Customer Reviews

Necking: A Novel

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

 

 

Necking has a terrific premise--a sleek, young NYC book publicist who specializes in representing undead authors falls in love with the sexy vampire manager of her newest sensation. Lots of wit, tension, and sex ensue, and a side plot of tracking a deadly, sadistic vampire master should round out the story. But yet, Necking is often scattered and missing the depth of emotion that would connect its readers to its characters.

Gia is a very take charge type of human, and Jonathan is the very sexy vampire she finds herself magnetically attracted to. Lola, her werewolf best friend, warns her that she's getting in over her head, but Gia seems unable to help herself. Much of the novel shows the desperate lust these two feel for one another, and Gia's realization that being with Johnny means much more than simply having sex with him. While both seem to grapple with the situation, they do play wonderfully off one another with some great one liners that show the friendship they feel. It is when the story tries to stretch beyond their relationship and encompass a revenge story that the focus is lost and a ho-hum type of feeling comes over the novel.

I liked this book, but it's certainly not particularly riveting. I had big problems with Gia's decision and what she does to her family; surely something else could have happened. I also was very disappointed in the amount of typos I found in this final copy I bought off the shelves; it read too much like an uncorrected proof with lots of misplaced quotation marks, missing words, and sentences that didn't make a whole lot of sense. Whoever edited this one needs a job review because it was very, very distracting for me. So while I liked this one, I'm not sure I'd recommend it beyond my friends who love vampires. Outside of the vamps, it's just a so-so story that really needed a clearer focus.

My excitement level was pretty high regarding this novel. Grr...look at those nails! Because of my elevated excitement can you feel the disappointment radiating off of this review? The novel tried to be Carrie Bradshaw meets Betsy Vampire Queen, but in the end it just turned out to be dry and had about as much bite as a neutered Pekineses.

REVIEW: The tag line says it all, Dating a Vampire is going to be the death of her. Well you know she ends up dating him, and you know in the end she ends up dead, I guess the question is dead or undead?

Giovanna is a New York publicist who specializes in a unique type of clientele. Vampires, werewolves, even a few aliens. She think she has it all figured out until she finds herself ridiculously attracted to one of her clients managers, who happens to be of the undead variety.

Throughout the pages of the novel, Gia battles the attraction to Johnny, investigates her clients dark past for her and handles up more mundane publicist problems - like an assistant that calls in sick constantly. All in all it is a rather droll account of a woman's slow progression from lust to love (which 40% of it happened before the accounts of the book) and then the usual question any mortal has to ask themselves when dating a vampire - will undead look good on me?

While it did keep me entertained, it really was a nothing-new account of a mortal's dealings with the undead. I really thought the book would be unique, especially when I read the back cover about aliens and fun clients that she has to figure how to get through metal detectors and such...but those tid-bits were really one-liners and there was really no details. Even the drama that was supposed to happen - Gia's dealings with the undead bogey man of epic caliber (you know the vampire that hunts werewolves for sport) well that one ended rather quickly and left me unsatisfied.

Then moving on to the sexiness, this book cover screams sexy PNR, well there is some sex, but it is half described and hinted at. There is a lot of teasing back and forth...but there isn't much of the actual deed. On a sexy rating, this one also fell a bit flat.

Then there was Gia, the main character. She wasn't very believable, or likable. Gia is hot, has the perfect job, smart, has so many friends and acquaintances she knows everyone in New York. Everyone likes her, except of course Johnny's ex-girlfriend (cause she's jealous - but that's ok she is now an undead prostitute skank), she even wins over the mute super-old leader of the group who hasn't liked like anyone for like a 1,000 years. Just rather unbelievable and she came off as shallow and full of herself, but everyone liked her. Come on, everyone has some flaws and I really don't want to read about perfect people.

In essence, while I read it to the conclusion and felt it had potential, in essence I was left dissatisfied and disappointed. It had me thinking of that Lily Allen Song, Not Fair. All the building blocks were there... just didn't make me scream.

Oh wait and speaking of Epilogues! Ridiculous, there was no reason for that epilogue which went into minute details that really were unnecessary. I guess if I would have cared about Johnny and Gia it would have been fun and exciting to read. I guess.

RECOMMENDATIONS: For PNR lovers, but don't expect the usual nookieness. Fans of the Betsy Vampire Queen series, Katie MacAlister books might enjoy. Rated R, they do engage in sex, just not explicit.

