Extreme: The Ultimate Bite by Crystal Green

Performed by Gabra Zackman
Harlequin Enterprises/Harlequin Blaze #334/Audible Inc
Category Romance
Erotica/Paranormal
Unabridged Audio Book
Rating: 3

Ever since the night one year ago that Kim Wright was bitten by a vampire, all she can think about is how incredible it felt and how desperate she is for another bite. Overnight she transformed from ordinary woman into fiendishly sexy woman. When she happens across her vampire on a routine patrol for the Van Helsing society, a group of vampire "hunters" who want to make vampires go mainstream in society, she throws all caution to the wind to catch up to him.

Stephen's existence is a lonely one, hunting women as necessary to assuage his blood hunger (and sexual hunger as well). When he runs into Kim, though he does not remember her from their last encounter, he desires her like no other. But there is a vampire out there draining women of their blood and Stephan is sworn to bring him in for retribution.

What happens when their sexual desires get in the way of Stephen and Kim's respective duties?

I know, I know, it’s a Blaze and is supposed to be a hot book but I was disappointed how little the paranormal aspect of the story was explored in The Ultimate Bite. So why do I continue to test out the Blaze series? I have hope more of the stories will have deeper plotlines than sex and more sex. Some of them have been quite good, and while the sexual tension was through the roof, the story was the focus, not the physical relationship and I thoroughly enjoyed those. I think the sex scenes could have been toned down a bit, leaning more on the tension and passion in the story, so that the author could have spent more time expanding on her vampire universe.

The way the story is told in The Ultimate Bite, a vampire bite is like a drug to the victims, making them crave the feelings it roused in them to the point they go searching for more, which can eventually lead to the destruction of the bite addict. Kim was the perfect example of what this does to a person, becoming obsessed with finding her vampire and getting another bite. She started to get on my nerves after a while with her “I must have another bite or I can’t survive” attitude but I absolutely loved the Van Helsing society she hooks up with in order to find her vampire again. The eclectic mix of people in the society were quite fascinating and Crystal Green could easily develop an entire series of books around the various members.

The story of Stephen’s mission to hunt down the rogue vampire gets glossed over more than once, though there is a lot of focus put into showing us how his lust for Kim interferes with his duty. I would have liked a little more depth into that part of the story.

I know my review probably sounds more negative about the book than my actual feelings upon reading were. This was not a bad book by any means, I just didn’t think it was as well developed a story line as it could have been. It presents the guise of being a vampire story, but when you get down to the meat of the story, the vampire aspect didn’t play as much of a role as I would have liked, with us being told more than shown it’s about a vampire and his “victim.”

© Kelley A. Hartsell, February 2008. All rights reserved.

The D2K Paranormal Junkies