Customer Reviews

Boys that Bite (A Blood Coven Vampire Novel)

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Sunshine "Sunny" McDonald was doing pretty well; the hottest guy at Oakridge High School, Jake Wilder, has asked her to go to the prom with him, and life is now complete. At five foot four, with dirty blond hair and unimpressive muddy brown eyes, Sunny would have sworn that Jake didn't even know she existed. Freckles notwithstanding, she's not as easily recognizable as her twin sister, Rayne, who's so into the Goth scene, vampires, and wearing all black that it's not even funny. Yes, life is looking up--until Sunny lets herself get guilt tripped into attending Club Fang, a cheesy Goth club filled with wannabe vampires, and suddenly her life isn't so sunny anymore.

The night starts out okay--yes, the club is the epitome of cheesy and the smoke machine is making her cough--but improves vastly when an Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean Orlando, not Lord of the Rings Orlando)introduces himself with a "Good evening..I'm Magnus..I believe you were expecting me" line. Sunny sure wasn't expecting him, and she definitely was not expecting the bite on the neck she gets from the totally hot Magnus.

Suddenly life is taking a dark turn, when Sunny finds out that Magnus is not only a vampire--for real!--but that he mistook her for her twin sister, Rayne. Now Sunny's going to turn into one of the undead--this close to prom!--unless she find the Holy Grail. Which is the one and only thing that can reverse the process of turning into a vampire. But even with thoughts
of Jake Wilder on the brain, Sunny's not so sure that being a vampire would be so horrible, or that being in league with Magnus would be the end of her life.

BOYS THAT BITE is a funny, action-packed read that will keep you turning pages long into the night. The characters--from Sunny, Rayne, Magnus, and everyone in between--are all well-rounded people, and the dialogue is smart and funny. As the three race to save Sunny from an eternal life as a member of the undead, she'll have to find out what's most important in life. And the ending, including a stunner regarding Rayne, definitely sets up the scene for a sequel. A great read!

I've read many vampire books (teen and adult) and I have to say this is by far the best one EVER!
It has teen drama, romance, humor, love and the vampire stuff which makes it an all around great read for teens and adults.
I'm looking forward reading the sequel 'Stake That!'.

What I Loved: This was a fun quick read that sort of reminded me of a Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode--except no real slayage unless you count Bertha! Magnus is the perfect guy for Sunny even though he is a vampire and their quipping is fun to read. I giggled more than a few times during this book.

What I Liked: Rayne--though she was not in the book enough for me probably because I liked her more than Sunny. The blog entry at the end has me thinking the next book is about her though so I am excited!

Complaints: As much as I loved the quippy banter at points it does get a little much. That being said the book was fun to read and filled that "escape to a different place" thing really well.

Why I gave it a 3: I really enjoyed this fun book. Anything that can make me giggle out loud is worth it to me.

Who would I recommend it too: Actually fans of Light Paranormal YA and the quippy sort of banter would enjoy this book. I really haven't read to many light YA books and I think this fills that gap perfectly.

[...]
Books in this Series:
Boys That Bite
Stake That!
Girls That Growl
Bad Blood
Night School (Jan 2011)
Blood Ties (Aug 2011)

Although Sunshine McDonald and her sister Rayne are identical twins, their personalities and interests couldn't be more different. It's only under protest that Sunny agrees to accompany Rayne to Club Fang, a goth club. Sunny is more field hockey and drama club than black vinyl and pierced tongues, so Club Fang is not her thing. Her night gets even worse when the hot guy that she thought was going to kiss her instead turns her into a vampire when he mistakes her for Rayne, who has secretly entered the training program for vampire recruits. Now Sunny and her new sire, Magnus, have one week to undo that bite or Sunny can say goodbye to daylight for the rest of her (eternal) life/undeath.

This book, more than anything else, reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which makes sense as Mari Mancusi mentions both the show and its creator in the acknowledgments. There is a lot of irreverent humor and witty banter here, and an easy acceptance that vampires can and do exist even though it is unknown to the rest of the world. The fact that Mancusi so clearly absorbs that Joss Whedon's version of vampire mythology into her story with her own twists and changes makes me like it even more that I already did.

This book is not perfect. At times the references to name brands took me out of the story, and sometimes Mancusi tries a little too hard to sound like a teenager. Readers also don't learn much about the vampire world in this first book. Of course, the story ends with the words "To be continued", so we know that there is more world building to come.

What redeems this book, and had reaching for the sequel, is the characters. Unlike some teen female heroines today, Sunny is not going to surrender her humanity willingly. And in that she comes closest to Buffy, a girl who would sacrifice her greatest love to save the world. Hopefully Sunny won't be faced with a decision like that.

