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Review: One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost (Night Huntress #2)

One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

You can run from the grave, but you can’t hide…
Half-vampire Cat Crawfield is now Special Agent Cat Crawfield, working for the government to rid the world of the rogue undead. She’s still using everything Bones, her sexy and dangerous ex, taught her, but when Cat is targeted for assassination, the only man who can help her is the vampire she left behind. 
Being around Bones awakens all her emotions, from the adrenaline rush of slaying vamps side by side to the reckless passion that consumed them. But a price on her head—wanted: dead or half-alive—means her survival depends on teaming up with Bones. And no matter how hard Cat tries to keep things professional between them, she’ll find that desire lasts forever…and Bones won’t let her get away again.

Four years have passed since the events of the first book and Cat has embraced being the Red Reaper. but the past is no longer content to stay buried. And thank God for that! Because Cat as the Homeland Security agent is BORING! Case in point – Noah. Come on, Cat, going from Bones – a sexy, smartass (and badass) vampire to a vet??? Seriously? But as I said things get interesting fairy fast and soon our favourite vampire shows up. 

To be honest Cat might be the main narrator of the series but Bones definitely is the one who makes the series. The first time I read the series I was so focused on Cat and her story but now it’s Bones that make me fall in love with the series all over again. There’s just something so irresistible about a fictional male character with a sarcastic, dirty mouth. And I have no idea why I like it so much in books when it makes me see red in real life. I would probably end up completely ignoring Bones if he was real because that type of behaviour makes me want to either punch that person and since that’s frowned upon I would end up doing my best to not communicate with said person so I don’t end up with charges filed against me. 

Back to the plot. We meet some characters that play major roles later in the series here. It’s actually quite entertaining to see these younger versions knowing how different things will be in 11 books time (yes I’m counting some of the spin offs). Especially when it comes to Ian. I’m particularly fond of him as he got my attention in this book way back when and while I wanted to strangle him I also found him so damn fascinating. He is one of the more complex characters of the series even if it doesn’t seem like it here. Oh he’s still an asshole but one with more than a couple of layers to his personality. 

Cat also shows remarkable improvements compared to the first book but most of the growing up is done off page and in away that’s a bit of a let down. She still has her prudish and naive moments but she’s starting to show a bit of a backbone. Her stubbornness is both one of her greatest assets and her greatest weaknesses. But she’s slowly growing up and learning to shake off her mother’s conditioning. Talking about her mother, this book reveals some interesting details from Cat’s past and sheds some light on why Justina is such a psycho. It doesn’t make things okay but it does make me feel a tiny bit more compassionate towards her even if I still feel like I’d love to slap her for treating her own child that way.

If have to choose one thing that I love about this book it will be the change in perception, the overcoming of prejudice in this book. It’s a small thing and not very obvious but it’s there. The vampire hunters that accept a vampire in their midst albeit against their will. As I said it’s a small first step but it’s so very poignant from today’s perspective when racial tensions are at an all times high. And seeing people who hate each other purely on the base of species (even if they’re fictional ones) slowly starting to work together and trust each other warms my heart. I’ve often been accused of reading “stupid books” that “have no bearing on reality” but if you take a close enough look you can see reality and it’s issues mirrored in all types of literature. One does not have to read some heavy dry non-fiction to come away enriched – you can find relevant lessons even in a fairy light and funny book as this one. you just have to read between the lines.

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Christmas spirit

Even though I don’t believe in the Christian myths surrounding Christmas it’s my favourite holiday. And despite the commercialization in later years there’s still some magic left. Traditionally it’s a family time and for my family there’s an added reason to celebrate it – my mother’s birthday. With my mom we have a little tradition – buying a single new ornament each year. Some of the ornaments hanging on our Christmas tree date back to before my grandmother’s birth over 87 years ago. So usually we spend weeks searching for that one new ornament to buy. However, this year it was really easy and because we found 3 that we loved and we just couldn’t decide which on  to pick so we bought all. 

One of the new ornaments next to one of the family heirlooms.

A few hours later as we were decorating our tree we realized that thanks to that little tradition we have way too many ornaments (not that it will stop me from buying a new one next year)  and we were faced with the difficult decision of which ones will be left in the boxes to wait for next year. It made me both a bit sad and wistful for a future in which I will have children and we will split the ornaments between us.

I can’t wait for the holidays. I’m looking forward to spending all day in bed with a book and not having to constantly run errands. And while waiting for that lazy three days I’ll be keeping the Christmas spirit alive with this lovely Christmas anthology: All Things Merry and Bright: A Very Special Christmas Tale Collection. So go grab it while it’s still around (psst it’s only 1.19$), pour yourself a mug of mulled wine and enjoy the wait.

