Customer Reviews

Bite Me

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Bite Me is one of those books that has been sitting on my shelf forever and I'm just now getting around to reading. It's also one of those books I wish I'd picked up the second it came in my mailbox.

While the first couple of chapters start out slow, Bite Me quickly wrapped me up in lots of suspense, drama, and romance. It was a nice change of pace from many of the other paranormal books out there because, instead of fawning over the vampires and their hotness, these characters are kicking vampire butt. In fact, my favorite thing about the book was the characters. They had spunk and personality, which added so much to the story. I also loved all of the different paranormal creatures introduced.

Like I mentioned, the plot moves pretty quickly and there's a lot of fun vampire-butt-kicking, as well as some romance and drama.

The one thing I do feel like I need to mention is that while this is marketed towards YA, there's a lot of romance that I feel would also be more suited for an adult novel. But, that's just my personal opinion and while it didn't take away from the story for me, I just wanted everyone to be aware of that.

Overall, I highly recommend this.

BITE ME is the first book of Parker Blue's Demon Underworld series for young adults. The main character, Val Shapiro is turning eighteen. She isn't your typical teen though. She's part human, part demon. Her stepfather has tried to help her deal with the darker side by hunting vampires. Some might feel this is too much like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." I didn't. The demon side of her persona is a constant battle. If she doesn't let it out to kill vampires, she might end up like her father who went insane and committed suicide.

Val comes with additional baggage. Although she has a good relationship with her stepfather, her mother has trouble coping. Her half-sister, Jen, wants to be just like her. The problem with that is her sister is human. When Jen is discovered sneaking out of the house to follow Val on one of her hunts, Val's blamed as a bad influence. She's kicked out of the house. This doesn't stop Jen. In fact, it has the opposite effect.

Val finds a job with the San Antonio Police Department's Special Crimes Unit where she can put her skills to use. Although she is relieved to have a job, she is forced to take on a partner, Dan Sullivan. To add to the mix is a hellhound, Fang. Together, they make an unbeatable team to hunt vampires. But when the vamps target her family, their skills might not be enough to save them.

This story has wall-to-wall action. I loved Val, Dan, and Fang. Can't wait for book two!

Val Shapiro is a teenager who is part succubus, but seven-eighth humans. All her life she has tried to suppress the demon she calls Lola as if it was a separate part of her. Two things appease Lola's appetite: sex and the bloodlust of battle. Since she almost killed a boy she kissed, Val uses Lola's bloodlust to fight vampires killing humans.

One night when she is fighting a vampire, she discovers her sister Jen has snuck in the back seat of her car. When they return home, their mother kicks Val out and forbids her any contact with Jen and her step-father agrees. Needing a job, Val obtains work with the Special Crimes Unit that deals with paranormal crime; executing vamps preying on humans. She is assisted by a sidekick dog who is a hell hound and who becomes her friend. She is partnered with Dan, a man she likes more than is safe for his well being due to Lola, but she is unable to dampen the sparks between them. They search for a vampire lair while the vampire Alejandro has started a movement to get humans to donate blood to a blood bank and they will be paid in cash or enthrallment. Val has to rescue Jen before she is turned and find her missing stepfather.

The heroine's mom comes across like Cinderella's stepmother, throwing out of her home the offspring she loathes to protect the daughter she loves. Jen's father seduced her using his incubus powers and the woman has never forgiven him and struck back at him through a surrogate: his child. Teenagers will empathize with Val whose differences set her apart from her peers, but make her a strong SCU operative. Parker Blue provides an entertaining romantic supernatural thriller that fans of Stephanie Meyer will want to bite into the tale.

Harriet Klausner

Val Shapiro doesn't patrol the streets of greater San Antonio hunting vampires for kicks, nor is she fulfilling some sacred, ancient prophecy. She's just trying to cope with life as a demon/human offspring and sate the lust of her succubus half (Lola) by dusting vamps after dark. When her little sister, Jennifer, tags along on the nightly hunt without permission, Val returns home to find herself kicked out and forbidden from making further contact with her family, all on her eighteenth birthday.

Having met up with Special Crimes Unit hunky detective Dan Sullivan while patrolling the night before, it's not long before Val's on her way to earning a living from her slaying duties. With her new half-terrier/half-hellhound sidekick, Fang, in tow, and Dan's sister, Gwen, as a roommate, Val's just in time to investigate the New Blood Movement. While NBM's leader, Alejandro, says the group wants nothing more than an improvement in vampire/human relations, Val and her SCU colleagues have their doubts. When a rash of innocent humans are targeted by rogue vamps and New Blood's most recent volunteer disappears, Val's no longer letting Lola out just for kicks.

In some ways, Parker Blue's BITE ME treads familiar ground, specifically a young girl hunting big bad beasties in the night; but that trope is turned on its head in several ways. The slayer herself is half-demon and has not taken up the call of vampire hunting to fulfill a lifelong destiny. Val is, quite simply, an isolated, neglected young girl with limited options when it comes to satisfying her demon's desires. Ms. Blue takes the idea of self-determination a step further by not making vampires evil by nature.

