Bitten in Two [Paperback]

I really hate not to give Jennifer Rardin a really good review because I love the Jaz Parks books.

I'll start with the things I didn't really like first. The plot was murky, at best, opening with the lost memory of one of the main characters and not really understanding how and when it showed up. This was accompanied by an unfunny, uninteresting charade played out by each member of the team to keep time with the lost memory. We didn't even really know why the team was in a foreign country until halfway through the book or what their mission was. Finally, Jaz's inner voices just became lame. Way too much Granny May and Teen Me. Even Jaz's own inner voice was so snarky and convoluted I sometimes couldn't follow it. And the amnesiac's failure to recognize that the perceived world didn't fit the real world just didn't wash. Finally, there was no closure to the storyline, unless I just missed which one of the plots or subplots was the storyline. Even Vayl's past that comes to light wasn't very interesting.

These are the things about the book that I did like, though. It is well written. Just reading good writing is a joy. About halfway through, things became clearer and the characters returned to themselves. Once this happened, the book picks up steam. Jaz and Vayl's relationship is mature and I adore them together as a couple. Throughout the book, Jaz is stalked by a native Marrakechian boy who loves to be physically abused and wants to marry her. This subplot is very funny and comes in quite useful by the end. They bring in a new member to the team, a warlock named Sterling with whom Jaz has a very humorous history. The major tension was supplied by Kyphas, the demon, whose love for Cole is unrequited. No one trusts a demon whose goal is to force more souls to hell and in so doing, moves up in Hell's rank. Kyphas indeed has a hidden agenda and she'll do anything to have Cole.

The team heads out to find out who cursed their member with memory loss and it isn't an easy task. They wade through lots werewolves and their scary, bad-tempered riders known as Luurekin trying to get to the spellcaster in the hopes they will learn the identity of the person responsible for the scheme. In the process, a hellgate and all kinds of hellish activity is discovered. They have to fight their way through the bad buys all the while watching their backs against the bad guy on the team.

All in all, this book has not turned me off the series because the previous six books were just too good and I hope future books will continue along that path.

Jaz, Vayl and their crew have just landed in Morocco to find an artifact that will send the demon possessing Jaz back to hell. Only one problem. A mysterious curse is placed on Vayl that has him thinking he is in 1777. Now Jaz, Cole and Bergman must play the roles Vayl currently envisions them in or risk him losing his dangerous temper. They must do this while trying to find a way to lift Vayl's curse and find the artifact to save Jaz before this becomes her last mission.

You are thrown into the action from page one. Cole and Jaz are hunting a vampire you think is their mark but we find out that it is Vayl and he has lost the last 230+ years of his memory. While the book does explain what happen to Vayl, I felt like I was missing out because we jump into the middle of things rather than be there from the start. This threw me off a bit and several pages are spent trying to figure out who is who in Vayl's mind and why he sees them as that person from his past. There are a few funny moments during this time but these chapters felt a little messy and started things off a bit rocky. After a few chapters things do get sorted out and the story finds a familiar tone.

While trying to find out what happen to Vayl and who is responsible, the team must also track down a tool that will rid Jaz of the demon who is currently trapped in her head. Kyphas is a female demon we meet in the last book and she says she will help Jaz find the tool she needs. But you never believe what a demon says. Aside from constantly having Jaz on her guard, Kyphas has set her eyes on Cole. She claims to have real feelings for him but Jaz believes that it is Cole's soul she wants. Jaz does what she can to help protect Cole but he has began to fall for her and this brings tension to Cole and Jaz's relationship. I've loved Cole since Once Bitten, Twice Shy and even though I do love Jaz and Vayl being together, I feel bad for him. You know that his feelings for Jaz are genuine and he is such a lovable man that I just want him to be happy. Of course he deserves way better than a demon and I loved that Jaz feels protective over him.

I felt for Jaz when Vayl forgot her. It brought up painful memories of when she lost Matt, her fiance who died and made her feel alone. She did teeter on the brink of feeling sorry for herself and I'm glad she had her inner voices to snap her out of it. Bergman, the teams tech man, is clueless when it comes to the advances of a more mature woman who has her eyes set on the tech genius and in the end he surprises me by showing a darker side I didn't know he had. Sterling is a new character we meet. He is a very powerful warlock that once got into a fight with Jaz and they ended up blowing up a house. He fits in with the team perfectly.

Jaz and her team will battle demons, a dark magic wielder, and werewolves in order to restore Vayl's memory and find the only thing that can save Jaz's sanity and life. Like the rest of the books in Jennifer's Jaz Parks series, Bitten in Two is packed with action and I found myself laughing out loud so many times I lost count. This is one of my favorite urban fantasy series and I was very sad to hear of Jennifer's passing this past October. She did finish the 8th book in her Jaz Park series before her death and The Deadliest Bite, the final book, is due out in June 2011.

Jaz Parks, her vampire lover Vayl, Cole and Bergman are on the road to Morocco. Their mission is to find an artifact that might enable Jaz to purge Brude the demon who shares her body though she muses hiking in Marrakech on her birthday is unfair.

In Morocco, the quest turns frighteningly strange when Vayl wakes up insisting it is 1777. His behavior has Jaz and their other compatriots believing the vampire has been cursed somehow to relive traumatic events from his long life. Scaring his team further is he never heard of Uma Thurman and does not recognize any of them as they are; for instance he believes his beloved Jaz is his middle-aged housekeeper Madame Berggia. To prevent a new tragedy and keep Vayl's suddenly explosive temper from igniting, Jaz with the help of Cole and Bergman role pay the parts Vayl assigns them while trying to figure how to remove the curse.

The latest Jaz and company fantasy is a great thriller with a super twist with what has happened to Vayl, the CIA's top operative. With plenty of trademark biting humor and non-stop action, fans of the saga will enjoy the current on the road show while newcomers will look for the backlist (see Bite Marks). After completing the tale, readers will park Jennifer Rardin's enjoyable Bitten in Two on the keeper shelf.

Harriet Klausner

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