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REVIEW: VEINS OF MAGIC (THE OTHERWORLD #2) BY EMMA HAMM

I love fairytale retellings. I especially favour the Beauty and the Beast trope so when I saw the first book in this series was discounted a few weeks ago I couldn’t resist the temptation. This mentality s also why I will never even make a dent in my TBR mountain let alone clear it up.

The first book was nothing original but I enjoyed it enough to decide I want to know how the story will end. Well not how it’ll end precisely because as a Beauty and the Beast retelling it must follow a certain pattern. So the correct thing to say is I wanted to know the particulars of how Sorcha and Eamonn will get to their HEA. Unlike the Heart of the Fae this one managed to sneak in some surprises. I particularly enjoyed the way Sorcha’s devotion to a peaceful resolution was tested. Shewaivered in the face of heartbreak and grief but her healer’s heart ultimately won over the desire for revenge. Hamm’s interpretation of the Fomorian mythswas also quite engaging and I would love to see her write the story implied by the mother of druids. There’s so much potential there even if we know how it will end. But then again that can be said for all retellings and I (and apparently a lot of other readers) love them.

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2019 NEW RELEASE CHALLENGE SIGN UP!

I’m trying to decide what challenges to attempt next year. I utterly failed the Clean that TBR Already! 2018 (congrats to all the MacHalos who made it!) and the reason is that I get easily distracted by new shinies. So this seems like a good idea. It also promises to be fun and I’ll potentially meet new friends to share the love for books.

So here are the rules:

  • Books have to be released and reviewed in 2019.
  • Other challenges can be used as well, if you are participating in the Netgalley / Edelweiss challenge or in the COYER challenge, books can count towards more than one challenge, as long as the ones you use for the 2019 New Release Reading Challenge qualify to the other rules.
  • The minimum length for a book to qualify is 100 pages, it can be in any format though, physical, e-book, ARC r audiobook.
  • The New Book Release Challenge is open from January 1st through December 31st 2019, and sign-ups are open until September 1st 2019.
  • You don’t have to be a blogger to participate, you can link to your review on Goodreads or Booklikes instead – so don’t be shy!

You can find more information on how to sign up here.

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Audio Review: Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

The first reread of a beloved series is always a nerve wrecking event. Will it live up to my rose-coloured memories? Have I outgrown the events, the characters, the plot itself? How will my real life experiences change the way I experience the series? Have I gotten used to the way the author writes now and will I feel cheated by the way s/he wrote back then? These questions always go through my mind when I pick a series for reread after a few years of separation. I wanted to reread the Night Huntress series for a few years now but that fear kept me from it. Until last week when after reading the latest spin-off I talked a bunch of friends into buddy-reading Shades of Wicked. After some discussion we decided it will be best to start at the very beginning so on Wednesday I got the audio version of Halfway to the Grave, put my headphones on and began retracing my steps through the Night Huntress world.

I can honestly tell you that I can look at my huge pile of unread books and not regret that I decided to reread this. I not only had a tremendous amount of fun with the book itself but had a wonderful time with my friends talking about it. Some of them had read the series, some only the first book and some were total newbies. I, especially, loved the reactions of the newbies. At the end some loved it, some not so much but we all decided to continue with the series.

Like most UF series Halfway to the Grave is set in a world very similar to our own, which makes it easy to imagine that what happens in it is real. It’s the weakest one in the series in my opinion but it introduces the main players and does a great job at worldbuilding. There are no overwhelming info dumps and everything is intermixed with a huge dose of humour. It follows some well established tropes which is something that will, probably, annoy some readers but I found it relaxing. The MC is named Cat. She young, prejudiced and rather naïve half-breed. Her mother had done a great job brainwashing her into hating vampires and as a result Cat hunts them like vermin. So far she’s had luck on her side and managed to survive despite the fact that vamps are much stronger and faster than her. Thankfully the ones she hunted were either stupid or overconfident or both and Cat managed to surprise them. Until she meets Bones who isn’t fooled by her antics and doesn’t fall prey to a pair of boobs. This is where the fun begins! Bones has a dirty mouth and doesn’t pull his punches. Their initial collaboration is filled with funny banter and most often than not it was Bones who emerged the victor in these little spats. All of that delivered with a crisp British accent. I almost choked a few times trying to keep the laughter in (as to not bother the people around me) but failed once or twice. I must have been quite the sight all red and with eyes trying to pop out of my head from the pressure but thankfully no one noticed. This is what I value most about the series – the humour. It never failed to cheer me up when I originally read the series and it seems I still feel that way.

