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The Vampires of Brooklyn Chronicles #1
Have a Bite
The world of vampires is, by nature, one of darkness, secrecy, and covertness. Vampires are invincible. No one can hurt them. Except vampire hunters.
Delphine Bouchard is a celebrity chef and owner of a world-renowned restaurant in Brooklyn, NY, where the chic and elite crowd mingle with neighborhood denizens. She enjoys fame, money, and women, and lives life by her own rules. She also happens to be a vampire.
Del’s life and the local vampire community are rocked when a vampire hunter begins picking them off, and Del has reason to believe that she might be next. Del is also being watched and criticized by the vampire hive council and persecuted by a coven of witches, who are the enforcers of behavior for the supernatural set. In the midst of all this turmoil, Del meets and unexpectedly falls hard for Jocelyn, who she soon discovers is holding back a disturbing secret. Del must decide whether or not to put aside her feelings of betrayal and pursue the relationship.
Meanwhile, when a food critic with a grudge sets out to ruin her business and reputation, Del has to protect her staff and restaurant. But the situation spirals out of control when a human shows up dead, her restaurant is sabotaged, and Jocelyn is threatened. Del must save her business, protect her loved ones, and find out who the vampire killer is before she is the next victim.
Set against a backdrop of elaborate meals and passionate cooking, Have a Bite is book one in the novella series The Vampires of Brooklyn Chronicles. The world of vampires and hunters meets the world of restaurants, foodies, and celebrity chefs—a recipe for paranormal mystery seasoned with suspense, peppered with romance, and flavored with a dash of humor.
Delphine Bouchard is a celebrity chef and owner of a world-renowned restaurant in Brooklyn, NY, where the chic and elite crowd mingle with neighborhood denizens. She enjoys fame, money, and women, and lives life by her own rules. She also happens to be a vampire.
Del’s life and the local vampire community are rocked when a vampire hunter begins picking them off, and Del has reason to believe that she might be next. Del is also being watched and criticized by the vampire hive council and persecuted by a coven of witches, who are the enforcers of behavior for the supernatural set. In the midst of all this turmoil, Del meets and unexpectedly falls hard for Jocelyn, who she soon discovers is holding back a disturbing secret. Del must decide whether or not to put aside her feelings of betrayal and pursue the relationship.
Meanwhile, when a food critic with a grudge sets out to ruin her business and reputation, Del has to protect her staff and restaurant. But the situation spirals out of control when a human shows up dead, her restaurant is sabotaged, and Jocelyn is threatened. Del must save her business, protect her loved ones, and find out who the vampire killer is before she is the next victim.
Set against a backdrop of elaborate meals and passionate cooking, Have a Bite is book one in the novella series The Vampires of Brooklyn Chronicles. The world of vampires and hunters meets the world of restaurants, foodies, and celebrity chefs—a recipe for paranormal mystery seasoned with suspense, peppered with romance, and flavored with a dash of humor.
244 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 19, 2016
2 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
R.G. Emanuelle
24 books78 followersR.G. Emanuelle is a New York City native currently based in Brooklyn. She is the co-founder and co-owner of Dirt Road Books (www.dirtroadbooks.com). She is the author of novels, novellas, and short stories, as well as co-editor of several anthologies, including the Lambda Literary finalist All You Can Eat: A Buffet of Lesbian Romance & Erotica.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 3, 2019
'NetGalley ARC provided by The Publisher in exchange for an unbiased review'
**'With nonfiction,you've got your material,and what you're trying to do,is tell it as a story in a way that doesn't violate fact,but at the same time is structured and presented in a way that makes it interesting to read..'
2.5stars!
Fairly okay story!
A very complex,frustrating and also maddening first installment to get into -- i did try with this storyline but got lost--just way too many different narratives that the author just could not keep up with where or which direction the plotline was going then she even tried being a little creative but failed-- did expect more because of the concept and topic but it was a disappointing opening series.
**'With nonfiction,you've got your material,and what you're trying to do,is tell it as a story in a way that doesn't violate fact,but at the same time is structured and presented in a way that makes it interesting to read..'
