Sophie
is in the library researching for a school paper, when a really hot vampire
called Kenneth appears out of nowhere and stops a bookshelf from falling on her
head. Kenneth likes Sophie, but he feels that vampires’ getting involved with
humans is a big no-no, even when they’re as intelligent and in love with books
as he is. Sophie really likes Kenneth, but it’s hard work pretending she hasn’t
noticed he doesn’t always breathe.
I can see my time at school was wasted. It’s true I did spend a lot of time in the library, but instead of spending my lunchtime rushing through my homework and hiding from the teachers who wanted to drag me off to orchestra practice, maybe I should have positioned myself next to the nearest precarious bookshelf.
I’m not being sarcastic, I really do wish I
had because Kenneth is amazing! He’s obviously a strong and powerful guy (you
can’t have everything), but the (uncredited) writer really brings out his emotions and
vulnerabilities - specifically, sun, stakes and Sophie. Kenneth’s old fashioned
style of speaking is genuinely charming (and it’s not something I usually go
for), and his protectiveness is touching, without being the least bit
annoyingly sexist. He’s not doing it to show how amazing he is, he’s just being
himself.
Sophie is convincingly me in that she’s a
bit of a loner and she doesn’t go for the most conventional guys. She is a lot
more intelligent and hard-working than me, but I don’t mind pretending those
qualities are mine. I really don’t.
I named the heroine's friend after my friend Jade, and her 'boyfriend' is Gareth, though they only actually meet twice, so it can’t
really be described as a parallel romance. Jade in the book isn’t nearly as
lovely as my Jade, but she's a lot of fun and a great character.
I should probably say at this point that I
never really got into the whole vampire craze. I never wanted to read or watch
Twilight (though I do want to now) and while I’m not against the idea of
toyboys (the guy I named Kenneth after is younger than me) the idea of dating a
guy who’s going to look like my son in twenty years’ time was far from
appealing. Not to mention that even the nice vampires tend to go around killing
people. But then I read First Bite,
and I have to say, vampires are hot.
There are just a few problems with the whole vampire/human situation. If Kenneth turns Sophie into a vampire,
they can be together forever (or until someone stakes one of them), but Sophie
will probably lose all the humans in her life (not that anyone seems to talk to
her except Jade) and they might not accept her college application if she’s
dead. And what happens if they split up? Sophie would have to be undead
forever, just because she fell in love with a vampire once (and let's be honest, who hasn't fallen in love with a vampire? Even I have, after reading First Bite).
I was expecting these problems to bother me
all the way through the book, but I was too caught up in the story to care. I
just wanted Sophie and Kenneth to be happy right
now. I love this book. It’s sweet, sad, and romantic, the characters are
perfect for each other, and it’s completely gripping.
As Sophie is such a complete loner, there’s
not too much to worry about with personalisation. There’s a non-personalised guy
called Kip who shares Kenneth’s taste in women, and Kenneth has a couple of
female acquaintances called Jeanne and Vera, but they’re probably not in it
enough to make it a big problem if you want to use these
names for your personalised characters.
I am now an official converted vampire
fan. So if there are any vampires reading this, especially if you’re a bit
old-fashioned and called Kenneth, feel free to tap on my window as you pass my
house. If you’re lucky, you might just get invited in.
