Customer Reviews

The Accidental Vampire (Argeneau Vampires, Book 7)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Five years ago sixty-something Elvi, on a what was supposed to be a sun and fun filled vacation in Mexico, suddenly found herself turned into a vampire. With no maker hanging around to show her the immortal ropes Elvi turned to the movie, Bram Stoker's Dracula, to learn how to be a successful creature of the night. So for the last five years Elvi has avoided garlic and crosses, and worn only black. Elvi knows she shouldn't be complaining - she's immortal while her lifelong friends are all getting up in years- but Elvi is not looking forward to an eternity of sleeping in a dirt-filled coffin. Then again that may not be a problem.

After having lost his wife to vampire hunters centuries ago, Victor Argeneau has dedicated his life to eliminating rogue vampires as an enforcer for the vampire council of North America, so that no other immortal family will have to suffer the same crushing loss. When Elvi's friends place a personal ad seeking a male vampire to keep her company when they pass on, Victor answers the ad to investigate whether a real vampire or a just a vamp-wanna-be is responsible. Vamp law mandates keeping a low profile and the penalty for attracting human attention is death. Upon arriving in Elvi's small town for his "date," Victor is horrified to discover that the whole town knows about Elvi. After meeting Elvi, Victor finds himself torn between duty and the instant overwhelming attraction he feels for her. But while Victor is struggling to figure out how to avoid having to bring the woman who just may be his second chance at happiness in to face vampire justice, it looks like the ad may have attracted just the type of attention the council fears -- a vampire hunter and Elvi is the target.

Deviating a bit from Sand's usual formula, there was so much of Accidental Vampire that was fun and original. From Elvi's unusual turning, to the great bunch of supporting characters, including a couple that get romances of their own. But most of all I loved that Elvi wasn't the typical twenty year old vamp romance heroine. Being older, Elvi has had a lot of life experiences to give her depth. Also Elvi was a fun character with her single minded enthusiasm, neurotic charm and goofy vampire rules. Victor of course was incredibly hunky, but the hope that he will again have someone to relieve the unrelenting loneliness of his immortal existence makes him very vulnerable. While he sure of what he feels for Elvi, he's not the only sexy immortal to answer Elvi's ad. Even if Elvi chooses him, Victor still has good reason to fear he may lose her -- someone's trying to kill her and there's still the potential council death sentence hanging over her head. The only negative in the book for fans is a positive for readers new to Sands' vampire mythos, in order to make sure that her books are stand-alone reads, Sands explains in every book the whole reason why the immortals are immortal, need blood and can't go out in the sun. This is a very minor nit and it is easy to skip over. So, if it means more fans for Sands so that she keeps selling books and keeps writing more, I'm not complaining.

I just loved this book, it was the best of the Argeneau series so far and here's more good news for new and existing fans - Vampire Interrupted is just the first of three new Argeneau books to be released over the next three months. Look for Vampires Are Forever (Argeneau Vampires, Book 8), Thomas' story, in January and Vampire, Interrupted (Argeneau Vampires, Book 9), Marguerite's story, in February.

The Argeneau Vampire Series Contempory Vampire Romances by Lynsay Sands:
A Quick Bite ( Book 1)
Love Bites (Argeneau Vampires, Book 2)
Single White Vampire (Argeneau Vampires, Book 3)
Tall, Dark & Hungry (Argeneau Vampires, Book 4)
A Bite to Remember (Argeneau Vampires, Book 5)
Bite Me If You Can (Argeneau Vampires, Book 6)

And if you like your vampires in a kilt in a historical setting, try Sand's Highlander Vampire series -- these are collaborations with Hannah Howell:
My Immortal Highlander
The Eternal Highlander
Highland Thirst

Normally I don't start reading a series seven books in, but since this one has new characters in every book, I figured I wouldn't suffer from missing much of the backstory.

The premise=cool. Vampires are Atlantean survivors. Very cool; explanation of vampirism plausible; all neat and acceptable.

Where this book seriously bit the dust was in the moronic leading character. Spoilers follow...


..
..
So she has no idea how she becomes a vampire. She decides to "research" vampirism (by watching movies) and goes to THE BATHROOM DURING THE ONE SCENE THAT SHOWS A VAMPIRE BEING MADE??!!! WHAT?!!! She then attempts to turn her best friend by biting her a whole bunch of times because that's what 'the books' say to do...uh what books? Every vampire mythology involves an exchange of fluids for the last hundred years. What kind of research was this? She has a memory of the guy in the bus bleeding into her mouth but discounts it because her friend saw him walking around after the accident..uh hello..VAMPIRE, healing abilities which you now share. How much time did she actually spend thinking about this totally life altering event? 3 seconds? She sleeps in a coffin...er...why? She slept in beds when she was first made a vampire, before she got home and had a coffin made, at some point wouldn't she have said, gee you know I don't have to go out and buy a coffin, this bed is working just fine? For five years she doesn't look in a mirror..because she "knows" she doesn't have a reflection? So she never cleaned her stove till it shined? Glanced in the microwave door, the computer screen? Driven a CAR?!!

