The Night Huntress Series Book #2: One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

When we last left Cat Crawfield, she was running away from her vampire lover Bones so that she could work for a secret organization that takes out vampires within the FBI. When One Foot in the Grave starts, it’s been four years since that day and Cat has become the top agent within this organization. The case she is working on that night has some old ties to her former life. Ian, the vampire she’s sent to destroy, turns out to be Bones maker. She lets him go as an old debt to him and goes on her merry way.

The problem is she intrigues Ian and he doesn’t like things he can’t have so he is starting to hunt her down so that way he can add her to his collection. Not to mention the other vampires who have contracted hits on her life for her former profession as the Red Reaper and she’s gotten herself into a sticky situation. That’s why when Bones shows up at her friend Denise’s wedding, she has a full on panic attack. He’s been hunting her down for years. He’s angry with her for leaving him, but he still wants her. What’s a girl to do?

At the end of Halfway to the Grave I was angry with Frost. I think in my review for that book I stated that why did author feel the need to split up the main couple of a series at the end of the first book or during the second? So when I started this book I was a little skeptical as to how this was going to go. I wasn’t expecting Frost to jump four years, but I’m kind of glad she did. The time jump allowed for Cat to already be ingrained in her new life and when Bones finally showed up it also allowed for the much loved sexual tension that I adored in the last book. On top of the sexual tension there was also the intrigue that one of the vampires in Ian’s line is Cat’s father, who also turns out to be Don’s – the head of Cat’s team – brother. Family reunion much?

Final Rating: 5 out of 5 stars. I didn’t think it was possible for me to love a second book more than the first in a series, but this book proved me wrong. The relationship between Bones and Cat still makes me swoon, add in characters like Tate and Annette and I’m just in adoration.

Bookshelf worthy? Support your local library.

The Night Huntress Series Book #1: Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Popular books, of late, have lead me astray – I tried reading the Outlander series but barely made it 50 pages into the first book before calling it quits and barely made it four chapters into Seraphina before giving up – so when it came to Halfway to the Grave I didn’t mark it as ‘currently reading’ until I was almost halfway through.

Catherine – Cat – Crawfield is a twenty-two year-old college student who appears to be a normal girl sitting in a bar when the book begins, but as the first chapter unfolds you find out that Cat isn’t who she appears to be. No, instead she’s a half-breed – half-human and half-vampire – and she is hunting vampires in revenge for her mother who was raped by one twenty-two years ago. This night seems to be going differently than her previous ones. Instead of having a vamp come hit on her, she goes up to him and asks very bluntly – because he doesn’t seem to be falling for her usual sexiness – if he wants to fuck? He turns her away, much to Cat’s chagrin, and she finds another victim for the night. Feeling bold she goes back the next night, only to run into the vamp from the night before who turned her away. This time thought he’s ready for her, and they leave together.

The only problem is, this vamp knows what Cat is capable of – he followed her the night before – and he pulls a fast one on her. She wakes up in a cave shackled to a rock and in her underwear. The vamp – Bones – demands to know whom she is working for, and that’s when it is revealed that she’s a half-vampire. He doesn’t believe her at first, until he sees her eyes glow. He proposes a deal, if she helps him take out vampires, he’ll help her find her father. Cat agrees and the fun begins.

Where to even begin with how much I loved this book? The character of Cat reminded me a lot of myself – except for the whole half-vampire/assassin thing – but her cryptic views on love, her shyness, her naïveté when it came to sexual innuendo (seriously, I blushed with her every time Bones said something highly sexual). The character of Bones grew on me too, especially when I started picking up on his feelings for Cat – speaking of, the vampire club scene where he intentionally gives her a day off to spend with him was really cute and sexy. The overall plot was intriguing too – big bad vampire who Bones is after turns out to be the mastermind behind a blood whoring plot that goes very high up in the government. I just wished I had found out why exactly Bones was after Hennessy.

The only two things I didn’t like about this book were:

A. The character of Cat’s mom. I got where she was coming from with the whole anti-vampire thing because of what she went through. But to put all that onto her daughter was in poor taste. To basically squeal too on her daughter’s love affair with a vampire to those agents too, was just horrible. I kind of wished that the mom had died after that. Ugh.

B. The ENDING! Why is it that whenever a couple is going great, an author has to throw in this major complication that separates them or, like in Halfway to the Grave’s case, that causes the female interest to run away to protect the male? It’s frustrating, but it does make for some interesting reading.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Great characters. Great plot. Great cliffhanger ending. Can’t wait to get my hands on book 2 and see what Bones is going to do.

Bookshelf worthy? I’m going to start stacking books on the floor, I swear.