Kit Iwasaki

Read this entire review at Smash Attack Reads! http://www.smashattackreads.com/2011/06/review-intern-with-vampire-by-kit.htmlWe... to Vampire General: Where your blood donations are always welcome.Aline Harman is an intern at a hospital when a car crash victim arrives. His Doctor, Dr. Rocque, also accompanies him, and begs Aline to allow him to save his life after he is already pronounced dead. Huh? So starts the interesting, unique and otherworldly experiences that Aline now faces. She ends up at Grace General (I was hoping for a more interesting hospital name), a hospital that caters to the ‘transhuman’ population. You know, mermaids, zombies, black widows, immortals and dreamy vampire docs, whose smex pheromones will have you on your knees. I predict fun times ahead for Aline!This is a fast read, as Aline is thrown into supernatural medicine so quickly, her head is spinning. She meets another intern, vampire Cassie, who is uber entertaining. She is quite out there and I sometimes questioned her sanity. I refer to her as a ‘spaz’ and I think it fits. She brings much comical relief to this fast paced story.“You should go home, Cassie,” she said. “You can’t keep doing this.” ”I would,” said Cassie, tears suddenly in her eyes. “But I’m back on in two hours! I don’t have time to go home and sleep and shower and get dressed and come back. I’d have to skip steps, and the way I am right now, I’m pretty sure it’s be getting dressed. And I can’t do that twice in a month. That’s the kind of thing that earns you a nickame.”Aline also encounters a Black Widow. No, not the spider, but the mythological female that literally eats the hearts of her prey. She’s actually a pretty interesting character and not one you are immediately drawn to. In fact, you want to run away. Fast. But she has some redeeming qualities that pop up later on in the story.This was my first medical-type story, and I definitely enjoyed it. Hubs is in med school so it was interesting to be able to apply my newly learned knowledge from him, and compare it to the happenings in the hospital. I also really enjoyed the mermaid culture that the author wove into he story. Mer-culture is quite harsh and a very, very superficial, beauty is everything type of society. Aline is faced with an ethical dilemma regarding her mermaid patient. As a social worker, I was very proud of her decision to stand up to authority and speak up for the welfare of her patients.All in all, this was a fun, entertaining, quick read full of comedy, paranormal, danger and a bit of heat thrown in, too! The ending was the PERFECT cliffhanger and I very much look forward to Slash and Burn, due out this month.… (meer)

Vampire General (Book one of the Intern with a Vampire series)
By: Kit Iwasaki
Genre: Paranormal Medical Drama (I think I just made that genre up, btw :) )
Pub Date: April 13, 2001
Rating: PG
Coffee Beans: 4/5
Spoilers: None
Favorite Line: A man vomited blood on the floor behind them, then tried to sneak a bottle of Jack Daniels from his jacket to wash out his mouth.(ebook, pg 6)
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for this honest review.

Author’s Summary: Human medicine is easy. On her first day at Grace General Hospital, new intern Aline Harman risks vampire infection, vivisection, and having her heart torn out of her chest… and this from her colleagues.
Juggling transhuman politics only becomes more difficult when a patient’s life is at stake. With a zombie to resuscitate and a mermaid in critical care, Aline has her hands full. At least the doctors are good-looking.

My Review:
This book only took me about a day and a half to read through because it’s well-written, creative, and fast-paced. It also helps that the book is only around 32,000 words (about a quarter the length of what I usually read), so I consider this book more of a novella than a novel. Which isn’t a bad thing at all, though I generally like my books a little longer so I have more of a story to get into and more of the characters to get involved and attached to.

Kit Iwasaki is a talented writer who knows how to involve her reader in a fast-paced, clean story with interesting characters. The setting is ideal: an ER full of transhumant patients, urgency and tension, attractive doctors, potentially dangerous co-workers, and a whole set of rules the main character, Aline, is learning how to play by. In the short amount of time we’re given, Iwaski does a pretty impressive job of showing us who the characters are and giving us a bit of a story to get attached to. Her previous experience being a premed student comes in handy to make everything in the book believable.

So, if it’s a good story, good characters, and great writing, why the 4 stars instead of something higher?

I think that with everything Kit gives the reader, there’s an awesome potential of there being so much more available for the reader. As it is, there’s not much time for Kit to make sure we connect and understand her characters on more than just a surface level. We see how they react to a situation, but we don’t understand, on a deeper level, why they do what they do. For example, when Aline finds out about this whole paranormal world, we don’t get much of a reaction from her, which I can’t help but feel a bit cheated about.

I also felt there were broken promises for romantic possibilities between Aline and a couple characters. I know leaving the romances unresolved leaves openings for other books (which there are), but there was such an intense and immediate build up between Aline and the other characters and it was washed away with a fire hose as soon as it caught fire. It felt a bit like a broken promise or at the very least being a tease.

The last thing I found a bit disappointing was the depth of the plot. Yes, Aline gets dumped into a pretty weird work situation, but to me, that isn’t enough, I kept waiting for the larger, main plotline to come into play, more than just what her night was like at this transhuman hospital, but I didn’t feel like it was ever delivered. There were several hints to one, so I know it’s there, I just have a feeling the author’s waiting to unveil it throughout her other books, which I’m not a fan of. Maybe a larger, connecting plot that threads through the series, but each book needs to have its own standalone plot that carries it.

