Parker Blue- Bite Me (Demon Underground #1)Format- eBook (netgalley)Synopsis: (from Goodreads) An edgy book for teens that spans the gap between YA and adult fiction. Life after high school is tough enough without having to go 15 rounds with your inner demon. Val Shapiro is just your ordinary, part-demon, teenaged vampire hunter with a Texas drawl. And a pet hellhound named Fang. Soon enough she finds herself deep in the underbelly of the city, discovering the secrets of the Demon Underground and fighting to save those she loves. Whether they love her back or not.Review: This is the first book of Parker Blue's Demon Underground series. Eighteen year old Val Shapiro has grown up as an outsider from society and her own family. She is one- eighth Demon, inherited from her father who died on her fifth birthday. Val doesn’t have just any inner demon but a Succubus she calls Lola, who feeds on the lust of men. She is petrified of the demon inside her taking over and harming people by sucking the life out of them so she represses it and feeds Lola in other ways- like slaying vampires who prey on humans.Val’s mother has never been able to fully accept her after she was seduced by Val’s father. So on her eighteenth birthday, when her naïve younger sister Jen follows her on a vampire slaying night out- her mother cuts her off from the family once and for all. Val, now officially an adult but still very much dependent on her family has to find somewhere to live and work and maybe actually make some friends.With her new pal Fang, a telepathic hellhound (part demon dog), she takes up a job with the Special Crimes Unit (SCU) and partners up with good-looking but arrogant detective Dan Sullivan. Her super speed and strength are valued skills in the SCU who aim to keep supernatural crimes on the low but keeping vampires and demons in line. For once, Val seems to fit in somewhere and also starts to develop feelings for Dan. She is torn between her feelings for him and her need to keep Lola supressed for fear of hurting him. When Val opens up to him and shows him who (or what) she really is, Dan isn’t sure whether he is willing to accept Val and her demon.I really enjoyed this novel and I was hooked from the first page where Val is kicking some vampire butt. It has a different spin on the average paranormal vampire novel as Val is part demon and isn’t lusting after the vampires which are typical in the genre. Although Val is 18, she does have a mature voice and so the teen language doesn’t get in the way of reading which I liked. I especially enjoyed the developing romance between Dan and Val which happened slowly and convincingly. Their conflicts ring true- a young woman who is afraid of letting go and a man who likes to be in control.Urban fantasy fans will enjoy this YA/ adult paranormal novel. I will be posting reviews for book 2, Try Me and book 3, Fang Me from this series later in the week.
4/5 rating
* Thank you to netgalley & Bell Bridge Books for providing a digital copy to review.
Bite Me by Parker Blue can be purchased in paperback from Fishpond (free shipping in Aus) or Amazon
and also for your Kindle
.
