Bitten & Smitten (Immortality Bites, Book 1) [Mass Market Paperback]

Michelle Rowen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2006

In Rowen's death-defyingly funny debut--a cross between "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Sex in the City"--Sarah Dearly goes on a blind date . . . with a vampire. Original.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rowen hits the nail (or is it the stake?) on the head with her feisty debut novel about a reluctant vampire trying to cope with her newfound otherworldly status. After a blind date bites Sarah Dearly on the neck and is killed by vampire hunters, she discovers she's not only a vampire but also has been left to learn the ropes of the night by herself. Thank goodness for wise "master" vampire Thierry de Bennicoeur, who saves her life, shows her to the nearest vampire hangout and wins her heart in the process. Next comes a mix of misplaced trust, stakings and bad double dates, all with the goal of outwitting the vampire hunters and getting Thierry to see that Sarah's the one for him. Rowen perfectly balances suspense and wit by tossing in one-liners just when the novel could start getting too serious ("I just need to wash my face and brush my fangs first and we can get out of here," Sarah says). Mentions of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Anne Rice ground the novel and make it a true modern girl's guide to (vampire) life. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

Blind dates can be bad, but Sarah Dearly's date is a true contender for worst ever. His neck nibbling didn't just leave a bruise; it turns her into a vampire, and the newest target for a pack of zealot vampire hunters. With her date now their latest victim, Sarah runs for her immortal life--straight into Thierry de Bennicoeur, a master vampire who is just a wee bit suicidal. Thierry can't resist a damsel in distress and agrees to teach Sarah how to live the vampire life if she'll help him end his own. But as it turns out, Sarah may be his best reason for living. Bitten & Smitten is a study in contrasts: frothy chick-lit wrapped around a grittier reality and a flip side featuring a modern heroine paired with a Brontean hero. And Rowen makes it all work together beautifully. Let us welcome this fresh voice to the genre. Nina Davis
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Forever; First edition (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446617008
• ISBN-13: 978-0446617000
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michelle Rowen writes paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and young adult fantasy. She has been on the Waldenbooks/Borders Group romance bestseller list and was the winner of the 2007 Holt Medallion for Best First Book and the 2009 Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Vampire Romance.

Please visit www.michellerowen.com to learn more about Michelle and her books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars is this where all the good men go? Really?, May 9, 2006

By 

mlle. x (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bitten & Smitten (Immortality Bites, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

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 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.

28 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious vampire story, January 1, 2006

By 

Deborah Wiley (Winter Haven, FL) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bitten & Smitten (Immortality Bites, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Sarah Dearly has the worst luck with men. She wakes up from her blind date with Gordon to find herself being buried! Gordon tells her she is now a vampire and that they'll live together forever. Of course, Sarah thinks he's a psycho and runs from him. Unfortunately, her band of rescuers turn out to be vampire hunters and naturally they want to kill her after they kill Gordon. She is then rescued by Thierry de Bennicoeur, a master vampire trying to commit suicide. Sarah fights her vampiric nature (after all, how can a girl apply makeup if she can't be seen in the mirror) and runs away from Thierry to a bar where she meets Michael Quinn. Unfortunately, Quinn is a vampire hunter and she's in a vampire hunter bar! She only escapes when Quinn's father begins berating him, not realizing that someone clad in pink yoga pants and a sparkly Diva shirt could possibly be one of the vampires he is berating Quinn for not killing. Meanwhile, vampire hunters are wiping out vampire bars throughout the area and Thierry's bar is on their list. Sarah copes with wearing an incredibly ugly bridesmaid's dress in her cousin's wedding while discovering who the vampire traitor is. This was a hilarious tale that kept me laughing throughout the novel. I kept wondering what else could go wrong in Sarah's life-- and then it would go wrong! I highly recommend this to fans of the vampire series of MaryJanice Davidson, Lynsay Sands, and Katie MacAlister.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it, September 2, 2010

By 

D. M. Michael "Deanna Rodriguez" (Poughkeepsie,NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bitten & Smitten (Immortality Bites, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I didn't know if I'd like this book going in but I got it for free so I figured I'd try it out & I really really liked it! I ended up reading it all within 1 day! I'm buying all the other books in the series now!