This book is just stupid. I gave it two points because the writing wasn't horrible, the premise was cool, but the execution of this particular plot was just wretched.

I'm coming to the conclusion that either 'Lynsay Sands' is the collective name for a group of writers or else she relies on her editors to make her books readable. This is the second time I've read a book in her vampire series and genuinely wondered if it was written by the same author as the others.

Tall, Dark and Hungry, Bastien's story, was ponderous, completely unfunny and contained characters that made me roll my eyes in dismay. The characters in this book aren't quite that bad, but parts of the plot are barely credible and - astoundingly for a published novel - there are spelling and grammar mistakes I wouldn't expect an eight-year-old to make. For example, 'jamming on the breaks', and 'the single's column', and Sands' complete inability to distinguish between the present and past tenses of the verb 'to be'.

Leaving those aside, The Accidental Vampire has some merit, in particular the departure from all characters having to be young and gorgeous in order to be attractive. The attraction between one secondary vampire character and a 60-something mortal was very nicely done - and why shouldn't a youthful-appearing vampire find an older woman appealing? He's centuries old, after all. I also liked another minor vampire character being drawn to an 80-something woman (relationship offscreen).

But the need to strain credulity abounded. For instance, part of the 'suspense' hung on whether or not Elvi was Victor's lifemate - which would lead to conflict with his role as a vampire law enforcer. It takes about two seconds and very little effort to check whether or not he can read her mind - the test of whether or not she's his lifemate. And he doesn't do it for days, despite being overwhelmingly attracted to her. Unbelievable. As was the next-door-neighbour sub-plot, or indeed the entire town colluding to celebrate their local vampire.

I'm hoping that my next Sands will either be written by the real Lynsay Sands, or edited by someone competent.

This novel is fluffy and fun; the book equivalent of a good romantic comedy movie. Bring out the popcorn!

Elvi's friends are concerned for her. Though she is now a vampire and has physically regained her youth, her generation is getting older and some of her friends have started passing on. Out of friendship and concern - not wanting her to be alone after they themselves pass - her friends put in a personals ad looking for for single male vampires for Elvi. The friends have no idea that it is against vampire law for a vampire to pull attention to him/herself.

Among other suitors who travel to Elvi's small Ontario town to meet her is an enforcer - a vampire cop if you will. Sparks fly between Victor and Elvi - but will he himself have to turn her in?

Fun, romantic, and amusing.

"The Accidental Vampire" is another of Lynsay Sands' Argeneau Vampire series, this time focussing on Victor, one of the oldest of the family and a widower. Victor finds himself travelling to the small town of Port Henry with his friend and fellow vampire DJ in response to a female vampire's lonely hearts advert. Not that Victor is responding as a prospective suitor - instead he is going as a Council representative to decide what to do about this vampire woman who's breaking laws of secrecy, and that might involve having her killed.

When Victor and DJ arrive they realise the situation is a little more complex. Three more single vampires turn up in response to the advert and it's clear the entire town knows about and loves Elvi, the female vampire. It's also clear she has no idea about what being a vampire means and has gained all her information from the film version of Dracula; She doesn't realise that she can eat food, go out in daylight, sleep in a bed not a coffin and more. Most of the book seems to be about Elvi learning the true nature of her vampire status whilst the four 'suitors' and DJ follow her around, trying to keep her out of trouble and wondering whether they are her 'lifemates'. But someone seems to be attacking Elvi with arrows and it's up to them all to look after her and to try to find out who is trying to kill her.

