LoveVampires. The Website Dedicated to Vampire Fiction - with vampire book reviews, information and author interviews.

Boys That Bite

Mari Mancusi

Published 2006         262 pages

Synopsis

Sunny and Rayne are identical twins - but that is where their similarities end.  Unlike Rayne, Sunny isn’t into the Goth scene and only agrees to go to Club Fang to please her sister.  If being made to dress Goth wasn’t bad enough another party goer seems to mistake the “Bite Me” slogan on Sunny’s tee shirt for an invitation to dine.

Rayne has signed up to be converted to a vampire, she been on training courses, read all the books, done homework and had blood tests.   In a bad case of mistaken identity, super sexy vampire Magnus mistakes Sunny for her twin sister Rayne and bites her by mistake.

As Sunny starts to slowly turn into a vampire she finds there are unexpected bonuses to her condition.  Her vampire scent makes her irresistible to Jake Wilder, the hottest guy at school, who she has had a secret crush on forever.  On the down-side, she doesn’t want to turn into a blood sucking monster and she needs to be able to go out during day time because she hasn’t finished school yet and is due to star in the school play!

With just a week to go before Sunny’s transition from human to vampire is complete, Magnus and Sunny need to find a way to reverse the process.  Fast.   After doing some research Magnus discovers that the cure is for Sunny to drink a drop of the blood of Christ from the Holy Grail.  Now they just need to find the Grail….

The Review

Boys That Bite is the first of a series of vampire books by Young Adult author Mari Mancusi.  Heavily influenced by Joss Whedon’s “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”, the author has added her own humorous slant to his “in every generation their will be a chosen Slayer” line and made a story that is uniquely her own.

I laughed out loud at the description of Bertha the Vampire Slayer and was amused by the vampires’ (failed) PR campaign “Vamps Are People Too” which tried to improve their image with Slayers Inc., the organisation responsible for the Vampire Slayer.  (Apparently they won’t give up slaying because they insist it’s “their destiny” to kill vampires.)

Unlike the vampires in Buffy the vampires in Boys That Bite are not evil.  They are strictly regulated and can only turn humans if there is a signed contract in place, and this is only after the human has had their blood tested because the vamps don’t want to catch any nasty diseases!

The writing style of Boys That Bite is humorous, hip and (FYI) full of slang.  There is plenty of action and romance in the story to keep the pages turning swiftly and teenager readers will definitely enjoy this book.  I also think that any adults who are members of the Buffy generation could read this book too and not be disappointed. 

Great fun, recommended reading!

LoveVampires Review Rating: