CBR15 Book 29: "Both Feet in the Grave" by Jeaniene Frost

Page count: 348 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

15-word review: Bones tells his side of the story of how he reunited with his Red Reaper. 

Jeaniene Frost's retelling of her successful paranormal fantasy series from the point of view of Bones the vampire continues. This book is a take on the events of One Foot in the Grave. It's been four long years since Kat Crawfield left him to protect him, not really understanding that if he'd managed to stay alive for two hundred years before meeting her, some secret government paranormal division wasn't going to pose much of a threat to him either. Even with all of his resources and skills as a hunter, it's almost a lucky break that makes it possible for Bones to reunite with his half-vampire love - at the wedding of a human Bones befriended in a bar, in fact. Completely taken by surprise during the ceremony, Kat can't hide her overwhelmed reaction to seeing Bones again, and while she tries to cover it afterward, Bones can tell she still loves him.

Of course, in the years since they last saw each other, Kat has become even more of a bad-ass, and now leads a whole team of skilled vampire hunters. One of the vampires they've pissed off with their operation is Ian, Bones' sire, who is now very interested in adding the Red Reaper to his exclusive collection. He also has Kat's father, the vampire who got her mother pregnant, working for him, and plans to use him as a trap to lure Kat into his power. Bones has no intention of letting that happen, and will only let Kat keep working with her government spooks if he gets to work alongside her to make sure she is safe. Since he has some interesting blackmail material on Kat's boss, he doesn't really have that much trouble convincing them to let him join "the gang". 

Now Bones needs to call in all of his allies and use all his cunning to outsmart Ian, so the devious Master vampire doesn't gain control of Kat forever.

This was another fun book by Jeaniene Frost, but I suspect one of the reasons I liked it less than the previous one is because the source material she's retelling isn't as entertaining. The first book sets up the world and the dynamic between Kat and Bones, a lot of this book is bogged down in Bones trying to locate Kat, then convincing her that they are meant to be together and then all the power play stuff with Ian. I don't regret the time I spent reading the book, and I will probably keep getting them if Frost decides to keep doing them (I often find Bones a more engaging narrator than Kat). But I'm not going to add them to my pre-order list or anything.

Judging a book by its cover: Really not a huge fan of the cover art for these books. I think it's a different dude portraying Bones on this one, and he just looks wrong to me. Wasn't wild about the last guy either, but it's not like I'm buying these books for the covers. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR14 Book 14: "The Other Side of the Grave" by Jeaniene Frost

Page count: 424 pages

Audio book length: 13 hrs 13 mins

Rating: 4 stars

Back in 2007, Jeaniene Frost published the first volume in her paranormal fantasy series Night Huntress, Halfway to the Grave, about half-vampire Catherine "Cat" Crawfield (the unlikely offspring of a vampire and a human), who hunts vampires because her mother has raised her to hate them, and since Cat has never really felt loved or accepted by her mother or grandparents, hopes that her crusade to end as many undead as possible will earn her family's affection. Cat runs into English master vampire Crispin "Bones" Russell one day, and once he discovers her unique nature, not to mention starts falling head over heels for the hot-headed young vampire slayer, decides to train her to become much better at her chosen extra-curricular activity, mainly so she doesn't get herself killed the next time she runs into a really strong vampire. That the training forces her to spend lots and lots of time with him, well, that's also a bonus.

The series, where Cat and Bones inevitably fall in passionate love with one another, ended up being seven books long, not to mention there being a bunch of novellas, not to mention spin-off books where Bones' vampire friends found HEAs of their own eventually. Now Frost (whose books I think I initially picked up because she's BFF with Ilona Andrews) has decided to pull an E.L. James, or Stephenie Meyer, or what will you, and rewrite her first book in the series from Bones' POV. Selfish cash-grab? Maybe, but I found myself really enjoying the book, and wanting to revisit the series once more (I read the first books in the series back in 2009). Since I own at least the first few of the books in paperback, I found myself curious and compared a lot of the scenes. Frost writes that it's obvious that people remember things in different ways, so some scenes are pretty much word-for-word recreations, while a lot of the book covers all the stuff Bones did when Cat wasn't around. 

