Customer Reviews

Bite Me!

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bite Me! tells the story of 17 year-old AJ Ashe, who's holding in a big secret. She's a vampire. But vampires in AJ's world are different from your typical legendary vampires. They function perfectly well in daylight and they don't have to feed off humans. Instead, they drink hemo-shakes. When AJ's mother marries the father of the boy AJ is in love with, trouble starts. Now, she has to put aside her romantic feelings for Ryan and pretend their new melting pot family is one big modern Brady Bunch. Bite Me! is funny, spooky, and one fabulous read! I highly recommend it for both teens and adults, alike.

I was a huge Buffy fan, so I was super excited to read Bite Me! And it doesn't disappoint--AJ is one of the best, brightest, funniest heroines I've read in a long time, and the tension of the plot kept me turning pages so fast I almost hurt myself! I couldn't wait to find out what happened with AJ, Ryan, and the gang. The mystery is very suspenseful, but there's some good romance in there, too. Pretty much everything I want in a book, Bite ME! delivers!

AJ Ashe, a teenage Southern belle, is hiding a secret.

Her family is descended from a long line of vampires - yep, I just said vampires. AJ has fangs and occasionally craves blood, but she has also suppressed many of her vamp instincts to fit into "normal" society.

The part that's not normal - AJ's mom is marrying her boyfriend's father.

AJ knows she can't be with Ryan, especially now that they are step-siblings. The reality of the situation doesn't make it hurt any less. AJ tries to push Ryan into the arms of another willing female, but they just can't seem to avoid one another.

And then, of course, other weirdness starts going down. AJ discovers that her family is part of the Serpentine clan; a high school friend is killed, rises from the dead, and begins to stalk her; AND she gets suspended from school.

Just another day in the life of a teenage vampire!

Melissa Francis has successfully produced a fun and fresh vampire novel. The story itself is engaging, and you can't help but love the characters. Many a teenage girl will empathize with AJ and her angst-ridden relationship with Ryan.

I enjoyed the fact that Francis has made her vampires very different from those in the TWILIGHT series. These vamps have their own set of rules to follow.

I am so glad that I got my hands on this book. The ending left me wanting more, so here's hoping that many sequels will follow!

Reviewed by: LadyJay

My Thoughts: Whoa. This book was amazing. I love a good vampire story and lately have been left longing for a really good one. This book was that. I loved Bite Me. It started off with AJ's mom marrying Ryan's Dad making Ryan her stepbrother. Of course AJ is totally in love with this boy so that puts a damper on things. she starts doing research on her family history and it leds to some amazing discoveries. Later in the story we find out Ryan's family history which fits really well into AJ's family. This book was a really good one and I really enjoyed reading it. It does not dissapoint at all! Its detailed and explains alot. And the characters of AJ and Ryan make the story magical!!!!

Overall: I loved this book! It was really great and I will reread it! Great Great Great novel!

Cover: I really loved the cover. It is very colorful and catches the eye quickly. It stands out of all the other young adult books on the shelf. I am now a huge fan of Melissa Francis! (Reviewed at [...])

"So here I stood with my two sisters in the backyard of the antebellum mansion our melting-pot family would call home, wearing my pretty dark pink sundress and staring across at my new "brothers" (the oldest of whom I still wanted to jump, by the way) while our parents vowed to love each other for eternity."

Ariel Jane Ashe's life totally sucks and it's not just because she's a 17-year-old vampire (pun totally intended). While she's happy that her mother is marrying the man of her dreams in Rick Fraser, A.J. is not so keen on the twisted version of the Brady Bunch her family has become. It's not that she doesn't like Rick sons, it's more that she likes one of them a little too much. Ryan Fraser has been A.J.'s boyfriend for months and now, just because their parents decided to make them a family, they have to break up to avoid becoming a living incarnation of the oldest Mississippi cliché.