2.5stars!
Fairly okay story!
A very complex,frustrating and also maddening first installment to get into -- i did try with this storyline but got lost--just way too many different narratives that the author just could not keep up with where or which direction the plotline was going then she even tried being a little creative but failed-- did expect more because of the concept and topic but it was a disappointing opening series.
June 17, 2016
I was drawn to this book by the cover. It was cool, it was different and I thought why not. I like vampires! Chefs are badass! So let’s give Have a Bite a role.
Delphine Bouchard is chef and a vampire. You of course already know this but, hey I had to start somewhere. This vamp she eats, she drinks and she creates culinary masterpieces at her ultra-cool Brooklyn restaurant, Vie Sang. Del avoids love and relationships at all cost. She prefers quick hookups with groupies and vampire submissives. Quick, easy, no mess at all, that is her style. All of this changes, well kind of, when she meets and instantly falls head of heels for another vampire, Jocelyn.
To be honest I expected more from this book based on its premise than what was delivered. The book at times is a little bit confusing when all of the characters, food descriptions and the evil food critic wanting to destroy Del’s life. A lot is happening in a very short amount of space. Jocelyn, Del’s main love interest is virtually unknown other than meeting Del and making her rethink her vow to never fall in love again. I guess in terms of romance if someone affected you that much, why would you continuously hook up with random strangers. Obviously I can get it to some extent, but in terms of the story I felt it left me a little cold toward the character of Delphine. The action was lacking, the romance was missing and overall none of the characters were developed enough to really make you understand their actions or root for their success. My overall rating 2.5 stars.
All of my reviews can be found at my blog: theromanticreaderblog.com
Delphine Bouchard is chef and a vampire. You of course already know this but, hey I had to start somewhere. This vamp she eats, she drinks and she creates culinary masterpieces at her ultra-cool Brooklyn restaurant, Vie Sang. Del avoids love and relationships at all cost. She prefers quick hookups with groupies and vampire submissives. Quick, easy, no mess at all, that is her style. All of this changes, well kind of, when she meets and instantly falls head of heels for another vampire, Jocelyn.
To be honest I expected more from this book based on its premise than what was delivered. The book at times is a little bit confusing when all of the characters, food descriptions and the evil food critic wanting to destroy Del’s life. A lot is happening in a very short amount of space. Jocelyn, Del’s main love interest is virtually unknown other than meeting Del and making her rethink her vow to never fall in love again. I guess in terms of romance if someone affected you that much, why would you continuously hook up with random strangers. Obviously I can get it to some extent, but in terms of the story I felt it left me a little cold toward the character of Delphine. The action was lacking, the romance was missing and overall none of the characters were developed enough to really make you understand their actions or root for their success. My overall rating 2.5 stars.
All of my reviews can be found at my blog: theromanticreaderblog.com
May 27, 2016
I couldn't keep up with this I love reading about vampires and her being a chef was a added bonus. I believe it could have been better with out all the descriptions of what ever was being made. When Del finally confronts the food critic what a let down and how could she not since someone was in her home she's a vampire. Hopefully book 2 will tie up some of the loose ends.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2016
Delphine just wants to run her restaurant in peace and avoid falling in love. But in Have a Bite she's struggling to do either of those things. Del is a vampire who runs an after dark French fusion restaurant which is doing very well, except for one food critic who seems out to get her. He goes from scathing reviews to arson to murder and Del needs to stop him! Meanwhile, she meets Jocelyn at a club and can't stop thinking about her. The last thing Del wants is to fall in love and have her heartbroken again. It's a lot for her deal with while also making sure she doesn't get into further trouble with the local coven.
Have a Bite was a very quick read. More because it's short than because it's action packed, although there is always something happening. I loved the premise of a vampire chef and her rivalry with a disgruntled food critic. That man really is unhinged! The big confrontation was a bit underwhelming, but it held my attention. However, the romance was less interesting to me. At the beginning Del keeps mentioning how she can't stop thinking about Jocelyn and how she's not like other women, but we had only gotten one scene of them together at that point. It was hard to believe her feelings, especially since we witness more emotion between her and her one night stands! But once they finally start dating, I found them pretty cute together.