As I said, I found myself amused by the book. Frost has updated a lot of the technology and references in the book to make it seem like it was set now (apparently Bones had a beeper in the first book, that's just objectively hilarious). After reading about a third, I got the audiobook version because I wanted to be able to listen to it when I was taking walks, and doing chores, and the narrator is mostly very good. I very much disagree with his accent and intonation for Bones (he sounds too thuggish), but all in all, it was a really fun listen, and at a time when I can barely find entertainment that holds my attention, the fact that I wanted to keep listening was absolutely a plus. Not sure Frost needs to write the rest of the series from Bones' POV though.

Judging a book by its cover: While this book has a pretty bad cover (that is just NOT how Bones looks in my mind's eye), it's a million times better than the eyesores that were the early covers of the Night Huntress series. Seriously, paranormal fantasy covers back in the day were SO ugly, you guys. Like so very very bad. The fact that the cover model portraying Cat on the first book looked to be in her mid-thirties (Cat is 22) didn't help. So I guess I shouldn't complain too much about this cover. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR5 Book 33. "Twice Tempted" by Jeaniene Frost

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

This is the second book in the Night Prince series, and as such, this review may (and probably will) contain spoilers for the first book, Once Burned, which I read, enjoyed and reviewed last year.

So the half-naked dude on the cover is basically supposed to be Dracula (although he gets really cranky when people call him that), and he's the hero of this trilogy of paranormal fantasy/romance. He can read people's minds, and is also pyrokinetic (hence all the flames on the cover). Leila, his girlfriend, is tired of his aloofness and the fact that while she's admitted openly that she loves him, he claims that she could never love the "real him" (what with all the centuries of killing, torturing and generally being a pretty ruthless SOB). So after a rather awkward formal ceremony where she thinks he's going to propose marriage, and he's "only" offering to turn her into a vampire, Leila has had enough, and decides that she needs to get out before he breaks her heart any worse than he already has.

Leila's not exactly a normal girl, after an accident when she was a teenager, she pretty much generates electricity and has learned to control it into a pretty fierce whip-like weapon. She has to wear rubber-lined gloves, or she can accidentally electrocute people. She can also gain psychic impressions from objects and people, but after a near-death experience at the end of the previous book, where Vlad coated her in his fire-proof aura to keep her from burning to a crisp in an explosion, that ability seems to have disappeared. Heart-broken and pissed off, Leila goes back to the US, where she intends to go back to her old, pre-Prince of Darkness' girlfriend life as a carnival acrobat. She barely has time to discover that her old partner thought she was gone for good, and has found a replacement in their act, before half the carnival is destroyed in a huge explosion.

Leila is saved by one of Vlad's henchmen (who totally has a crush on her), and because they're not entirely sure that Vlad didn't cause the blast because he was furious that Leila dared leave him, they decide that it might be best if Leila lets everyone believe she's dead, until they can figure out more about who caused the explosion. Leila tries to investigate, but as in the first book, isn't very good at being sneaky about it, and before she knows it, enemies of Vlad's have kidnapped her and intend to use her as leverage against him. Can she figure out who keeps trying to kill her? Will she get Vlad to actually admit his true feelings for her? Is her incredibly impulsive and reckless investigative techniques going to nearly kill her every single time? (The answer to all three is yes, by the way, sorry if that spoils some of the plot for you).

I really enjoyed the first book in the series, and this one was also a very fast and engrossing read. Vlad is a total alpha hero, who's used to unquestioning obedience from all his subjects. The fact that he can't control Leila, and that she constantly challenges him, not to mention defies his attempts to keep her safe and unharmed by getting herself into really quite impressively dangerous situations, time and time again, makes him furious. Their interactions are hugely entertaining, and there is some very good banter. I hope that Jeaniene Frost didn't intend for the "mysteries" in the plot to be very intricate, because I'd figured out exactly who was behind the attempts on Leila's life, and the motivations for it pretty much as soon as it became an issue. You don't read this book for the mystery, you read it because it features a super hot vampire, lots of action and some really quite scorching smexy times. Once again, I liked this a lot more than most of the Night Huntress books that are Frost's main series.

CBR4 Book 70: "Once Burned" by Jeaniene Frost

Page count: 346 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: June 27th, 2012
Date finished: June 27th, 2012

This is the start of a spin-off series from Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress books. You don't have to have read any of them to understand these, though.

