3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 just because.... There are gnomes in this book! Not those cute little gnomes you may see in your grandmother’s garden or in those travel ads, but meat-eating, nasty, larvae sprouting, musically-challenged gnomes. These gnomes have plans: they want to take over NASA’s Canberra Deep Space Complex.This installment of the Jaz Parks series finds Jaz and her crew down under in Australia. Getting a crew that consists of an assassin, a sniper, a vampire, a seer, a gadgets guy, and a dog and all their gear to Australia is no mean feat, especially when a member of your team is sunlight challenged. Solution – a funeral marching band complete with mourners to meet your team at the airport.And so begins the hysterically funny book, Bite Marks.Please don’t read this book if you are looking for something serious. This book is anything but serious. Prepare to suspend belief and I assure you that you will enjoy this book. I love the camaraderie of the team. They have inside jokes. They are able to laugh at each other (rolling on the floor laughter) and are able to laugh with each other. Each character brings their own strengths to the team. Vayl brings his vampiric talents and special abilities. Bergman is an amazing inventor of most useful gadgets. Cassandra has the ability to see the future. Cole is their GQ good looking sniper. Jaz has her own talents as well. Bergman’s gadgets are wonderfully creative. I absolutely loved Astral the robokitty. The robokitty became an integral part of the team, providing some of the funniest moments in the book. Other notably funny moments included Cole’s quest to pet a kangaroo with no thought to his own safety. Jaz’s internal dialogue during this book was a little confusing. Jaz seems a little schizophrenic in that her mind is occupied by a whole slew of characters. It takes a little getting used to, but once you’ve figured it out, Jaz’s mind becomes a fascinating place with Granny May dispensing advice, librarian Jaz filing information, teen Jaz acting like a love sick girl/spoiled brat, and Lush Jaz falling off her barstool. It’s hard to notice that one voice that doesn’t belong to Jaz…For those of you wondering about Jaz and Vayl’s relationship, let’s just say that there is a lot of sexual tension in this book. This series is a guilty pleasure of mine. Jennifer Rardin creates such a wacky, zany world that is fun to escape to.