This book is rather similar to several of the other Argeneau Vampire books in that the entire content of the book is pretty much about the new vampire learning what it means to be an Immortal. It's particularly noticeable in this book where we have Elvi learning to drink out of blood bags, learning some of the laws, finding out about things she can still do and still playing her part in the community of Port Henry. The love story between Elvi and Victor is sweet enough but not particularly deep and Victor's attitudes towards Elvi are sometimes a bit suspect. However it was an enjoyable read and some of the characters are amusing, if rather cardboard-cutout.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

The accidental Vampire while a good book could have been better. Everyone
knew She was going to end up with Victor for me what would have made
it better if the book hadn't ended so happily ever after. Yes it is a
fantasy but it is also taking place in the real world to take advantage of blood banks and other every day morden conviences. Five men invited to
persue one woman shouldn't all end up finding true love in one place. How
come there are all lifemates available for each vampire suitor who came?
Why didn't the Vampire who was her sire Know that he sired a vampire was
there no tie because he didn't purposely make her one? And give me a break I would have killed the teenager never mind say I forgive you to the parents who was trying to break the so called evil hold over him. The one thing I totally agree with in the end is that living in that town is punishment enough. With friends who automaticlly believe you should change how you live entirely by facts that exist in books and movies who needs enemies? I felt her running out to the supermarket and to get a bed right away when she realized she could eat and sleep like she use to understandable not humourous at all!

I've read all of the Argeneau books and I think this is my favorite one so far. Although some of the others have been more romantic and passionate, I don't recall them being as funny. This installment really makes you laugh and that, in turn, makes the story much more fun and enjoyable. In case you've not read them before, the Argeneau series of books (there are several) are very light vampire romances (heavy on the romance!) that mainly revolve around the immortal Argeneau family and their close friends and relatives. In this book, Victor Argeneau is just one of 6 suitors who come to the town of Port Henry to meet Elvi, an immortal living a rather strange life. Elvi's status as a vampire/immortal is known to the entire town, and the fact that she lives so openly is cause for concern. Even more, Elvi doesn't follow any of the immortal `rules' - she is naïve about her status as an immortal. Although there are 6 men vying for her attention, it's obvious that Victor will win her heart and teach her what she needs to know. The book was just great - it was almost like watching a reality dating program since all of the suitors were trying things to win over Elvi. And, the sub-plot with Victor's friend DJ and Elvi's friend Mabel is charming. The book was great and I can't wait for the next one!

The reason for the 4 is because in the number of odd situations the heroine created and her suiters followed, instead of it being very embarasing, I laughed or chuckled out loud. That's quite a skill to make these silly situational, plausible and still not make you cringe because of everyones' possible feelings involved, which allowed the humor of the situations to come to the forefront and not be painful during or afterwards.

Having written that, there are weaknesses. Too many characters, shown or not shown. I'm loosing who's who past and present and who's related to who and how. That's not good for a series that's got as strong a genealogy as this one does. However, this book does stand on it's own, but with the references to other family members and then for the one brother to show up for a few minutes and not be anything you've been anticipating and then glossed over feel good explanation of why, in my opinion, erodes the characters.

I guess the thing that bothers me the most and it shouldn't, but I just keep thinking about it, how come everyone is finding their lifemates now? All these immortals have been alive over 100 years and more and it's only now that they seemingly all are finding their lifemates? I love happy endings, but this just seems to be a bit much.

Even so, I just enjoyed Elvi and her suiters jaunts. There were fun.

This review is for the version of the book offered by[...] DO NOT BUY IT!!! The last chapter (or two) is missing. Right when Lucian shows up to find out why Victor hasn't taken care of "Elvie problem" ...the audible version ends.

However [...] did refund my money.

This is the 7th book from the Argeneau series. Wonderful series.

Elvi is just that an accidental Vampires. She took a trip to Mexico and came back a creature of the night, a soulless being. Or so she thought.
Elvi lives with her best friend of 60+ years Mabel.

Victor is the father of Vincent (Seen in other previous books). He is also the younger brother to Lucian.

This book the idea was just great and I loved it but after a bit I felt like I was reading a bad reality show script like Bachelorette or something.

Elvi lives in a small town and came back as a vampire. She had no idea there were even others like her out there, and she got her lifestyle from the movie Dracula assuming she was just that. But thankfully she lived in a small town where everyone seem to love and care for her and accept her for what she was. Some of her friends thought it be a good idea to put an add in the paper about a vampire looking for love. This brought 5 vampires to look for their lifemate.

Victor was brought to elvi because he was investigating for the counsel. Never expecting to find Elvi so appealing!

Mabel is in this story too and her story is delightful.

But other then the plot itself and the cute Mabel story line this is where the good of the book ends. Victor is not like expected. Vincents speak of his father a few times in previous books and this is not how he was portrait. And even in this book very little is brought about Victor, I feel like the author really neglecting into making him very real.

Elvi is quite likeable as character but a bit to naive.
And there are just to many men in this story for it to have been a good romance story between 2 people. All the romance scenes were always being walked in or watched, it was just odd.

All in all it was an ok book, but Not a winner.