Enforcer and Career Girl get Mated

The Rogue Hunter by Lynsay Sands is full of romance and suspense with her trademark mayhem and humour. In it, an immortal, whilst on a mission to protect the world from rogue vampires unexpectedly finds his life mate, a human who is a committed career woman. The book is number 10 in the author’s Argeneau Vampire series.

In my earlier review of Born to Bite, I explained that Lynsay Sands portrays vampires as Atlanteans, who need blood to allow the nanos developed by their scientists to heal them and maintain their immortality. These modern day immortals imbibe blood from refrigerated blood bags, keeping their existence a secret and thus preventing panic and persecution from mortals. The vampire Council has set up a team of enforcers, under Lucien Argeneau, to bring rogue vampires to justice.

In The Rogue Hunter, Garrett Mortimer, an 800 year old immortal, has been sent with his partner Bricker, to Canada. Some humans have been spotted with bite marks and they are to apprehend the culprit. The cottage they are staying in belongs to a fellow enforcer Decker, who is vacationing there, but who joins the investigation. Three sisters, Sam, Alex and Jo occupy the neighbouring cottage.The immortals try and use their mind control powers to dissuade the women from trying to befriend them, to prevent possible interference in their mission. However, Garrett finds that he cannot read or control the mind of Sam, indicating that she is his life mate.

Garrett is mortified as Sam does not conform to his womanly ideals and as he has been a bachelor for so long does not know if he is ready to be mated. The trio befriend the girls to give him a chance to check Sam out and also use the girls’ local knowledge to investigate the rogue. The scene is  set for a great romp in the middle of the Canadian wilderness, containing romance, danger, intrigue and humour, as a rogue hunter finds that he has finally met his match.

Sam, a lawyer, is a workaholic, who has recently broken up with her high school sweetheart and has very low self esteem when it comes to relationships. Her sisters sense the attraction between her and Garrett and they egg her on to have a fling. Despite her misgivings, Sam falls for Garrett, although she has no inkling of his true nature, believing that he must avoid the sun due to a medical condition for example. She does however notice how his eyes appear silver and appear to shine in the darkness.

Garrett is not only a great looker, which seems to go hand in hand with being immortal, but he is also caring, charming and witty. He, like Sam, takes his job very seriously. Although surprised to discover that Sam is his life mate, he is quickly drawn to her intelligence, personality and physical presence, despite his early reluctance. The sharing of erotic dreams and Garrett’s reawakening appetites for both food and sex also make for some very hot and comical scenes as only Lynsay Sands can write! The couple’s attempts to make out al fresco had me in stitches, as one horny vampire’s seduction efforts were thwarted for one reason or another.

The attempts of the two co-enforcers, Bricker  and Decker, to compel an initially unwilling Garrett into the arms of his life mate are hilarious. The contrast between Bricker, a young vampire who, unlike older immortals has not yet lost his appetite for sex, food and drink, and the older jaded immortals is comic. Similarly Sam’s sisters, Alex and Jo, conspire to get Sam and Garrett together.

The suspense element is not as intense as in the last novel I read of hers, Born to Bite, focusing more on the relationship between Garrett and Sam. However, it does still contain plenty of humour combined with inventive lovemaking scenes. The book can be read as a stand alone, but the author does continue the story of some of the characters, namely Decker,  in book 11, The Immortal Hunter and Jo andAlex, Sam’s sisters in  book 12, The Renegade Hunter and book 14, Hungry for You, which I plan to read.

I recommend this book to lovers of paranormal vampire romance, who like to read a humorous but romantic tale, with an element of suspense.

Author’s website         www.lynsaysands.net

Publisher website        www.avonbooks.com