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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Two really good novellas from two of my favorite authors, October 25, 2011
This review is from: The Bite Before Christmas (Hardcover)
The Gift by Lynsay Sands
Teddy Brunswick is snowed in at his holiday rental cabin and things start to appear bleak until he meets his beautiful, and too young for him, neighbor. Katricia Argeneau has lived a long time and is thrilled to finally have found her life mate in Teddy. Now she'll just need to convince the weary Teddy that what's happening between them is real and worth holding on to.
The Gift has a much slower pace compared to the other Argeneau books but it manages to capture everything I like about this series and has a cute story. Teddy is the police chief of the small town of Port Henry, a town that has several immortal (vampire) residents. Instead of feeling like an outcast at some holiday dinner one of his friends will invite him to, Teddy decides to head out of town to a rental cabin. After finding himself snowed in, he meets Katricia and despite feeling guilty for having sexual feelings for a woman who appears to be half his age, he and Katricia hit it off from the start. Katricia knows right away that Teddy is her life mate but needs to take it slow so she doesn't scare him off, which proves to be easier said than done.
I thought Katricia and Teddy made a solid couple and even though their relationship moves quickly, their emotions for each other still felt genuine. I think those who will enjoy The Gift are those who are already fans of the Argeneau series because Teddy is a reoccurring character and one you really want to see get his happily ever after.
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Home For The Holidays by Jeaniene Frost Vampires Cat and Bones are enjoying a party when it comes to an abrupt end after receiving word of an attack against one their friends. Before their investigation begins, they learn surprising news that quickly turns the powerful pair against each other and threatens their unbreakable relationship. As usual, Jeaniene Frosts packs a lot of story in just 100+ pages which is why I always look forward to reading her novellas. Home For The Holidays takes place a few weeks after the events in One Grave At A Time. Cat and Bones are celebrating his birthday with a few friends when they receive a phone call of an attack against Annette, friend and Bones' former bed mate. Well, one of them anyways. Before their investigation into the attack really starts, the couple meet another vampire who has an unexpected connection to Bones. It's not long before we learn that the mystery man has an ulterior motive that threatens Bones, Cat and the people they care about. This was my favorite of the two stories. It was great seeing all my favorite characters again and as you'd expect to find in any Night Huntress story, action and creatures acting up. The best part about this short was Ian. He's in a lot of the scenes and shows, despite having their problems in the past, how much he cares for Bones and the lengths he's willing to go through to help his old friend while still being the sexual deviant we've all come to know and love. I really liked the story and was so interested in it, that I wouldn't have mind it being a full length book.
My Rating: 4 Stars
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Bite Before Christmas, October 25, 2011
The Bite Before Christmas features The Gift by Lynsay Sands set in her Argeneau world and Home For the Holidays by Jeaniene Frost, a Night Huntress story. The Gift by Lynsay Sands Two days before Christmas, Teddy Brunswick finds himself in a cottage, away from his home town of Port Henry where he is a police chief because he has no family to spend the holidays with. But it has snowed a lot and his cabin has lost power. He also doesn't have much food stocked up, but after looking at the snow covered roads, he is not sure when he will be able to make it to a store. Luckily, he meets the person staying at the neighboring cabin, Katricia Argeneau. Katricia has food, but no heat. Since Teddy has a fireplace in his cabin, they decide, Katricia will bring food over to his place, and they can stay warm by the fire. What Teddy doesn't realize is that Katricia is a vampire, who has just realized much to her surprise she has found her life mate. I was very disappointed in The Gift. I will say, this is the first I've read of Lynsay Sands so I am not familiar with her Argeneau world. But this one reads very well as a stand alone. I understand the world, or at least the small glimpse we see in this book. Basically this book is Katricia meets Teddy and realizes she can't read his mind, which is a big signal that he might be her life mate. Teddy knows the existence of vampires, so her coming clean with who she is is not a big shock to him. I kept waiting and waiting for something to happen. Something, anything! But these two just hang out in the cabin. To me, they don't have a spark of attraction between them at all. Their chemistry totally falls flat. It is very much a case of telling us, rather than showing us: ***
The woman was just...Well, she was sassy as hell, smart as a whip, and had a killer sense of humor. He'd laughed more today during their snowball fight, card games, and talks than he'd laughed with any woman ever.
*** Really? Because we never see this fun, crazy side to these two characters. And then when the big moment comes where Katricia admits to Teddy he is her life mate, it is very anti-climatic. All in all, a disappointing read. Rating: 2/5 Home for the Holidays by Jeaniene Frost It's Bones's birthday, and to surprise him, Cat has invited their close friends and family to their home for a party and to stick around for the holidays. Cat wants to have an old-fashioned Christmas. But trouble never stays away long from these two. As Bones opens his presents, they realize Annette, who has flown in from London is not present at the party. Ian offers to go back to the hotel to see what is holding her up, and what he finds isn't good. There is blood all over the hotel room, and Annette is all out of sorts - definitely acting strange. She also refuses to give up the name of the person that hurt her. Frustrated, they take her back to their home, where they have another surprise. But I'm not going to tell you who or what because that will ruin the surprise for you! I enjoyed this short story - we meet a new character, like I just said, I'm not going to tell you who, but this person holds many secrets about Bones. And, as a result, we learn a lot about Bones's past. I was actually surprised by the depth of what we learn, especially something at the end of this story. In true Night Huntress fashion, there is a big conflict with lots of violence, one liners from Cat, and the very sexy (and I admit sleazy) Ian has lots of page time. And to pique your curiosity even more, at one point Ian says this to Cat: ***
"That's right, you nasty little vixen, bite me harder." Ian urged.
*** Oh yes - there are some crazy things that happen in this book - but it all works out in the end. Fans of this series are going to want to read this one for some details we learn about Bones. Rating: 4/5 Overall rating: 3/5
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bite Before Christmas, October 26, 2011
This review is from: The Bite Before Christmas (Hardcover)
This rating is just for the Cat and Bones story, since that's the reason I bought this and it's all I read in the book. LOVED it. I really felt for Bones and the family issues he had to deal with in this one. I enjoyed Cat and Ian teaming up to fight the bad guy...I love anything where Ian has a lot of page time. Ian on bringing new people under his protection: "Because while I don't require morals from members of my line, I do expect loyalty." That's Ian to a "T" - he might be the fun, or as Cat says, sleazy, guy you can't help but give a hard time too, however, no one can ever doubt his loyalty to his friends. I started reading the Argeneau story, but didn't go beyond the first couple chapters. I've read a few books in the series, but this one just didn't grab me. The hero is an older man, probably in his 60s or 70s, and the heroine is 25. Eww. Granted, I'm sure something happens where he's turned and goes back to his "prime" age, but I didn't really care to read that far to find out. But, if you're a fan of the Cat and Bones series, you won't be disappointed with their latest adventure. It comes in at around 150 pages, so it's a "long" short story, and J. Frost really packs a lot into all those pages. Great read.
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