Just not keeping my interest. Maybe one day.

[b:How to Seduce a Vampire (Without Really Trying)|18480587|How to Seduce a Vampire (Without Really Trying) (Love at Stake, #15)|Kerrelyn Sparks|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1380484193s/18480587.jpg|26155113] (Love at Stake, #15) by [a:Kerrelyn Sparks|2357|Kerrelyn Sparks|http://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1202439212p2/2357.jpg]
An Adult Paranormal Romance Suspense
I loved it.
Fast paced and well written.
Very romantic and a really fun read ( )

For the last 300 years, Zoltan Czakvar has been the Coven Master of Eastern Europe for the Vamps and since the year 1241, he has been searching for answers of who destroyed his village when he was a teenager and killed his father. His only clue is an arrow with strange markings on it. He knows very little about where his mother had come from, maybe the East, but he knew that she could communicate with animals and birds. He inherited the ability but can only speak with mammals not birds.
When Russell, a Vamp who has been searching for Master Han, shows up to be restocked on synthetic blood, Zoltan notices he has an arrow just like the one that killed his father. Russell refuses to tell him where he got it so when Russell teleports away, Zoltan grabs onto him and hitches a ride. They end up near the Himalayan Mountains where he locates a village and starts asking questions about the arrow. The villagers are too afraid of the people who made the arrows to answer any questions so he starts searching the surrounding areas for answers.
Neona is a warrior woman from the secret valley of Beyul-La. No men are allowed to see Beyul-La and nobody besides the warrior woman can know about their sacred duty. Two weeks ago, they lost five women including Neona’s twin sister in a battle against Master Han and his soldiers. Now there are only six remaining women. When an owl warns the queen that there is an intruder in the nearby valley, she orders the women to find him. If he is a good specimen for fatherhood, sleep with him and then kill him. Neona and her pet leopard find the intruder before the other women find him. She thinks he would be a fine specimen to father a daughter so she tries to seduce him. Zoltan sees that she has the same kind of arrows that killed his fathers and wants more answers. Though he is extremely attracted to Neona, he does not sleep with her and agrees to meet her again in secret without the other women knowing.
There are so many questions that Zoltan needs answered like what are the women guarding? The water in the cave in Beyul-La keeps the women young but is that what they are guarding? Why are only women allowed there? After he has discovered the warrior women, Russell tells him that he fought with the women against Master Han’s soldiers and saved the queen. He was seriously injured so the women nursed him back to health and let him live as long as he kept their existence secret. Now Master Han wants whatever the women are guarding so Zoltan and the Vamps need to help them.
Zoltan and Neona fall in love but Neona has made a sacred vow to stay and guard Beyul-La. How can she be with Zoltan when she has to stay in Beyul-La where men are not allowed?
There is a lot going on in this book. I liked this story and it had the usual humor that I love about Kerrelyn Sparks’ writing but once again the word ‘winced’ was overused. It was used 72 times in this book. I just can’t get over it. It bugs me something fierce.
While I was reading this book, I saw that Mikhail had hooked up with Lady Pamela. It must have been in the anthology novella that I missed. Damn, I have been waiting for Mikhail’s story for a long time and now I know he hooked up with Pamela. I guess I better read that story so that is what I’m off to do now.

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Zoltan has been seeking his father's murderer for hundreds of years, Neona is part of a secret cult of women only. These lonely souls fine each other and while she's suppose to kill him he seduces her and seeks to earn her trust. I started and stopped this story several times, it was an ok read but I wanted more depth.
( )

The hero has spent hundreds of years seaking the answers to who murdered his mother and his village. His only clue is a uniquie arrow. When he finds it's like deep in the jungles of Tibet, the hero is immediately attacked by a tribal amazon. To his amazement, she's not only stunningly beautiful but she wants his seed. Her and her sisters have guarded their secret valley for thousands of years but their numbers are dwindling. She must produce a female child and the warrior who stumbles onto their land is hansom and capable in a fight. She knows instantly he will be the perfect surrogate for her daughter but he vanishes before she has a chance to seduce him. He's enamored by the woman and instantly forgets all about his quest for revenge and instead focuses entirely on making her his woman. But her people are forbidden to take a mate or a husband and if she becomes pregnant with a male child- she must do as her sister did and give him away-something that brought about her death. But the rules in the valley are changing. The enemy has amassed an army of vampires set to capture the valley and the secrets her people guard. She must rely on the man she loves to help them. I enjoyed this story but the love between the two characters was so forced and unbelievable that it really put me off. I felt as if they fell in love with one another because they want to not because they actually fell in love. The hero is lonely and seeks out a mate. The heroine is lonely and seeks out love. Of course they simply must fall for each other. It happened over the span of 3 meetings. I couldn't fall in love with them as quickly as they fell in love with each other. Also- something that frustrates me to no end- the heroine and her people have only old books and an Englishman back in the 30's to know about the outside world yet they spoke with modern phrases and contemporary sass. It threw me off. Overall this book never quite hit the right notes with me. I like my hero's dark and brooding with complex personalities and inner struggle but this dude was flippant and light and airy. He had zero dark to him. If not for the 'sass' of the heroine I would have enjoyed her. She's a fierce warrior yet she's vulnerable and self conscious but at the same time willing to take what she wanted. It's something to admire. But alas, I found this to be another rather dull addition to the series. ( )