Intoxicated by Books

One Bite to Passion 

by

MaryLynn Bast

Synopsis:

On a business trip to Japan, Paige has just found happiness with Casey, an exciting, young man with a passionate interest in Paige. After a night of wild sex, feels like a new woman. Drawn to Casey, Paige can’t refuse him even though he says he wants to possess her and she learns he is a vampire. Then Paige's unfaithful husband, Dalton, shows up. He has supposedly broken off his affair, but Paige suspects he is still seeing his mistress. Soon, Paige begins to notice disturbing things happening around her and discovers she has become the center of a battle between covens who consider her The Chosen One. But when she faces the greatest peril of her life, and Casey shows up to help, Page realizes she is willing fight the covens side-by-side with him, if it means the chance of a future with this vampire she has come to love.

Review:

Overall “One Bite to Passion” is average.  I pushed my rating from 2 out of 5 stars to 3 for two reasons: great sex scenes and two engaging characters. 

Many women, including me, can relate to Paige.  She has a few extra pounds, is average-looking, and middle-aged.   She is the central character in the story and has some powerful sexual experiences.  It’s refreshing to read about an average middle-aged woman having powerful sexual experiences in a time when most modern romances involve gorgeous, thin, young women.   Her partner is a gorgeous, young man named Casey who truly cares about her.  He doesn’t sleep with her out of pity.  He doesn’t sleep with her as part of some plan to use her to get something.  He sleeps with her because he loves her and he makes her feel beautiful because he genuinely sees her as beautiful.  Awesome. 

“One Bite to Passion” has a vampire element to it, but Paige’s growth is at the heart of the story.   Her self image is  damaged from a dead marriage to a man who no longer appreciates her.  She doesn’t feel attractive or worthy of attention from him or anyone else. Although she struggles with her affair, Paige justifies it as Casey shows her that she is beautiful and desirable. We sympathize with her adulterous relationship because we understand her belief that it is a healthy choice for her.

On the downside, the writing style itself was boring.   I wanted to know more about some specific experiences that Paige had with her husband.  A couple are provided in the book, but I wanted more.  I also wanted a clearer description of the various settings.  Give me a vivid image of what the buildings look like, what did they make her think of, did they remind of anything?  Give me some background on Casey.  That could be done without spoiling the resolution of Paige’s issues.  Has he been married?  What does he think and feel when he sees Paige? What was his first exposure to vampires?   Tell me more about Rosa. We know that she is Paige’s best friend and that she cheats on her husband on a regular basis, but I wanted more details of some experiences they had together over the years.  In general,  I wanted much more character development. 

The sex scenes were strong and compelling.  Descriptions of the physical, as well as the emotional and mental aspects, were vivid and engrossing.  We get inside Paige’s head and understand her conflicted feelings.  We are privy to her purely sexual thoughts as well as her feelings about herself, Casey and her marriage. 

Paige’s periodic attraction to other women should be either cut from the story or more fully developed as part of the message about Paige discovering herself sexually.  Part of that could be experimentation with other women.  If the writer chooses not to make that part of Paige’s journey, however, then there is no reason to mention it and it should be cut. 

I have one issue with the generally well-done pinnacle of the story.  A large amount of information is provided in a few pages, which is a variation from the pace and writing style of the remainder of the book.  I would like to see some balance from this perspective.  Give me more plot and character development throughout the story.  The story needs a steady supply of information,  not a light supply for the largest portion of the book and then large amounts of it at the end.  The pacing and the flow of the story changed dramatically.  This needs to be balanced.

This is a fun, easy read.  The sex scenes will pull the reader in, and there are some good themes.  Overall, however, it’s average, due to some structural and style issues with the writing itself.

About the author:

MaryLynn Bast

MaryLynn Bast moved to Las Vegas in 2010 from Texas, where she grew up. She works as a consultant with a contractor for the US Military, traveling from base to base across the US and around the world. Whenever possible, MaryLynn enjoys spending time with her husband, children and friends. In her free time she writes paranormal romance, erotica, loves to read and travel.

For more information check out her blog at: http://heartofawolfseries.blogspot.com/