Lynsay Sands "The Countess"

I do recognize that it could be possible to read this book and think it was hysterical, and given the right comedic cast with impecabble timing it might be funny in a movie, but I just didn't like it.

Our heroine is married to a slime ball who woed her sweetly for her dowry then turned into the controlling jerk he really was. What she doesn't know is that he had his twin brother killed to assume his title and estates just before marrying her. (He's been busy) When her jerky husband dies, she puts him on ice and goes to a ball with her sisters. At said ball the not quite killed twin brother shows up, she nearly faints thinking her husband has come back from the dead and they proceed to play move the dead body all over the townhouse for the rest of the night.

If these characters had been more compelling the comedy would have been less strained but as it was I had a hard time finishing this one. I actually managed to finish Witch of Blackbird Pond in the middle and this book made that look interesting, which is saying something. Oh, don't get me wrong, I liked WofBP but it's a sort of mildly wooden YA historical fiction about Puritans and I have to guess non-history teachers might not get excited about it, but I digress.

I got to visit the CCBC yesterday. Please, please, please can't I just work there? Oh sorry, back to the romance novel.

Historical Romance 2011: 2.5 of 5 carpet wrapped drippy dead evil twins.

Lynsay Sands 'Single White Vampire'

I do like books with a sense of humor. And this book is funny. But (there's always a but according to my book club members. "Do you ever like the book?") the humor comes at the expense of the characters full development.

Kate is bossy in a cute little blond way, and Lucern is curmudgeony in a "why should I have to tolerate you hoi poloi" sort of way and they end up in very funny situations together (a few actually went over the top and weren't so funny). But while Lucern was changed-because-of-love in a nice, rather believable way, the humor got in the way of them actually establishing a real rapport.

As an aside, I also thought the lay out of vampirism was (too conveniently) not scary or dark at all. It was clever, and avoided all the issues of, you know, just how sexy would a man be if his body felt like cold marble. But it also lacked the power/darkness/forbidden-other lures that I fall for with the vampire thing.

Well written, cute, funny but in the end not much substance.

Vampire Contemporary Romance 2003: 3.5 of 5 black adder re-runs.

Lynsay Sands 'Vampire, Interrupted'

My friend Erica delivered some books and provided some new blood for me. (so to speak) This is obviously a later book in this series which may have affected my ability to connect with the heroine.

Marguerite is seven hundred years old and has spent most of that time in a nasty marriage with another vampire who could and did control her and read her mind. Her husband has finally died and she is starting a new career as a private investigator. While she is searching for her client's birth mother, she wakes up to find an assassin with a sword attempting to take her head off.

I was struck by how little it matters in this book that these characters are all vampires. There is an effort made to set up vampire rules for them, but their enhanced physical abilities aren't all that integral to their personalities. This isn't an entirely bad thing, but maybe a missed opportunity for the book. The sex was good, not much tension before consummation but that's pretty common these days. The mystery to be solved lacked any foreshadowing so it actually lost my interest. But I liked the hero and the heroine and I loved the scenes where all the guys got together and tried to give the hero advice. Somehow the male interaction was better drawn than almost anything else.

Paranormal Vampire Romance 2008: 3.5 of 5 lifemates.