I know that some people are bothered by the age difference between Bones and Cat and in a way they’re correct – it’s a bit creepy as Bones is centuries older. However, this lets him have the experience to deal with Cat’s many issues born from her upbringing. I hate the way her mother treats her. It’s pure emotional abuse and while I understand that it’s the result of her trauma I can’t find it in myself to forgive her for the way she manipulates Cat. I also blame Cat’s grandparents for being such old-fashioned pricks to her mother in the wake of her rape. Knowing the environment in which Cat grows in I’m more than a little surprised that Bones even managed to get through to her. Her relationship with him is the only healthy relationship in her life and in the span of just a few chapters I could see how much she changed for the better. That’s why the ending impacted me so much and why at the end I truly hated Cat’s mother, even though I know how this whole mess ends. Knowing that this ending was coming I dreaded the final couple of chapters and I can only imagine how the new to the series readers felt when they read those final lines. And the only reason why I can wait until next Wednesday for the second book is that I know how things go from here, but I have to admit that I didn’t wait even a minute the first time around and reached for One Foot in the Grave the moment I finished this one.

A note on the audio. Tavia Gilbert does a good job narrating most of the book but when it came to Bones she just didn’t have a believable male voice . It’s very obvious that she’s a woman and that routinely got me pulled out of the book. She did much better with Ian in Shades of Wicked. I hope things improve as I’ve committed myself to this reread and I simply won’t be able to pull it off if I switch to regular reading. 

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Audio Review: Shoot the Messenger by Pippa DaCosta

I was lucky enough to get an ARC from Ms. DaCosta back when Shoot the Messenger was first published. And now with less than a month until the release of the fourth book in the series I thought it was high time to go back to the beginning. And I was lucky enough that the audio version just got released as it let me experience the book on workdays. If I had to stick to normal reading it would have taken me at least a week of stolen moments in the mornings and evenings. The audio quality is incredible. I loved Annie Ellicott and Jeff Hays narration and the sound effects were simply great. Jeff’s makes all the male characters come alive. I can’t decide which one I liked most – SOTA or Kellee. Kellee’s voice made me purr – I wish I could find a man with such voice in real life (I have a thing for voices).

Now, onto the book itself. In this book we get introduced to a whole new world filled with amazing tek (SOTA!), magic, Fae and other fascinating species. We also get introduced to two of the main male characters – Marshal Kellee and Talen (take a look at the author’s pinterest boards for these two character, I swear it’s worth it!). Kesh, the main protagonist of the series, is a strange mix of badass and vulnerability, of innocence and cunning. And I love that complexity, that potential for change – change I had the opportunity to observe over the course of the following two books.

A little note on the genre of this book. If you’re expecting a hot dirty smut type of book you’ll be disappointed. The reverse harem develops slowly. Very slowly! But there’s a lot of sexual tension. How would I categorize this book – a sci-fi/fantasy with some romance/erotica sprinkled in. So think carefully before picking this up – if you’re looking for fast and dirty read focused more on the carnal than on plot this book is not for you. But if you’re looking for a slow burn romance with a gradual character development and a lot of action you should definitely give the series a try.

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A Court of Frost and Starlight review

It’s a lazy Saturday afternoon – perfect for catching up with both my reading and reviews. I finally finished the latest ACOTAR novel. It took me some time because lately I have little opportunity to sit and read and generally prefer audiobooks. But there’s a certain charm in the old fashioned paper books and on days like this it’s a perfect way to relax. So here’s how ACOFAS made me feel:

A Court of Frost and Starlight provides a rare glimpse in what passes for day-to-day business in the aftermath of the war with Hybern. The lack of major confrontations, of immediate threats and crises is what make this book so special to me. Because we all need time to heal after the events in the main series. But some of the scars run deep and were only made worse by the decades of Amarantha’s tyranny and the short but brutal war. And I’m glad to see that not everything’s okay. That they haven’t magically healed now that the biggest threat is gone. That there are some things that can’t be forgiven even if someone helped you in the end.

I love how flawed the characters are. That despite most of them having centuries of experience they’re just as likely to make mistakes as us mortals. And I can’t help but imagine who much worse having centuries to stue, to turn over and over again the abd experiences must be. So my sympathy goes for Cass and Mor, for all they experienced and all they’ll have to go through before they can have their version of HEA. For Elain and Az and even Lucien, whom I both hate and pity, for Tamlin, who still doesn’t deserve my sympathy but has it nevertheless. And most of all for Nesta, whom I thought much smarter and much, much stronger but seems to be the one most broken. I hope you all find inner peace.