One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Night Huntress, Book 5
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 357 Pages
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle




You'd think accidentally (and illegally) immolating the vampire who had manipulated you into a marriage you had forgotten while he's killing the vampire you love in a challenge bout adjudicated by vamp elders would warrant a little down time. If your name is Cat Crawford, though, also known as the Red Reaper, scourge of the vampire world, you'd be wrong. Life is never that simple for Cat and her true husband, Bones.

Hell, if it were, she wouldn't be such a...unique member of the fully undead. But no, Cat can't do anything the easy or normal way. That's why she's the only full vampire in existence who is still plagued with an occasional pulse, craves vampire blood instead of human, and has a tendency to pick up the skills and strengths of the vampires she feeds from. Talk about awkward!

Toss in a fundamentalist ghoul who considers Cat to be the undead version of the antichrist and who is gathering forces to put her down in as painful and ugly a way possible, a growing number of missing and murdered vampires, and an impending species war between vampires and ghouls that will decimate human and undead alike, and Cat's lucky she's got time to breath (if she still had to, anyway), let alone take a few days off.

If it weren't for Bones and the strength of his love for her, Cat would have waived the white flag long ago. Together, though, and with the help of friends and allies new and old, she may just make it out of this next debacle with her head still attached. Not everyone she loves may be so lucky.


It's been several years since I first read the fourth book in what once was one of my favorite series of all time. So much time passed, in fact, that before I started this book, I had to go back to the beginning to reacquaint myself with the series and characters. Unfortunately, Destined for an Early Grave was just as big a stumbling block for me on the reread as it was the first time around, when it tripped up my fanaticism for the series. I had a lot of problems with that book.

I'm happy to say that this time it didn't set me back so far that I couldn't finally plow ahead to this one. I would have missed out on a lot of good reading and the chance to once more become fond of characters who I adored above all others in the past.

This Side of the Grave is a witty, action-packed, emotionally vibrant tale. One of the most quip-laden of the series, I chuckled out loud in several places, and found myself slowly falling in love with Cat and Bones all over again. I've always wished for more series like this one, an extended urban fantasy series with a strong female lead in a steady, solid romantic relationship with her male co-star. I'm so very weary of the bed-bouncing, emotionally retarded, sex-starved profligates that have become so tragically ubiquitous in the genre.

It's a treat to be able to enjoy this one again.

That's not to say all things were perfect for me. The main plot of the book seemed to start fairly slow and, if I'm completely honest, wasn't really all that compelling to me. Especially compared to some of the ancillary threads that were very powerful and more interesting. I was concerned, too, with seeming inconsistencies in Cat's ability to absorb the skills and power of those from whom she feeds. I'm also a little troubled by the fact that I've started noticing a pattern or formula emerging in the books - maybe because I've now reread them all so close together.

Admittedly, it's an over-simplification, but it seems each book starts with one strong scene unrelated to the main plot, then Cat and Bones are made aware of a major threat to one or both of them. That leads them to meet with Mencheres, et al. to discuss said threat in great detail while Cat stays off the radar. After the first plan - which never works - is set in place, something crops up that puts either Cat's or Bones' life on the line, and it usually results in Cat getting the crucial piece of information she needs to triumph, but in such a way that she doesn't understand it. All efforts to stave off catastrophe fail, everyone throws themselves into battle, and that crucial bit of cryptic from earlier becomes clear in hindsight.

None of those issues, however, detract from the fact that Frost can still rip my heart out, can still make me laugh out loud, surprise me, and put me on the edge of my seat. She has, even after the previous book, drawn me back into the fold and wrapped me up in the lives and love of Cat and Bones and all their friends (Vlad in particular, who I've always loved with fierce intensity).

I also loved that Cat showed true maturity in this book. Gone is the half-cocked wild woman who would Lone Ranger her way into deep trouble and jump to all sorts of emotionally immature conclusions. Gone is the strictly black-and-white inflexibility and the stubborn pride. Cat has learned to thrive in the gray areas and embrace compromise. Even when it hurts. Her growth throughout this series, evidenced in this book, was impressive and heartening.

