Boys That Bite Mari Mancusi

Boys That Bite

First Published 2006
272 Pages

ISBN: 0425209423
Reviewer
Lesley
April 2006

It is Sunday evening and the last thing that Sunshine wants to do is to go to a Goth club with her twin sister Rayne. But when Rayne decides she wants something then she isn't often defeated and this occasion is no exception. Soon Sunshine finds herself at the dubiously named Club Fang. So when she is approached by a handsome man, Magnus, she wonders if this could be her cosmic reward!

No such luck. Although it is not usually in her nature to leave a club with a virtual stranger she finds Magnus's suggestion that they go somewhere a little quieter to "talk" irresistible. So when he suddenly bites her neck she is shocked. Things go from bad to worse when she realises she has more to worry about than a possible lovebite (hickey). Magnus turns out to be a vampire and his bite starts to turn Sunshine into one of his kind.

Soon Sunshine finds herself in a race to find a cure for her impending "condition" when she is told that if she doesn't find a cure within one week her transformation into a Vampire will be complete. But the cure requires her to drink from the Holy Grail – hmm! Tricky! Things get even more difficult when she begins to fall in love with her Vampire sire and starts to question whether she really wants to be cured.

This book is an entertaining story aimed at the young adult market and has the same kind of feel as the Sabrina TV series. The writing is light and airy with a humorous undertone that makes the book incredibly readable. OK, there are some aspects of the storyline that are reminiscent of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (as there is a Vampire Slayer around) but this is more of a sub-plot with the main theme revolving around Sunshine trying to discover the location of the Holy Grail so that she can stop her transformation into a creature of the night.

I loved reading this book. Sometimes I find that young adult novels are pitched closer to the young end that to the adult end but this book was much more grown-up in its feel which made it exceptionally easy to read. An entertaining story that promises great things for future volumes.

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