A Quick Bite

A Quick Bite by Lynsay Sands
Book #1: Argeneau Series
Source: Purchase (Print and Audible)
My Rating: 4/5 stars

Since I’ve discovered the world of audio books, I find I do have the time to go back and re-read the books and series I read and enjoyed many, many years ago! As such, I have begun a re-read of the Argeneau vampire series, and am finding I really, really like this series as I much as I thought I did. 😊

Lissianna Argeneau is utterly convinced she will never live a normal life as a vampire. Oh, she has all the good bits including perfect health, excellent looks, and being generally impervious to death, but she also has a significant drawback. Lissianna faints at the sight of blood. Throughout her two centuries of life, her show more family has tried to find ways to help Lissianna overcome her phobia, but nothing has worked. Unless something drastic happens, Lissianna is doomed to a life of intravenous blood intake as she sleeps.

Thankfully, Lissianna’s mother is an enterprising woman with nothing but her children’s best interest at heart.

It’s not every day Dr. Gregory Hewitt wakes up to find himself chained to a bed. What’s more, as far as he can remember, he willingly got into the pretty lady’s trunk and willingly sprawled out on the bed to be chained up. That just doesn’t make a damn bit of sense now does it? As Gregory comes to and begins asking questions, his purpose in the posh home becomes clear. The pretty lady mind whammied him to help cure her gorgeous daughter of her phobia. While Greg is trying to wrap his brain around his new “job,” Lissianna is trying to figure out what her mother was thinking.

And then there is all the rule breaking and miscommunication . . . . .

As it dawns on Lissianna what Greg is to her, she has a whole new host of problems on her hands. Greg is human and thanks to some serious rule-breaking knows far too much about the vampire species. When Lissianna’s uncle - a stern, cold member of the vampire council – is called in to assess the situation, Lissianna knows she is going to have go to extremes if she is to protect the man she loves. As if happens, much of Lissianna and Greg’s concern, worry, and fear could have easily been avoided if they had just talked to her mother 😊

Oh, and then there’s the guy who wants to kill Lissianna . . . . .

The Bottom Line: I completely enjoyed this book as both a physical read and an audio book! There is so much humor infused into this story, so many old beings who just don’t take themselves and the myths about them all that seriously. Some of the finer and funnier moments of this read are those when someone is trying to explain the realities of vampirism to Greg. I particularly enjoyed meeting all the Argeneau’s and learning about their family and past along with Greg. To be sure, this is an HEA and the beginning of a very long, very satisfying series. show less

Read for Fun (Kindle)
Overall Rating: 3.50
Story Rating: 3.25
Character Rating: 3.75

First Thought when Finished: A Quick Bite was a strong beginning to a "new to me" series!

Story Thoughts: A Quick Bite is one of those of books that might have read better for me if I wasn't constantly looking up when I was going to get stories for other characters in the story. I just never was completely invested in the love story of Lissi and Greg.* I was more invested in every one around them which means the story and I never clicked. That is on me as the reader, not on the author! Though I did like the lengths her mom would go to in order to help her little girl (no matter how old you are, you are always momma's little girl)!

Character Thoughts: I really show more enjoyed the characters introduced in A Quick Bite. In fact, I am pretty sure I fell head over heals for a few of them. Lissi was a cute character and I think really coming into her own.** I felt she still had some "spreading her wings" growing to do but with Greg in her corner that is going to happen. I love Greg! Poor guy handled everything like a champ even after thinking that he was the birthday present in a whole other way! He was a fun character and just down right adorable.

Final Thoughts: I enjoyed my trip into the Argeneeau's world and will most certainly be following up with the next book!***

*I like Lissi and Greg more now as a couple after reading a few more stories in the series.
**Lissi really has come into her own after a few books in the series. I guess this is the plus of me being ahead of my review writing.
***Already did and I am on book 4. Overall this is just a fun series! show less

Lissiana is a vampire and she's afraid of blood. Whenever she sees it, she faints. Her mother wants to cure her phobia and kidnaps Greg, a psychiatrist. Greg is the first human whose thoughts Lissy can't read. Does that mean he's her true love?

Pretty funny and entertaining, but not the best in the genre.

