Series: Jaz Parks – Book 1
Author: Jennifer Rardin
No of Pages: 335
Release Date: 8 October 2007
I’M JAZ PARKS. MY BOSS IS VAYL,
Born in Romania in 1744. Died there too, at the hand of his vampire wife, Liliana. But that’s ancient history. For the moment Vayl works for the CIA doing what he does best – assassination. And I help. You could say I’m an assistant assassin. But then I’d have to kick your ass.
Vayl and I have to take out a Miami plastic surgeon with ties to terrorism. But the assignment gets complicated when it turns out he’s in cahoots with a supernatural nasty powerful enough to bring America to its knees.
My Thoughts:
Once Bitten, Twice Shy was a great start to what is shaping up to be a promising series.
Jaz is a CIA assassin who has recently been partnered with Vayl a vampire assassin who is the best the CIA has got. Jaz and Vayl are sent on mission, a mission to derail a Pakistani plastic surgeon who has been very naughty, funnelling money in a terrorist bank account.
Jaz is definitely my kind of girl; she is witty, intelligent and surprisingly down-to-earth for being a high profile assassin. Jaz has a traumatic past, being part of an assassination group that hunted vampires and losing her entire team in one night has scarred her deeply, and is the reason why she is a kick-ass hunter now and why she works alone. When given the opportunity to work with the best of course Jaz wouldn’t turn it down, but she also has to content with blackout periods and memory loss. After losing her fiancé, who was part of the team that was murdered that night, Jaz feels increasingly guilty as she falls for Vayl.
Vayl is everything a vampire should be and more, not only is he refined and extremely intelligent, but after 300 years of watching people, he is very good at reading the meaning in peoples actions. He seems to really get Jaz even though Jaz doesn’t want to be understood.
Vayl and Jaz’s working relationship is a strong one, and although there is a lot of pent up sexual tension, I’m glad they haven’t pursed a romantic relationship as yet. We really got to see more of Jaz’s past and the mission at hand rather than focusing on nookie.
Once Bitten, Twice Shy was beautifully written and drew me in instantly. Once I started I just couldn’t stop no matter how much I should have. I finished it quickly but the story was one that stayed with me for a while after purely because the characters are so deep and I couldn’t get Jaz out of my head, her trauma and her strength.
Once Bitten, Twice Shy was a superb start to a series I want to dive back into as soon as possible.
Others in this series:
Another One Bites the Dust
Biting the Bullet
Bitten to Death
One More Bite
Bite Marks
Bitten in Two
The Deadliest Bite
