Author: Jeaniene Frost


Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Review: Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

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Review: Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene FrostHalfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
Series: Night Huntress #1
Published by HarperCollins on October 1st 2007
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy
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three-stars

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, aiming for the father who ruined her mother. Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, captures Cat, and agrees to train her until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. But a group of killers pursue them. Bones is as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.





-This novel was listened to via audiobook-

This is one series I have been meaning to try out for so long! Like usual, it will likely take me 2 or 3 books to fall in love with it. As far as urban fantasies go it’s a really decent read. Great action, an awesome protagonist, a steamy romance. Overall it’s your average story: A protagonist with a unique power and/or advantage, gets trained to be better at what she does, and starts on an action-packed journey that’s meant to have a lot of life or death moments and risky situations.

Even though I’ve read plenty of Urban Fantasies, my list still doesn’t trump dedicated fans of the genre. Still, I’ve read my fair share, and while this one might not have brought something immensely original, it’s an entertaining first installment. Our protagonist, Cat, has this need for revenge for what vampires did to her mother, going out night after night to stake as many as she can. Being a half vampire herself gives her both the ability to blend in with the humans, and the strength to kill… just about anything. I loved this girl’s confidence and strength. Her wit also brings a great dose of humor to the novel. I do wish we would have delved deeper in her back story and personal/family life which really fascinated me. Being the child born from a rape cannot be easy to swallow. Not to mention being raised by a mother who thinks you’re part evil – and keeps reminding you of this fact.

Cat develops an unexpected partnership with Bones, the first vampire to outsmart her. The romance between them has no lack of steamy chemistry, although I did find it was a tad quick. Maybe not insta-love exactly as there is a good build up, but it still felt like all of a sudden they were declaring love for each other. While I did enjoy the direction Frost is taking with the romance because it’s bound to become pretty intense, that was the only part of the ending I liked. Otherwise I found it typical and I’m hoping it’s not the start of a cliché double agent type of story. We’ll see.

I’m not gonna write very much else about this one. There are so many reviews on it that I’m sure most of you have already decided if it will be a go or not. If you’re debating an audio version, the narrator does Bones’ accent brilliantly and I loved it! I also have heard that this started as a Buffy/Spike fan fic. I can definitely see that (even though it’s been forever since I watched Buffy and don’t even remember most of it). If you enjoy urban fantasy or paranormal romance (I would consider it more the latter, actually) then this is a promising start to a sexy, guilty pleasure series.

three-stars

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