Customer Reviews

Once Bitten, Twice Shy [ONCE BITTEN TWICE SHY]

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wherever ONCE BITTEN TWICE SHY is shelved (I picked it up in the sci-fi/fantasy section), don't be deceived: it's really chick-lit. And the worst kind of chick-lit, where there's a whole lot of "defining the relationship" and not a lot of action or romance. The book starts six months after protagonist Jaz is partnered with vampire assassin Vayl, and their relationship is already completely unprofessional. We miss out on all the fun, getting-to-know-you, tension-building parts of their relationship and pick up when they start to trudge glumly through the Swamp of Complicated Emotions. Rardin tries to convince us that Vayl is an uber-alpha male, but he spends so much time talking about his feelings it's really hard to buy. He also lets Jaz push him around a lot...and not in that "I'm humoring her" sort of alpha-male way, more in a "I'm totally whipped" sort of way.

The fact that one of villains the duo have to face is Vayl's late wife (she's a vampire too) means that even when Jaz and Vayl head out to kick some ass, they always end up right back at that Swamp of Complicated Emotions. The super-villain plot is drenched in Eau de Catfight.

The urban fantasy/paranormal elements are poorly realized and confusing. The growth of Jaz's "Gifts" is pretty botched - each new development is greeted with less explanation than the last. I never got a clear handle on what it meant to be a vampire in Rardin's alternate reality. And Rardin was trying to do a techno-mystical fusion with her uber-villain plot, something to do with a cult of demon-worshippers and a biological WMD (these basic elements are revealed early on), but devoted very little time or effort to explaining either.

The other main plot point is the slow reveal of Jaz's tortured past to the reader. We are informed a number of times that there is a HUGE TRAUMA in Jaz's past, and then we start to get hints about what it is, and eventually we learn the whole story. This just made me think, again, that this book starts after all the real action is over. I was also kind of annoyed by the way that the story came out - she blabs the whole thing in pieces to totally random people, and actually seems over-eager to talk about it, but when she's not in chatter mode she goes on about how her HUGE TRAUMA is too huge and traumatic to talk about, or even think about. It's exactly the kind of drama queen behavior that makes you wonder how this girl ever got a job in the CIA.

Jaz Parks is a government agent. Her partner Vayl is a 300-year-old vampire. Their latest assignment is to assassinate a plastic surgeon involved in terrorism. But after one night of investigating Assan, they discover he's into a lot more than just helping to fund terrorism. Assan and his conspirators begin talking about releasing a deadly plague. And a high-ranking senator seems to be pulling the strings.

I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this novel. Rardin ads a perfect blend of humor and humility to an otherwise strong female lead character. The story and characters pull you in and don't let go. I'm simply amazed that this is her debut novel. I can't wait to see Rardin's skills develop further in future releases. If I don't receive review copies for the sequels, you can bet I'll be standing in line at the bookstore on the release dates. Once Bitten, Twice Shy is in now in my list of top favorites for the year.

With a seemingly over-abundance of vampire novels, Once Bitten, Twice Shy stands out as a fun, light-hearted, supernatural, spy novel. Blending some of my favorite elements: fantasy, espionage, mystery, action, and just a touch of romance, makes a recipe for one extremely entertaining story.

Meet Jaz Parks. She's a flippant, barely competent CIA-trained vampire hunter easily distracted by a pretty male face. She has a strained relationship with her family. She has a tentative vampire love interest. And she's a special snow flake with a power so unique that no one else has it. In essence, she's just like every most other urban fantasy heroines that have been cluttering up the landscape as of late. To make matters worse for Jaz, she's trapped in a derivative shoe-string plot padded with heaping helpings of filler and the story still manages not to clear three hundred pages.

Seriously, when reviewers are almost unanimously commenting on how unoriginal the plot is they should not be awarding the darn thing five stars like Halloween candy.

