Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Book One of the Jaz Parks Series (Jaz Parks, #1)

by Jennifer Rardin

Vayl is the CIA's top assassin. A master of black ops, he has never failed. He's also a 291-year-old vampire. Assigned to protect Vayl, if such a formidable creature can be said to require protection, is Jasmine Parks - 'Jaz' to her friends.

But Jaz has got problems - and not just the run-of-the-mill ones you'd expect from someone whose job consists of putting her life on the line for an undead assassin. She hasn't had sex in god knows how long, so Vayl's almost overpowering vampire charisma is making it increasingly difficult for her to keep their relationship . . . professional. Her personal life is a long line of missed birthdays and Christmases, and lies and excuses to her family. And then there's that other thing: the blackouts.

See, there's times that Jaz can't account for and things that happen in those times that Vayl - not to mention the CIA - may not appreciate. And if they find out, Jasmine knows it won't just be her contract that's terminated . . .

• ISBN10: 1841496375
• ISBN13: 9781841496375
• Publish Date: 18 October 2007 (first published 8 October 2007)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 28 February 2024
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Orbit
• Format: Paperback (A-Format (178x111 mm))
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[Linda]

Once Bitten, Twice Shy is one of those fast-paced urban fantasy novels that grabs you from the start and brings you on a wild ride full of action, fights and intrigue.

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews

[MurderByDeath]

While I read quite a bit of paranormal, this isn't my typical type - it's a bit more intense, more "hard-boiled" than what I usually pick up, but I was intrigued by the characters of Jaz and Vayl. Once I picked the book up, I didn't want to put it down, it was a very good read. The good guys were all likeable and the bad guys were appropriately despicable. I wasn't sure the plot line sounded all that interesting to me initially but I found it moving along and holding my interest from beginning to end. I'll be picking up the rest of the books in this series, although I'll probably space them out more than I normally would when I find an established series.

[Angie]

Once Bitten, Twice Shy reminded me of a cliche action movie with a supernatural twist. There's car chases, explosions, people falling of buildings, exciting escapes, terrorists, deadly viruses, but minus the romance in the midst of life threatening situations.

Jaz was a bit of a mystery to me in the beginning. Even though this is told from Jaz's point of view, in first person, I don't think she expressed herself that well. She kept bringing up something from her past that was having a major effect on her present. Anything happening after that event she referred to as "after," but after what? She never says for about 100 pages. It just kept coming up over and over again, and it started to get annoying. I wanted to know what was bothering her! And why she has these seemingly random blackouts and what happens to her during them. Jaz is a pretty likeable, slightly neurotic character with an odd sense of humor, but her refusal to share important episodes from her past made her difficult to care about.

However, she does eventually share her past and much, much more with...a guy she meets once in the ladies' room! In fact, upon their first meeting he openly tells her that he's a PI hired to investigate the same terrorist Jaz is after. Then on their second meeting, Jaz completely over-shares about herself and her mission. I find it very hard to believe that a PI and a CIA assassin would just spill that kind of information to someone that they know nothing about. Sure they could work together since they have the same target, but neither one knew that about the other until it was blindly offered!

This is another one of those series where vampires are "out of the coffin" but aren't completely accepted into society. I tend to really like when the supernaturals are known to humans, but it didn't seem to have much of an impact on the story. The few exceptions are that vampires are in the CIA, such as Jaz's boss, Vayl, and humans can be split into two groups: normal and Sensitives. Jaz is in the latter group, since she can "smell" vampires. Of course, there's more to this ability than Jaz originally thought...

Overall, this moved at a decent pace with plenty of action scenes. The plot gets a little confusing as it moves along, but everything comes together nicely in the end. It was a pretty fun read, despite some of my complaints. I'll probably continue this series, because I really liked Jaz's abilities and would love to see more of them in action!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[wyvernfriend]

Jaz Parks is partnered with Vayl, a vampire from Romania. They work for the CIA as assassins. They work with each other to chase paranormal enemies. Both of them have secrets and these secrets are about to come home to roost.

Vayl and Jaz are great characters and you can understand some of their reticence about issues. The two of them are great together and really come across as quite believable. I look forward to reading more in this series.