SWEET BYTES: A Review by Kimber, Jr.

Welcome to the very first review of my new novel, Sweet Bytes.  As always, my daughter, Kimber Jr, gets the first shot.  She's also my first critic and editor, a thoroughly professional teenager who doesn't hesitate to tell me when my story is crap.  Take it away, Baby Girl!  Mommy wuvs you so much!  (Oooh, she's going to be so cranky when she reads that part.)

REVIEW by Kimber Jr
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Really Awesome Young Adult Fiction Review #1
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Hi, everyone! Miss me? Yep, I’m back, and this time I’m reviewing a rather good book about blood-sucking dead guys (aka vampires) called Sweet Bytes. Please note, though: this is the third in a series so if you haven’t read the others yet I suggest you either go do so or at least read my reviews of them. FYI, they’re called Crushed Sugar and Sugar Rush. They’re awesome books too! OK, now to the review!

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The story opens with Ophelia saying a final good-bye to her father, who had been killed the previous Christmas, right before the whole fiasco with Martin-the-ultimate-jerk-ex-boyfriend and his psycho family. She then meets Tristan who’s been assigned to protect her from attack. Her twin sister, Bianca, has also been assigned a protector-Maya.  Both are the adopted children of Joseph, the leader of the Benevolent Oldbloods (good vamps.)

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The whole family has been hit hard. Ophelia’s grief for her dad, Brandon (the very cute and lovable…uh-oh! In books, it tends to be an extreme hazard to your health to be cute and lovable. Just ask Dobby! L), Worf (her old dog), and her true love Adrian is driving her to smash everything from her snowman to Bianca’s new sewing machine. To be perfectly honest she’d probably give Harry Potter from Order of the Phoenix a run for his money! Bianca and Mom aren’t much better, and if anything Bianca’s worse. She won’t even sew, and that is a sign that we should all be extremely worried.

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On the upside, though, she gets to go visit her grandma in Seward. There she discovers even little old ladies aren’t innocent anymore! Her grandma’s name is Victoria Greylyn, and she could give Buffy the Vampire Slayer a run for her money! Even the local vamps share this opinion!

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So Grandma starts educating Bianca on how not to behave like a proper damsel in distress and Ophelia on how to not stab herself in the forehead with a pair of rather sharp fighting knives. While at Seward, they find out that everyone’s favorite cute, lovable shapeshifter isn’t entirely gone.

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The bad news is the Malevolent Oldbloods (bad vamps) have this thing for Ophelia. See, to be perfectly honest, they’re not much better than the Newbloods. They know she’s a Sweet, and they have nothing against eating people like her. Except for one thing…..she’s also an empath. And this throws a monkey wrench into their chomp-Ophelia plans. So they really want to do one of two things: Turn her into a blood-sucking dead gal, or chomp away.

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Needless to say, Ophelia doesn’t much fancy either option. Eventually, the Malevolents (for future reference, they’re what I call the Nasty Faction) try to bribe her.

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 (Ophelia and the Benevolents are the Goodies (huh). Martin and most Newbloods are the Baddies. And the Malevolent Oldbloods join the age-old, intensely proud faction of the Nasties.)

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Some Twinkies, Supermario, and peppermint tea later, and Ophelia’s dealt with that little bribe to her own satisfaction.  If you’ve read Sugar Rush, you’ll be yelling “Yes!!!!”

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Unfortunately, before we can all start skipping around the room with joy, Joseph decides they need to return to Togo, because the Malevolents now know where Grandma is, and that is very bad.

So they do, and immediately Bianca stirs up some comic relief with a little help from a new/old accomplice.  They throw a massive food fight in the cafeteria! Between that and the cruise ship finally arriving, we get to have a bit of fun before the next major battle.

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Unfortunately, we don’t have long to wait. One day, Ophelia and Tristan KISS (yeah, you heard me-KISS!!!). Afterwards, Ophelia realizes-hey, I’ve done that before! But-I haven’t! What’s going on here?!

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It’s what I call Tristan’s “No Way Out moment”. See, No Way Out by Phil Collins (specifically, the theme version) is a song from Brother Bear. It’s all about being in despair-like Tristan is here-and then someone comes along and says…sorry, can’t say!  It’s a really great song, and it’s this scene here that inspired me to assign it as Tristan’s theme song.

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In Tristan’s case, that “someone” is Ophelia.

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Then, it’s time for the prom. Everyone has a rather good time-or, at least, they do until some Malevolents literally crash the party.

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One of them, our old buddy Jean-Pierre, captures another old buddy, Katelyn the super-bully, and threatens to kill her.

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When Martin makes an untimely entrance and kidnaps her from her kidnapper (whoah, that’s a lot of kidnapping), there’s only one way for her to get out of this fix, save her friends, and reunite with her beloved, Adrian. The only problem is…well, I can’t tell you.  My mommy won’t let me!

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All in all, it’s a great book! It has awesome themes of love, forgiveness, sacrifice, and loyalty. If you like Twilight but are sick and tired of Bella’s never getting to actually kick butt, this is totally the series for you!

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Don’t worry, I’ll still review. Until the next review, though, happy hippogriffs to you!

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Thank you Baby Girl!  (Yeah, she hates it when I call her that, but I just can't seem to help myself.)
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Okay, now scroll down or click on this link-   SWEET BYTES Release Festivities   Comment under this post and that one to enter the GRAND PRIZE DRAWING.  *This contest ends October 24th.*

Visit the other blogs and comment to win a free copy of the Sweet Bytes eBook.  Thank you!