Nina Bangs, One Bite Stand

One Bite Stand

Nina Bangs

Leisure, Jan 2008, $7.99

ISBN: 9780843959543

Daria is undergoing a certification test to determine if she is capable of performing as a harpy. To pass she must bring a soul to Hades of Tartarus; if she fails the punishment is the worst that one could imagine; for instance one year of humiliating public wearing of a zombie's castoffs. To find a worthy victim to take to her superior Tartarus, she obtains the night manager position at the Woo Woo Inn.

Declan realizes that something deadly has stalked and killed two of his peers. He fears for the lives of the surviving vampiric council members as he thinks they are the intended victims of the culprit. He thinks a Harpy working the Woo Woo Inn desk is hilarious, but also finds he is attracted to Daria, a taboo for a vampire. Daria realizes Declan is her ticket to the top of Hades, but cannot bring herself to take his soul as she is attracted to the vampire, a taboo for a Hades employee IAW the Harpy Handbook. As their attraction turns to love, they realize a confrontation with a serial killer of the supernatural species awaits them.

ONE BITE STAND is an amusing lighthearted paranormal romantic suspense as the harpy and the vampire prove strange NIGHT BITES attractions make for a fine romantic fantasy. The suspense grips the readers, but is not needed and distracts from the fun relationship between the delightful Ds make this an entertainingly 'Wicked' zany tale with quite a bang of a main plot.

Harriet Klausner