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Biting the Bride
From the author of the acclaimed "Once Bitten" comes a thrilling vampire romance set in modern-day San Francisco.
Some men are worth sticking your neck out for...
Sunni Marquette has always been a little different. There's the whole mind-reading thing, for a start, which comes in useful for a criminal defense attorney. Except that lately, Sunni keeps encountering people who are immune to her gift. Like Jacob Eddington, the star witness in her latest case. And her best friend Isabel's new fiancé, Richard Lazarus, who's as sinister as Jacob is attractive. Not that Sunni intends to interfere—until she learns that Richard is a vampire who's made a centuries-long career of marrying wealthy women, then killing them for their inheritance.
Sunni is convinced Jacob is a vampire, too, and that he's her only chance of saving Isabel. With his help, she'll discover powers she never knew she possessed, an enemy who's closer than she could have ever guessed, and the kind of love that's worth staking everything on—if she can just stay alive long enough to enjoy it...
Some men are worth sticking your neck out for...
Sunni Marquette has always been a little different. There's the whole mind-reading thing, for a start, which comes in useful for a criminal defense attorney. Except that lately, Sunni keeps encountering people who are immune to her gift. Like Jacob Eddington, the star witness in her latest case. And her best friend Isabel's new fiancé, Richard Lazarus, who's as sinister as Jacob is attractive. Not that Sunni intends to interfere—until she learns that Richard is a vampire who's made a centuries-long career of marrying wealthy women, then killing them for their inheritance.
Sunni is convinced Jacob is a vampire, too, and that he's her only chance of saving Isabel. With his help, she'll discover powers she never knew she possessed, an enemy who's closer than she could have ever guessed, and the kind of love that's worth staking everything on—if she can just stay alive long enough to enjoy it...
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 6, 2010
The book really annoyed me in the beginning as the characters were very melodramatic and it bounced around a lot while introducing the primary characters. Never very found of changing perspectives (even in 3rd Person novels) especially when a primary character isn't introduced immediately. The book does improve a little as it goes but continued to find the characters annoying in their lack of personality development and general stupidity.
December 19, 2018
This book took what seemed like entirely too long of a time for me to finish.
The writing in and of itself wasn't that bad however, I found the pacing of this novel was poorly planned out. It was very slow paced throughout the majority of the story and when I finally reached the climax of the plot it just wasn't enough for all the build up. Furthermore, the ending came about too swiftly. If Willis was so committed to taking so much time with the rising action portion then I feel she should've taken just a little longer with the falling action before the conclusion.
Moreso than just writing skills, I feel there were flaws in the the plot.
It is stated that in their youth Isabel and Sunni spend a great deal of time in a mental asylum. While I am aware that some of those horrible institutions still persevere, most of them did not exist at the time of tgeor collective childhood if we are to assume that Sunni and Isabel grew up in a modern society. It is also highly unlikely that Dennis would subject not ome but both of his daughters to an environment with notoriously bad affiliations given how he acts throughout the rest of the novel.
Let's talk about how Delia and Sherman aren't real characters. They only pop up when it's convenient to the plot and can move the story forward. But, other than that, they have very little book time, character development, or details pertaining to them. The same can be said about Jacob's half brother, Enzo, Patrick, Scipio, and countless others. I believe it's better to developed a few very believable characters than to forge many in a half hearted manner.
I have a big issue with how Richard's demise occurred. I understand that Richard is the sole reason that Jacob was unable to live out his life with his family and that would surely cause resentment however, I find it ridiculous that Sunni would take a step back from finishing Richard off given the fact that he's killed her only father figure, made her best friend into a mindless zombie that's precariously balancing on a thin line between life and death, toyed with her emotions, murdered Sherman, etc. Sunni is on the brink to getting rid of Richard once and for all and she stops to let Jacob do the honors only for it to ultimately end in Jacob being incompetent in competing the task at hand. Sunni could've simply thrown Richard overboard but no, Jacob insists on completely wreaking the boat that is dedicated to the memory or Sunni's late mother.
The writing in and of itself wasn't that bad however, I found the pacing of this novel was poorly planned out. It was very slow paced throughout the majority of the story and when I finally reached the climax of the plot it just wasn't enough for all the build up. Furthermore, the ending came about too swiftly. If Willis was so committed to taking so much time with the rising action portion then I feel she should've taken just a little longer with the falling action before the conclusion.
Moreso than just writing skills, I feel there were flaws in the the plot.
It is stated that in their youth Isabel and Sunni spend a great deal of time in a mental asylum. While I am aware that some of those horrible institutions still persevere, most of them did not exist at the time of tgeor collective childhood if we are to assume that Sunni and Isabel grew up in a modern society. It is also highly unlikely that Dennis would subject not ome but both of his daughters to an environment with notoriously bad affiliations given how he acts throughout the rest of the novel.
