Bitten and Smitten by Michelle Rowan

Author: Michelle Rowan
ISBN # 0446617008
Publisher: Warner Forever
First Published: 2006
390 pages
Rating: 7

The Blurb:
Sarah Dearly has had a bad date. What else would you call being buried alive before dessert? Not to mention the bite mark on her neck and the creepy way her date keeps saying that he's sired her. Then these guys with stakes show up and turn her date into dust! Sarah runs for her life, only to be rescued by a tall, dark, and handsome stranger. Sure, she interrupts him as he's about to throw him-self off a bridge - but as far as rescuers go, Thierry de Bennicoeur will do. The only problem is their age difference. He's a 600-year-old vamp with a death wish. She's a new kid on the block with a need for someone to show her the ropes - and to keep her one step ahead of the vampire hunters. Sarah doesn't know what to make of all this. She's got a hankering for blood lately, but she doesn't feel like a monster, just like an unemployed girl looking for love - even if the object of her affection can't go out in the sun for very long.

The Review:
There seems to be a bit of a rush on both supernatural romance and vampires at the moment and with Bitten and Smitten, Michelle Rowan has pounced on both and run with them. Being set in Toronto, it might draw comparison with Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series, but this is far more light-hearted and incredibly chick-lit in its approach (more akin to Maryjanice Davidson’s Undead series, although it doesn't quite live up to that) and seeing as there’s nothing really original in the plot at all, it means that it looks rather more like the poor cousin when they are held up side by side. It’s nothing to write home about, but it’s not bad at all despite not having any exciting new slant to offer on the whole vampires-are-incredibly-sexy-and-cool front.

That said, it’s enjoyable enough fare and easy enough of a read to finish in a day if you’re stuck for anything decent on the telly to keep you amused.