Necking was a pretty enjoyable novel. The author had a different take on the vampire genre which was refreshing.

Gia is a Publicist for a NYC Publishing Company that represents Vampires, werewolves and the occasional alien. This is a cute and funny tale where this human girl falls in love with her client, Bella's vampire cousin/manager, Johnny. They flirt and send silly IMs with vampire jokes back and forth to each other but try to avoid the attraction they feel for one another for obvious reasons. That no longer works for them and eventually they end up together. Things happen and the only way she and johnny can be together is if she is changed. Gia also puts herself in danger by helping Bella find her maker, Daniel. Gia also gets into trouble with her best friend and werewolf, Lola.

All and all this was a fun and fluffy read. It was cute and funny and if you like vampire tales, it's worth a try.

I hope Chris Salvatore decide to continue to write as this one book of hers from 2008 was fantastic. Its about a New York publicist whose best friend Lola is a werewolf and boyfriend Johnny is a vampire. In her career she has dealt with many vampires, were wolves, witches and even aliens. Johnny is the only one to capture her heart with love to the point where she develope a condition not seen in centuries. As she works on a favor for Johnny's vampire cousin Bella (whose writing career he manages) she is given three choices. 1) try to fall out of love with Johnny. 2) be turn into a vampire herself. 3) allow the condition she has cause her to bleed to death. Unlike most vampire love stories where the person is transformed with a single bite or done in a single chapter Gia's transformation slowly takes place though a good deal of the book as she gets her affairs in order and plan a fake death for her family and friends who unaware of the paranormal that exists out there. The book is full of nice surprises such as dealing with a retired vampire slayer and like Lola's were wolf back story as well as some back history on some of the main vampires characters. Gia's boss Lois is a well fully develope character who keeps the reader surprised at what her reaction to the bizare events around her will be. While an alternative ending to the book could of been telling her parents whose the only part of her old life she really misses would of been to pretend to be in the witness protection program so she could easy contact them once in a while the ending that Chris Salvatore created really took me off guard and was fantastically unlike any other vampire love story I read before.

Gia Felice is a publicist for Speculation, taking care of authors needs in the fantasy and horror genres. The quirk to her job is that many of her authors are vampires or werewolves, although their readership has no idea. To say Gia keeps late hours is an understatement. She really loves her job though and has quite a knack for keeping her supernatural clients happy.

One of her biggest authors, Belladonna Nightshade is a best selling vampire author. Her assistant Johnny is an over two hundred year old vampire, who Gia has been attracted to since they first met. They have a very flirty, wise-ass relationship on both sides. Because Johnny is a vampire with supernatural strength, they both have stayed on the safe flirty side, but things are starting to change. Innocent brushes of the arm, or bumps up against each other are starting to happen more frequently. Gia can't get Johnny out of her mind, her heart races every times he sees him. He is feeling the same way - but knows a relationship with a human is impossible.

On top of her feelings for Johnny, Bella asks for Gia's help to find the vampire that changed her hundreds of years ago. Her turn was very violent as she watched her lover die before her eyes. Bella escaped her maker after a year in his service, but still wants revenge. Gia, having lots of contacts in this supernatural world agrees to see what she can do.

Soon, Johnny's feelings become so intense, that he starts bringing Gia's blood to the surface, her cuts won't heal, and she is bruising easily. His love is literally making her bleed. He is also having trouble controlling his instincts, and Gia's safety becomes an issue. The decision of her life has come to the forefront - part ways with this dangerous vampire, or leave her mortal existence behind.

Necking starts off so light hearted and airy - almost the same tone as Molly Harper's Nice Girls Book. We find Gia and Johnny in a very humorous, cute friendship - but that friendship soon starts to push boundaries. Gia knows she is in love with him and starts to push Johnny for more. Their flirty style soon becomes a bit heartbreaking - they are so desperate to be with each other, but as long as Gia remains a human, she really can't safely be in a romantic relationship with him. I wasn't expecting such a tug on my emotions as I read about these two and was very pleasantly surprised. Johnny and Gia are both mature, good natured people, and it is fun to be immersed in Gia's publicity world. I also enjoyed the fact that Johnny is very laid back for a vampire, but when Gia is threatened, Johnny acts not human. He kills, to revenge and doesn't give a care that he murders. His carnal side comes out, and he expects Gia to be fine with it. I liked the fact that Gia doesn't freak out. She works and ahs a best friend that is a supernatural, so I like the fact she accepts who they really are.

