Tomasso Notte knows he’s found his life mate in Abigail. Now he just has to hold on to her. They’re miles from civilization, hunted by his kidnappers. Abigail has no idea of Tomasso’s abilities, or of how intensely pleasurable their unique connection can be. But he’s about to show her, beginning with one wild, hot, immortal night . . .
Comment: This is the 24th installment in the Argeneau series by Lynsay Sands. As I have said in previous comments here, the appeal of the series is to heck on family bonds, friendships and possible original ways to develop a new plot although this last element has been quite disappointing lately.
In this story we follow Tomasso, the twin brother of Dante, the hero from the previous book, as he goes on about saving himself from the kidnappers we knew had him. He has the help of Abigail, his obvious intended life mate but he, being immortal, manages to save them both until they safely land on an island after jumping from the plane that was carrying Tomasso to a hidden place where a scientist is doing experiments on immortals.
Abigail doesn't know what to think about her instant and practically irresistible attraction she feels for Tomasso and vice-versa, to the point if they make out they pass out as well. However, while in the island, Abigail gets sick and Tomasso must make a decision.
How will they deal with what Tomasso hasn't yet told her about who he is?
Will they find the mad scientist and help others already imprisoned?
After so many books, it does get a bit repetitive to have certain information again and again, but I suppose for new readers, it comes in handy. I'd say this is one small issue regarding these stories nowadays and why they don't feel like always bringing something new to the table.
However, the biggest issue for me is that despite the different settings and characters, there doesn't seem to exist any intention in creating amazing new scenarios nor situations to present how the characters meet and how their relationship develops.
Tomasso and Abigail form a pretty much standard couple: he is the immortal who protects her and informs of of who he is and she is a mortal woman who must deal with the sudden new information and change in reality. In between they have sex, they "fall in love" - of course this is never realistically done.
The best novels are the ones where this formula doesn't happen. I wish the author would create different situations, would, perhaps, stress out the change in circumstances of the newcomers, would focus more on the technical aspects of this instead of giving us just sexy scenes and repetitive situations.
The last book, for instance, felt a little different just because of how Mary reacted to her new status.
I like these books for the escapism and because things tend to be fixed and an HEA is guaranteed. I can understand the rules of the world created but I think there would be interesting ways to change things a bit while keeping up with what is expected but still innovate.
In this book, for instance, I'd have preferred to see how Abigail's life was after her change and what it would have meant for her state of mind. We just get the notion everything will be well and easy... I'd like to see a book focus on that instead of just the before.
Some people also comment on how the books have lost humor as the installments piled up. I don't mind this but at least those funnier books explained why the plots and situations were lighter and sillier. Adding drama and some darker situations here and there should develop alongside a more complex setting, more complex characters... the way it is, everything feels just more of the same.
I would say that something interesting to add to this series would be creating situations/plots where the main characters would interact more before the life mate acknowledgement happens. This might give us a better notion of who they are outside of the bigger group of immortals. Apart from a few details, most characters are quite similar, good/bad, more/less confident... I'd say things got to a very static point.
This considered, I can't say this was one of the best books in the series. Even when some elements aren't as well done in some of the other books, there was always something specific that made it intriguing or interesting to read....
What I'm curious to see in future books now is mostly if the relationship has some sort of conflict or not because everything else is pretty much expected to happen anyway.
Grade: 5/10
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