I think the series needed this book, actually. It seemed to complete a transition that started in the previous book. Cat's relationship with Bones seems so strong now, and it's my favorite thing about this series. Cat herself seems strong. Some of her alliances and friendships have shifted and realigned, and characters who have been a part of the series for a long time have changed roles a bit. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next, especially now that Cat has sort of become Cat 2.0.

Hell, maybe she'll even manage a real vacation with her husband. One that's not interrupted or blown up by some impending disaster or major threat. Then again...what fun would that be?

Quotables:

"Before we go, I gotta know: If mind-reading abilities are real, there's something else I wondered if fiction got right about vampires–"
"Ask me if I sparkle and I'll kill you where you stand."

"Sneaky, manipulating, merciless bloodsucker..."
A chuckle drifted up to me. "Pillow talk already? You'll have me hard before we're even back in our room."

"What the hell was that?" I gasped.
"Premature inflamulation," he replied. "Happens sometimes. Very embarassing, I don't like to talk about it."

I hadn't ever wondered why Mencheres hadn't tried to stop that attack with his power. Probably because I was too busy thinking, Holy shit, we're all gonna die!

Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance
Series: Night Huntress, Book 3
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Length: 352 Pages
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle


Being notorious has its privileges, but it's not doing much for Cat's job lately. The indiscriminate undead are seeing through even her best disguises and her reputation as the deadly Red Reaper precedes her far and wide. The usual shtick, using herself as bait to bring down the vampires who kill humans, is becoming less and less successful.

Vampire hubby Bones isn't exactly bemoaning his kitten taking a different tack, though. There's only so much groping of his wife a bloke both wildly in love and viciously dangerous can stand before the bloodbaths start. A change in plan may be just what her whole team needs.

Pity the change they adopt doesn't go so well. More of a problem is how the galactic fail leads Cat straight into a painful reunion with dear old dad. And in Cat's world, "painful" means bloody, gaping wounds and torture to the point of death.

As if barely surviving her father Max's not-so-tender ministrations isn't enough, there's an ancient and powerful force of evil backing him, and Cat is little more than collateral damage in the grand scheme. Humbling, really. But humbling is better than the gut churning sense of doom that comes from finding out who is pulling Max's strings...and who her real target is. She's a two thousand year old vampire worshiped as a goddess by her followers and feared as a tyrant by her enemies...in those brief moments before she decimates them all, anyway.

And Bones is next on her to-do list.


Okay, truth is, if a book's got Cat and Bones in it, I'm a fan. I love them together, I love them individually (Bones especially), I just love them. The stories about their exploits are some of my absolute favorites in the UF/UF Romance subgenres even if there are some books in the series I like more than others.

This one isn't one of my favorites, but it has two things in particular that set it apart from the rest. It's the first book that I felt had a genuine separation from the lingering patina of BtVS-ness I've mentioned in my reviews of the first two books. Other than Bones still reminding me vaguely of a far more mature and seriously bad-ass Spike (that particular trait can linger as long as it wants, as far as I'm concerned), this is the first one where the story and the characters didn't give me BtVS flashbacks. That's a point in its favor, for sure.

The other major point in its favor? Hello, Vlad, great to meet you!

I had some problems, though, with this book.

The concept for the plot was solid and Cat continues to evolve as the main character. There were several developments that I thought were wonderful, decisions she makes and actions she takes that were absolutely perfect for her and for the story. She's grown and matured nicely over the last three books, and that's something I much appreciate. The action is high octane and top notch, as always, and the depth of emotion the story ripped from my heart was distressingly impressive.

The transitions between story elements in this book as the plot progressed and major plot points were revealed, though, seemed very abrupt, making the narrative flow feel jerky and awkward in places. There were one or two times I had to go back and reread passages because it almost seemed like I missed a page between one part of the story and the next. It's disconcerting to be pulled out of the story like that.

Besides that, the Big Bad in this book never really came front-and-center in the story, and she never quite stirred in me the level of dread and fear for a painful, bloody end that would have make her plotline suspenseful. What she did was horrible, the weapons she used terrible, but the weapons inspired more tension than she did as the Big Bad. Who she was never factored for me at all. She may have been the High Priestess of All Things Anathema to her own kind (the sane ones, anyway), but her lack of presence compromised my ability to be see her as a serious threat. And when Mencheres' issues were tossed into the mix concerning her, I lost a little respect for him over how he handled it.