I liked Have a Bite. It was fun and moved along at a steady pace, so I never got bored with it. I do think the novella length worked against it, as I wanted more from Del and Jocelyn, as well as from Del and McPhearson (crazy food critic). I did really enjoy the friendship between Del and Ophelia though, and certainly look forward to seeing more of them.
Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.
Have a Bite was a very quick read. More because it's short than because it's action packed, although there is always something happening. I loved the premise of a vampire chef and her rivalry with a disgruntled food critic. That man really is unhinged! The big confrontation was a bit underwhelming, but it held my attention. However, the romance was less interesting to me. At the beginning Del keeps mentioning how she can't stop thinking about Jocelyn and how she's not like other women, but we had only gotten one scene of them together at that point. It was hard to believe her feelings, especially since we witness more emotion between her and her one night stands! But once they finally start dating, I found them pretty cute together.
I liked Have a Bite. It was fun and moved along at a steady pace, so I never got bored with it. I do think the novella length worked against it, as I wanted more from Del and Jocelyn, as well as from Del and McPhearson (crazy food critic). I did really enjoy the friendship between Del and Ophelia though, and certainly look forward to seeing more of them.
Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.
August 7, 2016
I received this book through NetGalley and Ylva Publishing in exchange for an honest review
So, when I started writing this review, it had four stars- when I started looking over my notes in the book, I knocked it down a star. This book is cheesy in the way that dimestore paperbacks with forced heterosexuality are cheesy- which is what I've been saying the queer community has definitely needed. I liked Del as a character, but a lot of the author's ignorance to French culture (and really every other culture) really shined through in her narration, which (as a bisexual person of color reading this book) made me really uncomfortable.
I can give Emanuelle for at least trying to include diversity in her book- there's two people of color that are in the novel... They just are barely important, and typically function to further the plot or help Del along. They become disposable in this way- you could probably cut them out and all that would be missing is filler moments between the actual plot. I think the worst part about this is how sexualized the women of color are in this book, too- it's one thing to have your women of color be sexually active/open to talking about sex, and it's another to make their culture inherently sexy.
At 5%, Del comments on how Chantel (who is rarely seen from again later in the book) was hired because she was an artist, they had a brief fling, and because of "her smooth, dark skin and startling blue eyes, the legacy of her African-Dutch-Curaçaoan heritage. The clincher was her accent, a sensuous combination of Dutch, Spanish, and African languages." Like, I could write a dissertation on how gross this is. The first thing is how Chantel is a Special and Acceptable black woman because of her blue eyes (from her 'Dutch heritage')- the next would be how her accent is 'exotic' and 'sexy' just because it's there. That's just the way she talks- there's no need to throw in how you're objectifying her just because of how she speaks. Next would be how she's 'African-Dutch-Curaçaoan', but she's never specified where in Africa- where the other two countries are specified. Like Africa is where All Black People Come From- the Caribbean (where Curaçao is located) is a majority of black people... It's never specified where in Africa, so I think it's fair to assume that Emanuelle was treating 'African' as a placeholder for 'black'. Also 'African languages'... There are over a thousand languages spoken in Africa. Emanuelle also consistently Reminds Us that Chantel is black, as if we forgot, with things like "Chantel's full-lipped smile and island accent"... It gets gross after seeing stuff like that repeated so often.
Onto Ophelia, the Chinese character in this book. She's literally written as the 'wise Asian friend' stereotype, and, while I loved her, God there were a lot of little things about her character that were really racist. "Ophelia's faint Chinese accent made everything she said sound so much more important, and she never said anything she didn't mean." Do you see what I meant by the 'wise Asian friend' stereotype? But, wait, there's more! "Ophelia telling her that to sew your clothing while you were wearing it was bad luck." "Oh, right. Ophelia had mastered the English language so well that Delphine often forgot that she didn't grow up in the U.S. and so didn't always get cultural references." (Also total bullshit because she's referring to an Abbott and Costello skit- which would be difficult for anyone to think up immediately until you say 'Who's on first? What's on second?') "Del realized that it probably wasn't often that a Caucasian woman with blood-red-spiked hair entered a bakery that catered to the Asian community." (They've probably seen weirder white people, Del, don't think you're so special). Like, honestly? If Ophelia was the main character, I probably would've like the book a lot more. A girl struggling with That would've been awesome.
