Immortal Rising: A Novel (An Argeneau Novel Book 34)

This review is written as someone who has read every book in this series already. I will be giving perspective from other books in this review, as there are some that are comparable and the reason for my rating.First off, can I say I was extremely excited about getting my hands on this book and reading Stephanies Story, though I'm so used to her being portrayed as this young girl from the other books...Watching her grow with the books and characters, it felt a bit like reading my younger sisters story due to knowing all about her and her issues!Thorne I was truly not expecting to see again, I think it's quite nice we are getting him paired with someone. I didn't expect him and Stephanie to be an option (Honestly I had someone else pegged for Stephanie and was curious what would happen!)From here on out, I will be mentioning Spoilers and my thoughts on certain parts of the book.Though we have seen Stephanie in several other books, this is the first time we truly get to see her, if you catch my drift. In other books, she did all she could to help others and distract from her problems. It is really nice to get a look into how she truly feels about everything, and how the people around her are hurting her more than helping her. (Excluding Lucian who definitely gained even more respect from me in this book, he said so many amazing things to her.) It's also nice to know she did go see Greg and wrote a bunch of Journals - Journals she has now published as horror books! I think it's quite amazing she's an author, I was curious why she didn't reach out to Lucern/Kate - perhaps she wanted to do everything herself but I'm sure he wouldn't have minded at least recommending some things to help her out.I quite enjoyed the pacing of this book at the beginning. For half of the chapters (Roughly 13-15) it felt like such amazing pacing, they really took some time to get to know each other till all hell broke loose. It was hot, dirty and fast - as one expects from Life Mates in this series, it's how the power of Life Mates & Shared Pleasure works, it's irresistible and always happens this way. Though Nano's were explained a bit, I feel like it wasn't as clean as it was in previous books due to both of them knowing about Nano's, life mates and more. There is more of an explanation in other books that will help you understand why the Passion life mates feel is so strong.I loved the interaction between Stephanie and Thorne overall. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about something like this with his wings. I was wondering before reading "Will his wings be removed early? Surely they'll get removed right?" and this is where I feel the story, though great, is missing a chapter.Towards the last few chapters, the pace suddenly picks up drastically. It is not a slow change, but basically instant. This, is also common in these books as of late (Last 7 or 8 books I believe)...At this point I should be used to it, but I find this one particularly disappointing. Leonius was a type of Boogie Man, so was his right hand man...Both had so many books about them, and both of their deaths were basically instant but the build up for both still felt better than Dresslers death. I find it so frustrating that it's just a one liner and the next chapter is days later. Dressler was basically the newest villain after Leo, he had a huge part in some of the books and to see his end happen like this is very confusing to me. It felt rushed, though I'm glad the chapter of that villain is over I can't help but wonder if all future villain deaths will be like that.If you can compare this to the villain in Leigh/Lucian's book, Morgan, he had just as much screen time as this man and his death was a big deal overall. There was a chapter or two of him just chatting and explaining things, talking about things, etc. Perhaps we did get that in the original book Thorne appeared in, but we have NO IDEA what he's been doing since being turned. Gathering other Immortals? What were his plans? What's been going on since those few years of him leaving the island? We had no villain growth in my opinion. All we knew was he wanted Stephanie for experiments. What other experiments was he conducting?Further more about Stephanie/Thorne, they finally had a decent conversation after Stephanie blew up at him for leaving her house without saying goodbye after...several steamy sessions. So he broke down some things, she broke down some things - they both agreed Children were not possible at this time but that was pretty much the only thing they talked about. Will he become an immortal or are they just ignoring it because he's a hybrid with self healing powers.He was 35 at the first time of his healing process, does he look 35? Or does he look 22 as Steph stated when she first mentioned his looks. Not to mention, every time he gets badly hurt he goes into stasis and heals...What happens if it happens too close together? Say Tuesday he gets hurt, wakes up Friday gets hurt Friday. Another Stasis? Will he become even younger? Though it's stated it seems his other animal DNA is preventing that, or maybe even human DNA, how often is he hurt badly enough to fully test that? What about becoming Immortal? He doesn't want to lose his wings at all, but what will happen if he doesn't become one? Stephanie somehow always winds up a target for people, so I'm sure there will be more in the future looking to hurt her. Though he has some powers of healing and everything, he just isn't as strong and stable as an immortal. Will she forever be worried about him due to that? The same way Immortals fus over their Mortal mates? He may not be mortal, but he's also not Immortal and I feel like this book did not address problems that needed to be addressed. Because of this, the book felt incomplete and very open ended, that frustrates me.I read someone's review here that said everything happened in chapter 2 and things past the middle of the book felt like filler...I was going into this expecting it to be one of my least favorites, but I have no idea what that person was talking about that is not at all what happened. Perhaps it's because I'm used to the pacing of Lynsay's books, but there are others who have stated you don't need to read any of the other books to read this one which is mostly true! You get lore, back story, but each character mention has their own story and personality that in my opinion you can't get with this book. There's stories about Stephanie and Thorne you can't get from this one book. There is previous character build up I recommend reading, not that you can't enjoy this book on its own as I said but I think if you read the rest of the books, or just a few considering its a huge series, you will better understand and appreciate a lot of things happening.My 3 star review has to do with the harsh pacing towards the end (Though it's becoming common in her books, I just dislike it.) - the fact that Thorne/Steph realistically got no where with a lot of their problems. It was just a bit "live in the moment" type of Romance, which is fine but not in the paranormal world where one is a vampire and the other is a human/animal hybrid. The questions not being answered is a huge deal breaker for me. Not to mention dresslers death being so...anti-climatic. After books of this guy, the build up of waiting for him to get caught he just dies instantly. I get why Steph and Thorne escaped at the grocery store, obviously none of her family knew where she was and wouldn't even know Dressler had her. At least this way they could prepare, but gosh the fact that he didn't capture them and nothing was discussed on what he planned to do kinda just pushed all the air out of you. It was just lame.This book had a lot of carbon copies of other books. (Lucern/Kate = Writer/Editor, Machete used to chop the villains head off in a similar way) - the stuff with Dani also just felt unresolved. They cried a bit in the kitchen or what have you and that was kinda it.