Still, this is such a stellar series. The journey that Cat and Bones are on is such a fantastic combination of sweeping, epic romance and dark, gritty urban fantasy. It's one of a kind; it's a yardstick by which to measure the rest in a crowded field. It's sexy and daring. It's fun. It's a lot of fun. And in the grand scheme, even a book that wasn't quite as smooth or effective as the two books that preceded it is just so damn awesome it shouldn't be missed. Nor, frankly, should this series.

Night Huntress Series:

Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance
Series: Night Huntress, Book 2
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 384 Pages
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle


She gave him up to save his life.

He swore he'd find her.

She really should have known. Bones always keeps his promises.

It's been four years since Cat left Bones to protect him. She's working with a covert government agency, doing what Bones taught her to do best. Kill. When she's not on duty, she's trying to live a normal life. Her best friend is getting married, she's dating a vet, and she still misses Bones so much she aches with it.

Coming face to face with him at the wedding is a shock, finding out there's a bounty on her head and he intends to track whomever is responsible and kill them ugly isn't. Cat isn't sure what to feel, though, when he tells her he's not letting her get away from him again.

This second installment of the Night Huntress series reminds me of the fourth season of BtVS. I know, I know, I can't stop making the BtVS connections. I'm sorry! Still, you gotta admit, the group Cat works for reads an awful lot like the Initiative, including the vamps in the holding cells and the military-esque tactical teams. Sure, Noah's no Riley Finn (thank hell), and no one shoves a chip into Bones' skull, but the similarities continue.

And again, this reread pointed out some issues I didn't notice the first time around. The whole secret agency thing popped up too abruptly at the end of the last book, and in this one, I was never comfortable with it. Cat is supposed to have this camaraderie with her team, but maybe because of the four year gap in story timeline those relationships felt very manufactured to me. Cat's got a new BFF we've never met, Denise, and she's marrying a guy we don't know, then there's the lovesick Tate (yeah, there's a surprise), the horndog Juan, and the reticent Cooper. They all just sort of popped up, weren't really fleshed out, just moved into position as serious secondary characters. It didn't work for me.

It wasn't until Bones was back in the picture that this story started to gel for me at all, but when he was, it was lovely. Cat's matured as a character (thankfully), and there was some genuinely refreshing moments of honesty between Cat and Bones that reminded me just how much I prefer romances where characters have the stones to be open and communicative with each other. I love them as a couple, I really do.

The external conflict in the storyline is more personal in this one, with Cat's father stirring up trouble and Bones' sire working his own agenda. Despite the fact that I don't like the secret agency bullshit, I liked those threads very much. There were several nice plot twists and a few real shockers. Oh, and of course, Cat's mother - dependable as ever as the bigoted bitch from hell. That woman is bat-shit crazy, I swear.

I'd forgotten this is the book where we first meet Mencheres, a favorite character of mine...though perhaps not as favored as Vlad, who shows up in the next book, I think, and Spade is back in a small cameo roll here. Love him. And I have to say, one of my favorite scenes of the whole series is in this book. I tittered and snickered just as hard this time around when Cat and Annette have there not-so-little fracas.

"I am going to knock the slut out of you, Annette," I gritted between clenched teeth, "And that should take some doing, you uppity English tramp!"

I can't begin to express with suitable emphasis just how much fun I had with that scene.

Like the first reread, my enthusiasm for this book was slightly dimmed from the first go. I didn't like it at all pre-Bones, and after he was back, I still had some issues with Cat and with the story. And the surprise development at the end was a combination of frustration at Cat's stupidity and pleasure at the outcome. All in all, Cat is annoying me a lot more on the rereads than she did originally, though I liked her more in this book than in the previous one. And of course, there's Bones...back with Cat and looking, acting, and being fiiiiiiiine. Yum.

Night Huntress Series:

  
  

Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance
Series: Night Huntress, Book 1
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 384 Pages
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle


Girl meets boy.

Girl tries to stake boy.

Boy knocks girl unconscious, chains her up, makes her a deal, then trains and taunts her until she loves him.

They live...more or less...ever after.

The end. And the beginning.