Unfortunately, that's not the story we got.
We get the perspective of Delphine, a lesbian French vampire from the Victorian era that really enjoys cooking- unfortunately for her, someone seems hell-bent on ruining her restaurant. She struggles a lot with finally Having Feelings for someone (because she's just been living off of one night stands and doesn't want Emotional Attachment), and proves, yet again, that we can't have a lesbian character without them being hypersexualized. Like, this wasn't even filed under erotica when I requested to read it- and it definitely should be. I just kept getting bombarded with random (and unnecessary to the plot!) porn while I was reading, which was an uncomfortable experience. I don't know what world these lesbian novel writers are living in, but it's difficult enough to get a date with a girl when you're a girl, let alone have droves of women in a revolving-door type sexual relationship with you. I'm all for lesbian characters being sexually active, but it eventually started to feel like that's all there was to Del's character- she's French, she likes to cook, and she's a "player".
Also, miss me with the constant slutshaming in her own narrative- she has the audacity to call one of her partners "a clueless bimbo" which was "okay for a one-night stand, but...". Also, she criticizes hook-up culture (which isn't even really a thing in this generation!!!), when she's actively benefiting from it. "A period of courtship? This was new and different. At least for this era." Like. Miss! Me! With! This! Misogyny!
I also can't even like her because of her love of food- she's like, a mega-elitist when it comes to food and talks about how other food isn't 'real food'. Her restaurant is 'French fusion', which always sets off warning bells in my head because that usually means 'I'll call my food French but I want to appropriate Arab food into my menu because they were colonized by France'. Though I can't blame the author- she apparently has such a poor grasp on modern French that she didn't know that 'c'est terrible' doesn't mean 'it's terrible!' any more- it means 'how good!'.
Bonus!
"I'm making real food. Serious food. When people cooked with these [antique] ovens, it wasn't easy. The temperature was hard to maintain, space was limited, and you had to keep feeding and stoking the fire. That was dedication."
"[Jocelyn] had grown up in a world of technology, in a world that didn't know what it meant to keep something year after year, to fix things rather than replace them. When obsolescence meant that the most expensive items in the home are replaced every couple of years, how could someone appreciate something that lasted generation after generation?"
"Santé" (which means, 'to your health')
"Is that French for cheers?" Del went liquid.
"Um, yes, it is."
"I love French. I don't speak it, but it's so sexy." (eyerollll)
So, when I started writing this review, it had four stars- when I started looking over my notes in the book, I knocked it down a star. This book is cheesy in the way that dimestore paperbacks with forced heterosexuality are cheesy- which is what I've been saying the queer community has definitely needed. I liked Del as a character, but a lot of the author's ignorance to French culture (and really every other culture) really shined through in her narration, which (as a bisexual person of color reading this book) made me really uncomfortable.
I can give Emanuelle for at least trying to include diversity in her book- there's two people of color that are in the novel... They just are barely important, and typically function to further the plot or help Del along. They become disposable in this way- you could probably cut them out and all that would be missing is filler moments between the actual plot. I think the worst part about this is how sexualized the women of color are in this book, too- it's one thing to have your women of color be sexually active/open to talking about sex, and it's another to make their culture inherently sexy.