At first, Ryan's not down with A.J.'s vow to be `just siblings,' but when he takes her command to "just move on" to heart and brings gloomy Lindsey Rockport to the the end of summer bonfire, A.J. is both hurt and jealous. So much so, in fact, that she turns to classmate Noah James for comfort (and revenge) and that's when everything turns really weird. Noah turns up dead and A.J. (who can't remember a big chunk of the evening thanks to the fact that she drank beer - a big vampire no-no) is afraid she might have killed him. She WAS having some seriously vampy feelings that night. And the fact that Noah's body disappeared from the funeral home and might now be walking around like a creature from a late night B movie? Not exactly comforting.

So now A.J. is stuck trying to solve the riddle of undead Noah on her own. She won't risk drawing her mother or her sisters into danger and she can't reveal her side of the family's little `fang secret' to her new steps. And to top it all off, it turns out the fate of humankind may (or may not) rest on A.J.'s shoulders. And oh yeah. she still can't be with the boy she loves.

A.J. Ashe blows into the dark and angst-driven world of teen paranormal fiction like a breath of fresh air. She's funny. sassy and often totally confused - which makes her a lot like the majority of high school students. Bite Me! is well-written with a great story and filled with interesting and likable characters - a whole bunch of fun.

As one of my other reviews (Follow Me, E.C. Foster) states, it helps to know the author. And I do, for my daughter and Mel(issa) were (and still are) BFF. So Jenn--at my direction--bought me a book (to become a gift)--autographed, no less. It has been sitting in my bookshelf (one of them) since then. "Remember," Jenn said, "It's written for a 17-year-old girl." OK.
After slogging through a Robert Penn Warren tome (World Enough and Time-see review), I definitely needed a change of pace. So I took down Bite Me! and read for an hour. The next night, I finished the darn thing--couldn't/ wouldn't/ didn't need to put it down.
I was impressed (nay, amazed) with the good writing. To me Mel is not 41, but still 18 like the last time I saw her.
Like another reviewer (the English teacher), I could have done without the blue language, but as my 20-year-old grandson has said for several years, "Everybody knows those words."
I will recommend it to a writer friend (with two teenagers) for her to read as she continues writing her own teen novel. Except for the language and suggestive interactive bodily stuff, she might get a kick out of it.
And to think that I missed the local book signing.

3 stars - Bite Me! Was cute. Had an interesting storyline which kept the pages turning as the story progressed. The characters are likeable and interesting. There were a couple laugh-out-loud moments which just added to everything as a whole. When I first read the description about the book, I thought it sounded like a fun read and that's just what it was.

It does have some "fluff" to the story, but didn't bother me nor did I feel it took away from the story. Really, there was more mystery then anything else. Over all the characters and story were fun and the end left me wondering what would happen next? I will be sure to read the sequel - Love Sucks! - out in 2010.

I really liked this book. It was a great YA vampire book. High School drama with a twist. This book kept me entertained until the end. And I have to say that I did not see the end coming.
The book starts off at AJ's mom's wedding. The kicker is that AJ's mom is marrying her ex-boyfriend's dad who she had to break up with because her mom and her ex Ryan's dad decided to get married.
You then get to hear about AJ's vampire side and what the backwards S means on her neck. Also Ryan and his family don't know that AJ and her side of the family are vampires. But like I said at the beginning of my review, I never expected the ending.
AJ's mom then tells her a little about her past, and her dad, who is not around. So AJ goes to her teacher, Mr. Charles to learn more about vampires, only to find herself in a lot more trouble then she thought.

I'm a big fan of vampire books and I like to see how each author portrays the idea of vampires in ther 'real world'. Melissa Francis did a great job. The story isn't predictable and I loved the forbidden romance that was going on with AJ and Ryan. I basically loved everything about this book! It's not just for teens either. I can't wait for the sequel!

This was an interesting book to read that built very well on itself.

The storyline was fun, entertaining, and kept me wanting to read more. The mystery kept building.

This book would have been a good addition to a high school library, but there is some language used in parts of the book that could have been left out. It wouldn't have detracted from the story at all if it hadn't been included. The foul language is used in only a few instances, but it is the only thing that keeps me from giving a 5 star.

You won't be disappointed reading this book. I have just ordered the follow-up book "Love Sucks".