Review: Love Sucks! by Melissa Francis

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's website:

AJ Ashe may have gotten rid of her vampire stalker and her evil ex-teacher, but things are hardly back to normal. For one thing, she still has to maintain a strict look-but-don't-touch policy with Ryan, her hot ex-boyfriend-turned-stepbrother. For another, she has to learn to control her vampire superpowers—which means more than a few dates with Lex, mind-reading professional vampire trainer and too-sexy-for-his-own-good bad boy. And as if that's not enough, she happens to be the key to her father's plans to take over the world . . . and he'll stop at nothing to get what he wants.

All this and she's still got to plan the prom. Being a teenager is tough, but being a teenage vampire just flat out sucks!

Review:

Just when I thought Melissa Francis' books couldn't get any better, her sophomore novel came out and it was nothing short of amazing, good-old fun, making the Bite Me series one of my current faves!

Love Sucks! begins a few months after Bite Me! left off, and as it turns out AJ Ashe's life hasn't gotten any easier, even with the fact that her stalker and ex-teacher are finally out of her life. You see, not only is she still 100% in love with Ryan Miller, she's also dealing with the fact that she'll be having a new sibling soon, and worst of all, an annoying but amazingly hot vampire trainer is now in her life; Lex is his name. But the thing is the more time she spends with Lex and his yummy-ness, the more she forgets about Ryan, which is a good thing, right? That's what she needs, correct? And just as she's already in over her head with Lex, new secrets coming tumbling out of the wood work, making this vampire teen wonder how on earth she's going to make it through her senior year. Especially given the fact that Ryan may now be involved with her best friend!

Just like in Bite Me! AJ is as charming and funny as ever, making her life a complete blast to read about! I especially loved the addition of the yummy Lex, because seriously this guy gives Ryan a run for his money. And talking about Ryan, he's just as cute and swoon-worthy as ever, even with the serious changes in his personality several times.

The plot of this was just as kick-butt as before, thankfully, and even more so at times. I loved learning more about the history of the warlocks and the vampires and how it all related to current times with Ryan, AJ, and their family. And just like in Bite Me!, Love Sucks! is never one to leave you bored with predictability, just the opposite in fact, because the twists in turns in this one forever kept me on the tip of my toes, curious to find out how everything would end.

Lastly, Melissa's writing is even better in this one, because it brought not only the plot to life but the characters as well.

In all, Love Sucks!, as well as its predecessor Bite Me!, are pure fun vampire fluff! I'm truly hoping there will be a third one, though I'm sure that whatever Ms. Francis comes up with next will be just as great, if not more amazing!

Grade: A-

Love Sucks! is now out!

Source: Publisher. Thanks, HarperCollins!

Review: Bite Me! by Melissa Francis

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

AJ Ashe isn't your typical seventeen-year-old vampire—as if there is such a thing! She's stuck in the middle of a huge fight between her two BFFs. Her ex-boyfriend—whom she's still totally in love with, by the way—is now her stepbrother. A former classmate—who, um, she may or may not have turned into a vampire—is stalking her. And now, apparently, the fate of humankind lies in her little undead hands. What ever happened to the good old days, when all a vampire girl had to worry about was the occasional zit and hiding her taste for blood?

Review:

Just when I thought vampires were officially over, Bite Me! ended up in my hands, and boy, was it fantastic (or fangtastic. Get it? Yes, I know my jokes are lame)! It definitely is one of my favorite paranormal romances of the year!

AJ Ashe has a lot of secrets. For one, she's a blood-drinking vampire, though mind you, she's civilized and doesn't drink from humans... most of the time. Second of all, she has a big crush one a guy named Ryan, who likes her as much as she likes him, but the problem is he's now her step bother, putting the kibosh on their possible romance. And to top all things of, she's being stalked by a (ex?) friend and just learned some disturbing things about her dad. Leaving this vampire princess to wonder how on earth she'll be able to make it through the year in one piece.

AJ was a character I absolutely adored! She was sweet, funny, and just all around great person who I would love to have in my life if she was real. I loved learning more about her vampire ways and what made her different from the typical YA vampire. And I have to say, I adored her step brother/ex-boyfriend Ryan even more, since he was just like her: funny, sweet.... you get the picture. Plus, I loved the way he was protective of her but not in a creepy/stalker type way. Lastly, her Brady bunch like family was a riot and characters I loved reading about!

The plot of this was great and forever kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what would occur next. As mentioned above, I loved not only finding more out about Vampires but all the (good and bad) sides to the magical world AJ belonged too. Further more, Melissa's writing moved in a way that made it easy to get lost in AJ and Ryan's world for a few hours.

In all, Bite Me! is a romantic, funny, and unique debut book that I can't suggest highly enough to all you paranormal lovers out there! I'm definitely looking forward to reading more by Ms. Francis.

Grade: A-

Bite Me! is now out!

Source: Bought at Barnes and Noble