At 5%, Del comments on how Chantel (who is rarely seen from again later in the book) was hired because she was an artist, they had a brief fling, and because of "her smooth, dark skin and startling blue eyes, the legacy of her African-Dutch-Curaçaoan heritage. The clincher was her accent, a sensuous combination of Dutch, Spanish, and African languages." Like, I could write a dissertation on how gross this is. The first thing is how Chantel is a Special and Acceptable black woman because of her blue eyes (from her 'Dutch heritage')- the next would be how her accent is 'exotic' and 'sexy' just because it's there. That's just the way she talks- there's no need to throw in how you're objectifying her just because of how she speaks. Next would be how she's 'African-Dutch-Curaçaoan', but she's never specified where in Africa- where the other two countries are specified. Like Africa is where All Black People Come From- the Caribbean (where Curaçao is located) is a majority of black people... It's never specified where in Africa, so I think it's fair to assume that Emanuelle was treating 'African' as a placeholder for 'black'. Also 'African languages'... There are over a thousand languages spoken in Africa. Emanuelle also consistently Reminds Us that Chantel is black, as if we forgot, with things like "Chantel's full-lipped smile and island accent"... It gets gross after seeing stuff like that repeated so often.
Onto Ophelia, the Chinese character in this book. She's literally written as the 'wise Asian friend' stereotype, and, while I loved her, God there were a lot of little things about her character that were really racist. "Ophelia's faint Chinese accent made everything she said sound so much more important, and she never said anything she didn't mean." Do you see what I meant by the 'wise Asian friend' stereotype? But, wait, there's more! "Ophelia telling her that to sew your clothing while you were wearing it was bad luck." "Oh, right. Ophelia had mastered the English language so well that Delphine often forgot that she didn't grow up in the U.S. and so didn't always get cultural references." (Also total bullshit because she's referring to an Abbott and Costello skit- which would be difficult for anyone to think up immediately until you say 'Who's on first? What's on second?') "Del realized that it probably wasn't often that a Caucasian woman with blood-red-spiked hair entered a bakery that catered to the Asian community." (They've probably seen weirder white people, Del, don't think you're so special). Like, honestly? If Ophelia was the main character, I probably would've like the book a lot more. A girl struggling with That would've been awesome.
Unfortunately, that's not the story we got.
We get the perspective of Delphine, a lesbian French vampire from the Victorian era that really enjoys cooking- unfortunately for her, someone seems hell-bent on ruining her restaurant. She struggles a lot with finally Having Feelings for someone (because she's just been living off of one night stands and doesn't want Emotional Attachment), and proves, yet again, that we can't have a lesbian character without them being hypersexualized. Like, this wasn't even filed under erotica when I requested to read it- and it definitely should be. I just kept getting bombarded with random (and unnecessary to the plot!) porn while I was reading, which was an uncomfortable experience. I don't know what world these lesbian novel writers are living in, but it's difficult enough to get a date with a girl when you're a girl, let alone have droves of women in a revolving-door type sexual relationship with you. I'm all for lesbian characters being sexually active, but it eventually started to feel like that's all there was to Del's character- she's French, she likes to cook, and she's a "player".
Also, miss me with the constant slutshaming in her own narrative- she has the audacity to call one of her partners "a clueless bimbo" which was "okay for a one-night stand, but...". Also, she criticizes hook-up culture (which isn't even really a thing in this generation!!!), when she's actively benefiting from it. "A period of courtship? This was new and different. At least for this era." Like. Miss! Me! With! This! Misogyny!
I also can't even like her because of her love of food- she's like, a mega-elitist when it comes to food and talks about how other food isn't 'real food'. Her restaurant is 'French fusion', which always sets off warning bells in my head because that usually means 'I'll call my food French but I want to appropriate Arab food into my menu because they were colonized by France'. Though I can't blame the author- she apparently has such a poor grasp on modern French that she didn't know that 'c'est terrible' doesn't mean 'it's terrible!' any more- it means 'how good!'.
Bonus!
"I'm making real food. Serious food. When people cooked with these [antique] ovens, it wasn't easy. The temperature was hard to maintain, space was limited, and you had to keep feeding and stoking the fire. That was dedication."
"[Jocelyn] had grown up in a world of technology, in a world that didn't know what it meant to keep something year after year, to fix things rather than replace them. When obsolescence meant that the most expensive items in the home are replaced every couple of years, how could someone appreciate something that lasted generation after generation?"
"Santé" (which means, 'to your health')
"Is that French for cheers?" Del went liquid.
