Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

12 reviews

brandys_reading_count's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Characters: Catherine Crawfield (half vampire who kills other vampires)

Bones (vampire bounty hunter)

Content Warning: sexual assault (off page), murder

Half vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after vampires with vengeance, hoping that one of the scum suckers is her father- the one responsible for sexually assaulting her mother. Catherine tries to kill a vampire one night and is captured by Bones, a vampire hunter, and she is forced into a partnership. 

This reminds me so much of the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Bones trains Catherine to be a vampire hunter. 

I love the banter between the characters. Bones made me laugh. 

Their sexual chemistry was off the charts, you can tell they were both into each other but they were fighting their attraction. I also enjoyed the fact that they slowly got to know each other and trust one another, especially Catherine she had to get over her prejudice she had for all vampires, because Bones (his human name was Crispen) was so good with her. 

I loved his nicknames for her, calling her “luv” or “kitten”. 

The only thing I didn’t like was Catherine’s mom, her judgement of Vampires reminds me of someone who is racist. She didn’t even trust her own daughter and thought that her daughter would turn into “one of those things”. I can sympathize with her plight, because she was sexually assaulted by a newly transitioned vampire and was impregnated, but to generalize ALL vampires as evil isn’t fair.

This book reminded me of Blade meets Buffy The Vampire Slayer meets True Blood. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Murder, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

spines's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was a fun way to spend my afternoon/evening

Bones is a charming bootleg version of Spike

Upon reading the author's note at the end about how Cat was originally written to be 19 so many things made more sense

I liked the side characters and I hope they are recurring characters later in the series

The plot was a little too self-contained for me and the ending hook is not interesting me at all but I will likely read the rest of the series 

They didn't get together right away but it very much felt like insta-love which is not my preferred relationship trope

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

rbradley923's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Rape, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Trafficking and Car accident

keclark81's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Trafficking, Sexual content, Death, Sexual assault, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Kidnapping, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Racial slurs and Colonisation

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

There are a few toxic troupes involving relationships and jealous, but it still an entertaining read with a better love story than “Twilight.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, Car accident, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Medical trauma, Medical content, Cursing, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Death of parent, Racism, Grief, and Police brutality

Minor: Drug use

There is also political corruption, decomposition of the body, drugging drinks in an attempt to commit assault, and death of both grandparents.

nieva098's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Gun violence, Gore, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Body horror, and Death

amylynn44's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Trafficking and Kidnapping

mswarning's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

Not sure when I bought this book, probably 2009 at a sci-fi writing convention. I don't recall if I ever read it. Not sure what I would've rated it back then during my urban fantasy heyday.

Obviously based on Buffy and Spike. Sex was just ok. Story was predictable. Some of the banter was entertaining.

Did not finish during Shiftathon. I keep picking books for readathons that I'm not very excited to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Sexual content, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Trafficking, and Gun violence

Minor: Pregnancy and Rape

frantic_vampire's review against another edition

I don’t know if this book is just a product of it’s time (2007) or if my reading habits are changing again. But it feels like this book waffles back and forth from being bland and uninteresting to 🔥 with the all the banter. At this point I don’t think the banter is gonna save this book for me. 😩

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

relin's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Blood, and Animal death