At Grave’s End by Jeaniene Frost

JFrost-At Graves EndI finally got my hands on the third installment of Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series, At Grave’s End and it was just as fantastic as I thought it would be.

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.

Okay, I know I don’t normally use the publisher’s blurb, but seriously, At Grave’s End was so awesome, I was afraid I was going to give something away.  Has it is, I’ll be adding a spoiler section after the main review just because of some of the events that have happened.

First off, we were given more phenomenal character development on everyone involved in Cat’s life.  Max, Cat’s father, makes an appearance and its the starting point for the obstacles that Cat must endure along with Bones AND her mother, Justina.  That’s right, Justina is in this novel a lot more than she has in the past and she was great.  If you’ve never been a fan of Justina’s before, then you need to read At Grave’s End because your opinion will change, I guarantee it.  We’re also given more tension between Tate and Cat with some unexpected events.

Overall, At Grave’s End rocked and I’m having a hard time not talking about the things I want to say. So I’m going to say that you need to check At Grave’s End because this series just keeps getting better and better. If you truly want to know how much I enjoyed this novel, and don’t mind a few spoilers, than continue reading below.

Read order:
Halfway to the Grave (Read the first 20% here)
One Foot in the Grave (Read the first 20% here)
At Grave’s End (Read the first 20% here)
Destined for an Early Grave (Read the first 20% here)

Also reviewed by: Tricia’s review on Literary Escapism, Darque Reviews, Bitten by Books, Amberkatze Reviews, Sidhe Vicious Reviews

—-SPOILERS—-—-SPOILERS—-—-SPOILERS—-

Okay, seriously, was there anyone else who flipped over Justina’s developments this time around?  I loved her character in At Grave’s End.  She finds out Don is Max’s brother and openly admits that Bones has treated Cat far better than anyone in her family.  Then there are the three scenes I love that have her in it:

  1. Chapter 8, page 85 – “Now that was informative.” were her first words.  “Catherine, you never told me that no matter how many times you sliced something off a vampire, it grew back.”
    That is brilliant.  Justina was able to get her revenge on the vampire that raped her and she ends up having a great time.  Regardless of the fact that she’s surrounded by vampires.  Plus she takes up Rodney’s offer of staying with him until the new compound and houses are arranged, which kind of leads into my next favorite scene…
  2. Chapter 13, page 143 – “I staggered.  “Mom?  You and Rodney?”  A scarlet blush graced my mother’s features.  “He was making me dinner,” she sputtered.
    If you’re reading this and haven’t read the rest of the series yet (naughty you, go out and get this series), then you probably need a little background. Rodney is a ghoul. Justina has hated Bones throughout this entire series because he’s a vampire and undead.  The fact that Justina was shagging Rodney just makes this hilarious, espcially Cat’s reaction: “I stared at her like I’d never seen her before. “Did Rodney like them?” I asked.  She huffed.  “Did he like what, Catherine?” “The balls on you, that’s what!” Seriously, after all the grief Justina has given to Cat over her relationship with Bones, for her to pull this is classic.  I busted out laughing as soon as I read this.  This whole scene is great.
  3. Chapter 14, page 151.  I really don’t have a single quote from this scene because they are all great and it’s more the exchange between Ian and Justina that is inspiring.  Finally, Justina gets her warped sense of justice twisted on her when she confronts Ian with turning Max.  The fact that Ian was able to use her same logic for his case was so perfectly done that it kind of made me like Ian more.

I’m starting to like Justina a lot more after reading At Grave’s End.  She becomes a lot more personable.

I will say, I was not amused when Frost tried to kill Bones off.  I was balling my eyes out while I was reading (at 11:30 at night) this scene and I couldn’t put it down because I couldn’t believe that she would kill off Bones. With more novels coming in the series, I didn’t think she would do that, but the evidence was so damning.  During this time, all the scenes with Cat and then having to face Bones’ line…it was so beautifully written.  I cried right along with Cat and got pissed off at Tate when he tried to step in.  That’s another part that I’m intrigued with.  The new developments of Tate and Juan.  It will be interesting to see if Tate shows up in future novels, because after the discussion between Bones, Cat, Tate, and Don, I wouldn’t be surprised if he disappears. I personally think that Juan is going to be freaking hilarious as a vampire.  Especially since he likes to oogle Cat, but he’s still completely harmless in his attention.  He’s definitely going to give Bones hard time, but he’s going to be laughing about it.

Alright, that’s all I’m going to say about At Grave’s End.  Although, I am interested in what everyone else thought.

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

3 Comments

  1. Just noticed my name in blue in the new author’s challenge. I am guessing that is because I didn’t tell you how many new authors I would read. I am going to go for 25.

  2. I absolutely loved this book! The best in the series so far! I agree with you about Justine, she cracked me up the whole time. The scene where Cat finds out about her and Rodney had me laughing my head off, but wanting to slap her too. I, too, was upset over Bones’ “death”, but I thought Cat was just simply amazing when she thought she had to live without him. How strong she was! It was just brilliant!
    Also, the appearance of Vlad really made me giggle!

    I’ve also reviewed this book, and have linked to your review in mine. Would you mind doing the same, please?

    http://jo-scrawls.blogspot.com/2009/03/review-at-graves-end-by-jeaniene-frost.html

  3. I’m 71 % done (according to mr. Kindle :] ). And I was crying cause Bones CAN’T be dead… So I cheated and googled “did Bones really die in ‘at graves end'”. Phewww he didn’t at least that’s what I’m getting. Ill finish and then come back with a review :). Thanks!

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