading this book after Single White Vampire as the events clearly took place before that book.  And for once it was not me simply reading out of order but this is the order of publication....odd and a little disconcerting.

Anyway Etienne has a problem.  A man named Pudge has found out that he is a vampire and has decided to become a vampire hunter and take him out.  His first attempt at killing him is to shoot him in the heart and although it does not kill Etienne it does cause him to wind up in the hospital morgue.

Rachel Garrett is a coroner at the morgue and is feeling very under the weather.  A shooting victim sitting up is soon dismissed by her brain as the effects of the illness she is coming down with.

But when on her first night back at work the same victim comes in again, this time burned in an explosion she finds herself less able to shrug off what her eyes are seeing, especially when she thinks she detects a pulse and the burns are falling off of his body like the discarded skin of a snake.

Etienne wakes up to find that Pudge has not only tracked him to the morgue with the intention of killing him by removing his head but that his failure to deal with the threat has now endangered the life of the coroner who has saved him, for when the axe falls she finds herself in its path and taking a mortal blow meant for him.  Unable to let her die he uses his powers to turn her into a vampire like himself, knowing that unless she is the woman for him he is forever giving up his chance of having a life mate.

Rachel awakens to her new life as a vampire and is surprisingly stubborn about believing what she is.  The effects of the change are clear to her but she is determined to find a rational explanation for everything.  Eventually though her mind clears enough to accept what she now is and she is welcomed into the family who set about teaching her about their ways.

A delicious combination of romance and action as Etienne finds that even at 300 years of age he has a lot to learn about women and Rachel learns that her new powers give her a confidence she never had.  But are they destined to be torn apart forever by the mad vampire hunter who is as barking as can be?

Another vampire novel that is not about brooding and moody men in drafty castles is a welcome addition to my shelves.

There were just a few loose ends though that I kept waiting to be tied up.  For instance, it did not appear that Rachel ever realised what Etienne was doing with the bad blood and did no one find the recording of her findings whilst examining the "corpse"?  The family talked about all the things they had done to cover any trace to them but no mention was made of the microphone picking up every sound in the morgue.  I kept expecting that to crop up again but not a mention. 

Other than that this is another cracking good read with the hint that Bastien's story is next in line.  Though personally I am curious to know how Thomas is going to wind up (if at all of course), a thoroughly charming joker who really does beg for his own story.

RATING : 
(if you need an explanation of the hearts ratings see my homepage)

Also by Lynsay Sands: Single White Vampire and Tall, Dark & Hungry

Read an Interview with Lynsay Sands here

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