Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Halfway to the Grave is the first novel in the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. The novel has a good plot spiced with a lot of romance, and some interesting characters. I enjoyed it very much and am looking forward to digging into the next novel in the series.

Halfway to the Grave is another one of those novels set in the now where the supernatural exist. In the case of this novel, humans are not aware of the existence of supernatural except for maybe a government agency or two. This novel focuses mainly on vampires but we do run into a ghost or two as well. We also have the unusual case of a vampire and human hybrid child which is something that doesn't occur in some novels.

Cat, the main character in Halfway to the Grave, is half-human and half-vampire. Her mother was raped by a vampire and Cat was the result. She lives with her mother and her grandparents and every evening she goes out trolling for vampires and kills them. She hopes one day to kill her father for ruining her mother's life. Only one evening she tries to kill Bones. Bones is a vampire who is also a bounty hunter. He is paid to kill vampires that get out of hand. We simply can't have vampires that kill too many people and bring attention to the vampire community. Bones convinces Cat to train with him and help him kill or capture the bounties he is after. He offers to pay her half of the bounties and to help her find her father. Cat moves away from home and starts training with Bones. He teaches her how to use her vampire gifts, how to dress the part better and how to defend herself. Cat is starting to feel good about being on her own and kicking some vampire butt. But then she starts to fall for Bones which is bad. This puts her into conflict with her mother and everything she has been brought up to believe. She believes that all vampires are evil and that she is evil because she is half vampiure--Bones trys to help get her over that little hitch. But then she and Bones go after a very powerful vampire that has quite a following and things start to get out of control. Can they kill this vampire before Cat's family becomes a target? How will Cat handle falling for Bones and does he return the feeling? You will have to read this one to find out.

I thought the plot to this novel was very solid. It moved very well and was very readable. There was lots of action and quite a bit of violence but there was a bit of romance as well. I wasn't bored at all and I am looking forward to how the plot develops in the next novel.

I liked watching the character growth of Cat as she goes from a girl totally dependant on her mother's way of thinking to a woman who begins to think for herself. Cat brings a lot of attitude to the book in a good way. She is an excellent character. And I like Bones, the seemingly tough guy that has a heart underneath. I am hoping Frost will develop his character even more in the next novel.

There is also a government agency that comes into play at the end of this novel which is something that is unique to this novel. I have never read a novel where the government comes into play in quite this way. It should be very interesting to see what Frost does with that in the next novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. The plot moved well. I like the way that Cat developed in this novel and it has me curious to see what happens in the next one. You should like this novel if you like books about vampires or the supernatural or even if you like a supernatural romance. It's a good one to stick in your bag for a weekend read. Give it a chance. You might enjoy it.