This is one of those books that is easily devoured in very few sittings. From the first page to the last, it is a wild, raucous ride into the lives of twins who are as different as night and day and who delve into the world of vampires. But only one of them does so willingly. Rayne, the ultimate goth girl, has literally done her homework on how to become a vampire and she is all too eager to become one of the living dead. Unfortunately for her, she coerces her twin, Sunny, to go along with her to the club where she is to be initiated and it is Sunny who is bitten in her place when Magnus, Rayne's sponsor, mistakes Sunny for her twin. She soon learns, however, that there is a small window of time in which the damage can be undone and her humanity can be saved. So begins the wild race to find the cure that takes them into the heart of danger.

Along the way, Sunny must deal with her growing feelings for Magnus, the new attraction she presents for other humans, and her own ambiguity about becoming a vampire. She does so with a wit that will have readers laughing out loud, so it is highly recommended that you do not eat or drink anything while reading this book. All in all, this was a rollicking good ride that I would love to take again.

Sunshine and Rayne are twins, but absolutely nothing alike. Where Sunshine is exactly like her name implies, blond, beautiful, and full of life, Rayne is dark, mysterious, and goth. The sisters are extremely close despite their differences. Sunshine's life is about to become a lot more like Rayne's very soon.

One night Sunshine is "attacked" by Magnus and she soon begins to transform into a vampire. It turns out that Rayne had set the whole thing up, but for HER. Rayne went through vampire education classes and waited for her soulmate blood match to be picked for her after testing her blood. Magnus was meant to be Rayne's soulmate. Sunshine isn't happy with this new development in her life. She doesn't want to become a vampire. She learns about her sister's educational developments after Rayne sends her to her blog where she documented everything she learned.

In order for Sunshine to remain human and reverse the vampire transformation, she and Magnus must take on some dangerous enemies. Is it worth it to remain human? Once she is ONLY human, can she and Magnus have a life together? Read Boys That Bite in order to find out. Be sure to check out Stake That!, the sequel which shares Rayne's story. You won't be disappointed.

Mari Mancusi has succeeded in writing an interesting young adult novel that captures the reader with a unique, very teenager-like voice, and topic that fascinates many young adults today -- vampires, of course. Although Boys That Bite follows the usual scenario seen with vampire novels -- two lovers, one a vampire and one human -- Mari Mancusi has put many interesting new twists on it, not to mention a hottie hero. This tongue-in-cheek book had me laughing out loud. I would definetely recommend it. :D

The prom is almost here and Sunshine McDonald's on a mission to score the perfect date. But when a case of mistaken identity leaves her a member of the undead, Sunshine's life is turned upside down. Suddenly Sunny, her twin sister Rayne, and vampire hottie Magnus are on a whole `nother mission: this time, to find the Holy Grail and restore her human status. Vampires and Druids and prom dates - oh my!

Mari Mancusi's BOYS THAT BITE is a hilarious look into the life of a teenage vampire. I read this novel in a matter of hours. Fabulous reading! I loved it to death!

Meet Sunshine and Rayne McDonald, twin sisters who have identical features but totally different personalities. Sunny likes the spotlight; Rayne prefers the nightlife. While perky Sunny wears trendy clothes and wants to star in the school musical, sarcastic Rayne dresses in black and wants to become a vampire.

There's just one small problem. Magnus, the vampire with the killer British accent who was supposed to sire Rayne, accidentally bit Sunny instead. Now Sunny has seven days to find a way to reverse things and get her life back - literally - or she'll be a vampire for all time.

This book has the silliness of the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer while often commenting on its television counterpart. In this story, though, the vampire slayer is not all that attractive or healthy, that the vampire leader is too adorable and childlike to seem vicious, and the Holy Grail is key to the reversal of vampirism. The story will make you chuckle more than scream, and the amount of pop culture references far outweighs the number of bites. Boys That Bite by Mari Mancusi is a quick, light read that will appeal to teens and adults who like supernatural comedies.

Identical twins Sunny and Rayne McDonald couldn't be more different: while Rayne would give her life (literally) to join the vampires in the Blood Coven, Sunny wants out...NOW! It all started with a bad case of mistaken identity. Rayne persuades Sunny to come with her to a nightclub known as Club Fang (very appropriate). Here, a vampire (Magnus) bites the wrong twin, beginning the process of vampirism. From here, Sunny has less than a week to reverse the process, and the only one who is able to help her with this is none other than Magnus, the very vampire that bit her!

I'm not a huge vampire fan, but I decided to give this series a chance and I absolutely loved it! It was very funny and entertaining. I really liked that it was a light read with a simple plot, yet the character interactions were a bit conflicting, having that Sunny is trying to not fall for Magnus, which let me tell you, is kind of hard. Though he is sometimes cocky, he is also very sweet and caring. Plus he has a sexy British accent, and since he's a vampire, he is absolutely gorgeous! All that just spells HOT!

I am really looking forward to reading the rest of the series!