"Um, yes, it is."
"I love French. I don't speak it, but it's so sexy." (eyerollll)
July 17, 2016
I’m going to come right out and say that one of the big reasons I signed up to review this book was because of the title. Have a Bite is a rather clever play on the fact that the main character, Delphine Bouchard, is a well-known chef and a vampire (which is not known as supernatural beings are in the “closet” in Emanuelle’s world). So I couldn’t say no to it, and I’m really glad I didn’t as I found it to be an enjoyable read.
In the world that Emanuelle has created, the supernatural world goes out of its way to stay out of the scrutiny of the public eye, with the witches serving as the rule makers and enforcers. The fact that Delphine has chosen to live amongst humans, work with them, operate a business that serves them, and have the gall to be successful enough at it that she garners attention for her restaurant, makes the witches rather unhappy. But it is the food critic who seems to have a personal vendetta against her that is really worrying Del. It’s not that she thinks he can actually hurt her or her restaurant, but because she doesn’t understand the grudge he has against her, she’s not sure what to make of it. A recent series of accidents has her worried that someone is out to get her and, even worse, that her staff might get caught in the crossfire. Add to all that, an attraction to another vampire that is deeper than she has felt in decades, and strong enough that she’s considering an actual relationship when she swore them off after losing the love of her life, well that really has her worried. It certainly seems that Delphine’s heart is at risk one way or another and she’s not sure which is the worst option – a stake through her heart or a broken heart.
Emanuelle has created a rather interesting world here and Have a Bite barely scratches the surface of it. It becomes clear that Del’s refusal to live in the shadows is met with mixed feelings among the supernatural community, especially among the vampires we encounter in this installment. While she isn’t living an extravagant lifestyle, she’s made a name for herself as a chef and that she receives publicity online and in newspapers is what concerns the council. But given what little I know about chefs, living a life hidden away from others and never sharing her cooking with the world is not an option. So her refusal to kowtow to the council felt right for her character. I enjoyed watching her with her staff because it was clear that those relationships were forged with strong bonds of loyalty and that they were family to Del, not just people who worked for her. The mystery regarding the sabotages at the restaurant played out well, and once the questions were answered, the unanswered questions left me yearning for book two. My only quasi complaint is that I didn’t feel the connection between Del and Jocelyn. I understood that Jocelyn elicited feelings from Del that Del never thought she’d feel again, but I never felt a return of feelings from Jocelyn. It was apparent that Jocelyn was attracted to Del, but I didn’t feel that stronger connection between them that she professed to feel. It will be interesting to see where book two takes us and whether or not we’ll get to see that connection strengthened. Have a Bite is a strong start for The Vampires of Brooklyn Chronicles and I’m looking forward to next one.
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!
In the world that Emanuelle has created, the supernatural world goes out of its way to stay out of the scrutiny of the public eye, with the witches serving as the rule makers and enforcers. The fact that Delphine has chosen to live amongst humans, work with them, operate a business that serves them, and have the gall to be successful enough at it that she garners attention for her restaurant, makes the witches rather unhappy. But it is the food critic who seems to have a personal vendetta against her that is really worrying Del. It’s not that she thinks he can actually hurt her or her restaurant, but because she doesn’t understand the grudge he has against her, she’s not sure what to make of it. A recent series of accidents has her worried that someone is out to get her and, even worse, that her staff might get caught in the crossfire. Add to all that, an attraction to another vampire that is deeper than she has felt in decades, and strong enough that she’s considering an actual relationship when she swore them off after losing the love of her life, well that really has her worried. It certainly seems that Delphine’s heart is at risk one way or another and she’s not sure which is the worst option – a stake through her heart or a broken heart.
