Audiobook Review – Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 1) by Jeaniene Frost (5/5 stars)

Twenty two year old Cat has always known she is half-vampire, she has been trying to constantly prove to her mother that she’s not evil by slaying vampires in her spare time.  Then Cat tries to slay the wrong vampire and ends up confronting a vampire named Bones.  Bones is trying to stop a vampire run human slave ring and he would love to train Cat and have her help him on his mission.

Initially Cat comes off as a bit whiny and shrill, but she grows on you over time.  Cat is an interesting mix of warm understanding, compassion and blood-thirsty vampire killer.  Bones is the one who really steals the show; he is ruthless yet kind and understanding and sexy all at once.  There is a lot of humor throughout too, which breaks up the tension and had me laughing out loud a number of times.  Frost is very good at creating witty dialogue between the characters.

The thing that Frost does an absolutely outstanding job on is creating tension between Cat and Bones.   Cat and Bones have excellent chemistry but have trouble with timing a relationship between all the other things going on.  Frost does a wonderful job of making us wish Cat and Bones could just make it work out between themselves over and over again throughout the story.  Somehow it never gets old and you constantly yearn for them to be happy together.  There are also some excellent steamy scenes between the two; they are all very tasteful and well done.

While the training and tension between Cat and Bones is what propels the story forward the most, there is a great plot here too.  The mystery behind the missing girls and which vampires are involved is well done and engaging.  The world created is nothing special, pretty much your typical vampires in the shadows kind of world.  I am hoping that the world is expanded on and filled out in future books.  Some of Cat’s personal issues will break your heart; the way her mother treats her and some of Cat’s past relationships really make you wish she could finally get a break.  There is plenty of action in this book too, making it heavy on the urban fantasy side and not strictly paranormal romance.

The book ends well, but will have readers desperate to read more.  What happens at the end made me sad and mad beyond belief, but I think it will make for an excellent story.

Overall I was absolutely enraptured by the story.  The characters are what really drive this story.  Cat and Bones are interesting, have a lot of depth, and have absolutely wonderful chemistry.  The tension between the two is exquisitely done and made the book hard to put down.  I am dying to read the next book in this series, One Foot in the Grave.  If you are a fan of vampire urban fantasy or vampire romance you have got to give this series a try.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

– Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
– 100+ Reading Challenge
– Audio Book Challenge List