Overall, it was a very good book. Engaging, fast-paced, well-written. The few issues I had were a direct result of the book being so short. I have no doubt, that if it were a regular length novel, none of my points would have remained issues. But, in the end, it really comes down to making your reader want to read more, and if you’ve done that, you’ve succeeded in one of the main goals of being an author, which Kit nailed. :) I’ll purchase the second book in the series, Slash and Burn, when it comes out (Summer 2012, GoodReads says), to see what happens with Cassie and what—if anything—happens between Aline and a couple certain coworkers. I only hope the second book’s a little longer than the first so it gives me something more to sink my teeth into.

Pick it up and check it out for yourself, it’s only $0.99 over at Smashwords, and if you’re a sucker for a good vampire book and good writing like I am, you’ll enjoy this story.

Happy reading, my friends!

http://RaeLynnFry.Blogspot.com… (meer)

I was really intrigued by the premise of Intern With the Vampire when I read it. As a urban fantasy fan who also enjoys medical drama/thrillers I thought the idea original with lots of potential and this brief novella is an excellent introduction to a new series. In fact really my only complaint is that at just 152 pages, Intern With the Vampire is too short.
Iwasaki places her protagonist doctor in training, Aline Harman in a familiar setting with a paranormal twist. Dismissed from her residency Aline’s options are limited so when Dr Rocque offers her a position at a private hospital she has never heard of, Aline is wiling to at least take a look. As she steps into the frantic ER of Grace General Aline discovers the hospital has a very select clientele and is both terrified and fascinated as she is introduced to a host of supernatural creatures she never imagined really existed. During her very long shift she treats a senile vampire, an injured mermaid and a zombie while dealing with a black widow surgeon that has taken an instant dislike to her and a doctor whose pheromones make her vulnerable to his deadly charms.
The blend of the familiar hospital environment and the absurdity of it’s patients and staff works surprisingly well. There is an authenticity to the structure of the ER and the treatments which I am sure comes from the the author’s own experience in the medical field and the details really help sell the idea. From the start Aline lurches from crisis to crisis and she barely has time to reflect on her strange new environment. The fast pace of the storyline keeps the reader immersed in the action and the imagination engaged.
I was fascinated by the characters who despite being supernatural have very individual traits. The author’s characterisation is deft and clever and I love how she gently pokes fun at some of the stereotypical characters in a medical drama. The lead surgeon for example is gorgeous but also a vampire who could potentially suck her dry, it certainly creates an interesting workplace for Aline who has to pretend she is not human to keep her job.
Intern With the Vampire is a well written, creative novella and I admit to being surprised at both the quality and the execution. The world of Grace General is imaginative and intriguing and I am looking forward to reading the next installment, Slash and Burn though it is sadly already several months over due for publication. I really hope the sequel eventuates.… (meer)

Read this entire review at Smash Attack Reads! http://www.smashattackreads.com/2011/06/review-intern-with-vampire-by-kit.html

Welcome to Vampire General:
Where your blood donations are always welcome.

Aline Harman is an intern at a hospital when a car crash victim arrives. His Doctor, Dr. Rocque, also accompanies him, and begs Aline to allow him to save his life after he is already pronounced dead. Huh? So starts the interesting, unique and otherworldly
experiences that Aline now faces. She ends up at Grace General (I was hoping for a more interesting hospital name), a hospital that caters to the ‘transhuman’ population. You know, mermaids, zombies, black widows, immortals and dreamy vampire docs, whose smex pheromones will have you on your knees. I predict fun times ahead for Aline!

This is a fast read, as Aline is thrown into supernatural medicine so quickly, her head is spinning. She meets another intern, vampire Cassie, who is uber entertaining. She is quite out there and I sometimes questioned her sanity. I refer to her as a ‘spaz’ and I think it fits. She brings much comical relief to this fast paced story.

“You should go home, Cassie,” she said. “You can’t keep doing this.”

”I would,” said Cassie, tears suddenly in her eyes. “But I’m back on in two hours! I don’t have time to go home and sleep and shower and get dressed and come back. I’d have to skip steps, and the way I am right now, I’m pretty sure it’s be getting dressed. And I can’t do that twice in a month. That’s the kind of thing that earns you a nickame.”

Aline also encounters a Black Widow. No, not the spider, but the mythological female that literally eats the hearts of her prey. She’s actually a pretty interesting character and not one you are immediately drawn to. In fact, you want to run away. Fast. But she has some redeeming qualities that pop up later on in the story.

This was my first medical-type story, and I definitely enjoyed it. Hubs is in med school so it was interesting to be able to apply my newly learned knowledge from him, and compare it to the happenings in the hospital. I also really enjoyed the mermaid culture that the author wove into he story. Mer-culture is quite harsh and a very, very superficial, beauty is everything type of society. Aline is faced with an ethical dilemma regarding her mermaid patient. As a social worker, I was very proud of her decision to stand up to authority and speak up for the welfare of her patients.

All in all, this was a fun, entertaining, quick read full of comedy, paranormal, danger and a bit of heat thrown in, too! The ending was the PERFECT cliffhanger and I very much look forward to Slash and Burn, due out this month.… (meer)