Bite Back series

## Genre Information

Urban Fantasy
Paranormal Investigations

Paranormal Romance
Vampires

 (Series Content Ratings Click on Explicit Ratings for details.)

## About the Series

* **Genres:** Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Investigations / Vampires
* **Theme:**
* **Narrative style**: First Person narrative

## Series Description

“*Vampires are the flickering illusions of Hollywood. They don’t exist. We do. We are the Athanate*.”

For Amber Farrell, post-military life as a PI has its ups and downs: She’s been hit by a truck. She’s being sued by a client. Denver’s newest drug lord just put out a contract on her. The sinister Athanate want her to come in for a friendly chat. And it’s only Tuesday. Enter Jennifer Kingslund: rich, gorgeous—a tough businesswoman who’s known for getting what she wants in the boardroom and the bedroom. Someone’s trying to sabotage her new resort and destroy her company—and she wants Amber to find out who. The answers lead Amber past Were and Adepts, right back to the Athanate—and a centuries-old war that could threaten not just Denver, but the nation that Amber swore to protect and serve. And all sides want to claim her for their own.

## Books in Series

### Bite Back series

1. Sleight of Hand (Bite Back Book 1) (2012)
2. Hidden Trump (Bite Back Book 2) (2012)
3. Wild Card (Bite Back Book 3) (Nov 2013)
4. Cool Hand (Bite Back Book 4) (Dec 2014)
5. Angel Stakes (Bite Back Book 5) (2016)
6. Inside Straight (Bite Back Book 6) (2019)
7. Queen of Diamonds (Bite Back Book 7) (2021)

### Bite Back: Outsiders

1. The Biting Cold (Bite Back: Outsiders Book 1) (2015)
2. Winter's Kiss (Bite Back: Outsiders Book 2) (2016)

#### Shorts, Anthologies and Guides

* 0.5. Raw Deal (2013) ~ eBook, 180 pages (Amber's backstory)

## World Building

### Fantasy Elements

Vampires, Adepts, (magic users, witches), weres, dragon, special ops, evil mercenaries, shaman, Native American lore.

"The story encompasses 'paranormal' beings, but in a fresh new way that was both believable in a scientific manner"

### World

When Amber was in a secret unit of the army she was attacked and bitten by a vampire. The army has been monitoring her for two years since the attack to see if she will become one. They have developed a way to monitor prions in her blood that seem to indicate that while the process appears to be slow that she is steadily becoming less human. Amber does have some enhanced abilities like strength and speed. Amber hopes to remain human and has a negative view of vampires, by the end she is in a different place.

Athanates fall into two political factions. One faction wants to live peacefully with humans and insists turning humans must be voluntary and with full disclosure of the risks. The other, well, not so much in favor of human rights. Werewolves exist and a third supernatural group is introduced: **witches** who like vampires don’t like the usual terms. They call themselves Adepts.

The Athanate have a complete political and governmental system while also developing a most fascinating personal interaction system, based on the concept of **"kin"**. Athanate and their chosen 'family' members, who, yes, provide blood and sex, also provide warmth, love, closeness and all those other things that define deep, true love. An Athanate may require more than one 'kin' to survive. Every one of their kin give to the Athanate in question, and to one another, what each member needs from the relationship.

### Protagonist

Amber Farrell
Amber is strong, smart, and a bit of a loner. Her past is dark and shrouded in mystery. She is ex-Army special ops and while on a mission in the South American jungle, something attacks her and changes her life forever.
Amber is ex-military and as such, is highly trained. However, she is also damaged, highly mature in some ways, immature in others. Strong enough to protect others, but in terrible pain herself. she is going through a vital change, which causes her to suffer from a heart-rending difficulties, both emotionally and physically. The creature she is changing into is 'highly charged' - much more so than she is comfortable with. Dealing with these changes will be interesting to watch, given the whole dynamic of the community she is moving into.
Adding to her problem, the vampire infection that has tainted her blood is taking over, and if she isn't careful her government minders will throw her into a padded room where military scientists will control her every move.
## Book Descriptions

