Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: February 9th, 2010
Date finished: February 10th, 2010
Having read all four of Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress novels, but only really loving the first two, I was a bit undecided as to whether I wanted to check this one out. The absolutely awful cover did not help. Seriously, all of Jeaniene Frost's books have bad covers, but this has to be the worst of the lot. However, there was a sample chapter in Destined for an Early Grave that made me curious, and I decided to give Frost one more chance. I'm very glad that I did.
Denise MacGregor is fully aware that there are scary things that go bump in the night, her best friend is half-vampire Cat Crawfield. But after losing her husband in a particularly horrible incident, Denise no longer wants anything to do with the supernatural world. She moves far away from her former friends, avoids her remaining family, and just wants to forget. But then her aunt and two cousins die in the space of a few days, and the cause turns out to be a shape-shifting demon, who makes a deal with her. Denise has to track down one of her ancestors who made a deal with the demon, or he will kill every remaining member of her family, and the longer she takes to track said ancestor down, the further down the path to becoming a cursed shapeshifter she moves.
Quite desperate, Denise needs help from someone in the supernatural world. She is unable to reach Cat or Bones (due to events in Destined for an Early Grave) and after considering it some more, is unwilling to expose them to the danger she is in anyway. She manages to track down Spade, Bones' best friend, and asks him for help instead. To begin with, Spade is convinced Denise is just a bit hysterical, but after showing up at her house while the demon is torturing her, he realizes that Denise is right to be worried. He promises to help Denise track down her demon-dealing ancestor, so her life can go back to its normal, non-supernatural state as soon as possible.
Of course Denise and Spade feel massively attracted to each other. But Denise is really messed up after her husband's death at the hands of supernatural creatures, and Spade has sworn to never get entangled with a mortal woman again, after he lost his girlfriend to rape and murder centuries ago. He is also painfully aware that Denise is Cat's best friend, and neither Cat, nor Bones would be happy if he toyed with her. Lots of complications ensue, Denise and Spade's attraction grows. Both protagonists are much more enjoyable to read about than Cat and Bones ever were. In the course of the book many characters from Frost's Night Huntress series make their appearance, and help the protagonists to complete their quest and find happiness in the end. Based on this book, I will continue to check out Frost's work, as it's by far my favourite of her books so far.
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