Serena Robar, Braced 2 Bite

Braced 2 Bite

Serena Robar

Berkley, Jun 2006, May 2006, $9.99

ISBN 0425209768

Colby Blanched is the typical sixteen year old, interested in boys, clothing and staying head cheerleader. Her normal life comes to a screeching halt when she is attacked by a man and left in a ravine. When she wakes up, she returns home to learn she has been missing for forty-eight hours. When she smells blood on her mother's hand, she starts drinking it until she is full. Tests by her aunt prove she is a vampire as she has no pulse or heartbeat.

The Vampire Tribunal comes over to serve her with a summons because she is not a vampire but a half-breed Undead because she is too many generations removed to be a full Vampire. Undead have different abilities than vampires and the tribunal looks at them as abominations that must be destroyed. She has to appear before them and make a case that she should not be destroyed but she doesn't have a clue how she is going to manage it.

Aimed at the young adult market BRACED 2 BITE will also be thoroughly enjoyed by adults who like chick lit serio-comic vampire novels. Since her incisors were removed when Colby wore braces her father makes her a mechanical contraption to take their place and some of the funniest bites in the book take place around them. The heroine is strong willed and willing to fight against the injustice of the Vampire Council in their deadly dealings with the undead. Readers will be happy to know that this is just the beginning of a charming, beguiling and totally entertaining new series.

Harriet Klausner