Surprised! SPECTACULAR AND SEXY!

Halfway to the Grave is delicious! The Best of the Genre! 10 stars! A+
I am 30 and I write this review for anyone who might think this is young adult nonsense:

Personal Disclaimer: Im new to the genre. I snubbed my nose to it bc of the pop culture craze of Twilight, and a strict loyalty to the Vampire world of Ann Rice. Somehow, I stumbled into the paranormal/time travel genre with Karen 's Fever series, and then finally read Outlander. After dabbling in a few JD Ward books, "The Night Huntress" series was recommended to me and I downloaded this book. I was judgmental of the cover and the silly name, and it just sat in my audible library for months. After listening to a heavy depressing book, I needed a break and put this on...

I LOVE this book. I'm addicted and in love with these characters. Bones is surprisingly funny and charming but very different from the smoldering alpha males in every other romance novel I've read. Cat is my favorite heroine since Scarlet O'hara! This book is so different from any other "vampire" or paranormal book I've ever read. It's funny, sexy, and completely engaging.

But to my amazement, it also contains one of the hottest love scenes ever written, not because of any graphic sex, but because of the chemistry and tenderness of the two characters. I was surprised by how sexy this book was. And the author doesn't play the same old games of delaying the "good parts" till the end, which is frustrating and gets old pretty quick! (I waited 5 books for Moning's characters to finally hook up.. And still resent the frustration i felt) Instead Jeaniene Frost uses the integrity of her writing to create sizzling chemistry and true emotion between this unlikely couple.
The story itself is intriguing and unfolds as a suspense filled battle with the reader just as interested in the plot as in the characters love life. What a true gift of a book.

Finally, I must say a narrator makes or breaks an audio book. In this case, Tavia Gilbert is AMAZING! I want her to read every book I have. Her character voices are wonderful, and she brings this to life better than any actor could on a movie screen.

This book has it all! And I plan to devour every book by this author!

159 people found this helpful

A Total Guilty Pleasure!

Any additional comments?

I got this because it was on sale while I was waiting for my new credit to be available. I think I have to change my current thoughts about what kind of books I like. I normally don't read "these types of books", as I like to call this... but I must say, I really enjoyed the book. While the overall story line has been done a million times over, Frost keeps me wanting more with her use of witty, and downright funny dialog. Her "sex scenes" are very well done without going over the top, and her characters are likeable. Tavia does a great job with the narration. It only took me about 10 minutes to get used to the voice she uses for Bones - (I thought it was a little too high), but it once I got into the book it didn't matter at all. Tavia brings these characters to life with her superb voice acting. I recommend this book to anyone looking for some light, fun, and tantalizing reading. You WILL get hooked!

24 people found this helpful

Love the book but the narrator killed this for me.

I bought this because it was on sale and since I've read all of Jeaniene Frost's books on Kindle I figured it was a no-brainer. Well I should have paid more attention to the reviewer who mentioned how distracting the narrator's voice for Bones is because it completely pulled me out of the story. I would compare it to Spike from Buffy but that's doing a disservice to James Marsters. More like a menacing Eliza Doolittle. I thought I'd get used to it but I'm halfway through the book and I'm giving up. This one's going back.

I encourage everyone to at least try the sample, though, because you may not have the same issue I did and it's really a fantastic, fun, sexy series.

23 people found this helpful

Vampire Romance with Lots of Action

STORY - Halfway to the Grave is what I call a "tweener" book. It is a romance sprinkled with humor, steamy sex and lots of vampire hunting/killing action. There is not any kind of complex plot line which requires concentration, and you will not have your guts wrenched with suspense or emotion. The main character (Cat) is smart and brave. Bones, her lover, is complex yet likeable and very romantic. The book was enjoyable, but there were times when I became bored and just wanted to get it over with. The ending is a cliffhanger, so you will likely want to continue to the next book in the series.

NARRATOR - Tavia Gilbert is an amazing narrator. She does a great job with Bones' Cockney accent as well as the minor characters -- drunks, ghosts, family, etc. I agree with many reviewers that Bones' accent is not the least bit sexy and I was very dissapointed at first, but I came to understand that it is the right accent when you consider his origin and childhood.

OVERALL - I wasn't in love with this book, but it is a nice, easy listen and good enough for me to move to Book 2.

8 people found this helpful

Great series. Worth every credit.

Almost a year ago, I had amassed credits on my account and found a few books to use them up and close my account. One of them was the first book in this series. My 17-year old daughter and I listened to that book late this summer while traveling and I had to rejoin Audible just to get the entire series. The sex scenes can be a bit much, but that would be my only complaint. This series is addictive. We blasted through 5 books in a few weeks and were anxiously awaiting the next credits.

