Stake That! by Mari Mancusi

Stake That

by Mari Mancusi

December 2006

Romantic/Paranormal Young Adult

Penguin
$9.99


Why I read it: To decide whether or not my boss should put it in our stores (along with the rest of the series).

Synopsis from Barnesandnoble[dot]com.

The edgy young vampire series continues!

A fresh voice and fresh blood-it adds up to one very sassy vampire series...

Sisters. They'll swipe your clothes, your boyfriends, your destiny. But it wasn't exactly Rayne's twin Sunny's fault. Magnus, a vamp hottie and coven leader, mistook Sunny for Rayne last month and bit her instead. Now they're doing the inter-species dating thing.

Turns out that for every generation, there's a Vampire Slayer-and this time around, it just happens to be Rayne MacDonald. Her first mission: infiltrate a seedy vamp bar downtown and expose its vampire owner for purposely spreading a blood disease he created himself-a task almost harder than passing trig.

After going it alone once, Rayne realizes she needs help. So Magnus sends his sexy Goth buddy Jareth to go undercover with her. And, frankly, Rayne wouldn't mind going under the covers with him. Maybe fate doesn't bite after all...

*****************************************************************************

This time with this series, I actually couldn't wait to keep reading this book. Once you get past the valley-girl language (which I never thought I'd say... what's next? Gray hairs?), and the sometimes hard to follow sentences, it's a great story. Oh, and once you got past the slow start and a money hungry troll... Okay, the troll wasn't real, I made it up. She started it out in a blog format, which I thought was really neat! It tied in the last book with this second one. But then she stopped because stuff got hard for Rayne. The comments at the end were the best part. They were witty and showed a bit more of the character and how she deals with other people that aren't so close to her. Plus, just about every blog of hers was commented on! That's something I don't know much about ;).


Along with the slow beginning, there was way too quick of an end. And for the 2nd time, I will complain about the 1 thing I had a problem with... cute, neat packaging at the end. Everything in their plan works semi perfectly. The only hiccup didn't seem as detrimental as I would have thought it would be. Once again, she left me wanting more from her. Rayne's not made of stone! Let her feelings seep through!!!! Because I would love to see it, read about it, hear it. I dunno, it just seems cheesy to me. And I don't do well with cheese :(. [I don't mean the delicious dairy product that tastes like a slice of heaven... no!]


The difficulty I had with the characters where the same as before. Mom's out of her flippin' mind. Those girls deserve better than her. The dad is a pathetic loser. I'm sorry, I have  no sympathy for selfish parents. But that's a hot button with me already... and Mari pushed the button! hehe. Rayne seems even more dramatic and illogical. She doesn't make good decisions, and she doesn't know how to be responsible for her bad decisions. She has that sense of entitlement sweating out of her pores. I think Jareth was my favorite. Magnus had a few cameos in the book,


There was a surprise at the end! I won't spoil it, but it is neat :D Oh, and it's not the very very end... it's the end of the trouble that was wrapped up nicely ;)


Should you read it?: I definitely think you should read Boys that Bite first! But in this instance, the sequel is better than the original. If you liked the first one, you'll love this one better. If you didn't like the first one... read this one anyway to give it another shot.

Would I read it again?: Probably not. Just because it's too short and it didn't leave a lasting impression on my mind. I was interested in the well being of the characters, but it was just too neatly wrapped I think. And the passion in there was lacking a bit.




Ratings:

1.Cover: +1

2. Hooked: +0

3. Finished the book: +1

4. Overall Feeling: Pos +1

5. Re-Readability: +0

6. Suggest to others: +1

7. Lost time: Nope +1

8. Readability:+0. 5

so it looks like this gets a 5.5 out of 10.

Others in series:

Boys That Bite

Stake That

Girls that Growl

Bad Blood

Boys That Bite by Mari Mancusi

Boys That Bite

by Mari Mancusi

April 2006

Romantic/Paranormal Young Adult

Penguin

$9.99

Why I read it: To decide whether or not my boss should put it in our stores (along with the rest of the series).

Synopsis (provided by BarnesandNoble[dot]com)

This is not your typical boybites-girl love story.


Technically Sunshine can't get killed-because she's immortal. Well, not quite yet. Due to the worst case of mistaken identity with her dark-side-loving twin sister at a Goth club called Club Fang, Magnus, a vampire hottie, went for Sunshine's innocent neck. Now if she doesn't reverse it in time, Magnus will be her blood mate forever and she's doomed to be a blood-gulping, pasty, daylight-hating vampire. That would seriously bite.


And now, after the unfortunate slaying of the vampire leader, Sunshine, her sister Rayne, and Magnus must find the one thing that can solve her problem: the Holy Grail. They wish it were a joke but it's not. It's absolutely necessary that Sunshine gets out of this in time, because somehow she scored the hottest prom date in her school, the mouth-watering Jake Wilder. So she just can't be a vampire for the prom-let alone the rest of eternity.