Let's talk about how Delia and Sherman aren't real characters. They only pop up when it's convenient to the plot and can move the story forward. But, other than that, they have very little book time, character development, or details pertaining to them. The same can be said about Jacob's half brother, Enzo, Patrick, Scipio, and countless others. I believe it's better to developed a few very believable characters than to forge many in a half hearted manner.
I have a big issue with how Richard's demise occurred. I understand that Richard is the sole reason that Jacob was unable to live out his life with his family and that would surely cause resentment however, I find it ridiculous that Sunni would take a step back from finishing Richard off given the fact that he's killed her only father figure, made her best friend into a mindless zombie that's precariously balancing on a thin line between life and death, toyed with her emotions, murdered Sherman, etc. Sunni is on the brink to getting rid of Richard once and for all and she stops to let Jacob do the honors only for it to ultimately end in Jacob being incompetent in competing the task at hand. Sunni could've simply thrown Richard overboard but no, Jacob insists on completely wreaking the boat that is dedicated to the memory or Sunni's late mother.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2011
Okay. Wait. This synopsis does not match up AT ALL with this book. Except the names. The names are right. Don't you hate it when that happens? I not only hate it, I find it very distracting. I mean, I know I shouldn't let something like that take away from my enjoyment of a book but it does. Wait, it doesn't take away from my enjoyment. It's more like... when I see something like that I start to wonder that if something so public as the synopsis is incorrect, what sort of inconsistencies will I find in the book itself? Does that make sense?
And now that I've taken an entire paragraph to harp about that, I'm going to admit that I found the book highly entertaining. Sure, Sunni isn't a criminal defense attorney (she's the owner of an art gallery) and Jacob isn't her star witness (he's the vampire who's been her guardian her entire life) and I don't recall any mind reading (darting with vampiric speed across the Golden Gate Bridge, but no mind reading), but it was set in a fun, well-constructed world. I do question how both the title of the book and the cover fit in to the overall story, but I'm handwaving those little niggling details and just admitting that I liked Clare Willis' writing style.
So, yeah. I liked the book. It was a little slow in the beginning but it did pick up and it kept me interested. I figured out the big, end-of-book reveal a few chapters before it happened, but that didn't really take away from my enjoyment. I love the San Francisco setting - I live near-ish to SF so books set in my neck of the woods always make me smile. Especially if they have vampires! I liked the characters and I liked the bad guy. Well, I didn't like him but I liked to hate him.
Enjoyable, with a well-thought out world, I just wish the synopsis had more accurately reflected what the story was actually about.
-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal
And now that I've taken an entire paragraph to harp about that, I'm going to admit that I found the book highly entertaining. Sure, Sunni isn't a criminal defense attorney (she's the owner of an art gallery) and Jacob isn't her star witness (he's the vampire who's been her guardian her entire life) and I don't recall any mind reading (darting with vampiric speed across the Golden Gate Bridge, but no mind reading), but it was set in a fun, well-constructed world. I do question how both the title of the book and the cover fit in to the overall story, but I'm handwaving those little niggling details and just admitting that I liked Clare Willis' writing style.
So, yeah. I liked the book. It was a little slow in the beginning but it did pick up and it kept me interested. I figured out the big, end-of-book reveal a few chapters before it happened, but that didn't really take away from my enjoyment. I love the San Francisco setting - I live near-ish to SF so books set in my neck of the woods always make me smile. Especially if they have vampires! I liked the characters and I liked the bad guy. Well, I didn't like him but I liked to hate him.
Enjoyable, with a well-thought out world, I just wish the synopsis had more accurately reflected what the story was actually about.
-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal
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August 19, 2011Review of 25 pages goes like this: Hateful sourpuss female hates everything. Almost gets raped at a wedding( really) describes the possible lead male character as " extremely pale as if he had tuberculosis" sounds hot.. :/
January 7, 2012
To be honest, I felt that the heroine Sunni was boring, nor did I feel any sort of connection between her and our male leads. Everyone seemed a bit too stiff and cliched. It isn't that I hated the book- I just couldn't even get interested enough to finish it and reading it was a chore.
April 16, 2011
3 1/2 stars It seemed as if the author came up with scenes she wanted to use and then tried to link them with a logical plot. It didn't always work.
January 21, 2012
Found this too boring to complete...
April 5, 2013
Not as good as Once Bitten but enjoyable enough.
April 27, 2015
Huh? She isn't an attorney. She owns an art gallery. The rest of that description isn't quite right either. Who wrote that? The book was okay. Nothing great.
April 18, 2016
WoW what a let down. Not what I expected at all an easy read but don't buy just borrow from library or a friend.
December 24, 2010
not bad, some boring areas, but the second half is very good and full of surprises
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews