Once Bitten, Twice Shy

August 13, 2007
Rardin fuses spy girl with vampire slayer in this entertaining but derivative debut. Jasmine “Jaz” Parks, a martial artist turned vampire-hunting government agent, is assigned to protect top-notch operative Vayl, a 300-year-old vampire on the side of the good guys. As Vayl helps Jaz to hone her supernatural abilities and she tries to keep from falling for his Romanian charm, they track down a dirty senator in cahoots with Mohammed Khad Abn-Assan, a terrorist who’s making plans for a “Red Plague” spread through vampire-to-human contact. Rardin delivers all the paranormal touches that fans of Hamilton, Harris and Whedon enjoy, and Jaz’s jittery narration amuses, but the fang-filled plot, replete with action licks and paranormal theatrics, will have trouble standing out in this overcrowded field.

September 15, 2007
Moody, sharp-tongued Jasmine Parks, aka Jaz, works for the CIA. In her earlier career, she assassinated vampires, but now she partners with one, the almost 300-year-old Vayl. He is one of the good undead guys who works with humans to help rid the world of the evil of his kind. In this first adventure of a new paranormal series, Vayl requests that Jaz be his partner because he knows that her special gifts as a sensitive could be made even more powerful with his help. Their current adventure begins in Miami, where they have been sent to infiltrate the world of the extremely wealthy Abn-Assan, suspected of filtering money to a terrorist organization. Complicating matters are a near-fatal attack on Vayl, in which his only blood supply is contaminated. To save him, Jaz insists he take some of her blood. When he acquiesces, their personal bond and paranormal powers increase. Rardin's lively, fast-paced urban fantasy debut features a host of characters and a plethora of plot twists. Fans of Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, and other urban fantasists will bite. Recommended for popular reading collections. [The second title in the series, "Another One Bites the Dust", will make its debut in December.Ed.] Patricia Altner, BiblioInfo.com, Columbia, MD

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2007
Miami-based femme crime-stopper Jaz Parks is an assistant assassin, the hitter-in-chief being her boss, Vayl, an obsidian-eyed, 300-year-old vampire from Romania employed by the CIA. Long and short, Jaz is ultimately authorized, however covertly, by government bureaucrats. With these layers of irony established, the fast-paced fun begins when Vayl and Jaz are dispatched to eliminate a faux charity that is funding the superterrorist Sons of Paradise. Incidentally, narrator as well as protagonist Jaz apprises us of modern vampiric feeding patterns. Some buy their blood from . . . sanctioned government suppliers. Thus vampirism meets government food giveaways, and hence the sometimes off-the-wall appeal of Rardins nascent series, the next volumes of which are in the pipeline for December 2007 and February 2008. Will Jaz become a staple for chick-dick and vampire-romance fans, or good for only a quick bite now and then?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)