Bitten and Smitten

Okay, I really loved this book. I've been shying away from all the cutesy vampire stuff as it just gets on my nerves, which is why it took me so long to get to this one. Surprisingly I love it, the main heroine was a great person I dug reading about, the humor was well-laced and genuinely funny without being nauseating, the plot was a good one, and the ending a great wrap-up. Certainly worth a read for any considering it.

This is one of those books with a plucky heroine of the underdog sort nabs the powerful, sophisticated, and drop dead gorgeous hero. I like these sorts of stories if the heroine is sufficiently plucky that I really root for her - but Sarah never struck me as being particularly extraordinary. She's a college dropout secretary of unexceptional looks who is a self-described bubblehead. But she doesn't have, say, the breezy, irreverant boldness of (Undead and... series) Betsy Taylor - a character who manages to wear her faults with panache.

Nor is she really all that bold - she's just very insistent about going to the vampire club that the hero, Thierry, owns, and insisting that she be allowed to talk to him. Every night something happens show more that causes her to swear she will never return, and every night there she is, standing at the door demanding to see Thierry.

We are led to believe that she has some sort of conversion - that she realizes that she used to be an airhead and has changed her ways and will now approach life with more soul and thoughtfulness. But since the book's timespan is probably no more than a week, I wasn't really convinced.

Thierry is a good enough cold, in-control, bottled up, and uber powerful vampire master. That's kind of the problem. He seems intelligent, mature, and calm - I couldn't figure out why he was bowled over by plucky, which is to say whiny, Sarah Dearly. Not only that, for a good chunk of the novel he is fighting his attraction to her, which consists of being really, really convincingly not interested in her, and kind of contemptuous of her.

It was an entertaining enough read, but I was ultimately too frustrated with the heroine to really empathize with her. show less

Think of the worst date you’ve ever had….have you got it? Good. Now I guarantee that Sarah Dearly’s date was infinitely worse. Okay, blind dates usually suck, right? Awkward silences, sweaty palms, the disappointment, annoyance, or clinginess, and the urge to kill the friend who set you up….But at least your date didn’t kill you. Sarah’s did, and then he buried her.

She wakes up a vampire and is immediately running for her life from hunters. With her sire (the date) dead, her rescuer powerful but suicidal, and being fired for sucking on her boss’s paper cut, her only refuge is a vampire night club masquerading as a tanning salon. Life (or death) is never going to be the same.

In the grand scheme of paranormal romances, this show more one is pretty tame. The only vampiric thing Sarah does is drink blood (out of a glass) and get hunted by vampire slayers. But there are two “heroes” throughout and until the end you’re really not sure who to root for (which is kind of fun and different). Thierry Bennicoeur is the suicidal, hot, sexy “Master” vampire, while Michael Quinn has a vendetta (and issues) all his own.

Some fun characters and interesting developments, not a “must read”, but not a waste of time. I plan to check out the sequel Fanged and Fabulous. show less

It's your standard paranormal/slightly urban fantasy novel. There wasn't anything particularly memorable about this addition to the genre but it was enjoyable and had me laughing. It's not bad - it's just you've read one, you start to feel like you've read them all. The main character is your typical hopeless female with snark. The romance was sweet enough although instalove, so depends on what you're looking for in a story. But it's a great beach type read. 3 stars.

This one belongs on my 'Almost Didn't Finish' shelf.

Nothing new about the characters, the story, or the fluffiness. On the other hand, the text flows smoothly, a rare quality these days.

Sarah, the indomitable, irrepressible, wisecracking chick-lit heroine, is turned by a vampire who promptly gets himself staked, leaving her sans sire. She's adopted by an ancient vampire she happens to find standing on a bridge, about to put an end to his boring existence.

Totally generic narrative and two-dimensional characterisation, but still fun to read.

Good

Funny. Sex and the City vibes. Sarah is a very fun and lovable character. The storyline was good with some nice plot twists.

Very funny book that made your heart ache in certain scenes and you're eyes cry with laughter and others. Basically the heroine is bitten and turned into a vampire by her dates and as she runs fleeing for her life she finds the hero on a bridge trying to kill himself. He saves her life, much to his displeasure and offers her a job. It was fun not to know exactly what was on his mind and it's heartwarming to find out just how much he loves the heroine.