Review: read these two separately
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 10, 2013
This book is actually 2 novellas put together.  Here is my review of each one.I would probably categorize this as a novella since it is less than 40,000 words. This work was so well polished and edited that I would not have been surprised to find that it was presented by one of the big publishing houses with teams of beta and proof readers and editors. I did not find one misspelled word, incorrect word usage, or run-on sentence in the whole thing. It is rare to see that level of professionalism in an indie author's first published work.The characters are beautifully described and I imagined Diandra as an Adelle type. Jonah, though he was only in the first chapter of the book, was a man I could understand loving. I can see why Diandra is so destroyed when he is killed. She is young, widowed, pregnant...it couldn't get much worse for her. At least he left her with financial security. She starts to see that he might not be who she thought he was. How could he have left her so much when other cop friends were struggling to make ends meet? Lizbeth comes into the story and figures all that out. What starts as a friendship, and an odd one at that, turns into something more. This is a lesbian romance with f/f scenes for adults only.I would warn vampire lovers - this is not the normal vampire romance. There are no vamp love scenes and no blood drinking. The series is called Just One Bite and it is about how so many people's lives can be changed with a single bite. This book sets up the series and I think the next one will be more vampire heavy. If that is what you are looking for, and I know I am, ON TO BOOK 2!It starts out like it is going to be about this secret underground vampire world right under our noses but that storyline is wrapped up pretty quickly. It was really just to show what a jackass Jonah is. Diandra gives him a second chance, and third and fourth and he continues to blow it. He just cannot see how any of this is his fault. It is all Lizbeth's fault. If she wasn't there, in his old job, in his old house, with his wife and his daughter, then he could step right back in. Dia isn't having it from him. Honestly she put up with him for longer than I would have in her place. She is trying to be the better man (no lesbian pun intended).This book was more Lizbeth heavy than the first and I, for one, was glad to see her back on the force. It seems to be an identifying bit of her personality that was missing in the last book because she was not a cop, just an ex-cop. I enjoyed having more police/crime drama in there. I would have enjoyed more of the detective stuff, the hunt for the bad guy, the figuring it all out, ect.Dia and Lizzy don't have a perfect relationship. They are really struggling to make it work. Dia seems to be unsure of what she needs and wants. She says one thing and then does a complete 180. I think the emotionally stunted marriage she had to Jonah really messed with her. She wants to have an open and honest relationship but she is used to having things taken care of for her. Her life before this was pampered, her troubles glossed over. As a result she doesn't have the equipment necessary to deal with any conflict. When something threatens her, the vampire side comes out and takes care of it. And believe me, that is not something you would want. Dia's vamp side takes care of things by killing.I am looking forward to book three: Taste of Grief. I want to see what the DA is up to, what his plans for Lizbeth are, if love is enough to keep Lizzy and Dia together, more about Eamon and just what all that little RaeLynn is capable of. I need to see Diandra's reaction to being told by the woman she loves that 'I don't want to be like you'. Yikes. That is a fight I wouldn't want to have with my vampire girlfriend.