The book “Vampire Elite” by Irina Argo is a story about two different 'races' – the vampires and the Amiti, who are the blood-stock of the vampires and are kept in dungeons so that the vampires always have a convenient source of blood at hand. Vampires become more powerful through the blood of the Amiti; however, they fear to drink it right from the Amiti themselves because this would lead to the blood-bond which would give the Amiti the power to destroy a vampire. This blood-bond was the reason the Amiti were created in the first place: their reason for existence is to teach the vampires love and compassion. The vampires resist quite well and only very few, like the former Queen of the Amiti, and the vampire king Tor. The Queen is executed because she refused to take part in the plan to bring an end to the vampires and her daughter Arianne, who is the result of a forced pregnancy with another Amiti, becomes the new queen. Tor wants revenge and the way to his revenge is through a blood-bond with his lover's daughter so that he can keep the extraordinary power that comes through the bond with the Queen of the Amiti. But what will Arianne say when she meets Tor, who is supposed to be her biggest enemy? And what role does her half-sister Simone (who is the daughter of Tor and her mother) play in all of this?

During the last decade, we have been bombarded with one vampire book after the other and I have to admit that I gave up reading any of the vampire books in the post-Anne Rice era. They were all the same with vampires becoming more and more ridiculous. So I was not too positive when I picked up “Vampire Elite” by Irina Argo and was sure it would just be another book full of sparkling, weak vampires. I was positively proven wrong though. The first few pages alone showed me that the author had a different take on vampires. She traces them back to ancient gods and tells an interesting story about the creation of the two different races: the Vampires and the Amiti. That was a good start, so I read on, wondering whether the beginning would be the only positive surprise. A few dozen pages later I realized that the book was really nice to read. You get drawn in by the characters and you want to know what happens to them. The language is clear and flows beautifully. The chapters are just the right length and it is very enjoyable to read the book. A lot of good things come together: a nice story, various interesting characters, a good writing style. Even though the book is quite long, it is no problem at all to finish it within a few days. I hope there will be more books from Irina Argo in the future.

"Vampire Elite" tells the story of an ancient war between the vampires and the Amiti. Amiti, created by Sekhmet, an Egyptian Goddess, offers the vampires a love bond and a way to curb their predatory nature; but the vampires reject the true purpose of the Amiti and see them as the ultimate enemy and precious bloodstock instead. Arianna, the young queen, becomes the last hope of the Amiti to strike back and ensure the survival of her people. But her true nature as an Amiti complicates her mission as she meets Tor, the vampire King. Now she must choose whether her love and loyalty lies with Tor or her people.

I love the story about how and why the Amiti was created. The prologue was brilliantly written. It is concise and interesting in telling the history of the vampires as well as the Amiti, using Egyptian myths as their basis. I really enjoyed reading this book and found it better than I expected it to be. I am a fan of the paranormal genre with vampires as a theme, and I found that the authors’ (aka Irina Argo) version of vampires and the Amiti is extremely refreshing and different from the version I see depicted in other novels. My favorite characters are definitely Simone and Arianna: strong, complex and believable. Other characters such as Antar, Anock and Zlata are well-conceived as well, and on top of that, most of the characters are beautiful, sexy beings. Overall, this was a fascinating read and definitely a book for anyone who loves fantasy, romance and of course vampires.

"Vampire Elite" is an epic paranormal romance about two warring factions of immortal subspecies – the vampires known as Sekhmet and the Amiti, known as The Beautiful. Hathor, the Goddess of Love and Beauty, created vampires unknowingly when she let her alter ego, the Lioness, the Goddess of Vengeance, take control and destroy the humans of Egypt because they plotted against her eternal mate, The God of Ra, the creator of Sun God. To counterbalance the bloodthirsty immortal vampires, Hathor created a new race called Amiti to unlock the love hidden within the vampires to tame their rage. Instead, vampires suspected the blond-bond that can be created between them and the Amitis so that they imprisoned the Amitis and treated them as livestock (bloodstock) to be bought, sold, and drained of their blood regularly to feed the vampires. The new Queen of the Amitis must free her people, but she falls in love with the King of the Sekhmet. The exciting battle begins between the two warring factions as each must make the ultimate sacrifice for their race.

Irina Argo writes a fantastic epic saga that every romance reader will love. I couldn’t put the book down once I started to read it – I was captivated and entranced by the battle between the Sekhmet Vampires and the Amiti. She spins a spellbinding novel of action, suspense, romance, and conscience. The readers come to understand the dilemmas faced by both factions and sympathize not only with the imprisoned Amitis, but can understand the mindset of the vampires. Argo’s talent is in weaving many fascinating and compelling characters in the whole plot so that the readers get to read about different characters in the book with their own love story. Her character development is superb as the reader got invested in many of her characters and their struggle for love. This is the type of book that will make you read all day until you get to the end! It is deliciously addictive!

"Vampire Elite" by Irina Argo asks how we can make a choice between saving our people and destroying the one we love. There has been a millennia long war between two immortal races, and it is finally time to bring that war to an end. The "Vampire Elite" began capturing members of another race of beings called the Amiti and forcing them to become blood suppliers, keeping them held in prison cells underground and treating them like livestock. It is time for the few Amiti who are free to make a stand for all of them. When the Amiti Queen is killed as a traitor her Daughter Arianna becomes the last hope for the race and she embraces her mission with relish. One thing Arianna never saw coming was the connection she would hold with the Vampire King.

The first thing I noticed about Irina Argo's "Vampire Elite" was that there were some great references to an old Egyptian Legend within it. Anything that has such references will get my attention right away. The more I read the more I enjoyed the book and how she tied the conflict and love together. The idea of a forbidden love is not a new one, but it is one that, when done right in books, really touches home. You can fully connect with not only Arianna but her love interest even if he is the King of the race that has enslaved Arianna's people. Of course it is the fact that he is the King of Vampires that brings the biggest conflict. What would you do if you were in the same situation? I know, for me it is not a situation I could handle lightly. This was a fast and good read.

Fabulous book...a real keeper...a great first effort.