Rating: 3 1/2 stars
This Side of the Grave is book #5 in Jeaniene’s Frost’s Night Huntress series about the half-breed human/vampire redheaded Cat Crawford and her vampire husband Bones.
These two are happily married, although the poor duo never has a down moment—now there’s a war brewing between the vampires and the ghouls and they have to take down Apollynon, a centuries old ghoul, who’d love to eliminate Cat and Bones from the equation permanently.
Not only is Cat called back into to action again, but she’s having some nasty side effects from drinking Bones’s blood. The blood is heightening her senses so much, she can hear people’s thoughts. Additionally, she also has a new awesome power she can’t control; especially when she’s highly emotional.
Cat tends to get into many scrapes, but knows how to handle herself in battle. She has accrued a great team as backup with some of the most powerful vampires in existence such as mega-vampire Mencheres, who is a type of grandfather figure to Bones (trust me, he’s not decrepit in any way and looks like the actor, Oded Fehr) and Vlad, who’s very snarky to Cat, can shoot fire out of his hands and is better known as the most acknowledge d vampire ever- Dracula.
Cat has a love/hate relationship with Vlad, but he’s a very powerful ally, so she has to play nice. Then there’s her Uncle Don, who not only gave her a new lease on life, but also caused her a great deal of grief. Don is dying and Cat has to deal with the repercussions of his death.
This Side of the Grave is more of a-day-in-the-life telling of Cat. It’s a never ending cycle with her constantly on her toes and navigating the vampire world she feels she doesn’t really fit into. She has a choice to become a full-fledged vampire, but Bones isn’t too keen on the idea. Cat is very strong has a half-vamp. Can you imagine what she’d be like as a full one?
The best thing about this series is the relationship between Cat and Bones. It’s always refreshing to see a married couple so in love and passionate about each other. For those who read these books, you all know about the amazing erotic Chapter 32 that’s now synonymous with Jeaniene’s name. Well, Jeaniene has done it again with Chapter 21, starting on page 199, (yes, I marked the page number down) where Cat and Bones have more bedroom fun together.
Candles and wax are involved ala the movie Body of Evidence. It’s a bit kinky, and at one point I cringed because of where the wax ended up on Bones, but woo wee, it’s quite the humdinger of hotness. I ended up re-reading that chapter three times, back-to-back, because it was that good.
This Side of the Grave is pretty solid reading with engaging characters. I count Jeaniene Frost as one of my comfort reads I can always look forward to. If you’re looking for a new paranormal vampire series, where the vampires don’t sparkle, as Bones points out in this book, I’d definitely say read Jeaniene Frost and introduce yourself to Cat Crawford, vampire fighter extraordinaire.
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Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Avon (February 22, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-0061783180