NIGHT BITES

Author: Nina Bangs ISBN: 050552614X 3/2005 PARANORMAL Publisher: DORCHESTER/Love Spell

Cindy Harper had an ice-cream flavor for every emotion. Vanilla caramel fudge eased the stress of dealing with her weird and wacky guests at the Woo Woo Inn. But no sweet treat from her freezer was smooth, creamy, or tempting enough to cool down her sensual fantasies about über alpha male Thrain Davis. This was a man to be enjoyed on a strictly primitive level. Every woman who ever saw him smile would wonder about the pleasure his mouth could give her and recognize the secrets in his hard blue gaze. Too late she realized the danger of inviting an ancient vampire into her inn. The concept of fanged creatures of the night scared her witless. Besides, he forced her to examine her past when she was just fine with her present. He did have an up side, though. Who needed ice cream when you had a hot and yummy dark immortal in your bed?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

As far as sequels go, NIGHT BITES is better than its predecessor, MASTER OF ECSTASY, though I give both books the same Four Rose rating. MASTER OF ECSTASY doesn't quite live up to its title, and NIGHT BITES, though extremely clever and funny, doesn't quite get me all hot and bothered, either.

I like to read "series" type books that can stand on their own as a great read, yet they let you revisit with old friends without rehashing too much of the previous story. Nina Bangs does a great job of that here, and I certainly appreciate and want to acknowledge that. Her humor is even better than I remember, and the funniest scenes have me chuckling out loud. Face it, when you take two shape-shifting cosmic troublemakers with, shall we say, unusual sexual powers—among other things—the story has to get zany!

Though the hero here, Thrain, is close to the tortured soul I normally like to read about, there is something about him not quite doing it for me. Cindy, his new found mate, is a tad too naive for someone who runs a place called, The Woo Woo Inn. I find that part of the story a bit outlandish (an oxymoron in such a book, I know) because if I lived to be 700 years old, and couldn't find anyone else that lived that long, it would most definitely lead me to believe I wasn't human. No way my denial could be that strong!

Anyway, this is worth your time if you enjoy funny and sexy paranormals. Cosmic troublemakers, Sparkle Stardust and Ganymede, make this series worth reading despite any other protest I might have.

Shannon Johnson