Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, #1) by Jeaniene Frost 
Series: Night Huntress #1
Published by Avon on October 30, 2007
Genres: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Pages: 358
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Yasmin Tauzon, Full Cast
Length: 9 hrs 30 min
Source: Graphic Audio
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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 unlikely partnership.
In exchange for help 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 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.
I am torn between dropping this one right here or continuing on. Anyone want to share their opinion?
Catherine “Cat” Crawford isn’t like the other college girls her age. Cat is half-vampire. Certainly not by choice. Her mother was assaulted as a teenager by a newly made vampire who wasn’t yet shooting blanks. Cat is unique as while her vampire half gives her more speed and agility than a mere human, her human half still gives her a heartbeat and all those other vulnerabilities which make her the perfect bait for vampire killing–a hobby, by the way, that the mother fully supports.
Cat is approached during one of her hunting sessions by a vampire named Bones who was also hunting for the vampire Cat just staked. Bones sees all the benefits of Cat’s half-breed nature, but assures her that so far she has been lucky to be hunting young, untrained vampires and if she ever came up against one as old as he was, she would never have a chance. Bones blackmails…I mean, convinces Cat to work with him as they are seeking the same target and he will train her to protect herself against the more dangerous opponents.
Bones is hard on Cat to make sure she will be ready but he also teaches her things about vampires that she never knew and certainly would never have been told by any of the vamps she killed. It is especially important since it appears the missing local women they have been tracking are part of a larger, nationwide ring of sex-slaves/meals-on-wheels for vampires and there many powerful vampires and humans involved and are not happy about how close Bones and Cat are getting to their operation.
Even working as a team, Cat and Bones might not survive a night up against a network of slavers and men with dangerously high connections.
THOUGHTS:
I had some issues with this story. Some of those issues are probably due to the fact that this story was published in 2007. The world, as well as vampire romance novels, have made some changes in the last 16 years. Cat references white slavers which now is known by the more encompassing sex trafficking. Cat is also ruffied at a bar and has no idea why the alcohol has hit her so hard while a man is trying to get her to go outside to his van with her. There is no panic moment for her or realization she might have been drugged. It seemed odd to me as it was happening that she would (1) accept a drink from some unknown guy and (2) think that her sudden inebriation was more concerning than thinking she might have just had more than usual. These things will come up in older stories. But here Cat kept doing stupid things, like almost getting abducted by the ring at the hands of a human woman. She simply walked into a trap and no warning bells cautioning her that the woman was acting odd. For an action, half-vampire heroine, she needed to be rescued a lot.
My bigger issue was the non-chemistry between Cat and Bones. Cat was raised by her mother who was raped by a vampire. She wanted her half-vampire daughter to hunt them all down and kill them. She wasn’t all that concerned with the fact that her daughter was very much at risk fighting full vampires. We also find out that Cat’s mother deep down hated Cat and feared her since she would, of course, eventually go bad from that half-vampire side but Cat would still rather live with her mother’s hate than walk away from her. I don’t know that that made her a better person or someone who accepted her abuse. Growing up with this deep hate of vampires, Cat really didn’t show Bones any kindness. She was always angry with him and letting him know she despised his kind. Eventually, she does acknowledge that Bones might be a batter man than even her human ex-boyfriend. Yet, when confession are made suddenly Bones has been in love with Cat from the moment he saw her. Really? Why? She was rude and verbally abusive to him. She kept needing to be rescued. There was no revelation that secretly she wanted to be a kindergarten teacher and live in peace. Cat hunted vampires. She like killing them. Bones was a bounty hunter and he tried to give her part of the reward for her part and Cat was all disgusted that he was doing it for money. Most of the book was spent with Cat looking down on Bones with disgust but suddenly, they are in love, and we are supposed to just go with that?
The biggest issue I have is that Bones lived in a cave in the middle of nowhere. A. Cave. We do get a backstory on that, but he lives in a cave. But he sleeps in a bed. No one saw you moving furniture into a cave. I believe he had a shower although he toilet facilities are more a rocky area over there since vampires don’t poop. I mean, Bones was two hundred year old and still a bounty hunter. I didn’t sound like he invested in the stock market and was a rich, playboy vampire who was a bounty hunter for funzies and where he could live in a penthouse but he would rather life in a nice damp cave? Really? Are we sticking with that?
At the end of the book, Cat slinks off into the night with her vampire-phobic mother in tow all to protect Bones. I don’t agree with how that ended. Even someone who hates vampires, should acknowledge how having a vampire working with Cat would be beneficial and since they were in love, he would do anything to make her happy even keep his teeth to himself. Walking away seemed stupid, and Bones not questioning Cat more on what was happening seemed just as stupid. She was acting odd and he didn’t think to keep a closer eye on her?
So are there any fans of this series that want to advocate for continuing on? I listened to the new Graphic Audio presentation and Book 2 should be out in the next few months. I put it in my virtual cart but didn’t hit the buy button since I wasn’t overly excited about this story. It has a large fan base. Does it really get better? Does Cat grow up because she is sometimes very adolescent in the story.
Hit me with your thoughts on Cat and Bones.
