Stake That! by Mari Mancusi
Stake That!
Mari Mancusi
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Release Date: December 5, 2006
Pages: 288
Source: Bought
Rating: 3 stars
Two sisters—as different as the sun and the rain. For one, getting into the Blood Cover is to die for, but it seems destiny has something else in mind…
Rayne McDonald had it all figured out. Get turned into a vampire, become the mate of the Blood Coven leader, and live the high-life for all eternity. Too bad the head vamp took a bite out of her twin sister by mistake. Now, not only is Rayne still not a vampire, but she learns she’s a slayer instead—destined to destroy vamps gone bad.
After being recruited by a secret organization, Rayne is given her first mission: infiltrate a seedy bar downtown and expose its vampire owner, Maverick, for purposely spreading a nasty blood virus. Luckily the Blood Coven sends some help—in the form of sexy vampire Jareth. Will vampire and slayer be able to settle their differences and work together to bring down the evil Maverick? Or will they find their own hearts on the line?
Stake That! was an enjoyable read, but I didn’t find it had the same appeal as book 1 in the series. I felt the plot and characters were never fully developed, and that several major occurances were rushed over.
The first thing I found really odd is the fact that Rayne is a vampire slayer, and she procedes to plaster this fact all over her blog. Then she says, it’s ok, as I don’t use real names. About half way through the book, she switches to a personal diary – yet the same names are still used. This completely made no sense, as clearly the names on the blog were real and she was essentially spilling all sorts of details to the world.
I felt the characters could have been a little more developed. I loved Jareth and Rayne, the two main characters readers deal with in this book. They are both fun – but I really would’ve like both to be a little more three dimensional. Frannie was a smaller character, that I really liked, and I hope to see more of in future books.
The plot was intriguing. I wasn’t sure where Stake That! would go after the ending of book 1, when we find out Rayne is the new slayer, and I really liked the path Mancusi took. The issue I had with that path though, was the rushed feel some of it had. Jareth and Rayne’s relationship didn’t feel genuine to me, and just that is was more convient. Given what I know of both characters, neither would just settle for convience.
Stake That! is another nice contribution to the Blood Coven Series. I wasn’t as impresssed with it at I was with Boys that Bite, but I am still very excited to start Girls that Growl. The ending of Stake That! has me itching to start reading!