Emanuelle has created a rather interesting world here and Have a Bite barely scratches the surface of it. It becomes clear that Del’s refusal to live in the shadows is met with mixed feelings among the supernatural community, especially among the vampires we encounter in this installment. While she isn’t living an extravagant lifestyle, she’s made a name for herself as a chef and that she receives publicity online and in newspapers is what concerns the council. But given what little I know about chefs, living a life hidden away from others and never sharing her cooking with the world is not an option. So her refusal to kowtow to the council felt right for her character. I enjoyed watching her with her staff because it was clear that those relationships were forged with strong bonds of loyalty and that they were family to Del, not just people who worked for her. The mystery regarding the sabotages at the restaurant played out well, and once the questions were answered, the unanswered questions left me yearning for book two. My only quasi complaint is that I didn’t feel the connection between Del and Jocelyn. I understood that Jocelyn elicited feelings from Del that Del never thought she’d feel again, but I never felt a return of feelings from Jocelyn. It was apparent that Jocelyn was attracted to Del, but I didn’t feel that stronger connection between them that she professed to feel. It will be interesting to see where book two takes us and whether or not we’ll get to see that connection strengthened. Have a Bite is a strong start for The Vampires of Brooklyn Chronicles and I’m looking forward to next one.
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!
June 21, 2016
I’m not one of those people who complains that vampires are played out, obviously. I loved bloodsuckers long before they were hot (many, MANY moons ago, around the time we Americans were celebrating our country’s bicentennial… you do the math), and I can’t imagine the love ever going away.
That’s not to say there isn’t a whole lot of vampire fiction out there that reads like it came off the same printer, like the authors just grab the handy “Vampire Mad Libs*” book and fill in their “unique” ideas. It’s an issue. As is quality. Luckily, now that the Twitlight mania is wearing off, the avalanche of vampire crap is definitely starting to slow (at least in adult fiction, I don’t read YA, so I couldn’t speak about that).
STILL, there aren’t a lot of truly fresh vampire stories coming out these days. HAVE A BITE definitely does not suffer from that affliction.
To begin with, this has to be the most unique backdrop for a vampire story I can remember reading in… well, I can’t remember anything quite this unique since the days when you walked into a book store and only find about 10 vampire stories, most of which were either horror or Anne Rice. Our heroine, Delphine, is a world-famous chef with an uber-popular French fusion, goth-modern themed restaurant in Brooklyn, NY. Her history is slowly revealed through the book, mostly through her experiences with cooking and food. For someone who survives through a freezer, a microwave, and a pile of take-out menus, it’s actually sort of fascinating. Reading about Delphine’s love of food is like being a dog and watching a cat’s love of crunching itself into bitty boxes. Or something like that, anyway. It’s utterly foreign to me. I resent the time it takes for water to boil or the oven to preheat when I want to make french fries.
Delphine’s restaurant, Vie Sang (see what she did there?), is the place to be for the swanky and famous in Brooklyn, and Delphine has built a staff that she truly considers family to help with her spectacular creations. She loves her un-life, the artistry of cooking, the beautiful women she meets and feeds from (who volunteer. And it is HOT. I’ve got a serious fictional vampire bit fetish, and these were some great ones!), and her motley group of friends. It’s so well drawn that it feels real–an unusual circumstance in paranormal fiction. You half expect that if I walked down the streets of Brooklyn, I’d run into Delphine’s restaurant.
Not that I’d be able to get a table…
I couldn’t sit down and read this straight through the way I would have liked to: trapped between a massive freelance project and a short story for a charity anthology to raise money for Pulse victims & families, I was forced to “take breaks” to read HAVE A BITE. Some of them lasted much longer than the 5 or 10 minutes I “allowed” myself. Heh. That’s a good sign, and does indeed indicate what I felt about this story.
It’s full of some of my favorite things: vampires & witches, intrigue, mystery, steamy romance, and best of all, paranormal politics! My only complaint (as so often happens with short books that grab and hold my attention) was that there wasn’t enough of it!
If you’d like a taste (see what I did there?) of something a little different from paranormal fiction, I have to recommend HAVE A BITE. I can’t wait for the next story in the series!
That’s not to say there isn’t a whole lot of vampire fiction out there that reads like it came off the same printer, like the authors just grab the handy “Vampire Mad Libs*” book and fill in their “unique” ideas. It’s an issue. As is quality. Luckily, now that the Twitlight mania is wearing off, the avalanche of vampire crap is definitely starting to slow (at least in adult fiction, I don’t read YA, so I couldn’t speak about that).