I realized this is book 34 in a series. For me, the story was 3.5 as some things didn’t make sense to me. Such as, why would a Dutches who has a castle, want to live in Venezuela!? Even move to the city for her son to feel normal. Or, heroine in story wanting to find an Inmortal life mate for this Dutches who happens to be 80 years old. Or, not taking seriously a stalker who went through big lengths to hack and monitor a person. 🤦🏻‍♀️This was more romance 💘 to me. The narration by Stacey Glemboski brought story to life and made it more exciting. I could see story play in my head. It did made it difficult to concentrate at work. I usually can focus on both; story and work. Thank you. 😊

I have read almost all of the Argeneau books in the series and they have all started to sound/seem a little bit of the same...except this one. It has a bit of a different twist on the series and was a good read! It does say that this is book #34 in the series, but the reader could start here and be ok. The author does a brief summary of the "start" of the series and the reader can catch up with no problems!This one is a fast paced, edge of your seat read that you won't want to stop reading once you start! It is fun, it is different and it gives the reader a few new characters, a few old friends and of course the start of a new Life Mate relationship. Don't skip this one, it is one of her better ones!

Stephanie and her sister Dani were kidnapped and brutalized by crazed Immortals and turned. They were saved by Lucian and his team of good-guy and gal Immortals. Stephanie is very different from the others. She, as well as Dani, have no fangs and must drink their blood. In addition, Stephanie hears voices, EVERYONE's voices and it is driving her crazy to have all that noise going on in her head 24/7. The Immortals are very concerned that this will drive Stephanie crazy and she’ll turn into a killing machine. She hears their concern and fear and that worries her even more. Stephanie builds a home way out of cities so there is not nearly as much noise in her head. The other house on the land belongs to another immortal couple who use it on and off. They lent it to a poor guy who also needs seclusion.Thorne is in Canada to have surgery done. Thorne is a freak. His “father” is the evil psychopath Dressler who mixed up pieces parts of other creatures' DNA to create a superhuman baby, Thorne. Over the years Dressler tortured Thorne but thankfully his mother has been there for him. Dressler married her for her money, he drugged and abused her then he used her to help create Thorne.Good-hearted Stephanie checks on her new “neighbor” and finds that he’s pretty awesome to look at and talk to. They develop a friendship that quickly turns into romance. This is the usual Lynsay Sands Argeneau Novel, TOTALLY AWESOME, ACTION PACKED, GREAT CHARACTERS, LUCIAN, AND LOVE. I couldn’t be happier. Linda

** spoiler alert ** Another enjoyable read in the Argeneau series.Stephanie McGill had been attacked and turned by a rogue immortal when she was a teenager. The immortal who changed her was crazy, a no-fanger, and she fears for her sanity. In addition, Stephanie is telepathic, so she tends towards an isolated existence because she is overwhelmed by the thoughts of others.Thorne is the result of genetic experiments. He's not immortal, but not mortal either. He is looking for a place to hide as well. Meeting Stephanie is perfect, they understand each other's need for solitude and Stephanie cannot read Thorne in fact he actually buffers her from the outside world.And then Thorne's "creator" having heard about Stephanie comes to town to kidnap here, and discovering Thorne there is a bonus and he attempts to kidnap the pair. They will need to defend against Dressler and his group with the aid Lucian and his rogue hunters.

I loved this book. ❤️ Stephanie is finally old enough for a life mate! And not a moment too soon... Lynsay Sands has continued with her penchant for humor, Canadian idioms and light-hearted banner in this fun novel, making me smile while at the same time not being able to put it down. I always like it when she brings us back to the more "original" cast of characters in this series. Thanks for the read!

Lyndsay does it again. Thorn and Steph's story sweet and a nice read, though I wonder who the villain will be now that Drissler is dead ( spoiler).So who's story are you going to write next I wonder?

Lynsay has done it again, she has made me fall in love with the closeness and love that this family has for each other no matter what the circumstances.

Enjoyed the humour, fast paced story, inner struggle to fit in and seeing old friends. The Argeneau clan delivers more than just a fantasy story,

Great story as all the rest have been