Holly wakes up with a bump on her head, a craving for blood, and a sexy stranger who insists they belong together. She needs Bricker's help to control her new abilities, even as she tries to resist his relentless seduction. Choosing between the world she knows and the eternity he offers is impossible. But Justin is fighting for his life mate—maybe even his life—and he'll break every rule to do it . . .
Comment: This is the story #22 in the long standing Argeneau series and although sometimes I wonder why I keep with it, I don't think this is one of those that I'd actually give up on despite the less than appealing installments...
In this book we finally have Justin Bricker's story, he has been a recurrent character known for his impatience in finding his life mate while not being that understanding when it comes to those around him in the same situation.
His story begins when he and Decker and Anders (previous protagonists) are dealing with a situation at a crematorium and a part time employee sees them and while running stabs herself in an accident.
Since Justin can't read the woman he is ecstatic she might be a life mate but in his attempts to get on with what he feels is finally his due, he is quite surprised to discover she is already married...
If there is any other series installment that wouldn't seem as out of order as this story is, I don't know. I can totally undertand why it would feel like Justin would be deserving of a romance at last but the way this story was achieved seems to be a little under done for me, especially because there are good ideas but the exection felt very flat for me.
Justin is a character that feels he can't wait for a life mate and his behavior does come across as without patience nor understanding but I confess I felt a little pity for him. He gets a life mate but she's married which, according to the immortal rules, makes it impossible for him to claim her or seduce her as other characters have done in other books.
Personally, I'd say the series has evolved too much into a repetitive method and the romances no longer feel like destined but something the readers have to endure just to have them classify themselves in the end as "in love". There are books where I feel the plot is too much centered around the idea of a character getting a life mate and bringing that new character into the fold, even if both protagonists are already immortals. I just think the stories are all alike and although part of their appeal is precisely how different details work within the same general idea, some stories are getting just too much redundant.
Justin, I felt was put in a very unfair situation. Not because of the married heroine, that was actually a new element that could have been used better too, but because he was put in the position of being considered too juvenile, especially by how his "friends" took revenge on him. I thought this didn't add the comedy side that the author probably aied for and instead it looked forced.
Holly, the heroine, being married could offer interesting drama scenarios in how she would deal with the fact she was Justin's life mate and for Justin to deal with her not being easily available for him to claim. However, i feel both things were misused and there was quite a loss of a great plot but well...
The romance itself was too quick, their interactions not that much beyond the basics and I don't think we really got to know a lot about each of them. As a couple, everything happened in the plan of the dreams that the end felt completely out of sync with the rest of the story and the secondary characters were way much more interesting.
I'd have preferred Justin's story to have happened mater or differently...
Hopefully, the next one will be back to a better place.
Grade: 6/10
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