As a BtVS fan from way back, I'll never forget just how much I enjoyed picking up Frost's first book in the Night Huntress series. It reminded me of the series but where the series disappointed in some aspects, this book didn't. It's been almost four years since then, long before I started reviewing books, and I'm rereading the series before I start the newest release, One Grave at a Time. It's like visiting old friends.

Old friends with fangs and a blood fetish, but still.

I'd forgotten, though I don't know how I could have, just how much like Spike (my BtVS fav) Bones is. At least on the surface. Bleached platinum hair, British accent, chiseled cheekbones...and after a gift from Cat, he even had the leather duster. Bones has never been the wanker Spike could often be, though. Yeah, as much as I adored Spike and was all about the Buffy and Spike 'ship, I knew that Spike acted like an idiotic adolescent most of the time. I mean, come on, he chained Buffy up in a cave to manipulate her actions and emotions!

Oh...wait...

Ha! Anyway, Bones is just more mature, more self-confident, more respected, more feared, and an all around bigger badass than Spike ever was. Sorry Buffy.

Eh, I never liked her anyway.

Cat and Bones are sort of like the more improved Buffy and Spike. Cat's the one-of-a-kind vampire killer, Bones is the vampire who loves her. Cat's not a Slayer, she's a half-vampire/half-human hybrid, and the vampire world is a hell of a lot more complex than anything we saw on BtVS, but the similarities are there. And at the beginning, I didn't like Cat any more than I ever liked B. Cat was judgmental, hypocritical, ignorant, and had an inflated sense of self (sound familiar?). Having Bones show up in her life did more than keep her alive, it made her palatable, because once she stopped with all the prejudice and started to help Bones out, she was tolerable.

It's almost funny, just how much I remember adoring this book the first time I read it. I gave it a five star rating way back then and added it to my list of favorite series. I didn't have a whole lot of experience with this genre four years ago. In the interim, I've read - literally - over a thousand books in the urban fantasy and paranormal romance genres. Now that I have read so much, have had my reading preferences honed so sharply (and had so much time away from my BtVS roots), my overall opinion was destined to be slightly less favorable than it was originally.

Maybe rating and reviewing on the reread isn't fair to the book...then again, fair and I have just a passing acquaintance.

The book isn't perfect. It has moments that are cliched and - if you're a fan of BtVS like I was - too familiar. Still, I liked it, even this time around. The story was solid, the development of the characters well-executed and realistic, and the balance between the romance of Cat and Bones and the external conflict of the blood traffickers was nicely handled. I didn't like Cat as much as I remembered, she got on my nerves more than once, but I loathed her mother just as much on the reread as I did the first time around.

I've always loved Bones. And always will.

True, I wasn't wowed by the plot and the characters seemed too similar to those in the BtVS-verse to impress me as being unique in their own right. So what? I still love how Cat's character matured throughout the book - she wasn't perfect by any means, even at the end, but I wanted to stake her far less frequently by then. I wish, as I did when I first read this book, that Whedon and Co. had done for Buffy what Frost did for Cat.

Here's the thing, though. The Night Huntress series is the only one I've come across in all this time that features a female lead and the male love interest in such a perfect partnership of relationship and duty. It is the preeminent feature, the thing that makes this series so damned appealing to me, the one thing that separates it from the pack. This series has Cat and Bones, together, working, fighting, and always loving each other. Back to back, front to front, and most importantly, side by side. This is the book that started it all. This is the series to experience it all.

And that pretty much says it all.

The Night Huntress Series:

  
  

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Night Huntress World, Book 2
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle


Kira Graceling understood that life as a private investigator sometimes meant she'd have to walk through her neighborhood during hours most often noted for muggings and assaults, so hearing the evil laughter and the low moans of pain as she made her way from the Green Line to her apartment through Chicago's mostly abandoned warehouse district didn't so much surprise her as set her on alert. Calling in the altercation doesn't do enough to ease her conscience, however, so pulling her gun from her backpack, Kira charges into the warehouse to save whomever it was who sounded like he desperately needed being saved.

