This Side of the Grave: A Night Huntress Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Well what can I say, I am never disappointed reading about Cat and Bones and their explosive life together. Cat and Bones are definitely one of my favourite fictional couples. Jeaniene Frost never fails to bring something fresh and exciting every time. Not my favourite in the series but a must read all the same. There is a whirlwind of emotions in this book, I was crying at one part and laughing at others.

This side of the grave picks up where Destined for an early grave leaves off. For new FULL vampire Cat Crawfield and her master vampire husband Bones, things never run smoothly. The ghoul Apollyon claims Cat is a danger to ghouls everywhere, he claims she could change into a vampire/ghoul hybrid and start an undead war.

Cat is trying to keep her new drinking requirements on the down low for the time being, to try and not add fuel to the claims Apollyon has made about her being dangerous.

Cat and Bones are forced to seek the aid of the very dangerous ghoul queen, Marie. They pay Marie a visit, but she seems to already know about Cat's unusual feeding requirements. She forces Cat to drink from her, but at what cost? and what is in it for her? Cat does not know.

With Cat's new abilities that she absorbed from Marie, ghosts flock to her like a moth to a flame. Cat spends her time trying to repel them, in-case it draws attention to her.

Meanwhile Cat discovers her uncle Don is very ill and rushes to his side. He is dying of cancer and she is furious no-one told her sooner. Cat takes the news very hard, Don is the only father like figure she has ever had in her life.

Cat and bones split up with the help of Denise, Cat's best-friend. Denise has the ability to shape-shift into Cat. They are trying to lead the ghouls into thinking she is somewhere else. While Bones and Cat are apart, she practices with some of her new abilities she absorbed from Marie, with nearly disastrous results for Vlad.

Cat is called urgently to her uncles side, he is deteriorating quickly. Cat asks him would he give her away to Bones, because there was no-one to do it the first time they got married. He agrees and dies straight after. It was very heartfelt and my heart went out to Cat.

The showdown at the end is amazing, lots of fast paced action. We finally find out why Marie made Cat drink her blood. There is an unexpected spectral visitor at the very end, which I am very excited about.

Some of my favourite highlights of the book are:

Cat letting down her barriers and declaring her love and baring her soul to Bones. It was quite beautiful.

Vlad and Cat in the graveyard, trying to activate Cat's new ability, it was laugh out loud funny. Vlad is one of my favourite characters and I love reading about him.

Marie queen of the ghouls, I am so intrigued by her dark nature.

Cat's great sense of humour is always a big plus to read. Not forgetting Bones who is simply swoon worthy.

The Night Huntress series is a must read series, if you haven't read them you are seriously missing out.

I enjoyed this one, the reason for the 4 stars is because it just lacked in some places unlike the others. I found myself trudging through this one slowly. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed this book. I just though the others were better.

I love that we're reunited with Cat and Bones from page one-Cat having Bones chained to a wall is really funny. Cat is very much in charge in this one which was a nice change. All the other secondary characters return, Vlad Tepesh is especially funny in this book, relieving Bones of some of his funniness.

The situation with Don, shows Cat in a vulnerable side proving she hasn't quite lost her humanity. Very sad, but the end of the book shows that Don isn't done yet which is awesome to see :)

I don't really have much more to say, except that This Side of the Grave is another great addition to the Night Huntress series, and I'm looking forward to One Grave at a Time in the autumn to continue Cat and Bones' journey.

Read it!

I think that my main problem with this book is that its predecessor was such a fraught book - featuring death, duelling, betrayal and the love between Cat and Bones overcoming their trials - that this one fell a little flat.

The blurb itself is a touch misleading as there is more than one foe, and for the main enemy, formidable that she is, she featured very little in this book, which basically picks up not long after the last, just after Cat and Bones have been having some quality time together following their ordeal, and immediately after Mencheres and Kira have fallen in love. In fact, this couple appears so much in this book, together with another fave of mine, Vlad Dracul, that it might have qualified as part of the Night Huntress World book. Still, it was nice to see the new, changed Mencheres with his true love, the changed, more humble Mencheres towards Cat, having made peace with both her and Bones. Vlad provided some instances of laughter and I hope that he gets his tale soon.

I'm not going to give too much away, other than that a main character dies...but not truly, Justina has turned into a kick-ass fighter type, wanting to avenge her dead love Rodney the ghoul, Cat and Bones have to battle an enemy who is sometimes a friend who could and does turn into an enemy in the blink of an eyelid, and at the end, we see some changes to the team. In fact, at the end of the book, we get to see a preview of the next book due out late 2011 (in which the dead character appears, so I'm not really giving anything away) with a new boss taking over the team and making waves with Tate and Cat.

A major plus for this book IMHO is that once again, we see the romantic side of Bones the killer, when he misses Cat who's had to go undercover. They actually spend still quite little time together, but the way in which each `reads' the other, and what each is prepared to do for the other, and to protect the other, makes theirs a true love story. Watch out for the scene in which Cat avows her love for Bones and the scenes - at the same time funny and highly erotic and lengthy - when a change forced onto Cat turns her into a nympho. Boy, scenes to rival an Ellora's Cave novel!!!

Overall, good, but not great, but still an autobuy for me.