This was a fun, light and a little bit different vampire book. The vampire who's afraid of blood was definitely a novel idea when that was written!

I figured out in the very beginning who was 'after' Lissi, though, and thought that the fore-shadowing was a little too bright.

Lissi and Greg are both wonderful people, and Lissi's family is a tight-knot group. I look forward to reading more in this series.

I'm a big fan of [b:A Quick Bite|38568|A Quick Bite (Argeneau #1)|Lynsay Sands|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410129015s/38568.jpg|2621331] and am well on my way to having read all of her historicals. I have the majority done but am saving those last few to pull me out of reading slumps. If you haven't read her historicals yet, I suggest giving them a shot in audio. She has great narrators that really bring the characters for life. Back to the book at hand, I don't know why I haven't tried the Argeneau series before now. It may be because I tend to search out urban fantasy series because I like to follow the same couple throughout... but I have run through those and now am going back to the paranormal multi-couple series such as show more Argeneau, Immortals After Dark, etc.

This book was a little different from other vampy books that I have read and listened to in that our hero was not the fangy one. Dr. Gregory Hewitt is a psychologist that specializes in the treatment of phobias. He seems to be a bit of a workaholic and his sister is constantly setting him up on blind dates. He manages to get out of the latest fix up because he is all set to go on vacation to Cancun, his first vacation in many years. Unfortunately before he can do any relaxing, Greg is spirited away by a female vamp who plans to give him to her daughter as a birthday present!

Our heroine is also unique, Lissianna Argeneau is a 200 y/o vamp who suffers from hemophobia. She faints at the sight of blood. This has made Lissianna largely dependent on her family for feeding. So when she sees great bound to her bed with a bow, she mistakes him for dinner! They couple has an instant connection it seems, and Greg is the first mortal whose mind is closed to Lissianna.

As Greg proves to have a strong will, the vamps are at odds regarding his fate and future. He needs to treat Lissianna's phobia... but danger seems to find them at every turn. This was a light-hearted paranormal. It wasn't a dark fantasy with broody vamps and overly serious characters, but it was entertaining despite being somewhat shallow. I don't mean that in a negative way.

So I liked the story, but I didn't love it. I honestly think it was the beta male thing. I like my vamps to be dark, broody and dominant. Greg is pretty much the opposite of those characteristics. Maybe some of the other Argeneau brothers will tickle my fang fancy... but I will keep reading regardless because I know I am going to be entertained with any book by Lynsay.

Since this was an audio, I feel like I should say something about the narrator. It was a solid performance. Nothing stuck out as good or bad. My mind did wander off a few times that required me to rewind... but that was more about me being busy than the book not holding my interest.

3 stars / 3 flames. show less

This is the first book in the Argeneau Vampire series. Right now there are 28 books in the Argeneau Vampire series. This was a pretty typical vampire paranormal romance. It was okay but the plot was really thin.

I listened to this on audiobook and didn’t like the narrator much. The narrator sounded like a breathy public service announcer and was distracting and hard to listen to.

There were some things I enjoyed about this book that set it apart from other paranormal romances. I loved the explanation about the nanos that make these “vampire” immortals; there was some fascinating history here and it was an interesting concept. I also enjoyed the tight and caring relationships between Lissianna and her family. I liked how Lissi is a show more kind and caring, yet capable, heroine.

There were a number of things I thought were lacking as well. I just never really felt the chemistry between Lissi and Greg; the relationship felt a bit dry to me. I also struggled with the lack of any plot (aside from Greg finding out about vampires). Sands does try to throw in a bit of a life or death scenario towards the end of the book but this was kind of just thrown in there and felt contrived.

Overall this was an okay PNR book but I wasn’t all the impressed. There are some unique elements to this series but they weren’t enough to offset the lack of any plot and the vanilla feel of the novel. show less

Not my kind of paranormal romance. The conflicts were boring and/or ridiculous (hi, I am a 200 year vampire who faints at the sight of blood). I didn't like the hero and heroine enough to care about their relationship. The story and dialogue were silly without being funny. And I felt the way the vampire characters acted conflicted with how I imagine people who are hundreds of years old would think and act. Maybe I just like my vampires a little more tortured.