This Side of the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

 

DANGER WAITS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE GRAVE

Half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her vampire husband Bones have fought for their lives, as well as for their relationship. But just when they’ve triumphed over the latest battle, Cat’s new and unexpected abilities threaten to upset a long-standing balance . . .

 

With the mysterious disappearance of vampires, rumors abound that a species war is brewing. A zealot is inciting tensions between the vampires and ghouls, and if these two powerful groups clash, innocent mortals could become collateral damage. Now Cat and Bones are forced to seek help from a dangerous “ally”—the ghoul queen of New Orleans herself. But the price of her assistance may prove more treacherous than even the threat of a supernatural war . . . to say nothing of the repercussions Cat never imagined.

 

This Side of the Grave (Night Huntress, book five) by Jeaniene Frost

Start date: September 26, 2021

End date: October 4, 2021

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Trigger warning: offensive language, eating disorder

For a book supposedly revolving around the simmering war between vampires and ghouls spurred on by Apollyon, there’s very little action. Most of the book is Cat and the gang trying to learn where Apollyon is and Cat worrying about her new restricted diet. Apollyon is trying to instigate a war between ghouls and vampires by accusing Cat of trying to cause a war between the two species partly because of her half-vampire status (even though Cat is now a full vampire). It’s stated that he did the same thing with Joan of Arc, who it turns out was the only other half-vampire in existence. The vampires back then offered to turn her into a full vampire or be burned at the stake. She chose the burning. I’ll admit that I don’t know a lot about Joan of Arc, but I understood her as a Christian martyr, so this twist on her story feels blasphemous even to me.

Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost

 

AN IMMORTAL WAR HAS BEEN BREWING IN THE DARKNESS…

AND NOW ONE WOMAN HAS STUMBLED INTO THE SHADOWS.

Chicago private investigator Kira Graceling should have just kept walking. But her sense of duty refused to let her ignore the moans of pain coming from inside a warehouse just before dawn. Suddenly she finds herself in a world she’s only imagined in her worst nightmares.

At the center is Mencheres, a breathtaking Master vampire who thought he’d seen it all. Then Kira appears—this fearless, beautiful…human who braved death to rescue him. Though he burns for her, keeping Kira in his world means risking her life. Yet sending her away is unthinkable.

But with danger closing in, Mencheres must choose either the woman he craves, or embracing the darkest magic to defeat an enemy bent on his eternal destruction.

 

Eternal Kiss of Darkness (Night Huntress World, book two) by Jeaniene Frost

Start date: September 10, 2021

End date: September 12, 2021

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Trigger warning: attempted suicide, sex trafficking

Dare I say I liked this book?

This is the second book in the Night Huntress World series, which is a spin-off of the Night Huntress series involving Cat and Bones. This takes place in the same world with most of the same characters. I hesitate to even call this series a spin-off. The first book, First Drop of Crimson, starred Denise and Spade, and this book features two entirely different characters. This “series” doesn’t create anything new, and at least the first book requires previous reading to understand who the characters are and any sort of context a reader would need. Since these books are about previously established characters in the Night Huntress series having side adventures, I’d be more willing to include them in that series in between the main books versus separating them into their own. 

First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost

 

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Night Huntress series comes a breathtaking new journey to the dark side of desire.

 

The night is not safe for mortals, Denise MacGregor knows all too well what lurks in the shadows—her best friend is half-vampire Cat Crawfield—and she has already lost more than the average human could bear. But her family’s past is wrapped in secrets and shrouded in darkness—and a demon shapeshifter has marked Denise as prey. Now her survival depends on an immortal who lusts for a taste of her.

He is Spade, a powerful, mysterious vampire who has walked the earth for centuries and is now duty-bound to protect this endangered, alluring human—even if it means destroying his own kind. Denise may arouse his deepest hungers, but Spade knows he must fight his urge to have her as they face the nightmare together . . .

 

First Drop of Crimson (Night Huntress World, book one) by Jeaniene Frost

Start date: August 10, 2021

End date: August 12, 2021

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Trigger warning: sexual slavery, rape, miscarriage

After a night out with her cousin, Paul, turns into a deadly attack from an unknown, supernatural assailant who can turn from a dog into a man, Denise MacGregor wants to call Cat Crawfield in for reinforcements but finds she doesn’t have any current numbers for her best friend who recently traveled around the world running away from a pedophilic vampire (see my review of Destined for an Early Grave for more information). As a last result, Denise dials the number for Baron Charles DeMortimer, otherwise known as Spade, Cat’s husband Bones’s best friend and a man she hasn’t seen since he brutally murdered a man who threatened to rape her outside of a honky-tonk. Her disgust and fear of him are overwhelmed by her terror of whatever killed her cousin (and possibly is also responsible for the death of another cousin and her aunt), and she blurts out her suspicions over the phone.

