Book Review: The Bite Before Christmas

By Sandy Amazeen Oct 24, 2011, 0:42 GMT

In Lynsay Sands\' "The Gift," Katricia Argeneau knows grey-eyed cop Teddy Brunswick is her life mate. She just needs to convince him they belong together, and being snowbound in a secluded cabin will make this a Christmas neither will forget. It\'s "Home for the Holidays" in Jeaniene Frost\'s Night Huntress series. Cat and Bones may long to wrap presents and set up a tree, but this Christmas, an evil vampire ...more

Just in time for holiday reading, these novellas from Lynsay Sands and Jeaniene Frost, two top paranormal romance authors, are sure to please fans of the Argeneau and Night Huntress series. From Sands comes “The Gift,” a sweet tale that brings together Katricia Argeneau, an ancient vampire beauty who has taken to avoiding her kind because of the dark thoughts that have been plaguing her and Teddy Brunswick, a human chief of police. Teddy knows about vampires from his work at Port Henry where he has met and become friends with several members of the Argeneau clan. He’s envied the life mate bond that can develop between vampire and human but never dared hope for such happiness for himself. Now, as he is starting to feel old age creeping up on him and snow bound by a huge blizzard, Katricia seems too good to be true.

“Home for the Holidays” by Frost revisits Cat and Bones as they attempt to have what passes as a “normal” Holiday season but as fans know, normal just isn’t a part of this couple’s life. Cat faces huge trouble from demons as a spell cast by Wraith results in Bones disowning her from his line, essentially a death sentence in the vampire world. Forced to bargain with another demon, Cat puts everything on the line in an attempt to restore Bones to his right mind and keep Wraith from assuming Mastership of the line. It will take some clever maneuvering and gallons of seawater to thwart a power grab centuries in the making while revealing an unexpected family tie.

These two stories are quite different as “The Gift” is a light easy read with few surprises while “Home for the Holidays” is much darker and more complex. A surprising level of trust has finally developed between Cat and Bones which is nice to see and the additional family tie gives some of the characters more depth. These are a nice holiday treat but why wait, enjoy an early treat with a cup warm cider or hot buttered rum.