Red-Haired Ash Reads

Beth Argenis has been a vampire and a rogue hunter for about one hundred and twenty-five years. She is a fiercely independent woman now who has finally overcome her trauma from her human life and her turn. Now Cullen “Scotty” MacDonald is back in her life again to help with the rogue problem in Canada, but this time he isn’t keeping her at a distance. He has known since he rescued her from rogues that she was his life mate, but he kept his distance so she could heal, or at least that is what he has been telling himself. 

This book was a struggle for me because while I loved Beth, I didn’t like Scotty. Beth is a kickass heroine who has overcome the trauma of being forced into sex work as a child, went through a traumatic turn by a rogue, and then became trained to be a rouge hunter. She is deadly, competent, and refuses to let anyone control her. I loved her a lot and wished she wasn’t saddled with Scotty. 

Scotty has been a vampire for a couple hundred years and is set in his ways. So much so that he keeps his distance from Beth so she could heal, at least that is what he tells everyone. What really happens is a bit of a spoiler but it’s why I have such an issue with this character. So skip the rest of this paragraph if you don’t want spoilers….. Scotty doesn’t like that she was a sex worker as a human even though he doesn’t know that she was sold into it as a child. He even goes so far to suggest doing a three-on-one to her, which would wipe her mind completely and basically destroy her completely. 

While we see these two work out these issues, I can’t get past what he suggested or how he felt so I think he was just a bad choice for her. Also throughout this book, these two barely have a conversation about their relationship. They spend most of the beginning at odds because Beth is keeping her distance, like anyone would, and then it just jumps into life mate sex without any real relationship discussion until the very end. So not a lot of chances for these two to feel like they will have a happy ever after. 

Overall, this one just didn’t work for me. I will continue on but I really hope we get some better couples and storylines in the next few books. 
TW: car accident; animal abuse briefly recounted; death; mentions of sex work (started as a 10 YO) and rape; mentions of child death and murder;

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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
#20. Vampire Most Wanted
#21. The Immortal Who Loved Me
#22. About a Vampire
#23. Runaway Vampire
#24. Immortal Nights
#25. Immortal Unchained