What an absolute joy to read! I laughed out loud. Repeatedly. Bite Me, Try Me, Fang Me written by Parker Blue and published by Bell Bridge Books. This particular edition is a set of all three stand-alone books (the Demon Underground series) in one.In Bite Me our heroine, Val, is feeling friendless and lonely. As a part-demon in a paranormal-oblivious world she has been home-schooled alone, knows no other demons, and has no human friends. It's her 18th birthday and she's out looking for a vampire to stake. When she returns home with her AWOL younger sister, her parents tell her that in order to protect her sister, she must move out of her home – and find a new job. She discovers the special (secret) Special (as in paranormal) Crime Unit of the local police and the Demon Underground, an alliance of demons/part-demons who work to support each other in this human world. In Try Me, second book in the Demon Underground series, Val's position in the Special (paranormal) Crimes Unit has been damaged by the revelation that her demon is a succubus and her emotions are tried by the desertion of her first love. On the other hand, Micah is teaching her how to control her demon, the part-shadow demon Shade makes her feel valued, and Fang is still her friend. The third book, Fang Me, is the story of retrieving the bespelled Encyclopedia Magika, a powerful set of books given to Val just before her father's death; the books had disappeared one day many years before. Val returned them to the Demon Underground in time for them to be stolen again! It's difficult to know the thief but eventually the who, how, and why are discovered. In the meantime, Val is working for the "good" vampires because she had used her services to guarantee the Underground's side of an agreement with the vamps.
Author
Who is Parker Blue? Well, I live in Colorado Springs with my dog, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Val's part-hellhound mutt, Fang. I hate writing bios so that's all you're gonna get. Okay, okay. Instead of more boring bio stuff, how about some of my likes and dislikes? Stuff I love, in no particular order:
- The color red—a bright, orange-red just makes me happy.
- Shiny things. I must have been a magpie in a previous life.
- Making shiny things. Love to bead!
- Dogs—they love you unconditionally and are great at stress relief.
- Numbers. So sue me—I love math. It always makes sense.
- Chocolate. Come on, that's a no-brainer.
- The mountains of Colorado. Their awe-tastic beauty is good for the soul.
- Diet Coke. What can I say? I'm addicted.
- Reading. Escaping into a cool new world someone created out of their imagination? It doesn't get much better than that.
- Oh, yeah. And writing. Making up my own world out of random bits of my twisted psyche is the best! Things I'm not so crazy about, besides the obvious things everyone hates (war, pestilence, famine, you know the drill):
- Blogs that dis other people. What's up with that?
- Going to the dentist. Need I say more?
- Politics. Big yawn.
- Television shows that ask people do stupid things for money then make fun of them.
- Seafood. Ick. Just...ick.
- Yard work. I need lawn gnomes!
- Writing bios. Enough already! As for the drawings...no, they don't really resemble me much, but this is what I figure Parker Blue ought to look like, kind of geek chic. Torie Fox drew them for me—isn't she fabulous?
