“Bite Me,” by Parker Blue

FM's ratings:

1. Premise 9
2. Prose 8
3. Plot 8
4. Characters 9
5. Overall 8

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

This is not great literature. It doesn’t pretend to be. But it is a LOT of fun, and the protagonists really get under your skin! Often, perhaps usually, I will pick a “fun” read over a “quality” read. Fun is usually the quality I look for in a novel. And sure, if this book had featured slightly deeper prose, or a slightly more clever plot, the overall rating would have been a “9.” But it might not have been as much FUN. This is the first book in a series which features a young lady with demon blood and corresponding vampire-killing powers along with a sidekick in the form of a hellhound which looks like a small household pet. Cute. If you have ever seen the movie, “A Boy and His Dog,” you’ll get a great comparison to the telepathy that happens between those characters and the pair in this book. The dog’s mental voice is written in all caps, no quotation marks, and I couldn’t escape the sound of the dog’s voice from the movie. Both have a ready sarcastic wit that adds immensely to the dialog. The young lady (she has just turned 18 at the start of the book) is going through a lot of very emotionally impactful changes and the author does a superb job of letting us feel it with her. Very empathic writing offset against good humor – almost always a winning combination!

June is movie month! Books made into movies! Here’s the June line-up!

"Fight Club," by Chuck Palahniuk [6-3-17]

"The Lovely Bones," by Alice Sebold [6-10-17]

"The Color Purple," by Alice Walker [6-17-17]

"The Green Mile," by Stephen King [6-24-17]

(As always, if there are any books you’d like to recommend for next month, please do so. Also, if you have already read one on our previous lists, you are invited to send your ratings and or comments for that book!)