STILL, there aren’t a lot of truly fresh vampire stories coming out these days. HAVE A BITE definitely does not suffer from that affliction.
To begin with, this has to be the most unique backdrop for a vampire story I can remember reading in… well, I can’t remember anything quite this unique since the days when you walked into a book store and only find about 10 vampire stories, most of which were either horror or Anne Rice. Our heroine, Delphine, is a world-famous chef with an uber-popular French fusion, goth-modern themed restaurant in Brooklyn, NY. Her history is slowly revealed through the book, mostly through her experiences with cooking and food. For someone who survives through a freezer, a microwave, and a pile of take-out menus, it’s actually sort of fascinating. Reading about Delphine’s love of food is like being a dog and watching a cat’s love of crunching itself into bitty boxes. Or something like that, anyway. It’s utterly foreign to me. I resent the time it takes for water to boil or the oven to preheat when I want to make french fries.
Delphine’s restaurant, Vie Sang (see what she did there?), is the place to be for the swanky and famous in Brooklyn, and Delphine has built a staff that she truly considers family to help with her spectacular creations. She loves her un-life, the artistry of cooking, the beautiful women she meets and feeds from (who volunteer. And it is HOT. I’ve got a serious fictional vampire bit fetish, and these were some great ones!), and her motley group of friends. It’s so well drawn that it feels real–an unusual circumstance in paranormal fiction. You half expect that if I walked down the streets of Brooklyn, I’d run into Delphine’s restaurant.
Not that I’d be able to get a table…
I couldn’t sit down and read this straight through the way I would have liked to: trapped between a massive freelance project and a short story for a charity anthology to raise money for Pulse victims & families, I was forced to “take breaks” to read HAVE A BITE. Some of them lasted much longer than the 5 or 10 minutes I “allowed” myself. Heh. That’s a good sign, and does indeed indicate what I felt about this story.
It’s full of some of my favorite things: vampires & witches, intrigue, mystery, steamy romance, and best of all, paranormal politics! My only complaint (as so often happens with short books that grab and hold my attention) was that there wasn’t enough of it!
If you’d like a taste (see what I did there?) of something a little different from paranormal fiction, I have to recommend HAVE A BITE. I can’t wait for the next story in the series!
February 27, 2017
Delphine Bouchard is a vampire and chef of a restaurant that is open late at night. Problem arises when vampires in her community turn up dead because of a vampire hunter. She is being watched closely by the vampire hive council and the witches coven. In addition to being targeted by the vampire hunter, a food critic has a vendetta against her.
I wanted to like this book more than I did because it was about vampires and also food, but I didn't. I didn't quite believe the romance between Delphine and Jocelyn and it felt kind of forced. It was a lot of telling and not showing.
I loved the descriptions of all the dishes that was made, however, I felt that there was something missing regarding the main story. Despite a vampire hunter being after her, the story was lacking excitement.
Review also posted here: http://wp.me/p4Pp9O-xC
I was given a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
*Image taken from Goodreads.
I wanted to like this book more than I did because it was about vampires and also food, but I didn't. I didn't quite believe the romance between Delphine and Jocelyn and it felt kind of forced. It was a lot of telling and not showing.
I loved the descriptions of all the dishes that was made, however, I felt that there was something missing regarding the main story. Despite a vampire hunter being after her, the story was lacking excitement.
Review also posted here: http://wp.me/p4Pp9O-xC
I was given a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
*Image taken from Goodreads.
July 13, 2016
An honest review thanks to NetGalley. This was a good book; I was expecting more romance, and I had never read anything by this author before so I was pleasantly surprised. The book rolled through smoothly, and I became invested in Delphine and her restaurant, the restaurant was a main part of the story, and you learn to love it and the journey that Delphine has gone through. I would have liked to know more about Delphine's backstory and more romance between Delphine and Jocelyn, but this was a good read if you are looking for a vampire book with a hint of lesbian romance and adventure.
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