This is the first in this series I have read but... it was an excellent stand alone. Lots of unique characters and some that make me want to catch up on this series. Always love a vampire story that includes the challenges of having children and their amazing abilities. Hughes told an amazing romance with good winning over evil. "A copy of this book was provided by Entangled via Net Galley with no requirements for a review. Comments here are my honest opinion." ( )

See this review in its natural environment, Dani Reviews Things. Trigger warning! This book refers to domestic abuse situations, so please keep that in mind and avoid if necessary.

Passion Bites is the ninth book in the Biting Love series, and the stars of the show are vampire Luke and broke doctor Alexis. While their attraction to each other is pretty instant, they both have their stubborn reasons for not getting involved. There was plenty of steam, but there was also quite a lot of humour (if a bit snarky...my favourite) and a lot of action to keep things balanced and very interesting. I enjoyed the story and the mix of romance with more action/detective work. I was definitely hooked until the end, and I'll be looking out for Hughes' other books!

Ok, so you know how I said I had a thing for shapeshifters? Yeah, I also have one for vampires. And for faeries, while we're at it. How about... I have a thing for magical guys. Sounds about right... This is the first book from Love Bites that I've read, but all the guys are tall and hunky.

What I don't have a thing for is trying to read books with hothothot scenes on a plane next to my coworker. It required careful positioning of my Kindle and my hair. The last thing I needed was for him to glance over and see choice words on the screen!

Anyway, about the book...
Plot & Pacing
The plot was more exciting than I anticipated! At first, it seemed like a more emotionally dramatic book, like a contemporary... with vampires. However, maybe if I had read the other books in the series, I would have known better. What I got instead was actually a rather exciting story, with various tangental storylines connecting into one big masterplan. While the first have was slower – setting the scene – when the poop hit the whirlymabob, I was hooked in. I was devastated when I had to put the book down to go out for dinner and drinks! (That being said, one of the guys I met reads a lot of fantasy, so not all hope was lost.) As a fan of investigative shows and medical dramas, I loved the CSI-style detective work. I have to say, I was a little disappointed with myself, as I'm usually quite good at working out the twists and turns, but I can say, genuinely, that I didn't expect everything that happened!

I feel like I'm downplaying how exciting this book is, so let's just make this clear: in amongst the romance and sexy times, there is actually a lot of action.


Characters & Relationships
Alexis is nearing 40 and a little bit not the rich doctor you'd expect. Feeling responsible for keeping her best friend from returning to her abusive husband, Alexis makes an arrangement with the owner of a townhouse to live there while she gathers enough money for a downpayment.She's had a plan since she was a child – become a doctor and open up a women's health centre – and she's stuck to it for decades, even when her friend continues to knock it off course. She changes the plan ever so slightly to opening a domestic violence shelter instead. When she discovers that the vampire household across the road wants to expand, buying the house she so desperately wants, she tries to fight back.

And that's what Alexis is – a fighter, an ER doctor who keeps her cool and fights to keep people alive and things on track. She's proud of her work, and nothing will stop her from achieving the things she wants to achieve. That is, until Luke shows up, and suddenly all those emotions she's locked away behind the wall of rationality burst through.

Luke is tall, blonde and muscular. He's also a grieving vampire who lost his wife 300 years before and still blames himself for not being able to protect her. Since vampires mate for life, he doesn't understand why he's suddenly attracted to Alexis, and the mixture of lust and confusion and pain shines through in his POVs and interactions with her.

The one thing that put me off – and this is going to be silly as hell – is that Luke has a blonde braid that reaches his bootaaay. I'm sorry, but no. We don't need that getting in the way, thank you very much. One snake in bed is enough. (Tehehehe I'm so funny.) Oh, and the hairy chest. Not for me, thanks.

Both share a zingy sense of humour, a mix of dry, dark and sarcastic, with a few puns thrown in here and there.

"But it's daytime. Aren't you supposed to be on fire or something?"

"Me? Not for another ten minutes at least. We'll be inside long before then. I show up in mirror too. Good thing, or shaving would be a lot more adventurous."

For the record, vampires do catch on fire in this world, but not instantaneously, like you find in a lot of vampire stories.

Luke also introduced me to the concept of Kintsugi, explaining how Alexis' signs of being almost 40 were what made her look beautiful.

"These lines..." He traced across my forehead and the brackets around my mouth. "They're because you've lived, yes. But what makes them important is that they're part of your life. They're there because they were along for the ride that made you who you are today. They were made on the ride that made you. You're perfect. So they're perfect too."

Sigh... How wonderful a concept is that???

So you're fully warned, this is on the steamier end of the spectrum, with Alexis and Luke having several interactions that were quite graphic. However, they weren't thrown in there without purpose. There was clear desire between them, but it fit well with the personal issues they were each working through.

As per usual with serial romances, everyone is related to everyone else. Most of Luke's fellow male vamps are with women who also seem to be related in other ways. Alexis' sister is married to a vampire, her second cousin is with a vampire, etc. etc. But did you really expect anything different. This is the way with serials, and it lets you continue to see your favourite characters on the side in future books, so actually, it's rather nice. It's like how Po and Katsa from Graceling show up in the third book, Bitterblue, and you get to be all squeeful about them again.

Also, all the women have awesome jobs, FYI, like detective, doctor, programmer (YES), etc. Props for that.
World-building
The story takes place in a small town near Chicago called Meiers Corners. (Fun fact: if you search for Meiers Corners in Google Maps, it takes you to New York.) The town is historically a German settlement that's kept its roots, remaining small and involving a decent amount of drinking during the child-rearing process. It's one of those towns where everyone knows everyone else's business, so it's rather incredible that no one has figured out that there's a master vampire living with his family and human...companions?... around. Also, why is there a café open at 4am?!

I would say, though, that the place I got the best feel for was the building in which the Big Shit happens. I could picture it all, reminding me of Die Hard!

I also want to note that I liked the whole vampire system that was described. The way vampire anatomy worked, how mates and children worked... it was all interesting and new to me, though I still have plenty of questions! I feel like Alexis' medical background brought a certain something new to thinking about vampires, trying to explain how they worked and how their blood might affect humans.


Writing
Hughes' writing flows easily, and it was really easy to fall into the story. She switches between Alexis' first person POV and Luke's third person POV smoothly. So smoothly, in fact, that I didn't even notice that she was switching between first and third until I was 31% through, something that would usually have jarred me! I feel it helped to subtley signal who's POV was being shown at the time.

Since Alexis is a doctor, she throws around a few medical and science terms here and there, which added to her character. Hughes managed to slip in the definitions of the terms without awkwardness, helped by Alexis' first person POV. I managed to learn a few new things and freshen up my memory of a few others thanks to this book, which I love!

I'm going to be nitpicky about one little thing. ("Super nitpicky," as Jamie put it.) So, Luke has a 5-year-old niece who says, "Mommy's letting Ellen Ripley and me stay here for a sleepover." Luke then corrects the girl, saying it should be "Ellen Ripley and I". BUT NO, THE KID HAD IT RIGHT. Easy test for all of you out there who don't know when to use me vs. I; if you take out the other person's name, does it sound better with "me" or "I"? In this example, if you take out Ellen's name, you get "Mommy's letting me stay here for a sleepover." Using "I" would sound so, so wrong. Don't believe me? Here's Oxford Dictionaries to back me up. (Also, authors, this is why you want me to read through your work.)
Overall
I really, really enjoyed this. It was a great combination of various types of excitement, and I liked all of the characters, even the baddies! I'm definitely looking out for more Mary Hughes going forward! (And, you know, going through her extensive backlog.) ( )