Red-Haired Ash Reads

Marcus Notte has been asked by Lucian Argeneau to look for his long lost niece who he thought dead. The problem is that she is also potentially linked to Leonius Livius II. What Marcus doesn’t expect is to find her working at a carnival or for her to be his life mate. Now he has to determine if she is Basha and if she is actually a rogue. 

This was an interesting one because this book finally picks the Leonius storyline back up. In this we finally get to learn the truth about who rescued Leonius after he was captured in The Immortal Hunter (book 11). Since then, this storyline has been on pause and so I am really glad we are finally getting back to it, especially since it felt like it was just forgotten about in the past nine books. 

Marcus Notte is now chargeless and feeling a bit restless with no one to protect. Lucian tasking him to find his long lost niece seems like a great way to pass the time. When he meets Divine he can’t read her but he chalks it up to her being older at first. Once he realizes he is experiencing the other symptoms of a life mate though he quickly sets out to try to win her over and learn the truth about her. I liked Marcus even though he wasn’t really memorable, even in the previous books. 

Basha Argeneau, aka Divine, is a woman who has spent centuries taking care of herself and staying on the run from her uncle Lucian. She stays on the run because she believes her uncle will kill her and her son, Damian, who is the child of Leonius Livius I. Basha was an interesting woman who was strong willed and determined. She is a survivor who had the worst things happen to her at such a young age. 

Unfortunately, while I did love how strong she was, I didn’t love how naive she was when it came to her son. She clearly catches that her son is lying to her and overhears conversations that are not adding up with what she is telling her, but she refuses to believe he is anything other than the child she raised. She ignores the fact that he is centuries old and could have changed, and she never questions why he has so many children when no other immortal does. 

The relationship between Marcus and Basha is a bit slow building because Basha doesn’t trust him at first and they are also dealing with someone trying to hurt them. But since they are fated mates, once they kiss they struggle to keep their hands off each other, even knowing that they are both keeping secrets. Their relationship was fine for me. I enjoyed it but these two didn’t have as much chemistry as previous couples. At times it felt like they were only together because they were mates. 

While this book does fill in some important plot points about Leonius, it also had a few plot holes that were just never answered. There is a fire in this and while it’s investigated at first, it felt like it was quickly forgotten about as the story progressed. We never found out who set it or why. Also, this book felt like Sands changed how healing worked. In previous books, immortals would heal from deadly wounds, like being completely burned, by healing with some pain. But in this, she makes the healing process excruciating and they have to be chained down or they will hurt themselves, or others, even more. It just felt stupid to change the rules of the game 20 books in. 

Overall, while I think this book is important for continuing the search for Leonius and filling in some holes there, it fell a bit flat for me on the romance aspect. Also, this also ends abruptly and just felt like the author kind of gave up on writing an ending for the book. 

TW: violence, injuries and blood; discussions of past kidnapping, rape, torture, child pregnancy, child death, suicides and mind control;

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Previous books and reviews for the series:

#1. A Quick Bite
#2. Love Bites
#3. Single White Vampire
#4. Tall, Dark & Hungry
#5. A Bite to Remember
#6. Bite Me If You Can
#7. The Accidental Vampire
#8. Vampires Are Forever
#9. Vampire, Interrupted
#10. The Rogue Hunter
#11. The Immortal Hunter
#12. The Renegade Hunter
#12.5. Bitten By Cupid
#13. Born to Bite
#14. Hungry For You
#15. The Reluctant Vampire
#15.5 The Bite Before Christmas
#16. Under the Vampire Moon
#17. The Lady is a Vamp
#18. Immortal Ever After
#19. One Lucky Vampire