Obviously, there are vampires who drink humans dry, but the members of the New Blood Movement demonstrate their ability to make the choice for themselves. We can make a similar assumption about demons, given Val's choice to protect people who would otherwise be defenseless against creatures with superhuman abilities. The importance of choice becomes even clearer when Val meets fellow half-demon Micah Blackburn and sees how he employs his incubi powers as a dancer at the club Purgatory rather than seducing unwitting females.

The best thing about BITE ME, though, has to be its characters, due mostly to the portrayal of their humanity - yes, even in the demons and vampires. Val may be sarcastic and sassy while kicking vampires to the curb, but she's also a little lost and unsure. Dan may be a salt-of-the-earth detective and devoted sibling, but he's not without prejudice against all things supernatural. Stepfather Rick is obviously torn about keeping his wife happy and protecting their daughter, Jennifer, at Val's expense. My favorite character has to be Fang. With his ability to sniff out vampires, telepathy, snarky humor, and motorcycle goggles, he's the cherry on top of the BITE ME sundae.

Reviewed by: Cat

This book is a standard teen fiction vampire novel. The writing is weak and the plot is fairly predictable. There are quite a few weak plot points that range from implausible to contradictory. The protagonist doesn't seem deeply affected by her family problems or her romantic rejection, nor is she deeply affected by her half-demon nature, and she is never in any particularly believable danger of dying. Also, her dog sidekick is both irritating and wholly unnecessary to the plot. The writing is immature, and the author almost completely neglects the interesting social problems attached to vampires. As someone who reads a good deal of horror and epic fantasy, I was unimpressed with this book.

Nonetheless, this book isn't meant to be horror or epic fantasy, it's teen romance fiction. It's there for the 12-18 female crowd, so it'd be wrong to hold it up to the standards of high literature. The plot, for all its faults, does move along at a nice quick pace, and never gets unnecessarily convoluted. And you can't beat the $0.00 price tag.

I'm going to tentatively recommend this to everyone as a merely decent freebie with which to pad your reading list. Read it when you have time to waste, and perhaps you'll enjoy it more than I did.

I'm well past the age group this book is aimed at, but still found it an excellent read. The normal teen/family conflict is well presented. The story line had some twist and turns I didn't expect and left a few unanswered questions which will make me look for another book about this interesting character.

Bite Me is Book 1 of a promising new teen series of the Demon Underground. The smart dialogue and comebacks reminded me of Buffy's quick wit and attitude. Val, although a strong, fast and skilled vampire slayer, is still your average teenage girl with insecurities, vulnerabilities and family issues, who also has to deal with her inner succubus demon (still teen friendly, there is no sex). While a lot of vampire books are "dark", to me this book had a lighter feel to it, but still dealt with complex emotions and featured fast paced action. I got Book 1 when it was offered free on the kindle and this is the first free book I enjoyed so much that I immediately purchased the second in the series.

In this young adult paranormal, a vampire slayer who longs to be human fills her evenings cleaning up the city streets. When her kid sister goes missing, Val Shapiro hits the streets to find her becasue there are all kinds out there. Armed with silver stakes, a telepathic hellhound, and a lot of moxie, this young woman journeys through the seedier side of San Antonio and worse to save the ones she loves. An engrossing read. - Maggie Toussaint, author

I found Val to probably be one of the most mature 18 year old characters I have ever read before. In fact, I think that if someone were to read this book not knowing that she was 18 they would assume that she was in her twenties or early thirties (what does this mean? Well it means that y'all out there who like adult PNR and UF but don't really like YA PNR and UF will really enjoy this book and probably even forget that it is a YA book!). Also, her demon abilities were quite unique in my opinion (as I say time and time again, no sparkly vamps or underage wolves anywhere!). And because of Val's somewhat cruddy upbringing, Lola, and all of the creepy crawlies hellbent on destroying humanity, you cannot help but root for her and hope that everything works out in her favour! And Fang? Well, I could go on about Fang all day long! He is just so gosh darn cute and snarky (I am sure that if he were to read what I just wrote he would respond with I LIKE HER).

One complaint I have of this book is that I felt like it didn't really give us all that much a physical description of the characters (save for Shade, Jen, Alejandro, and Micah- the secondary characters). I only know what Val looks like because of the model on the cover of the book, and in picturing Dan all I can think of it some generic looking guy- kinda a cross between a football player and a cop.

All in all, I think that this is a great book for UF/PNR lovers of all ages! It is really action packed, unique, and full of kick-butt female heroine goodness!

super fun and exciting. very entertaining. Not for kids- teenagers, older teenagers at best. Didn't put it down. the characters are VERY engaging. I just bought the next two books in the series!