Once Bitten, Twice Shyby Jennifer RardinOne of my favourite blog friends, DarlaD over at Books and Other Thoughts has been reviewing this series for some time now and although I have been mildly interested I hesitated to pick the first one up because I do not like vampire books. I am so tired of vampires. Tired!I did like the covers of the trade paperback editions however since I wasn't too keen on investing in the series I didn't want to pay the $17 or so dollars per book. Then the first three books came out in mass market and I hemmed and hawed and still held out on getting the first one. But good ol' DarlaD kept on reviewing the series and in December she posted her review for the fifth book. To be honest, since it was at book five I thought it was about time I get my bottom in gear and check it out so I bought this first book.A couple of things struck me as I read it. First - Jaz Parks is not a vampire and I was under the impression she was. So there was a point in her favour. Plus I liked the way she was written. Sarcastic (you'll note I tend to love the sarcasm in main characters a lot), witty and strong. Second - Jaz is part of the CIA in a team that kills vamps. It sort of reminded me of what Jeaniene Frost was trying to do with Cat and Bones in her Night Huntress series that never really reached it's potential. I didn't particularly like Vayal, the vampire who asked to work with Jaz at first but he grew on me.The book didn't make me laugh out loud, but I did smirk a lot. However I just don't know what I think about this series. I didn't hate it by far, but I didn't adore it. I just liked it. It was interesting and action packed and had decent dialogue and sarcasm, but it was just sort of there for me.I had some problems with the attempts at hinting to Jaz's past and the "mystery" surrounding why she was special and different from other humans. There was something lacking in the reveal and hints that bugged me and I felt it was sort of being shoved down my throat rather than subtle. Perhaps this issue is dealt with slightly more smoothly in the following books but I don't know.Will I read more in the series? Certainly. Will I be rushing out to buy them? I don't think so. I wasn't chomping at the bit to read the next book (unlike the book I read right after this one - Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill) and I have more than enough books in my house at the moment to entertain myself. But I will be picking up the second book at some point as I am interested in seeing if I am caught up in the mystery that is Jaz Parks at some point.Jaz Parks series

1. Once Bitten, Twice Shy
2. Another One Bites the Dust
3. Biting the Bullet
4. Bitten to Death
5. One More Bite
6. Bite Marks
7. Bitten in Two - November 2010