Review: Have a Bite (The Vampires of Brooklyn Chronicles, #1) by R.G. Emanuelle

The world of vampires is, by nature, one of darkness, secrecy, and covertness. Vampires are invincible. No one can hurt them. Except vampire hunters.

Delphine Bouchard is a celebrity chef and owner of a world-renowned restaurant in Brooklyn, NY, where the chic and elite crowd mingle with neighborhood denizens. She enjoys fame, money, and women, and lives life by her own rules. She also happens to be a vampire.

Del’s life and the local vampire community are rocked when a vampire hunter begins picking them off, and Del has reason to believe that she might be next. Del is also being watched and criticized by the vampire hive council and persecuted by a coven of witches, who are the enforcers of behavior for the supernatural set. In the midst of all this turmoil, Del meets and unexpectedly falls hard for Jocelyn, who she soon discovers is holding back a disturbing secret. Del must decide whether or not to put aside her feelings of betrayal and pursue the relationship.

Meanwhile, when a food critic with a grudge sets out to ruin her business and reputation, Del has to protect her staff and restaurant. But the situation spirals out of control when a human shows up dead, her restaurant is sabotaged, and Jocelyn is threatened. Del must save her business, protect her loved ones, and find out who the vampire killer is before she is the next victim.

Set against a backdrop of elaborate meals and passionate cooking, Have a Bite is book one in the novella series The Vampires of Brooklyn Chronicles. The world of vampires and hunters meets the world of restaurants, foodies, and celebrity chefs—a recipe for paranormal mystery seasoned with suspense, peppered with romance, and flavored with a dash of humor.

Delphine just wants to run her restaurant in peace and avoid falling in love. But in Have a Bite she’s struggling to do either of those things. Del is a vampire who runs an after dark French fusion restaurant which is doing very well, except for one food critic who seems out to get her. He goes from scathing reviews to arson to murder and Del needs to stop him! Meanwhile, she meets Jocelyn at a club and can’t stop thinking about her. The last thing Del wants is to fall in love and have her heartbroken again. It’s a lot for her deal with while also making sure she doesn’t get into further trouble with the local coven.

Have a Bite was a very quick read. More because it’s short than because it’s action packed, although there is always something happening. I loved the premise of a vampire chef and her rivalry with a disgruntled food critic. That man really is unhinged! The big confrontation was a bit underwhelming, but it held my attention. However, the romance was less interesting to me. At the beginning Del keeps mentioning how she can’t stop thinking about Jocelyn and how she’s not like other women, but we had only gotten one scene of them together at that point. It was hard to believe her feelings, especially since we witness more emotion between her and her one night stands! But once they finally start dating, I found them pretty cute together.

I liked Have a Bite. It was fun and moved along at a steady pace, so I never got bored with it. I do think the novella length worked against it, as I wanted more from Del and Jocelyn, as well as from Del and McPhearson (crazy food critic). I did really enjoy the friendship between Del and Ophelia though, and certainly look forward to seeing more of them.

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