Favorite Line: “The Thing? Damn, Gia, you’ve got it bad for monsters.” (p. 114 ARC)
Giovanna Felice is a book publicist for a science fiction and fantasy book publisher. She’s working with best-selling author and vampire, Belladonna Nightshade when she falls head-over-heels for Bella’s manager, Jonathan. Now she’s forgetting all the rules. She’s touching Jonathan and gazing into his eyes; falling under the spell of him.
But everything is about to explode in her face.
Bella asks Gia to use her contacts and locate a vampire from her past. Daniel, the vampire who changed Bella. The vampire she suspects killed her husband.
Gia is walking a tightrope and if she falls off she’ll be dead. Because a human messing in Other affairs, won’t live long.
Necking is a full of dry humor and is a lighthearted romp in Gia’s point of view. It is a vampire love story that introduces Gia, a smart, occasionally funny human woman running with the big dogs vampires wealthy. In order to gain her position in the company, she had to impose rules on herself. Rules that if followed will ensure her survival.
Despite knowing the danger, Gia broke all the rules while she searched for a killer. She fell in lust with a vampire (Jonathan) and seemed to think that nothing bad would happen. She kept weaving over the “I can handle it line,” into to stupid to live territory.
I appreciated the way Ms. Salvatore refused to sugar coat her hero. Jonathan was a vampire and as a vampire lived by different rules. He was a killer and he killed. My issue isn’t with him, but with Gia’s ability to rationalize his behavior as “okay.” Jonathan did terrible things, but Gia shrugged them off. I think it was Salvatore’s way of showing Gia had a backbone and that there was more to her.
Personally, it made her unappealing. She seemed cold and calculating. Completely unapproachable and someone I really couldn’t connect with. I won’t go too deep into this, spoilers and all that jazz, but it went beyond my imagination to accept the things she did.
Despite all that, there were several things about Necking that I liked. I liked the chemistry between Gia and Jonathan. The pull that existed and went beyond sexual. I enjoyed Gia’s best friend and local werewolf, Lola. I liked the vampire crew that surrounded Bella.
I didn’t like the speed with which the book wrapped up. It felt like just when I thought something would happen (like intense action) the major plot line ended. Just like that. Bang! All done.
I love vampire stories and can forgive a lot. This wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst either. Would I read it again? No, but I’m not mad I read it.
Necking will be released Aug. 5, 2008.
Scooper Speaks 
Great review SCooper, and I really felt much the same. Jumping into things she shouldn’t was an issue with Gia, but like you I liked the chemistry between them. With so much to choose from, I won’t read Necking a second time, but I am curious to see another book from the author. 🙂
Kimberly- I think you said that way better than I did. I won’t turn my nose up at the author either. I think some of the ideas are quite interesting and would love to hear more unique flips in vampire mythology. Well ones viable ones. I don’t want to read about a vegetarian vamp. (Don’t know where that came from. 🙂 )
A vegetarian vamp…gotta admit, that might be a very interesting concept to pull off creatively. Now that you’ve mentioned it (even though it’s something you’d prefer not to find in a book), someone out there is probably hard at work writing it. *grin*
Kimberly- I draw the line at vegie vamps. (and I think you’re right.)