However, by the last third of the book, things start to fall flat. The side story of Bella and her mission for Gia to find the vampire that turned her felt oddly placed at times, and when the big conflict comes at the end, it is a major let down. This book could have easily gone without this story, and just focused on Gia and Johnny's relationship with a little bit of Lola thrown in. The ramifications of Gia actually turning seemed to be glossed over too. Her regard for what it means for her family is barely touched on and a supposedly dangerous transition does not seem quite so dangerous after all.

Necking has a cute start, and a touching romance that would have benefitted with a more substantial ending.

This book needs some heavy editing. The copy I got (for $1 from Borders) had loads of punctuation errors, which really did distract me. The plot is weak and cliche (a human falls for a vampire. Woah now, that's never been done before), but could have been done a lot better had this author had some kind of guidance. The climax of the book was terrible, stupid, and very anti climatic. The personalities are very strong between the main characters, but other then that don't bother. The best part of this book was finishing it.

I have read alot of vampire novels and this was great. it was funny, i found myself laughing outloud at some parts. i was also happy with the romance between the two main characters. they have great chemistry it is definitly worth picking it up.

I picked up this book, read the first two pages, and didn't put it down until I was done. Necking is a clever, witty, and romantic page-tuner. I can wait for the next book from Salvatore.

Gia is a publicist with some very strange, albeit attractive, clients. Although she has flirted with her author's agent, Johnny, for a long time, the attraction has recently come to head. It can be a bit complicated to get involved with a vampire! For Gia, it's time to sink or swim. Through Gia's eyes, we get to enjoy the fireworks as their relationship stops and starts. Throw in a few details of the underworld and you have book worth the trip. Salvatore's writing is funny and to the point - no long-winded rhetoric here. Give yourself a treat and devour this book!

Gia is a publicist for the Underworld and works with vampires, werewolves, and other seemingly mythological characters. She finds herself falling for one of her business contacts -- who just so happens to be a vampire. But being involved with a vampire is a major no-no for mortals.

For the most part, the Gia/Johnny flirtation was believable. However, any time characters go from flirting (albeit hot and heavy flirting) to proclamations of true love...I usually have trouble finding that believable. This book is apparently tagged as 'sex' on Amazon but there wasn't much in the way of sex scenes in this book -- at least, nothing too graphic and nothing that would really warrant more than an M rating.

I liked the sub-plot, though it didn't always seem to mesh well with the love story plot. I think it was lacking urgency, especially the very anticlimactic conclusion to that storyline.

I loved the characters. I felt that all of the characters were different and intriguing. There were lots of little characters in the book that were very interesting - my favorite supporting character was Felix, the vampire/strip-club-owner. I also Billy the bad boy vampire. I really liked the witch doctor and would be interested in reading a story just about him and his group. I liked all the details about how vampires survive, etc.

There were way too many typographical errors in this! That's probably not the author's fault but it does take away from the book when you think someone is still speaking...but dialogue has stopped with no closing quotation marks to tell you that. The biggest issue were quotation marks left open or incorrectly carried over in dialogue paragraph breaks, but there were also spelling errors and words missing every once in a while. It was very distracting and someone should go over this book with a red pen and mail it back to the publisher/author.

This is a fun and interesting story, though it won't be the next Dracula. It's a good book for the beach, but probably not for a serious book report/lit crit. If the description sounds interesting or you like stories in this genre, then I'd say give it a go. You'll just have to ignore the typos.

i love all paranormal fiction, love stories, action adventures as long as it's paranormal i can get into it. this book started out clever. the premise of a book house for all that really goes bump in the night who write about all that goes bump in the night is a fresh and interesting idea. whitty and comical the female lead gia is a joy to read in the beginning. where this book falls short is the dialogue and a little bit of the other characters back stories leaves something to be desired. the dialogue loses it's sass and charm after the first few chapters and is hard to read through later in the book due to over explaination and repeating themes and content. the word choice seems a bit amatuer the farther into the book you read. do not get me wrong, i didn't hate it but it loses it's touch. i look forward to more from this author and these characters. i think chris has great potential and just needs some time to develope her writing skills so that she can carry that instant magnatism of the first chapters all the way through the novel, to the last page.