A review by lisa_me
Wanted: Undead or Alive by Kerrelyn Sparks

4.0

Are you a fan of Phineas McKinney, a.k.a. Dr. Phang, a.k.a. the Love Doctor? He gets a new moniker in [b:Wanted: Undead or Alive|11437971|Wanted Undead or Alive (Love at Stake, #12)|Kerrelyn Sparks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327889653s/11437971.jpg|16371613]. He makes a commercial for Blardonnay, the chardonnay-blood fusion drink, and becomes The Blardonnay Guy (like The Old Spice Guy). He even says "Hello Ladies." Fans of Phineas, rejoice!

And now to our story. If you're not a fan of the Love doctor, you'll be happy to know that Phineas grows up in Wanted and drops the Love Doctor routine. He goes undercover to catch Corky Courrant, the self-proclaimed Queen of the Malcontents. When the plan goes awry and Corky escapes, teams from MacKay Security and Investigations are spread across the world looking for her. Phineas receives a clue that she's in Wyoming, and he needs a day guard to go with him to check it out. The person available is Brynley Jones (introduced in [b:Vampire Mine|7997987|Vampire Mine (Love at Stake, #10)|Kerrelyn Sparks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1308973374s/7997987.jpg|12507980]).

Phineas is secretly in love with Brynley. There's a slight problem with that, however. Brynley is a werewolf who hates vampires. She does have a thing for The Blardonnay Guy, though. Brynley agrees to go to Wyoming, but only if she can stay hidden from her father. She'd run away from home when he tried to marry her off to an alpha she didn't want to marry.

Phineas and Brynley go to Wyoming together and find much more trouble than they were expecting …
~~~~~
I have to admit that I dragged my feet before getting around to reading this book, because I wasn't a fan of the Love Doctor. I didn't see how Sparks could make a hero out of a running joke. I should have known better. Within the first few pages I knew that Phineas was hero material and that I was in good hands.

Likewise, I wasn't fond of Brynley in [b:Vampire Mine|7997987|Vampire Mine (Love at Stake, #10)|Kerrelyn Sparks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1308973374s/7997987.jpg|12507980]. But in Wanted, Brynley is a likable, sympathetic character. As hero and heroine, Phineas and Brynley were funny together and well-matched.

As are all Love as Stake books, Wanted was a fun, light read. Sparks is very clever with a turn of phrase that can make you smile or even laugh out loud.

"…Those Scottish barbarians will never--" [Corky] gasped when the door crashed open and a horde of kilted barbarians rushed in at vampire speed.

On second look only Angus, Robby, Ian, and Dougal were wearing kilts. The others wore pants, but would probably enjoy being called barbarians.


I won't spoil the ending of Wanted, but there's a great twist that you won't want to miss. I'm sure it will figure in future books.

The next book is Howard's story, [b:Wild About You|13455417|Wild About You (Love at Stake, #13)|Kerrelyn Sparks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1340695327s/13455417.jpg|18983694]. It will be released September 25, 2012.

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