Review - Northern Bites (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter #2) by Nikki Jefford

*Thoughts*

Northern Bites has been on my most anticipated sequels list since finishing Transfusion last December. I am thankful to Nikki Jefford for offering me a copy of this book and hope I will see book number 3 soon! 

I should probably start this review by saying that I would advise you to stop here, and not read any further if you haven't yet had the opportunity to read Transfusion. If you have read Transfusion, carry on my wayward followers! If not, go away until you have. 

18 year old Aurora Sky is the series heroine. Since the release of Transfusion, she's had her life completely turned around just by having AB negative blood and dying at the hands of an unknown driver. Later, she's told by a secret government agency that she has no choice but to become a vampire hunter, losing any and all hope of ever attending the college of her dreams outside of Alaska, or face permanent death. Some choice. She's also being forced into taking a so called antidote each month or face the possibility of becoming the very thing that she hunts; a vampire.

Northern Bites picks up two weeks after the conclusion of Transfusion. Aurora is forced into a partnership with her main rival and nemesis Valerie Ward who is a vampire junkie and obsessed with hurting others like Aurora. I haven't always cared for or liked Valerie the boyfriend stealing minx. I thought she was absolutely conceited and a miserable person for her actions towards Aurora. 

Aurora eventually learns the truth about what really happened to her on the night she died and lost her free will. She faces a hard choice when she is sent on yet another mission with Valerie and a government recruiter named Jared that doesn't exactly go as planned. In the end, Val's own personal choice was surprising and definitely brave. I actually came to understand her more than I did Aurora's own supposed friend Noel Harper who really got my blood boiling with her own actions. 

Although Aurora isn't a coward, by any means, she still has some issues on the boyfriend front, as well as the fact that she can't really trust anyone except for maybe her mother who has her own problems to deal with. I really didn't care for Jared from the introduction and hope he gets what's coming to him soon. I won't spoil anything for you except to say that after you read Northern Bites, you too will come to hopefully, the same conclusion. I also believe that there are others, like Agent Melcher, who are trying to guide Aurora into making some really bad decisions and I hope I am wrong. 

Aurora's interaction with Dante needs to continue, and let's put Fane away in a box for good. I'm not sure how anyone can trust him. I found the fantasy sex scene between Aurora and certain other characters in the book to be seriously hot. I'm hoping that Aurora will get a real booty call soon. The girl desperately needs a break from school, being a vampire hunter, and especially those that surround & control her.

I am on the bandwagon by saying that Northern Bites definitely exceeded my expectations in every way. The story is much more intense, choices are not that simple, or obvious, and Nikki learns more about what happened to her and others that have AB negative blood. She still faces serious tests and challenges, and I hope she eventually learns how to trust others, and finds a way out of her situation that seems bleak at the moment.

*Recvd from Author* Expected publication: July 30th 2013

Author - Nikki Jefford

Title - Northern Bites (Aurora Sky # 2

Publisher - Self Published

Releases July 30, 2013

Genre - YA Urban Fantasy