I love Jeaniene Frost’s writing and this series has fast become near the top of my favorites list. However, Destined for an Early Grave disappointed me greatly. I know some of you who read it are going *what?! how?*.
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 faced . . . even if getting that power will result in an early grave.
Let me start by saying the part that bothered me the most about Destined for an Early Grave was the Alpha male *you woman, you listen to me /grunt grunt – you have no say in the matter* bullshit that went on for the entire first half of the book. Not only that, but the fact that Cat somehow lost the ability to speak up for herself and kick some ass really didn’t sit well with me at all. Then you have the classic *its all my fault I am the one that screwed up* nonsense when it takes TWO. I really wanted to THROW the book or tear it to pieces it had me THAT frustrated.
Really the first half of this book was horrendous. I wanted to put it down and quit reading it MANY times over. I didn’t because I am such a fan of the series that I was hoping and praying that it would get better and Frost would get her head out of her ass when it comes to her characters and write them how we love them.
Ok so after the first half of the Alpha male testosterone and female insecurities and not being able to stand up for herself, the story starts to come together and you learn why Frost wrote it that way. But it sucked, plain and simple.. I hate reading characters that are too overbearing or too afraid to stick up for themselves and just get pushed along by others and I feel that’s what she turned Cat and Bones into the entire first part of the book. Because of the arguing and crappy parts (which I didn’t like in the book), there was not really much sex in this one, and the sex when it was there was mediocre at best. One of the BEST sex scenes I have ever read was from Frost in one of her prior Night Huntress books, so I was highly disappointed at her sex scenes in this one.
After Cat and Bones got their acts together and learned why each acted the way they did the story came together.. and boy did it!!
The second half of the book was so damn good that Frost redeemed herself and I no longer wanted to throw the book across the room or shred it to pieces lol. Overall I did finish Destined for an Early Grave with a really good happy feeling about the new things discovered and Cats abilities.
Read order:
Halfway to the Grave
One Foot in the Grave
At Grave’s End
Destined for an Early Grave
Also reviewed by:
Jackie’s review on Literary Escapism
Not-Really-Southern Vamp Chick
Story Wings
Angel Leland’s Blog
Babbling About Books
Night Time Romance Reviews
Absolutely agree with you on the first half of the book. It made me want to scream in anger. I hate it when a usually strong character suddenly can’t stand up for herself. The second half of the book was better, but not good enough to redeem the book for me. I’ll wait for the reviews before picking up the next in the series.
I think I might be the only one who has big problems with “strong” heroines. I love this series, really like how it’s written and the whole way the Night Huntress world is build but I have to say Cat is one stubborn creature. I get that she’s supposed to be a strong woman, but most of the time I find she’s just too self-righteous. Although I agree it was unexpected the way she acted in the first half of this book, I really liked it – except the alpha male attitude from Bones, but I understood it. The whole thing built their huge fight in which Bones said everything that I had stuck in my throat. She really deserved it, not from this story specifically, but from everything she’s done in the past books. As I said I love this series, I’m looking forward to the next one and the spin-offs (already read Spade’s story) and I hope this ordeal from “Destined for an Early Grave” teaches her something and she grows from there, building the character even more.
oh dear, do i have this to look forward to? i’m only on the second one! but seriously, at least if i’m getting frustrated, i know that there’s light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak….