Halfway to the Grave (DNF) by Jeaniene FrostSeries: Night Huntress #1
Published by Gollancz
Genres: Urban Fantasy
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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 unholy partnership.
In exchange for 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 newfound 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 don’t like reviewing books that I haven’t finished – after all, how can I judge a whole book by only looking at part of it? But sometimes there are books that people love, while I had to struggle to get through 50 pages (which is when I allow myself to give up). So, I thought I would share my misery – a books that I was excited to read, have great reviews on goodreads, but I found utterly unendurable.
Feel free to snark back at me, as I haven’t been all that kind.
Average goodreads rating for Halfway to the Grave: 4.26
My rating: I could have bought Buffy DVDs with this money.
I was crazy excited to start this book. There must be a few hundred praising reviews about Cat and Bones and their epic hotness. What did I get from it? Buffy fanfiction. Now, Frost says that her character Bones is of absolutely no relation to Spike from BtVS. Well, even if that is the case, Bones is still his literary twin. People can come up with similar concepts independent from each other – I know. But seriously? A bleached, accented, cocky, luv’-and-darlin’-saying vampire? One was enough.
Besides my issues with Bones, I had also not been so crazy about Cat. She seemed angry at the world – especially vamps – when really she should have been pissed about her mother’s crappy parenting. But that wasn’t enough for me to even dislike her. Zero personality.
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Your feelings about the first Jeaniene Frost book are exactly the way I felt reading it (thank you SO much for that since no one else agreed with me!). Although I did finish it and I have kept up with the series, only because it’s the kind of series that I don’t have to think while reading. The second book gets much better than the first and even towards the final book that I have read Bones is more tolerable. But, yeah, it’s Buffy fan-fic a lot in the first book. I do have a love/hate relationship with the series. I like some books and hate others.
Sorry, just got so excited to read a review of the Frost book that hit exactly how I feel on the head!
@Cat – Yay for someone who feels the same way! I was slightly tempted to finish the book, but I honestly couldn’t stop my inner sceptic from shutting up about the Spike comparisons. And yeah, everyone seems totally in love with this series despite that. I have read a lot of reviews that read something like “OMG Bones is exactly like Spike! You have to read this!” … and that just doesn’t compute for me.
Anyhow, glad to find someone who agrees with me!
OMG your review of The Tin Star just made me snort tea all over my keyboard. I have never even heard of that book before, but from what you say it sounds like it’s at least good for a laugh 😛
I never really got into the whole Buffy thing, Sarah Michelle Gellar just gets on my nerves, and I couldn’t HANDLE Angel’s ugly face (sorry peeps, it’s true, his forehead is the fuglyness :o) … so I can’t say whether Bones is anything like Spike (whoever he is – I’ve seen pics on him, but didn’t even know he had a Brit accent, or anything else – I guess he does look similar to the description Jeaniene Frost gives of Bones – hmmm) … BBBUT I think the Night Huntress series is AWESOME! 😀 Super entertaining, funny, and Bones (the potential Immitation Spike) is smeXi (“,) … although I’m quite fond of Ian and Spade too. Also, Cat’s mom is FUNNY … especially in the later books … when she has the argument with Bones in Cat’s apartment in book 2, omg, I couldn’t stop laughing.