Review: A Bite's Tale: A Furry Fable by Veronica Blade

A Bite's Tale: A Furry Fable
By:  Veronica Blade

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 237 KB/ 155 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Crush Publishing Ink (January 4, 2012)

About:

A Cinderella who spends her nights as a wolf. A prince with a taste for blood.

Seventeen year old Cydney struggles against her werewolf nature, trying to keep everyone around her safe. No way will she risk exposing the beast at the prince’s ball, no matter how her two cousins try to persuade her. Even as she attempts to get on with her life, Cydney can’t forget the boy she loved three summers ago — or what she did to him after losing control.

Turned into a vampire to save his life, the prince refuses to live up to his royal duties. He just wants to find the girl he loved and lost...the werewolf girl who bit him. But his father, the king, commands him to attend a ball where he must choose a wife. Can he find his Cinderella before he's forced to marry another? He doesn’t even have her real name, much less a glass slipper.

Excerpt:

If I’d known it could be like this and that she’d wanted it too, I would’ve kissed her ages ago. I mentally kicked myself for wasting all those weeks when we could’ve been doing this the entire time.

Her hand crept up under my shirt and her fingers trailed along my back. Goosebumps danced on my skin.

She pressed closer against me and I took the kiss deeper, letting loose my weeks of pent up craving for her.

I didn’t think life could get any more perfect than being with Cindy. And I no longer yearned for a normal life. I wanted things to stay exactly as they were at that moment. With my Cinderella.

Forever.

A soft moan erupted from my throat when she angled her face to take the kiss still deeper. I slid my arms around her waist and the tips of my fingers inched up underneath her tank top.

She shivered.

But it wasn’t a usual shiver. Her whole body began to tremble and I nearly lost my hold on her. I pulled back. Cindy’s eyes grew huge and her pupils dilated.

She threw her head back, her limbs vibrating as she growled. No, not a growl. It was more like a dull roar, full of pain and anguish. Was she… was my Cindy about to turn into a werewolf? Or was it something else? Maybe if I held her again, whatever was happening to her might stop. I lunged for her.

“Get away from me!” Sobbing, she shoved me back, but in the process, one of her claws raked across my chest.

I flinched, as blood beaded on my skin. A little scratch wasn’t going to stop me though. Not when Cindy needed my help. I stepped forward again.

Her lips curled up, exposing long, growing teeth and she shrieked. Yeah, she’d hit werewolf maturity all right. But she hadn’t completely morphed. Just her teeth and nails. Maybe if I calmed her, she could prevent it from progressing. I wrapped my arms around her waist, as I’d done just moments ago, and pulled her close.

She shrieked again, then searing pain shot through my arm.

Werewolf bite. Oh, crap. My dad was going to kill me… unless the werewolf virus beat him to it.

The forest spun around me and I couldn’t keep my eyelids up. My muscles went lax and when the ground rose to slam against me, I didn’t feel a thing.

My Review:

Imagine if Cinderella from the well-known fairy tale that we all know and love was actually a werewolf.  Imagine if Prince Charming was a vampire.  Hmmm....  Thus the foundation of A Bite's Tale: A Furry Fable.  Now kick in Veronica Blade's enormous story telling talent, several paranormal twists and, folks, you have one outstanding, unique and astounding read.

To be honest, I have loved everything that I have read by Ms. Blade and consider her to be one of today's great talents.  She proves that she can bend and excel in a range of genres from YA to Contemporary Romance (with Blind Date, Checkmate) and her stories are quite flawless.  YA and Paranormal are two of my absolute favorite genres and I am in heaven when these two are blended together.

Now, my thoughts on a furry Cinderella and a blood sucking Prince Charming?  Love it!  The entire time that I read the story, I felt as though I was right there with the characters, feeling their angst and insecurity.  Cydney has always been incredibly fearful of her shape-shifting werewolf abilities, especially since that long ago day when she had her first "turning" experience and just happened to bite the love of her life.  Though being young and new, she had no idea how to control the changing, she has lived in fear of harming another person.

Remy, a true Prince, has long ached to find his lost Cinderella.  After that day when he was bitten, his love for her never faltered.  When his father, the King, decides that it is time for Remy to get married, he decides the only thing to do is to hold a Royal Ball to find his son a wife.  All the young ladies are required to attend the Ball, though Cydney has absolutely no intention of going.  She also has no idea who the Prince really is (as kids, they called themselves Cinderella and Jack instead of their real names).  Cydney is facing a bit of strong persuasion, however, and just may have to do the thing that she dreads the most.

A Bite's Tale is such an enjoyable, fun, addicting and absorbing tale that once I began reading, I didn't want to stop.  Yes, in opposition, I didn't want the story to ever end, so I savored it like tiny bites of the juiciest and tenderest of steaks.  All the while I was reading, I found myself loving the parallel story telling between the classic Cinderella story and A Bite's Tale.  I also found myself smiling in many spots at the paranormal/modern twist.  I loved both Remy and Cydney, as well as the secondary characters of Cydney's cousins and aunt.  They were all so wonderful.  Also the fact that this place, where they lived, joined together both humans and paranormal beings was very intriguing.

A Bite's Tale: A Furry Fable is a perfect story to indulge within for Young Adults and Adults as well.  I give it my highest recommendation and truly cannot wait to read more by this amazing and talented author, Veronica Blade!

About Veronica Blade:

(from Ms. Blade's Amazon Author Page)

Veronica Blade lives in Southern California with her husband and children. By day she runs the family business, but each night she slips away to spin her tales. She writes stories about young adults to relive her own childhood and to live vicariously through her characters. Except her heroes and heroines lead far more interesting lives -- and they are always way hotter.

That's the official bio. The unofficial bio is that I, Veronica Blade, am an addict. I love all things vampires and witches and werewolves -- the stranger, the better! My favorite shows are The Vampire Diaries and True Blood. And, okay, I admit it, I'm still a huge Buffy fan.

Currently, I have one full length novel available and two novellas. Everything I write is sweet romance and usually I throw in some witches, vamps or werewolves -- sometimes all of the above (but always light on the paranormal, heavy on the romance).

In the spring of 2012, my latest book will be available -- My Wolf's Bane, which is the first book in the Shapes of Autumn series. This is YA and all about werewolves and other shifters.

I answer all my emails personally. If you'd like to contact me, you may do so at veronica@veronicablade.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Happy reading!
Veronica Blade