George Perkins is a writer and he is completely infatuated with Harrah's Honky Tonk lovely bartender Trudy. He's already asked Trudy to go out with him eight times, and to his surprise and delight, she accepts the ninth time. Trudy has even read his two books, which makes her even lovelier in George's eyes. George is not really Trudy's type: he's more of a geek, but she likes him.

Trudy has been on the run most of her life: she's a werewolf hunter and that's the reason she kept refusing to go out with George. On the evening of George's dream date, right after coming out of a friend's bachelor party, George is attacked by a vampire and turned against his will; needless to say, he missed his dream date. The friends he was with found him, and it turns out one of them is also a vampire and so is his wife. There is a lot in the little town of Hedy Texas that George doesn't know about.

BITE MARKS is a fun and appealing paranormal romance where nothing quite happens the way we're used to. I loved that there was no instalove: Trudy and George have known each other for a while, and Trudy had very solid reasons for not wanting to involve him in her complicated life. I like that the main protagonists are people we can relate to: George is cute but something of a nerd, and Trudy is sexy and pretty but she has an ordinary job, although she is forever looking over her shoulder because of past family concerns.

Ms. Royce's paranormal world is very clearly defined and is quite complex; there are conflicting political elements which differ from the usual fare, and it was interesting how the various characters handled their responsibilities within their factions. Ms. Royce is a fine writer, she has quite a sense of humour as well, and I found remarkable how multifaceted her characters are, given the context of a novella. The world of BITE MARKS is sufficiently complex and interesting that I hope it is the beginning of a series for Ms. Royce because there is still a lot more that could be done with BITE MARKS premise. There are original and nice little touches, especially with how George and Trudy handled the various paranormal issues on hand. BITE MARKS is fast-spaced, innovative, and a lot of fun!