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Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 1) Review

MY RATING: 4.5/5 STARS

This is gonna be a quick & dirty (henceforth Q&D), because, frankly, I'd rather be reading book 2 in Jeaniene Frost's fabulous Night Huntress series than blathering on about book 1 on here. Plus, good reviews are so much harder - and let's be honest, way less fun - to write than bad ones. Yes, I've already bought book 2 on my kindle. (Mostly I need to flush my kindle down the toilet because Amazon is rapidly bankrupting me!)

Anyways. Halfway to the Grave. Well. This had been on my to read list for awhile. As with many of my great new urban fantasy discoveries, I heard about it over at the Vampire Academy Amazon message boards. I'm telling you, people who love VA enough to post regularly on the message boards have really good taste in books! (by which I mean, they tend to have roughly the same taste as me :-)

Ok I said this was going to be a Q&D but here I am, three para's in and I haven't even started actually reviewing the book. Even now, I am procrastinating. Ok. Here it goes. For real.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Possibly, it is my favorite UF discovery since Chicagoland Vampires. Cat and Bones are both hilariously witty. They're also quirky, but consistently so, and each in their own special way. They have very stimulating banter - awesome chemistry - and yet the book isn't just page after page of them mooning over each other. The secondary characters are entertaining and pretty well developed. There is a highly complicated and exciting plot. Certain scenes are so outrageously over the top that you just want to give Ms. Frost a big congratulatory hug for her boldness. The whole thing is just really well-written, laugh-out-loud, solid good fun.

Cat is a half-vampire who believes all vampires are evil (her vampire father raped her human mom, so this prejudice has been drilled into her from a young age). In order to atone for her mother's rape, she spends her nights hunting vampires at the sleazy clubs they like to hang out in. She's pretty good at it, too, considering she's never had any real training.

Then one night she crosses the wrong vamp and wakes up handcuffed in a cave, a smirking, irritatingly cheerful Englishman beaming down at her. Meet Bones, 200+ year old English gigolo turned Australian convict turned vampire. I basically fell in love with Bones the moment he opened his mouth (have always had a thing for snarky English blokes), but it takes Cat awhile longer. Which is understandable, as their first interaction is a bit rocky. To give you an example of the delicious banter between Cat and Bones, here is an excerpt from the scene when she wakes up handcuffed in the cave. Bones accuses Cat of being made of the same stuff as he - vampire. She haughtily replies,

[BEGIN QUOTE]

"I am nothing like your kind! You're all monsters, preying on innocent people and caring nothing about the lives you wreck. The vampires I killed attacked me--it was their back luck I was ready for them. I might have some of this cursed blood in my veins, but at least I was using it to--"

"Oh, stick a sock in it already," he interrupted me with an irritated tone you'd use to scold a child. "You always ramble on so? No wonder your dates went right for your throat. Can't say I blame them."

Speechless, I gaped at him. With absolute clarity I understood the phrase adding insult to injury. First he'd slapped me soundly, now he was going to slander me before murdering me.

"I hate to interrupt your sympathy session over the other dead vampires, but are you going to be killing me soon or what?"

[END QUOTE]

Isn't that fabulous? And it only gets better. They end up partnering together to bring down a truly evil vamp, but soon things get out of control as they uncover a conspiracy that goes way deeper, into the very backbone of the US government. Ahh!

The book ends on a truly cruel cliffhanger, which is why I have to wrap up this review immediately so I can begin book 2. Adios amigos!

Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 1) Feature

ISBN13: 9780061245084
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 1) Overview

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father—the one responsible for ruining her mother's life. Then she's captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unholy partnership.

In exchange for finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She's amazed she doesn't end up as his dinner—are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn't have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her newfound status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side . . . and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.

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Customer Reviews

BEST EVER I AM HOOKED - K. Edwards - Australia
Move over Edward and Bella and even Buffy & Angel here comes Cat and Bones!!! I didn't think that I would ever find a series as good as Twilight but this beats it hands down. I dont know how I can stand to wait for the next installment in 2011. I finished all four books in four days and couldnt put them down.

Great power couple! - M. Whitmore - VA

I am late to the game in regards to the phenomenon that is Cat and Bones. My twitter peeps have been telling me that Cat and Bones is the real deal! But I dragged my feet. I purchased Halfway to the Grave back in June but because of my self-imposed PNR ban, I didn't immediately read it. In a way, I'm glad I didn't. I needed the break to regroup and add some variety to my reading. Sometimes that's hard to do when you discover a new genre that you're excited about. The Night Huntress series has restored my faith!

Halfway to the Grave has everything that you could want in a Paranormal romance. A kick-ass heroine who mouths off at the drop of a hat. A sexy vampire who's not afraid to go toe-to-toe with the kick-ass heroine. And a plot that has you so engrossed that you can not and will not put the book down. I was reading every chance I could get. I read the book in 2 days. I would have read it in less time if I didn't have to worry about sleep, work and life in general. I was addicted and this was my drug of choice. I didn't want the book to end but I couldn't wait for it to the end! You book lovers know what I mean. There's humor, romance, hot vampire on half-breed vampire sex, violence, vengeance, love, hate. Aargh!! It was too much and yet not enough. In one word, the book was AWESOME!

Suffering from burn-out - Jem - MD, USA
I love urban fantasy and most paranormal romance, so I expected to love this book. Only, I didn't. My main issue is the heroine - I didn't like her. She spent entirely too much time WHINING. Cat is half vampire - her mother was raped by a newly made vampire. And from there it's as though the author threw in every horror a teenager could face. She was different growing up, so she has no friends. Her mother thinks she has some evil in her. She has no father figure. She lives in a small town where her mother is regarded as loose, and therefore so must she be. Unfortunately, Buffy already used the supernatural to examine teen life, and to greater effect than here especially given Cat is no longer a teen when we meet her.

I admit, it could be burn-out. Too many such "heroines" out there that are outsiders with issues, and the ability to kick ass. Who only start to see their own self-worth when the dashing hero comes along to show them just how powerful they are. Blah. Here our hero is Bones, a master vampire who shows Cat that she's been lucky with the vampires she's killed so far. They were all newbies. She has little chance against much older vamps - unless he trains her. Blah. Bones is British (we know because he uses all those cliche phrases to make him sound so), and unbelievably sexy (we know because even though Cat hates all vampires on principle, she wants him). Halfway through the book, nothing has really happened. I just could not get into it.

Overall, less discriminating paranormal romance fans may enjoy this, and honestly, the series may improve drastically in book 2. I'm just not willing to commit. After reading a phenomenal series like The Dark-Hunters, with rich mythology and detailed world-building to support the romance, this fell short.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 23, 2010 22:12:05

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Monday, August 23, 2010