Alexandra Willan is a restaurant owner with problems. As she attempts to expand her business to a second location, all sorts of mishaps seem to occur: wrong tile installed, wrong paint delivered, wrong carpet put down. The latest mishap, the head chef of her first restaurant quitting, has left her in a very difficult situation. Alex is a great chef, but she cannot cook and supervise the progress of the new restaurant at the same time. A conversation with her sister Sam seems to bring a solution when she suggests Alex hire Cale Valens as her head chef until she finds someone else to fill the position.

Unbeknownst to Alex, her sister Sam is mated to a vampire and is desperately looking to find a life mate for Alex among the immortal community. Cale is over two thousand years old and has given up on finding a life mate. His aunt Marguerite, family matchmaker, suggests he meet Alex and sure enough they are a match. The problem now is convincing the stubborn, workaholic, and love-shy Alex that they belong together. Oh, and there is the slight issue of her accepting a vampire for a mate. As if that were not enough, Cale has no idea how to cook and has not tried wooing a woman in hundreds of years. Not to mention they still have to get the second restaurant off the ground and figure out who is trying to ruin Alex’s career.

Hungry for You continues the Argeneau family saga. This series can be likened to a paranormal romance soap opera, being as close to classic romance novels as you can get when the main characters are vampires. The book is filled with Sands’ trademark humor, colorful characters and entertaining plot. Unlike the previous installment, Born to Bite, this novel focuses on one of the Argeneau’s civilian family whose potential life mate is also a civilian. There is a lot less action than in the series’ Rogue Hunter books. It’s a nice change of pace and the chemistry between the character is enjoyable, as well as the slow progression of the relationship.

While Sands’ vampires know their life mates from the start, they still have to work in order to achieve their happily ever after. This is refreshing in a genre that too often has characters in bed by the end of the first chapter. Cale’s ignorance of some modern aspects and the way he deals with Alex’s totally clueless behavior can be laugh out loud funny. This story went at a slow but even pace that resulted in a satisfying romantic build up. The one weakness in the storyline is the conclusion which seemed rushed. After such careful development of the story, everything is resolved in the last two chapters with minimum drama. There was not even an epilogue to give it a true sense of resolution.

Hungry for You is an entertaining read. A classic romance with a paranormal twist that is sure to satisfy most romance fans. The conclusion could have been handled better, but this is a minor complaint. Readers should also be aware that this book is part of a series. There are many characters that overlap stories and storylines that blend into each other. Hungry for You can be read as a stand-alone book, but readers would benefit from reading the previous books in the series.

Reviewed by: Denise