“Perhaps it’s best if we don’t involve Cat or Crispin just yet,” Spade said, calling Bones by his human name as he always did. “They’ve had an awful time of it recently. No need to fret them if it’s something I can handle.”

Denise bit back her scoff. She knew what that translated to. Or if she’d just imagined all this. (Frost 13-14)

Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost

 

HER DEADLY DREAMS LEAVE HER IN GRAVE DANGER

Since half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her undead lover Bones met six years ago, they’ve fought against the rogue undead, battled a vengeful Master vampire, and pledged their devotion with a blood bond. Now it’s time for a vacation. But their hopes for a perfect Paris holiday are dashed when Cat awakes one night in terror. She’s having visions of a vampire named Gregor who’s more powerful than Bones and has ties to her past that even Cat herself didn’t know about.

Gregor believes Cat is his and he won’t stop until he has her. As the battle begins between the vamp who haunts her nightmares and the one who holds her heart, only Cat can break Gregor’s hold over her. She’ll need all the power she can summon in order to bring down the baddest bloodsucker she’s ever face . . . even if getting that power will result in an early grave.

Destined for an Early Grave (Night Huntress, book four) by Jeaniene Frost

Start date: August 7, 2021

End date: August 10, 2021

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Trigger warning: child grooming, sexual abuse, offensive language

I have reached a point in reading this series where I feel like my book reviews serve a legitimate purpose. These popular books star awful characters in a way that makes their thoughts and behaviors seem normalized. Flawed characters make for dynamic writing, but the work must acknowledge in some way that the characters are imperfect. If it doesn’t, readers might aspire to be like them. My review today is going to touch on topics in this book that some readers might have difficulty reading about.

At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost

 

SOME THINGS WON’T STAY BURIED…

AT GRAVE’S END

It should be the best time of half-vampire Cat Crawfield’s life. With her undead lover Bones at her side, she’s successfully protected mortals from the rogue undead. But though Cat’s worn disguise after disguise to keep her true identity a secret from the brazen bloodsuckers, her cover’s finally been blown, placing her in terrible danger.

As if that wasn’t enough, a woman from Bones’s past is determined to bury him once and for all. Caught in the crosshairs of a vengeful vamp, yet determined to help Bones stop a lethal magic from being unleashed, Cat’s about to learn the true meaning of bad blood. And the tricks she’s learned as a special agent won’t help her. She will need to fully embrace her vampire instincts in order to save herself—and Bones—from a fate worse than the grave.

At Grave’s End (Night Huntress, book three) by Jeaniene Frost

Start date: July 25, 2021

End date: July 27, 2021

Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars

Trigger warning: sexual harassment, torture, sexual assault, offensive language

I’ve been reading this series purely out of spite. It started off with me despising Cat and chuckling at how badly written the rest of the characters are. I love to send snippets of the outlandish dialogue to my friends. I enjoy picking apart the plot to expose all the holes. (Where are the editors?) I love to hate it. The writing is awful, but each book gets a tiny bit closer to good writing.

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 ride 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 him awakens all her emotions, from the adrenaline kick 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 she tries to keep things professional between them, she’ll find that desire lasts forever . . . and that Bones won’t let her get away again.

One Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress, book two) by Jeaniene Frost

Start date: July 2021

End date: July 2021

Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars

Trigger warnings: sexual harassment, transphobia, bad writing

It’s been nearly five years since the events in Halfway to the Grave. Catherine “Cat” Crawfield has settled into her new life as Special Agent Catrina Arthur or maybe it’s Cristine Russell or Red Reaper or Brunette Reaper or somehow still Cat despite staging her death under that name. Not even a quarter of the way into the book, everyone gives up on any of the new names and all the characters call her Cat. The reason she needed a new name in the first place is because she killed the governor of Ohio at the end of the previous book, and a prerequisite to working for the secret government agency was to fake her death. Her mother, teammates, and even a new friend, Denise, call her by her old name except when they’re in public, but they don’t even seem to remember to do that all the time. Because of her noncommittal to her new identity, it wouldn’t be difficult for bad guys to track her down (spoiler alert: that’s what happens).

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

 

FLIRTING WITH THE GRAVE . . .

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.

Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress book one) by Jeaniene Frost

Start date: July 11, 2021

End date: July 12, 2021

Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars

Content warning: sexual assault, offensive language 

I’m going to admit something tragic. I only chose to read this book because I was curious to see how the author would write the story past the premise. I knew full well I wasn’t going to like it, but I read it anyway.

The main character is Catherine “Cat” Crawfield, a 22-year-old who lives at home with her single mother and elderly grandparents in the backwards, little town of Licking Falls, Ohio. She has put off going to college initially to take care of her grandparents, but she spends most of her time killing vampires as retribution for the vampire who ruined her mother’s life. You see, Cat is a vampire hunter who’s also a half-vampire.