Love bites

What's the difference between a love bite and a gentle bite (not even a bite, but putting their mouth around your hand) that's telling you "hey, stop doing that"? Sometimes Squee will 'bite' my hand and lick it after.. is that a love bite?

This is a way of showing dominance, cats do this with each other as a playful, dominant, show.....Sometimes they can get carried away with it, just show discomfort towards it, an "ouch" or higher pitch reaction. Usually you get the slightly cocked ear stare down which is holding their ground mode. Maia has actually lept up unexpectedly on my leg or arm if I don't hold my ground, so I usually throw a blanket or pillow over her She doesn't hurt me, but ya never know.....Plus I can't leap on her!

I think the difference is the activity that happens before they bite. If you are giving them scritches and they want you to stop, they will bite down on your hand/fingers to get you to stop (can be gentle or not so gentle) - stimulation biting that could get more intense if you try to pull your hand away. On the other hand, I've seen them gently bite down on fingers that happened to be laying next to them (no movement). Those are always gentle and they usually release easily if you pull your hand away.

I can't help it.. the Judas Priest song Love Bites pops into my head. "in the dead of the night love bites, love bites"
Makes me think of the people who have kitties that chomp on a nose or chin while they're sleeping!

As was said, it depends what you're doing and the cat's body language. If ears are back it's never a good sign.
The nibble licks are friendly as are the grooming nibbles. If it hurts you it's probably a good idea to tell the cat no and put it down or redirect it to something else to stop the biting.