Review for Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Colorful Characters with Lots of Action

4 Stars. As a huge fan of the paranormal I was looking to dive into a vampire novel and Halfway to the Grave did not disappoint. It had scary vampires as well as other frightening creatures and an action packed plot.

There were a few places where the plot felt a little predictable, but there were enough twists and turns to keep me reading. A good chunk of the story in the middle was really about Cat’s opinion of vampires and watching as Bones slowly changed her beliefs, helping her grow into her own person. By the end, however this was jam packed action and intensity.

I didn’t always like Cat. She started out really naïve and could be annoying at times, then by the end she was a total bad ass. It almost felt like her character changed too much, and at times her development was a little awkward. She also seemed overly concerned with her mom’s opinion. However, by the end of the book I liked her a lot more.

Bones on the other hand I loved. He was a total bad boy, but also a sweetheart. He really made this story worth reading. I also loved the sexy parts of this book, but for someone who’s used to reading mostly YA this book was a bit more graphic than I was used to. Also, I wished there had been a little more angst. Things get lovey-dovey between Cat and Bones a little too quickly. It also felt like Cat became accepting of Bones and the fact that he was a vampire a little too easily.

As for the other characters, they were all colorful and fascinating. Each one was very different from the last, however a few felt a little stereotypical, like Cat’s neurotic mom. She annoyed me. I understood that she’d gone through a traumatic experience, but she was so closed minded and even seemed not to care about Cat at times, that I just couldn’t connect with her. Which was sad because many of the decisions Cat makes are because of her mom.

I also didn’t really understand the purpose of Tim. He seemed a bit like a throwaway character as he didn’t really advance the plot any. His friendship with Cat was good to show that Cat was growing as a person and connecting with other people, but I wish his character had had more of a purpose.

Honestly, at first I wasn’t planning to read the next book, but the ending of this was really interesting. There were a few twists that I didn’t see coming and they’ve piqued my interest for the rest of the series.