Mencheres, set upon by ghouls and suffering intense torture at their silver-bladed hands couldn't believe his eyes when the human woman stepped out of the shadows and demanded his tormentors freeze. At over four thousand years old, he had no recollection of anyone, human or not, coming to his aid in such a manner. Despite the fact that her appearance ruined his carefully laid plans, he could not allow the human to be killed for her courage and spirit. In saving her life, however, he's brought Kira to the attention of an ancient rival intent on both Mencheres' power and his life. As Mencheres spends more time with Kira, his past and millennia of guilt and morbid responsibility war with a growing enchantment with the one person through all ages who has ever wanted him not for what he can offer, but for who he is. Only Mencheres can stop a crooked Guardian's plans for domination. Only since Kira has he truly wanted to. Will he succeed, or will the approaching darkness, the only vision he sees now, claim him first?

If you're unfamiliar with Jeanine Frost and her urban fantasy Night Huntress series and crossover paranormal romance Night Huntress World series, well...I'm sorry to hear that. You've missed a lot of excellent storytelling. In this second book in the NHW, the mighty and both respected and feared Mencheres is given a lot more room for development, though I have to admit, I was a little leery when I first heard he'd be getting his own book so soon into the crossover series. I've respected Mencheres since he was first introduced, but he's so darn forbidding and powerful and...other...that I couldn't imagine how Frost would pull off developing his character into a sympathetic and interesting lead character.

Forgive me for my doubts. I should have known better. Eternal Kiss of Darkness was fantastic, full of action, danger, and intense emotion, and it was one of the best paranormal romance books I've read in quite some time exactly because Frost managed to explore Mencheres and add depth to his character without losing any of the sheer power of his personality, his skills, his magics, anything. She also managed to deftly and subtly explain so much of what intrinsically makes him different...better...more...than other vampires and also added an absolutely sexy vulnerability to the least vulnerable vampire of them all.

Let's not forget, either, Frost gave us Kira Graceling, a woman who is smart, strong, independent, courageous, and a truly good person. Kira is one of my favorite paranormal romance heroines in recent memory and she fit so very well with Mencheres that I feel almost indebted to Frost for the brilliant pairing. Ironically, it almost makes perfect sense that only a truly modern and independent woman could be the perfect match for the stoic, imposing, and ancient Mencheres. She's a woman who suffers no fools and who calls it like she sees it, and I delighted in reading about her setting Mencheres on his ear more than once. I thoroughly, totally enjoyed the development and evolution of their relationship.

The threat to the couple was well defined and the plot was tight and sharp, offering up conflict hand-in-hand with the romance, so from a technical and emotional standpoint, I found this book to be superior to the first book in this crossover series, First Drop of Crimson (Night Huntress World, Book 1) (check out my review here). I enjoyed that one, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't as satisfied by some aspects as I was with this book. This one, however, satisfied on just about every level.

In fact, I only had the smallest of issues that aren't even criticisms, really, just things I wish had developed a little differently due to personal preference. As much as I loved Kira - and I did...a lot - I'm not entirely convinced that she would have so quickly acted so composed when first finding out about the harsh reality of those things that go bump in the night, and I would have enjoyed seeing a bit more of her internal development as her feelings were growing for Mencheres. The scene in which she shares her feelings, however, was priceless and I wouldn't change that for anything. There were several scenes that were so exquisitely and uniquely Mencheres/Kira moments that I was both amused and enchanted by them both. I do wish the very last scene of the book had been slightly different (details withheld to prevent spoilers). An epilogue or something would've just put the cherry on the sundae and added a feeling of comprehensive completion to the arc of the romantic development that I think was lacking as it was written.

Following a standard set in First Drop of Crimson, several characters we're fond of from the Night Huntress series are included: Cat and Bones, and in this installment, Vlad - who is one of my favorite secondary characters in both series. I was just as impressed in this book as I was in the first with Frost's ability to take beloved characters we've met and know in a completely different milieu and keep their character definition, action, and dialogue consistent - in fact, further developing them in intriguing ways that I believe will benefit both series.

Eternal Kiss of Darkness is a strong, powerful paranormal romance from a master of both suspenseful and romantic plotting ripe with creativity and originality. It satisfied my jones for excellent storytelling all the way around. I can't wait for the next one any more than I can the next in the Night Huntress series, This Side of the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 5), due to be released in March, 2011. Excellent read; excellent series. Both of them.

Night Huntress World Series: 


Night Huntress Series: