Review: Halfway to the Grave

Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress #1) by Jeaniene Frost
Published: November 2007
Publisher: Avon
Star rating: 5/5


Goodreads Description:

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father—the one responsible for ruining her mother's life. Then she's captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unholy partnership.

In exchange for finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She's amazed she doesn't end up as his dinner—are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn't have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her newfound status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side . . . and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.

My thoughts:

I love YA. I do. It’s fun and entertaining and occasionally educational and heartbreaking. But there’s something so thrilling about reading an adult novel after weeks of pure YA.  God knows why I waited so long to read Halfway to the Grave, I genuinely don’t know why. I think part of it is that I sorta went off reading adult lit, and part of it was the mistrust of anything not written by a favourite author that I held for many years (and I’m still getting over).

Anyway, I eventually got round to reading this book because I took it out of the library (I’m trying to embrace my library, instead of slagging it off all the time) and can I just say…wow. I loved it, really really loved it. It’s the first book in a while that’s had me NEEDING the sequel. If I hadn’t already had it reserved from the library I would have downloaded it for my kindle that very instant.

I loved Cat, the life she’d chosen was really admirable and also sad. It was awful to see the effect her mother’s prejudice and hatred had upon her. I really liked it when she slowly managed to shed that prejudice, though it took a long time. But I thought she was spunky and determined (if a little prudish) and I was wholeheartedly on her side.

Bones….sigh. What can we say about Bones other than I wish I had him? Yeah, he is pretty Spike like, with the hair and the Englishness and the mannerisms and yeah some people have noted that as a criticism…all I can say is WHY? Spike is FIT and actually, I think Bones is well better. I love him, I actually love him. I love how he tricked Cat, I loved the scene with them in the club and I loved how caring he actually is despite his tough 'I’m a master vampire bounty hunter appearance'. His dialogue with Cat was hilarious, especially the scene in the truck.  Some scenes between them genuinely gave me the chills, I thought the love-hate chemistry was really well written.

Cat’s mum I actually hated. I wanted to kill her. I wish someone had killed her. She’s a whiny, evil cow. I don’t really care what happened to her, frankly I had no sympathy. I know that sounds terrible, but condemning a whole race as a result of the actions of one person IS racism and I just really disliked her. And her parents.

I thought the plot was fantastic, well paced, well thought out (heartbreaking at the end) and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I loved the slight adaptations to vampire lore, and I loved the partnership between Bones and Cat, and how it developed, I thought it was really realistic. There was definitely a slight mystery element to this and I really love that in a book, I love it when I'm kept guessing to the end, waiting for the resolution. Speaking of the end, can you say heartbreaking? I think I was like, screaming at the pages. I liked the offer Cat was given though, there was definitely no other way out of that mess. But OMG. The decision she made? 

This series is now definitely one of my favourites, and I give this book an easy 5/5. I would recommend it to fans of the sookie Stackhouse series, the Riley Jenson series, and generally anyone looking for a great paranormal adult read.