Halfway to the Grave: A Night Huntress Novel by Jeaniene Frost

Halfway to the Grave: The Night Huntress Series

By Jeaniene Frost

I’ve been on an Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance kick lately. This first book in The Night Huntress Series by Jeaniene Frost is more the former but there is a heavy dose of romance to it as well.  One description I heard said that if you could take the romance out and the story line still survived intact then it’s an Urban Fantasy. I’d say you could do that here but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.

Cat was going out to kill vampires, just a regular Friday night for her. (Most people don’t believe  vampires exist in this world.) Then a vampire named Bones captures her. When she comes to, she expects him to kill her but he wants information. He is quite convinced that she is human and must be working for a vampire to take out rivals.  Once he cottons to the fact that she is half vampire, he decides he’s going to train her and offers her a partnership. The other choice, of course, is death.

This is the beginning of a very interesting partnership. Bones has his own agenda and it is not quite what he tells Cat. (Once I got done with the book I had to go back and re-read the beginning, knowing what I now knew about Bones.) Bones trains her to fight better, toughens her up and they work together to kill the vampires who kill innocent people.

One complication, her mother, Justina, has always told Cat that she was the product of a rape by a vampire.  From the time she is 16 years old, Cat feels she has to atone for that by killing vampires, who must all be evil, as Justina tells her. It’s a good time as Cat unlearns some of her prejudices.

Just plain good old-fashioned vampire fun.

The series continues with several books, the second one “One Foot in the Grave” is another rollicking good time and I am currently reading the third in the series. I don’t want to give too much away but I am thoroughly enjoying them and I hope you will too.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding

Bridget Jones : Mad About the Boy

By Helen Fielding

Okay, I loved this book! I will say that I didn’t go into this book with many preconceived notions because it has been over a decade since I saw the first movie and I never read the second book. I wasn’t as invested in the characters as someone might have been if they read the second book and were eagerly awaiting the third.

All the friends are still around – Talitha, Tom, Jude and even Daniel though he seems to be on a downward spiral. I won’t tell you what happened to Mark Darcy. It’s sad and a large facet of the story but it doesn’t overwhelm the story.

There’s romance, humor and even some action as Bridget takes care of the kids and attempts to get back into the dating and work worlds.

Bridget is now a single mom of two small children. As a mother I could relate to so many of the sentiments. There’s a point where both kids are sick to their stomachs and in the midst of all the gross out, “Billy’s bewildered expression overwhelmed self with love for Billy.” I felt it when she said that. You can’t help feel sorry for and overwhelmed with love for the sick munchkins.

One bit of the humor is kind of over the top and does maker her seem overwhelmingly stupid.  She’s working on a screenplay adaptation of Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen but spells the title wrong and has the wrong author. If you’re adapting it, you must be referring to a copy of it so how do you get those things wrong? However, most of the time the humor is gentle or even a bit slapstick.

The format can take a little getting used to, mostly written in journal type entries with texts, emails, and tweets interspersed with regular prose. Hang in there and you do get used to it. I enjoyed it tremendously on audio CD.

There’s depth to this book, as well as humor. I highly recommend it.