Leila is a human with very unusual powers, after having been badly injured in an accident involving a downed power line when she was 13. Now she can learn things about the objects she touches, and about the people who have held them before her. She pretty much has to be careful about touching people, though, because unless she unloads her power into lightning rods, she can badly shock anyone unlucky enough to get to close to her. Before her accident, she was a promising acrobat, now she does tricks at a circus with a vampire dwarf (he's able to handle her touch to a certain extent), who acts like a father figure to her.

When a group of evil vampires find out about Leila's powers, they kidnap her and try to get her to give them information about Vlad Tepesh (yes, that one - but he really doesn't like to be called Dracula), against whom they're clearly plotting something. When she tries to locate him in her mind  with objects the thugs have stolen, he instantly notices her presence, and tracks both her and her kidnappers down. As Vlad realises both what a danger Leila could pose to him in the hands of his enemies, and how useful her abilities could be for him, he refuses to let her go until they've tracked down the mastermind against the plot against him.

As Vlad has the power of pyrokinesis (he can control fire with his mind), and is completely impervious to fire and heat, Leila can also touch him without danger of hurting him. Even other vampires would eventually be affected by her strong electrical powers, but Vlad insists she use him as she would a lightning rod. He's completely unconcerned about her fear of him, and seems to encourage it, yet for all that he is clearly very dangerous and quite ruthless, Leila can't help but be attracted to the first man in her adult life that she won't have to worry about damaging with her powers. Vlad can also read Leila's mind (with occasional hilarious results) and cannot understand why she'd want to fight her attraction to him.

While I enjoyed the first few Night Huntress books, I haven't been that impressed with the later ones, and have usually enjoyed Frost's two standalone spin-off novels from the series more. Once Burned is the start of a series (I think it's a trilogy) and that means that while Leila and Vlad's relationship develops over the course of the book, they're by no means at their HEA yet, and there are more threats to both of them to come in later books. I very much enjoyed both the main characters (I always liked Vlad in his appearances in Frost's earlier books), as well as the supporting cast, and the further exploration of Frost's fantasy universe. While not the best paranormal fantasy I've read, I enjoyed it more than several of the author's more recent books, and will absolutely be checking out the next books in the series.

CBR3 Book 26: "This Side of the Grave" by Jeaniene Frost

Publisher:  Avon
Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: April 2nd, 2011
Date finished: April 6th, 2011

This is the fifth book in the Night Huntress series, and as a result, this review may and probably does contain spoilers for some of the previous books in the series. The book will make little sense on its own, and is not a great starting-point. If you want to pick up the series from the beginning, Halfway to the Grave would be the place to start.

Cat and Bones have solved the mystery of her nightmares, and cemented their relationship in the eyes of their friends and the vampire community. Unfortunately they can't take any time off, as Appyllon, a powerful ghoul leader, is spreading crazy rumours about Cat's supposed powers, and trying to provoke a supernatural inter-species war. Vampires are disappearing without a trace, ghouls are getting more and more paranoid. In addition, Cat discovers that her uncle is dying, and her mother has a new career choice in mind.

I must admit that, with the exception of Jeaniene Frost's loose spin-offs of the Night Huntress series, I've mainly been reading her books hoping they'd get better. My main problem has always been that Cat has annoyed the heck out of me, because she never seemed satisfied with what she had. In this book, Cat has grown more comfortable with herself and stopped acting like an idiot towards Bones and accepted several other aspects of her life, and I actually really enjoyed this one. As it's the fifth book in the series (with several supporting characters having been properly fleshed out in their own books), Frost is now writing about a number of firmly established and likable characters, and I'm very glad that the next book in the series will be published as soon as August. I hope she manages to keep it as entertaining as this one was.

CBR2 Book 72: "Eternal Kiss of Darkness" by Jeaniene Frost

Publisher: Avon
Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Date begun: August 3rd, 2010
Date finished: August 4th, 2010

Mencheres is an ancient Master Vampire, and "older than dirt". He is actually older than several of the pyramids, and while he once held amazing powers, like visions of the future, telekinesis and the ability to track people all over the globe, he now sees only darkness when he tries to see the future, and most of his powers seem to be fading. As he is millennia old, he is pretty much determined to meet his death soon.

Kira is a private detective, whose mentor taught her that her goal in life should be to "save one life". When walking home from a stakeout early one morning, she hears a commotion, and runs to see if she can help. She sees Mencheres being tortured by five ghouls, and they nearly kill her. Mencheres is touched that a human would risk her life to save a stranger, and saves her with his super powerful blood. Unfortunately, he is unable to use his vampire mesmerising powers on her afterwards to make her forget, she appears to be immune to them. While keeping Kira captive, worried that she will tell the police about the strange new supernatural world she has discovered, he grows more and more fascinated by her.

Kira, who is at first scared and confused by all the new things she is discovering, has always had very strong instincts, and fairly quickly starts trusting Mencheres, reasoning that he could just have killed her right away if he wanted to. He uses some of his blood to help her chronically ill sister, and when he lets her go, she is unable to forget him. This leads her to a vampire strip club where Mencheres' oldest enemy manages to set things up so that Kira will almost certainly be killed. Mencheres has no choice but to turn her into a vampire.

Mencheres' enemy soon has him framed for arson, multiple murders and worst of all from a vampire point of view - of leaking a video showing the existence of vampires on YouTube. Kira and Mencheres have to prove his innocence to the rather old-fashioned and extremely conservative council of Law Guardians, which is not easy considering his nemesis is a Law Guardian too. But Kira has had experience with dirty cops before, and refuses to let Mencheres sacrifice himself for her and die just because he's convinced his lack of visions is a sign he is nearing the end of his long existence.

While not as good as First Drop of Crimson, Eternal Kiss of Darkness was still a fairly entertaining read. Of all of Frost's novels, I would put it somewhere in the middle. There was a bit too much of Mencheres' self-pitying "I'm so ancient and some of my powers are gone and I may as well just curl up and die". Towards the beginning of the book, it also got a bit tedious that Kira was the only one for millennia who dared to interrupt him, or shush him, or generally stand up to him, just because she didn't realize how old, and rich and super powerful he was.

Kira was a very good heroine, though. Smart, strong, independent and no beating around the bush accepting her attraction, and later love for, Mencheres. Refusing to suffer his self-pity, and also being very understanding, but not overly judgemental when he tells her about the many terrible things he's done in his looong life as a vampire. She adores her sick sister, is kind to her dead-beat brother and adapts to a scary and fairly shitty situation in a very admirable way. She is absolutely what saved this book from being a bit long-winded in places.

CBR2 Book 27: "First Drop of Crimson" by Jeaniene Frost

Publisher: Avon
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.

CBR2 Book 14: "Halfway to the Grave" by Jeaniene Frost

Publisher: Harper Collins
Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Date begun: December 19th, 2009
Date finished: December 20th, 2009

Catherine "Cat" Crawfield is half vampire, half human. She found out about her true parentage from her mother when she was 16. Her mother was raped by a newly turned vampire, and ever since she found out the truth about her conception, Cat has been hunting and killing vampires, hoping to one day find her father and avenge her mother's honour. She goes out late as often as she can, trawling bars for vampires, then lures them to secluded spots and kills them. One night things go wrong, and she is taken capitve by Bones, an English vampire bounty hunter who thinks she is working for his enemy.

Cat manages to convince Bones that she is half-vampire (once she is angry or upset, her eyes glow green, just like vampire eyes), and he is amazed that a mere slip of a girl like her has successfully hunted his kind without any proper training for more than five years. Bones is on a mission to discover who is kidnapping and killing young women in the area, and realizes that he and Cat can help each other. He proposes an alliance with Cat (and if she refuses, he'll kill her). After weeks of gruelling training, and a few dangerous missions, Cat realizes that she was lucky to have managed to well before. She is also coming to see that maybe not all vampires are the evil monsters her mother and her own experience have led her to believe they are.

Halfway to the Grave is the first in Jeaniene Hunter's Night Huntress-series. Like a lot of paranormal fantasy out there, it features first person narration by the heroine. Cat is a very angry and insecure young woman, who even before she found out about her father was harassed in the little town she grew up because of her mother's percieved promiscuity. She is truly shocked to meet a vampire who hunts his own, and to discover that vampires might not all be truly evil. Bones is clearly modelled on Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He has the platinum blonde hair, the British accent and the slightly condescending pet names for the heroine. He has no problem hunting and killing his own kind for money, especially when the vampires he hunts are vicious kidnappers and killers.

The gradual attraction between the two is very predictable, but also well done. Cat has huge self-esteem problems and trouble accepting that she herself may have any good qualities. Her realization that Bones may be a good person, even if he is undead, and that she is attracted to him, is incredibly hard for her to accept. The book is a good beginning to Frost's series, where the characters and their relationship continues to grow and develop, as well as Cat's unique powers.