It’s been four years since the events of Halfway to the Grave. Cat, has honed the skills Bones has taught her, working for a secret government agency as the head of a unit that hunts down troublesome undead. Her half-vampire heritage offers an invaluable benefit to the cause. But you don’t do what Cat does without making a few enemies. She’s now a target as someone has put a hit out on her. Her only hope is Bones, the vampire she left behind. Though he’s “dead” he’s the only one on this earth to make her feel alive, and those feelings come rushing back. But can she keep them at bay? Not if he has his way.
I am always a little concerned about ships when the characters get together off the bat because I feel they become stale. Even with the insta-love between these two, I thought the first book was exciting and fresh. But this one felt like more of the same. I liked Bones in book 1, but there wasn’t a lot of evolution here, so he came off as Gary-Stuish. And Cat, his Mary Sue. Unlike the first go ’round, I didn’t find the number of times one was jealous, insecure, or baiting vamps for slaughter to be nearly as amusing. And then Bones practically always had the answers to the problems so I just didn’t find him as intriguing and to be honest, his dialogue started to irritate me a bit with the “blokes”, “luvs”, “sods” etc. He’s over 200 so I wish he would have acquired vocabulary with more variety by now.
There was a fair bit of action and definitely some laughs, but Jeaniene Frost doesn’t include enough follow through after the build up. I feel like there’s this massive world with characters waiting to be explored, but we get less than I want to see in a read. I’m really big on supporting characters, yet I didn’t find myself attached to anyone here. Everything just kept working out a little too easily, so nothing was perilous, gripping, or gritty. I felt like it was basically all centered around when these two could get back to shagging.
And speaking of which, of course I can’t complete a review without my opinion on chapter 32. It’s pretty much the only thing I was asked about or told about, even during Book 1. To be honest, it wasn’t much to write home about for me. It wasn’t bad (none of her scenes are) but the hype surrounding it made my expectations too high, so an underwhelming result was inevitable. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly have my short list favorites in literature, but this is just not one of them. Sorry! *ducks from flying tomatoes*
Overall, it certainly wasn’t a bad read, but it just wasn’t as good as I was hoping it’d be. After the first book I thought it would practically inhale this one, reading it in no time, but that just wasn’t the case. There’s still Book 3 which I do plan to read, but that will be the final determinant of whether or not I plan to keep going with this series. Though I like to come to my own conclusions, I’ve heard that the earlier books are better so I don’t know how well that bodes for the rest.