This book was an utter chore to read. It seems like whenever someone attempts the vampires turned secret agent plot it turns out badly. See the horrible, stinky, braindead mess that is the Darkwing Chronicles.

Jaz and her vampire partner Vayl are deep undercover so they can rub out a plastic surgeon with ties to the Raptor, a vampire terrorist. Strike one against Jaz is when she's a party staking out the bad guy's mansion and she runs into a man in the lady's room and promptly blows her cover. Strike two against Jaz occurs when you realize that she only has one mood and that's snarky. She yammers on like she doesn't take anything seriously and her humor falls flat. Authors need to realize that while the wise-cracking heroine is a genre staple, you parcel out the wit. If the characters do it at inappropriate times, they just end up sounding stupid rather than tough.

The plot involves Jaz and Vayl unraveling a vampire bioterrorism conspiracy that involves one of their CIA handlers. Unfortunately, most of the sluthing takes place off-screen by other characters. However, the story continuously throws minor obstacles at Jaz and Vayl, and they are so easily overcome that it all feels utter pointless. It's like Rardin was desperate to have some action, but kept throwing on the brakes so it was over before it began. I was so terribly bored by the end that I just skimmed the last fifty pages.

This seems to be Rardin's first book and it has all the hallmarks of one. It relies too much on paint-by-numbers genre conventions. It's unadventurous and it relies too much on filler sections to pad it out rather than come up with something more complex. Considering that she will have cranked out four novels in this series in the span of two years, I doubt she's had time to hone her craft. For that reason I won't be checking out any of the Jaz Parks books in the future.

Jaz Parks, who narrates the story, is a CIA assassin with a traumatic past. Her boss gives her an unusual partner: a 300-year old vampire named Vayl. Together they travel to Miami to crash the party of a doctor who is funneling money to a terrorist organization. Once there, they find that he is involved in a dangerous conspiracy involving other vampires and possibly a senator, and it could result in the deaths of countless people if they don't intervene.

The main problem I have with the book is the narrator - we're supposed to believe that she's deeply traumatized, but she comes off rather chirpy and every scene is interrupted with her thoughts involving random pop culture references, regardless of the amount of danger and violence going on. She also has giggling fits when in stressful, sensitive situations. She is meant to be 25 but seems more like a teenager. That the CIA thinks she is emotionally competent to be a "top assassin" really stretches the credibility of the plot (I know believability is not meant to be a top point of this book, but a book's world should be internally consistent, and Jaz's world seems to be pretty much like ours with a few supernatural elements thrown in). Vayl has the potential to be interesting but his character is not very developed, and why he fixates on Jaz remains a mystery, at least to me.

Given Florida's water table, it seems unlikely to me that Miami would have extensive basements or underground spaces, but if I've got my geology wrong, feel free to correct me.

I don't usually read in this genre, but I thought I would enjoy this. If you enjoy all vampire romance type series, you might want to disregard my review, but I'm sure there are books out there similar to this one but with much better world and character development.

I read everything in the urban fantasy genre, and I picked this up on a whim. It's one of those good-on-a-plane kind of books, but that's about it. It has absolutely no character development, although I will admit I got a few chuckles from Jaz's sense of humor. Everyone else in the book was as two-dimensional as, well, a piece of paper. They might as well be wearing t-shirts that say "The Mysterious Partner/Love Interest", "The Omniscient Psychic", "The Day-Saving Geek", and "A Little Too Human For Boyfriend". Seriously, a bad guy named "Raptor"? By the end of the book I was actually forgetting people's names, but I knew who they were by the standard role they were playing. I might read the second one at the pool if the library stocks it, but there's no way I'd buy it.

derivitive? Take the best aspects of many of the urban paranormal novels out now--a fussy, picky but oddly supportive boss, unusual cases featuring a lot of ancient magic, a compelling, attractive but distant male partner, an affinity for wearing lots of weapons, using guns/knives extremely well, etc., etc. You got the picture. We have travelled in this territory before--but I don't really mind with this book because we like and care about the characters, setting, action and story are first rate. So bring on the rest of the series--I'm hooked again!

