Bad to the Bone - Jeri Smith-Ready

Bad to the Bone (WVMP#2) - Jeri Smith-Ready
Grade: Adult - UF
Rating: 5/5 stars

TURN ON. TUNE IN. DROP DEAD.

Welcome to WVMP, “The Lifeblood of Rock ’n’ Roll,” where conartist-turned-station-owner Ciara Griffin manages an on-air staffof off-the-wall DJs—including new boyfriend Shane McAllister—who really sink their teeth into the music of their “Life Time” (theera in which they became vampires). Ciara keeps the undeadrocking, the ratings rolling, and the fan base alive—withoutmissing a beat.

For Halloween, WVMP is throwing a bash. With cool tunes, hotcostumes, killer cocktails—what could go wrong? To start, areligious firebrand ranting against the evils of the occultpreempts the station’s midnight broadcast. Then, when Ciaratracks down the transmission, the broadcast tower is guarded bywhat appears to be . . . a canine vampire? Behind it all is a groupof self-righteous radicals who think vampires suck (and arewilling to stake their lives on it). Ciara must protect the stationwhile struggling with her own complicated relationship, her bestfriend’s romance with a fledgling vampire, and the nature of hermysterious anti-holy powers. To make it to New Year’s in one piece,she’ll need to learn a few new tricks. . . .(Description from Goodreads)

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After finishing 'Wicked Game' I was desperate to get my hands on the sequel. I wanted to know exactly what happened to Ciara and the vampire gang next. 'Bad to the Bone' was equally as exciting and packed full of adventure. I loved it!

It’s hard enough trying to live a normal life in the company of 6 vampire DJs, but Ciara Griffin’s life could not be more complicated. Caught up in the vampire world, Ciara has a pretty neat existence: A marketing job that seems to be an extension of herself, fabulous friends and a fantastic boyfriend who is crazy about her. But when a religious sect hijacks WVMP’s wave length to run anti-vampire segments, Ciara has to find a way to get her station back on track. It’s no surprise that when vampires pop up, religion is not far behind: the evils of blood sucking and living forever. I really enjoyed seeing this play out in ‘Bad to the Bone.’ Jeri Smith-Ready’s vampires follow some of the ‘traditional’ vampire myths and restrictions – such as sunlight and stakes to the heart – but they also face troubles with religious objects and holy water, so it was interesting to see the holy/religious take on their ‘fake’ existence. We get to see Ciara’s struggle with her own ideas on religion too, which helps us understand her a bit more – unravelling another layer of Ciara, because she has so many!

But it’s not just religious sects the vampires have to deal with in this book. There is a secret government organisation that is proving to be more trouble than help. The Control is not new to this series, but their history and involvement in the story can’t be overlooked. Like the rest of the DJs, The Control does not want the truth about vampires leaked; any chances of exposure could mean the death of a vampire or at least their detainment. I still have mixed feelings about The Control. For the most part, they seem to be trying to contain threats and protect vampires, but they’re sneaky and withhold information. I’m curious to find out more about their involvement in the supernatural world.

While not the biggest storyline for the book, I wanted to mention again that I love how unique Jeri’s stories are. Not only are there normal vampires in ‘Bad to the Bone’ but we’re introduced to animal vampires! Seriously, who would have thought anything like that could happen? Not me. It was a super cool concept, and Dexter the Dog is awesome.

Fantastic sequel to ‘Wicked Game’. Very exciting and action-packed; a really fun read!

5/5 stars


Kim
(Originally posted on Goodreads)