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.