This was a Kindle freebie. After reading previous reviews, I didn't think I would like it as much as I did. I liked the tension between the two main characters (not the focus, but just right for the story), and the plot was fast-paced enough to keep me reading (for the most part). One big drawback, but not enough for me to take away a star, is the overuse of similes. Serious overuse. Enough for me to come out of the story (and roll my eyes) each time I read one (and it was often). I hope the author reconsiders using these so much (or gets a better editor) - it's jarring and detracts from the enjoyment of the story. Otherwise, better than I thought it would be. I plan on purchasing the next in the series as soon as the Kindle price comes down a bit.

Jaz Parks works for the CIA as a partner to Vayl - CIA assassin and vampire. A supposedly simple assignment becomes complicated by the threatened release of a deadly virus. But it's even more complicated than straightforward terrorism, and with the end of the world looming, time is running out for Jaz and Vayl.

This is not a romance, though there is a strong chemistry between Jaz and Vayl, and their partnership is the central relationship of the story. In some ways it is like a marriage, their lives depend on one another, and they each have to know how the other thinks. There is a trust between them, that they'll protect each others backs.

Jaz is a female character who knows (relatively speaking) her own mind. She knows what her capabilities are and isn't afraid to stand up for herself, or for others. Written in first person point of view, this allows us to see that as well as a sarcastic outer voice, she has a sarcastic inner voice too.

Vayl is written extremely well. Unlike a lot of modern vampires, you believe he's been alive for nearly three centuries. There's a wonderful contrast between them - Jaz, so modern and now, Vayl a product of his long life and the experiences he's lived through. He has a delightful tendency to take Jaz literally.

"If he's going to put some poor kid's face back on straight tonight I'll do the hula."
"Lovely dance, that. The story is all in the hands. I did not know you knew-"
"Vayl, I was kidding."

It's not all quips and banter though. There is an edge of darkness that runs through the story. Jennifer Rardin has written one of the most brutal, horrific and real vampire attacks I can remember reading for quite a while. It's clear that they are voracious predators, and it's only an individual's personal integrity that prevents them from becoming a monster.

You're also aware whilst reading that something very bad and very significant has happened to Jaz in the not so distant past. She's missing parts of herself, she'll have flashes of memory or something will happen and she'll be remembering an incident from her childhood. This gives the first person point of view an added depth, taking us further into her experiences. Even when we initially find out what happened to her, it still isn't the whole story.

We're left at the end with the battle won, but the war still being fought. Luckily book 2 is already available so I don't have to wait to find out what happens next. If you liked Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews, I think you'd like this.

Also available
Another One Bites the Dust - Bk 2

Coming Soon
Biting the Bullet - Bk 3 - Feb 2008

While the vampire thing has been done to death (groan), this book keeps it entertaining with a terrific female protagonist. Jaz is definately dealing with emotional baggage, but she's also witty, smart, and competent. Her relationship with Vayl (the vampire) is not tortured or full of angst. Instead, they respect and support each other.
I really enjoyed Rardin's writing style, and her plot is packed full of action and nicely sets up the next book in the series. I will be looking forward to Another One Bites the Dust (coming in December 2007).

I thought the premise of this book sounded rather original, which is what first interested me in it. Maybe my expectations were too high, but it ended up being quite a disappointment.

Overall, the writing is very amateurish and mediocre at best. One of the most irritating things was the incredible overabundance of very bad similes--along the lines of at least one or two per paragraph. The similes caused the story to drag and became extremely annoying after only a couple of chapters.

Basically, I think the idea had promise, but the actual execution was poor with a lot of cliches and silly dialogue that reminded me of a "C+" high school paper. I don't know if the sequels are any better, but I will probably pass on this author and stick to Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series instead.