The story: The characters are believable and engaging. They are dynamic. The plots are interesting and fast-moving with just enough twists to keep a sharp mind attentive. The sex scenes are believable and fairly graphic (for my 17-year old, but we openly discuss such things so I was okay with it.) One big caveat: Go to her website to get the reading order. I believe that after book 3, you need to switch to the "Night Huntress World" series before reading books 4 and 5. Double check that, I'm going from memory.

The performance: The reader was FANTASTIC. She really brought the characters to life. She made the action scenes and scenes with emotion really shine. I've since gone looking for other things that she reads.

If another installment of this series came available, it would jump to the top of my wish list.

37 people found this helpful

Fab Story, Good Narrator (British Accent Beware)

I loved pretty much everything about this story but I almost didn't get through the first few chapters...

Bones' character seems to have been strongly influnced by "Spike" from Buffy The Vampire Slayer" (which for me is a good thing!) However, despite Tavia Gilberts stellar overall performance and excellent portrayal of all the other characters, her accent for Bones was TERRIBLE. Being british I'm perhaps more sensitive than others but her cockney accent was totally not sexy, inconsistent and quite frankly all over the place. It was almost a deal breaker for me during the first few chapters. I'm glad I continued listening though, because after a couple of hours her Bones voice didn't bother me quite so much, and I was able to settle in and truly enjoy the story.

47 people found this helpful

NOT A BAD BOOK.

IT TOOK ME AWHILE TO GET INTO THIS BOOK. I THOUGHT IT STARTED OF KIND OF SLOW COMPARED TO WHAT I AM USE TO AND WHAT I WAS EXPECTING. OVER ALL IT WAS PERTTY ENTERTAINING. I JUST FINISHED LISTENING TO THE WHOLE SERIES (or whats availble) AND I WILL SAY BOOK 1 ISNT THE BEST BUT THE OTHER BOOK MAKE UP FOR WHAT THIS ONE IS LACKING. ITS IS DEFINITLY WORTH LISTENING TO. I ALSO LIKE HOW THE AUTHOR ENDS THE BOOKS. YOU DONT HAVE TO ACTUALLY LISTEN TO THE BOOKS IN ORDER LIKE YOU WOULD DO IN OTHER SERIES.

20 people found this helpful

My Favorite PNR series!

I love Cat & Bones! If your looking for a awesome Paranormal Romance Series than you MUST buy the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost.

28 people found this helpful

Completely Awesome!

I so throughly enjoyed this story that (after being dissapointed the other books in the series weren't on audio), I went out and purchased the remaining 3 books and read ALL within 4 days - completely unherd of for me! (I had to go to 3 book stores to find them, the sales staff @ ea. store said they were VERY popular).

I felt the book was very well written, the charaters are well devloped and the story flowed and concluded well, leaving you hungry for more.

These books were a great blend of action, mystery, romance, sex, and the supernatural(mainly in the form of vampires).
There was alot of violence, but not overly done, & some profanity, so heads up if you're sensitive to this kind of material. But unlike many supernatural stories I didn't find this spiturally disturbing.
Another thing I appreciated was that the author doesn't dissapoint when it comes to the passionate intimacy Cat and Bones share (unlike Twlight which I LOVED but left me high and dry in that dept.). If you get to the 3rd book there's a great inclusion of Vlad Tepes (AKA Dracula) into the story.
I mention the other books in the series as a testament as to how enjoyable the story was, and as a warning as to how addictive they are!
Narrator did a wonderful job w/ her British accent of Bones.

40 people found this helpful

Lite stuff, but entertaining enough.

Book 1 in a series, but the plot is self-contained within the larger context.

Jeaniene Frost does a competent job spinning the yarn. Her universe shows good consistency. I’m not sure I’d choose another book in the series, but it is more that I think I’m satiated with this author than a general flaw. The characters are well enough written.

Tavia Gilbert does a good job. The book is lite and the voices match. For a more serious book one would worry about some of the accents, Bones’ English for example, but as it is they work well enough.

The main character’s internal dialogue could be annoying by its frequency; it is a first person point of view book. The tone of much of Cat’s dialogue is that of a startled rabbit, but that’s OK, too.

The story is intriguing enough that I finished the book; I was drawn to the characters sufficiently that I wondered what would happen. The sex scenes are fairly graphic, nothing kinky – other than it’s vampires, so be warned … but give it a try.

3 people found this helpful