Halfway to the Grave ~ Jeaniene Frost

Halfway to the Grave
Night Huntress: Book 1
Avon
(October 30, 2007)
384 Pages
$6.99
(paperback)
Amazon

This book isn't a young adult book nor is it one I read recently (which might hinder the reviewing just a bit), but it is one I really, really, really enjoyed so I wanted to make a point to review it anyway.

This first book in the Night Huntress series (I think there are five planned so far and two currently released) is centered around Cat, a half vampire, half human who I seem to remember seeing described somewhere as 'if Buffy and Angel has a daughter'-though personally I think she's a lot more fiery than Angel so maybe they just said him for a known vampire? Cat didn't know all of her life that her father was a vampire (but she knew she wasn't normal). But ever since she found out six years ago that her mother was raped by a vampire, she has spent her night seeking vengeance on them in hopes of finding him.

One night she is captured during one such attempt by a vampire bounty hunter, Bones. This leads to lots of snarkiness, lots of fighting and an eventually a partnership of sorts. She'll get to find her father and he'll train her.

Jeaniene Frost writes this 'training' exceptionally well, I read the book several months ago (in the winter I think) and I still remember what Cat went through). She didn't do the predictable, but at the same time the things made complete sense and both Bones and Cat's actions and reactions were completely in character. The same was true with the outings the two of them had throughout the book; they were a fantastic pair. Cat's semi-vampireness was played very well and Bones was a true vampire but also a great leading male character at the same time.

Some reviews have complained (I suppose it was complaining) that Bones was too much like Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the show. While I'll admit that I didn't find that to be a bad thing while reading those reviews, I'll also say that even if I literally tried to picture Bones as Spike as I was reading, it didn't work. True there are some similarities in appearance and there were some of the same 'pet names' Spike used, used by Bones, but they both have such distinct personalities that you could have written Spike into the book and it wouldn't have been confusing at all. There's Spike and there's Bones. They're both awesome vampires and I love them both, but they are their own characters. (Maybe that wasn't necessary but I figured there were enough reviews addressing that point negatively that I would address it positively.)

That might not be the best review (like I said I read the book at least six months ago) but I really did absolutely love it, so I hope you'll at least take that from this review and give the book a chance :) (There's a scene--or two, but one for sure--that makes this definitely not a YA book though) 10/10


Other books in the series (so far): One Foot in the Grave: Night Huntress Book 2