Jeaniene Frost

Worst piece of drivel since Twilight. The narrator and main character is supposed to be both a bad girl who curses and a loner doesn't care what anyone thinks (and kills vampires, because #yesallvampires), and a good girl little white girl who doesn't sleep around. She's half vampire, half human, because her vampire father, who was newly-turned and therefore still had functioning pipes, raped her mother. Her mother is a two-dimensional paragon of a non-functioning rape victim who never show more recovers, hates the vampiric part of her daughter, and encourages her daughter to go out to clubs by herself, dangle herself as bait for horny, rapey vampires, and then kill them.

All this, while maintaining that she's not a slut. (The word is thrown around like confetti, and implies as much judgement as possible each time it is.)

There are only a few female characters, and none by the narrator are portrayed in a good light. There's the narrator's mother, her judgey grandmother, a girl who pretends to be the narrator's friend before trying to sell her into "white slavery" to the bad vampires, and a drop-dead gorgeous vampire turncoat (pun intended) who wears no underwear. The last, of course, inspires the narrator to ridiculous heights of petty jealousy.

Finally, the romantic lead employs textbook manipulation tactics on the narrator, both in order to get her into bed with him and while they're there. Neither the narrator nor the author seem aware of how creepy his behavior is.

Overall, I cannot believe I spent three full dollars on this. What a waste. show less

The first half of the book was like fanfic based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not just because of the British Blond Vampire, but because the author recycles tropes common in Buffy/Spike fan fiction. Things like the heroine being heavily prejudiced and judgemental when it comes to vampires until the hero shows her how wrong she is. Or that she has lost her virginity to a jerk who dumped her right after the bad sex. Or that the supposedly kick-ass heroine needs to be saved by the hero time show more after time. In fact, the first half of the book is all about how awesome the hero is in all ways possible. He's so awesome that even as a vampire he has friends even among the living while the heroine has none. The author glorifies Bones the same way many fanfic writers glorify Spike, and Cat is turned into a sidekick, which often happens to Buffy in fanfic, too. The trouble with this approach is that everything interesting about the characters is lost. I like flawed characters, and Bones is way too perfect to fascinate me. Cat, on the other hand, has all the potential to be intriguing: she's only half-human in result of her mother being raped by a vampire. Until she meets Bones the most important relationship in her life is with her mother, and it's very twisted to say the least. Unfortunately the author chooses not to explore that relationship; we don't even get to see them interact until very late in the book.

I read the book halfway and skimmed through the rest. The plot picks up and turns from romance to suspense, but I didn't care enough about the characters to appreciate that. The ending suggests very different kind of surroundings for the next book of the series, but as promising as that is I won't be reading more Night Huntress.

(For clarification: I'm not saying Halfway to the Grave is fan fiction;I have no way of knowing that. To me it simply reads like one.) show less

I think it's safe to say that I'm addicted to these books. Lord knows what I'm going to do when I run out of Night Huntress books to read. I can be listening to perfectly good audiobooks and I just keep thinking that there's still Night Huntress books that I haven't listened to yet. But to this book in particular, it was great. I loved seeing another side of the emotionless and stoic Mencheres that we'd seen so far in the other books. In this book, Mencheres falls hard and fast for Kira and show more we get to see his walls come down. We also get to see/hear what's in his head and his thoughts are anything but emotionless. And Kira is a terrific main character. She's strong and thinks things out. She refuses to be swayed from her beliefs by something that's misleading.

This was a very good story. I liked the narrator much better in this book than I do in the Cat and Bones stories. I think that's mostly because she wasn't screwing up Mencheres' voice the way she does Bones'.

I do have to admit, though, I will be glad to get back to a book starring Cat and Bones. show less

Vlad, my sexy hunk of vampire man, you had me long before you engulfed yourself in flames. I loved you when you only had the power to impale people. You story has captivated me for as long as I can remember. This new updated you, the one with flaming skills, in the bedroom as well as outside has driven my Vlad obsession to a new high. Your hard cold heart, still for so long, has only known loneliness and betrayal. Finally, it is warmed with this woman. She is wonderful Vlad, a bit naive yes, show more but she does not weaken at your sins. The horrors she will have to endure, to live with you in your world may undo her. I wept for her when she walked out that door. I wept for you too, knowing what you were giving up. I know you Vlad you are an old romantic at heart, somewhere down really deep. If things don't work out between the two of you, you know where to find me. bring the ring. [wink]

yes, I loved the book. i could not stop reading, my kids suffered, my dogs went walkless and I got readers elbow from holding the book so tightly. I love this Vlad character, he is just enough of everything. It was pure fun entertainment that hit all my reader fun bells. The moment I finished I wanted to re-read it, which put's it on my 5 star list. show less