Twice Dead

A huge improvement over Once Bitten, Kalayna Price’s second Haven book, Twice Dead, had the imagination of the first installment, with none of the boring descriptions of endless walking around looking for clues, and a lot less annoying behavior from Kita. Kita’s introduction to the vampire world in Once Bitten was the most interesting thing about the book, and Price played to that strength in Twice Dead. The addition of Avin the necromancer was fun, and the progress of the relationship with Nathanial, Kita’s ongoing discovery of her vampiric powers, and the question of whether or not she’ll eventually be able to completely shift all give me plenty of reason to look forward to book three in the Haven series. Glad I stuck with the show more series after Once Bitten. show less

Review first posted on http://rubysreads.com

I warn you now: this review has spoilers for Once Bitten. Don’t read on if you don’t wish to get spoiled.





I am already suffering withdrawals. I think I actually liked Twice Dead better than Once Bitten. It had all of the good stuff from the first book and less of the bad. Like, we don’t see much of Bobby. Yea! And there’s a lot less of Kita being contrary for the sake of being contrary. In a way, I guess we had to go through all that stuff in the first book in order for the absence is believable in the second one.

Twice Dead continues Kita’s story, picking up about two weeks after the end of Once Bitten. In the last book, Nathaniel (Kita’s sire) agreed to become part of head show more vampire Tatius’ council in exchange for being allowed to keep Kita as his own. As the story opens, we learn that Bobby’s still in town and Kita’s been feeding on animals in order to survive. She has two reasons for doing so: One, she’s still squeamish about the whole blood-drinking thing. Two, there’s the risk that every time she bites a person they could become “tagged”, or get turned into a shifter. Which would be bad because Kita’s gotten in trouble for that already. It’s only her special status as a rare vampire/shifter that saved her life.

Kita learns pretty darn fast that Nathaniel’s been urging her to drink from him for pretty compelling reasons. With her usual knack for trouble, Kita discovers the decapitated body of a visiting vampire’s servant. This, of course, brings Kita and Nathaniel to the attention of all the VIVs, as Kita calls them: Very Important Vampires. And when Tatius discovers Kita’s malnourished condition–well, let’s just say the consequences are severe. Even worse, Kita soon becomes implicated the death of the servant. To add insult to injury, Gil, the mage, pops up every so often to get Kita’s help, taking her away at inconvenient moments. Things are also complicated by Kita’s very uniqueness. Other people have tried to change shifters before–but their attempts weren’t as successful. That Kita survived the transformation brings her to the attention of The Collector, a vampire who got her name for surrounding herself with objects as rare as Kita.

I feel like if I go too much further into the plot, I’m going to give too much away. What I can tell you is that Kita, as usual, has a lot on her plate. Of course, I’m a romance addict, so the part that thrilled me the most was the further development of Kita and Nathaniel’s relationship. Things are really, really complicated between them. Things are complicated by Tatius’ interest in Kita, too. With the events of Once Bitten under her belt, Kita is more accepting of the fact that she and Nathaniel have a strong connection. What comes into question in Twice Dead is how much of their connection is vampire magic and how much is just the two of them. It’s a question that they’re not going to get away from anytime soon. No matter the origin of their attraction, they’re hot together. There’re also sweet together. And they have the kind of tactile relationship that you usually get in books about shifters. Touch is comfort. Nathaniel is still a big mystery. We learn a major piece of the Nathaniel puzzle–but it only brings up more questions about him.

On the subject of Nathaniel, I want to give Price props for creating a hero that is strong but not omnipotent. I’ve admitting to liking alpha heroes and part of my reason for liking them is that they’re strong. However, writers often over the top with this and heroes become so untouchable as to become unbelievable. And when there are two contenders for a heroine’s heart, all too often she takes a moment to reflect that, in a fight between the two men, she doesn’t know who would win. Nathaniel knows his limits. In particular, he knows that Tatius is more powerful than him. What’s so delicious about Nathaniel is that he doesn’t let that fact prevent him from trying to protect Kita in whatever way he can, even at the risk of his own life. His desire to protect her remains unwavering throughout the book. How can I not love him?

I can’t wait to read Third Blood. It’s going to take us into the Firth. We’ll get to meet Kita’s dad and hopefully learn more about her decision to run away. I’m creating a new point category for this book. It gets five and half points: I would have this book’s babies. show less

Different from the stereotypical vampire novels populating the market now, “Twice Bitten” by Kalayna Price is so well written, you can almost picture the scenes in front of your very own eyes. In fact, where the writing and plot waivers, however few and far between this happens, converting this manuscript to film would remove these shortcomings. I have not read the first book in the series, which accounts for some of the confusion in the plot but writing style of Mrs. Price is so good, and the story is so interesting, that I have put a call into my local bookshop to get the first novel in the series. Can’t wait until there is more on this trilogy.

It's been a while since I read the first book in this series. But it wasn't very hard to jump back into the storyline. Kita is a shapeshifter, turned vampire. As unusual as that sounds, she makes it pretty interesting in her quest to stay alive. She's living with her maker, Nathaniel and it seems that a lot of other people of taken an interest in her un-natural abilities.....lol What could be better than a shapeshifter/ vampire, right? She's snarky, full of P & V and just one fabulous character!

It seems that the Master of the city has an interest in her and tries to kill Nathaniel to accomplish that, but Kita makes a deal to give herself to him to spare Nat's life. Nathaniel doesn't like it but there really isn't anything he can do. Now show more a shapeshifting snake seems to have it out for her and the Collector (the big honcho vampire) seems to like her too! Great, right? No, not really. And everywhere she turns someone is turning up either missing their head or their body. What is going on? Well, at least that's what I kept wondering. I mean, there are vampires who can 'read' the truth and wipe out minds on a whim and then there are creepy snake shifters, and plenty of other vampires who have very strange abilities. And Kita when she's near danger and feels threatened her hands turn to paws and claws. Pretty cool huh?

Kalayna Price has a world where no one has really gone before. I mean, who would have thought of putting shapeshifter and vampire together right in the same package. But all the added elements of creepiness and tension is incredible. There is alot going on in this book and it keeps you on the edge of your seat cause you have no idea who's behind all of the 'murders' and who is really telling the truth. Quite fascinating! Loved it and would recommend it to everyone out there in the blogosphere! show less

I loved Twice Dead in an extreme way. It's almost as though Kalayna Price snuck into my head and wrote the perfect book for my tastes. There is a creative balancing that portrays vampires, shapeshifters, mages and other things that go bump in the night in the human world.

In this second book of the Haven series, Kita's situation between Nathaniel and Tatius reached new heights. The previously touched upon vampire council was featured in some fun ways and we a few more hints as to how Kita's shapeshifter past is effecting her current vampire state. Combined that with an insane mystery that threw me though a loop and you have yourself a fast-paced, can't put it down read.

This is one of the very best urban fantasy series I have read. Price show more has cemented herself as one of my new favorite authors. Calling this book perfect doesn't begin to do it justice. show less

I took a little to read the book because I don't have an ebook reader and need to read at the PC, but as soon as I could sit to read it, I was caught in it. It's full of action, some kind of black humor, creepiness and it went in directions I couldn't predict. Even if this is a second in a series, and I hadn't read the first one, I could follow without problems. I'll read more by the author.

Kalayna Price has a style of writing that appeals to me. Her Haven series is interesting and uses a lot of supernatural beings: Vampires, Shifters, Mages, etc. This second book in the Haven Series follows the path of Kita a shifter from Firth. No spoilers here, if you want to know you should read it. If you like Grave Witch you like this one as well.