### Bite Back series

1. Sleight of Hand (2012)
“Vampires are the flickering illusions of Hollywood. They don’t exist. We do. We are the Athanate.” For Amber Farrell, post-military life as a PI has its ups and downs: She’s been hit by a truck. She’s being sued by a client. Denver’s newest drug lord just put out a contract on her. The sinister Athanate want her to come in for a friendly chat. And it’s only Tuesday. Enter Jennifer Kingslund: rich, gorgeous—a tough businesswoman who’s known for getting what she wants in the boardroom and the bedroom. Someone’s trying to sabotage her new resort and destroy her company—and she wants Amber to find out who. The answers lead Amber past Were and Adepts, right back to the Athanate—and a centuries-old war that could threaten not just Denver, but the nation that Amber swore to protect and serve. And all sides want to claim her for their own…
2. Hidden Trump (2012)
"I knew I was going to be betrayed this week." Amber Farrell, Denver PI, is coming to terms with being part of the paranormal community, but she's about to find that includes very dangerous responsibilities for her. Nothing is quite what it seems, least of all, Amber herself, and to survive, she must form alliances with powerful groups whose interests are in conflict. But she knows she's expendable and betrayal is inevitable... Denver is hosting a meeting of the opposing Athanate creeds who are stirring after a hundred years of peace. War between them would be disastrous for everyone, human and paranormal, and it's Amber who's being blamed for the troubles in the run-up to the Assembly. And it's going to get very personal.
3. Wild Card (Nov 2013)
"Now? Now, it felt like there were claws scratching at me from the inside." Amber Farrell, Denver PI and hybrid paranormal, is hunting a rogue Were through the secret heart of her home town. Without the help she needs from Denver's paranormal community, she's unsure whether she can keep ahead of her own lethal problems long enough to catch the rogue. Any mistake by her could expose the hidden community. Even actions with the best of intentions reveal a terrible price. And every new discovery in the hunt for the rogue seems to change the whole game.
4. Cool Hand (March 5, 2015)
“If you don’t believe your whole life has been a path leading to this one point, you’re not focused enough.” The Athanate are on the brink of war. Amber has to search for Diana in the forbidden zone of New Mexico, for the good of the paranormal world and her own sanity. Every step she takes is another opportunity to precipitate more conflict. Every easy choice is denied her and she must work without the support of the powerful paranormal factions in Colorado. When she most needs help, she has nothing. But sometimes, nothing can be a real cool hand.
5. Angel Stakes (2016 )
The Athanate are meeting in Los Angeles, the city that feeds on dreams, leaving nothing but dust and nightmares. They must forge a new Assembly and reach a consensus before Emergence is forced on them. They have to reach out and include the Were and Adepts, and they need Amber to do it.
But Amber is deep in her own personal crisis. Can she find a resolution for herself as she takes on the tasks of the Assembly?
Los Angeles. Where you can toss away your old life like a bad hand...
Or man up and play the cards you've been dealt.
6. Inside Straight (2019)
Amber is under orders to spend a relaxing Christmas with her House and family in Denver. No chance.
A fleeing Athanate House with rebel Adepts and a dying human kin throw themselves at Amber's mercy and her decisions unleash a terrifying journey into the world of the most secretive of paranormal races - the Adepts.
Amber has to unmask her enemies, persuade uncertain allies to support her, and risk her own soul in a battle to protect the power of the dragon and the outcome of Emergence.
7. Queen of Diamonds (2021)
**"Now... we bite back."**
A wild ride of Special Ops attacks, unwinnable werewolf challenges, terrifying magical powers, insane Athanate politics and the discovery of a fanatic, anti-paranormal cult. Amber has to race from the Mexican desert to the swamps of Louisiana to battle past mutant shifters, and make ill-considered alliances with old enemies to take on an evil witch queen.
She has one card up her sleeve: she can embrace the darkness that is her inheritance and use the unholy power of a forgotten spirit world god.
But nothing is free. Will it cost her life, or only her soul?
### Bite Back: Outsiders

The Biting Cold (Bite Back Outsiders Book 1) (2015)
Dr. Amanda Lloyd, a dying psychiatrist, is desperate to give the only testimony that will keep the criminal mastermind of a human trafficking network in jail. She can’t spare time for the handsome patient who claims to be a vampire. Unless what he offers her is exactly what she needs…
Winter's Kiss (Bite Back Outsiders Book 2) (2016)
Amanda Lloyd was brave when she testified against an evil criminal and ensured he went to prison. That was when she thought she was dying. Now she knows she’s not dying, and that same criminal has put out a contract on her. She flees from her comfortable life in Detroit into the teeth of a winter storm, leaving her old life behind and emerging into a frightening world where the normal and paranormal worlds collide as they both hunt her.
## References

1. ↑ Shelfari
2. ↑ GoodReads reader