I got this book from work as an "assignment". One of my bosses (book buyer) was having a hard time deciding what was good Young Adult material to put in our stores (mainly grocery).

This book is the 1st in the "Blood Coven" series:

Boys that Bite

Stake That

Girls that Growl

Bad Blood (as of January 5, 2010) 

Mari doesn't waste much time getting into the grunt of things. Which, with the first in the series is always good since when you first pick it up, you don't know what it's about. You have no predetermined thoughts on how this will be. I learned very quickly that the language was very young. Mari used "like" a lot. And I finally understood what my dad was always bitchin' about when I was younger. It was scary to think that I couldn't relate to a young talking book though. Last time I checked, 23 wasn't that old!


So, Sunny's a bit different. I didn't feel Sunny as a character. In fact, she seemed more of like an actress playing a part. I couldn' get a grasp on her. Do you know what I mean? I wanted to like her, I really did! I wanted to love her, relate to her, feel her pain of what was happening to her. But it was as if she went from "what the hell" to "meh, whatev" in an instant. I wish I could have seen more into her mind. Feel her pain. Rayne, her twin sister is such a drama queen. But it's almost a forced drama queen. I really dug Magnus though :D The love interest in the story :D. He seemed to be more real than the others.


I'm really bummed about this, because I think Mari missed out in an awesome opportunity to go more into her characters and how they tick than she did. I understand that she was writing more to a short attention span audience, but it doesn't help when I can't connect with the characters. Sunny couldn't be upset that she was turning into a vampire. She couldn't fume, because she'd practically told to shut up. And then Rayne could have been angrier than she was. I'm sorry, but if you work for so long and hard on something, and the night that it's all coming together, your twin sister gets it instead.... I would be livid!!!! I'd hate the world. But Rayne... just brushes it off. I know she never knew the guy, but come on!!! [pst.. that's  not a rant towards Mari Mancusi, that's a rant towards the character Rayne... yes, as if she were a real person :D]. I just felt like a lot of sisterly bonding could have happened and I'm bummed I missed out on it. Because, not all of us get along swell with our sisters, so it's nice to see it go wrong and be worked on.


Their mom is one horrible piece of work. She doesn't know where her kids are, she's oblivious to EVERYTHING!! She's an emotional wreck... I feel like she should have 50 cats around her at all times. I don't wonder why the girls are as bad as they are. Though I do wonder how they got to be as good as they are.


Like I said above. I loved Magnus. He was probably my favorite character. His back story seemed real. And I felt that there was a genuine connection between Sunny and him. I would have loved more time with them finding each other, but it seems to be the theme here. I'm always wanting more!!! Which I would take as a compliment. If I didn't want more, I'd tell you ;). The vampire aspect of it was really neat to find. I like the "donor" system, instead of the "vegetarian" or the "stab everyone in the neck with your fangs" kind. If there were real vampires [I sorta wish there were], I could imagine them using a donor system these days. Although, if you did have to do the "stab everyone in the neck with your fangs" thing, can you at least get all the murderers, rapists, child molesting crack jobs before you go after innocents? Thanks :D


I know what I've written so far sounds like I'm bashing. But I'm not. I liked the book. The ending was the best part, and no, not because it was the end. That's where all the excitement happens! If that excitement could have gone on throughout the whole book, I could have honestly rated it higher. And most of what I've said that was bad was about the characters. I just couldn't be friends with them. It doesn't mean someone else wouldn't.


But I do have 1 complaint. Just 1! Everything seems so easy for the characters. Dodging their mom, getting to far away places, wrapping up the "case" and not to mention, everything gets wrapped up into a ribbon in the end. I'm sorry, but with all their problems they have with their parents, school, boyfriends, the whole vampire thing... It shouldn't have been so easy to accomplish their goal.


Okay! phew! I got that off my chest. Overall, good book and easy to read. I would recommend this. Though more of to be a filler.  I am going to suggest it to my boss to put in the YA section at grocery and grocery-type stores across the west side of the states, once I finish all 3 other books in this series and enjoy it. I'm a firm believer in keeping a series together, and I can't have 1 book in stores and not the others.




It's a quick and easy read, that is actually, well, enjoyable. Most of those that are quick & easy aren't very good. But this kept me entertained. The love interest in the story was expected... BUT... it took just long enough to get started where you start to second guess yourself. And it developed nicely. I was a bit disappointed in the end, but that's because it just went to quick and worked out fine without a hiccup... I would have preferred it to be a bit more dramatic.

Anyway, I would suggest reading this book. However, being that it's $9.99, I suggest getting it from your library or borrowing it from a friend. If they decide to make it the mass market version [the small books], for just a couple $$ cheaper, then buying it is warranted.


Ratings:

1.Cover: +1

2. Hooked: +1

3. Finished the book: +1

4. Overall Feeling: Pos +1

5. Re-Readability: +0

6. Suggest to others: +1

7. Lost time: a lil bit +0.5

8. Readability: +0.5


So, that's a 6 out of 10 on my rating system.