Review: Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Title: Destined for an Early Grave (Night Huntress #4)
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Heat Index: 2 out of 5
Release Date: July 28th, 2009
Word/Page Count: 355 pages
Format: Purchased

Her deadly dreams leave her in grave danger

Since half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her undead lover Bones met six years ago, they've fought against the rogue undead, battled a vengeful Master vampire, and pledged their devotion with a blood bond. Now it's time for a vacation. But their hopes for a perfect Paris holiday are dashed when Cat awakes one night in terror. She's having visions of a vampire named Gregor who's more powerful than Bones and has ties to her past that even Cat herself didn't know about.

Gregor believes Cat is his and he won't stop until he has her. As the battle begins between the vamp who haunts her nightmares and the one who holds her heart, only Cat can break Gregor's hold over her. She'll need all the power she can summon in order to bring down the baddest bloodsucker she's ever faced . . . even if getting that power will result in an early grave.

Warning: Contains spoilers and a bit of rantiness.


Arai's Review:

I was really disappointed with this book, especially with that I've come to expect from this series up to this point in time. Frost seems to have spent four books setting a personality precedent for each of the characters only to completely throw that out of the window for the two main characters. Maybe not completely throw it out the window, but at least take their actions to such an extreme that they are barely recognizable as the characters that I've come to enjoy. I'm really hoping this is redeemed in the next book otherwise I'm really not sure I'll continue the series. I'm rather hesistant to even do so at this point in time.

Bones seems to have become Edward Cullen in this book; granted, the circumstances of the book make things a little more difficult for the whole caring is sharing thing between Bones and Cat, but Bones takes it to the extreme. Cat's dreams can be invaded by the vampire Gregor who is trying to kill everyone and kidnap Cat. Bones uses this as justification to blindfold her and not let her know her location so he is unable to locate her while Gregor is tiptoeing through her dream mind. Ok, I can go along with that, especially since you explained that to her instead of just beating your chest, saying I am Vamp!, tossing her ass in a room and locking her up. Oh, wait, that's exactly what you did. It was only after sucking at life and being cornered that you finally explained. Win.

In previous novels, Bones has demonstrated a great ability at being able to read people, understand their personalities, and use that to predict their actions and the way that they are going to perceive events. In this novel, Vlad makes a comment that Bones is finally putting his analytical mind to good use. Yet, he is unable to understand that Cat is going to act similar to the way she has in all the other novels, which is to pull his ass out of the fire, even if she's the only one who perceives him to be in trouble. In fact, not only does he keep her out of the loop, he goes the extra mile of causing her as much pain as possible while doing it, then later blaming her for everything. Which is, of course, how every healthy relationship should operate, right? Take notes, people.

Now, you might be jumping to Bones' rescue and saying, "Oh, but hey, he can't say anything cuz of creepy dream guy!" Well, here's the thing: they came up with a miracle drug that makes it so Cat can't dream. Oh, and Cat and Bones both agree while making up that they could have used that drug and all would have been good. What is that, win #2 for them? We could take the logical way, but instead let's inflict as much hurt on each other as possible because that sounds like way more fun and in character for both of us.

Finally, I can understand the need to try and create conflict to make their relationship grow. That's fine. And I could even understand the way Frost is doing it a little bit more if there wasn't this one thing: Bones can read minds of people who aren't vamps or ghouls. Alright, Bones can read minds, so what? Well, Cat has learned to put up some mental blocks because, you know, people are sometimes entitled to have privacy to think in their own mind. Oh wait, according to Bones, no, they aren't. He repeatedly gets irrationally angry at Cat for daring to put up some mental blocks to keep him out. Fine, you want her to be more open with you? Huh. But what about the 200 pages of stuff that I had to read where you didn't tell her a damn thing? We're just pretending that didn't happen then? Win #3.

Needless to say, it really, really bothers me that Bones is continually berating Cat for not being open, yet he is more closed off with her than she is with him and this issue is never addressed. It was barely danced around when they had their big make-up scene, and not even noticeable when compared to the guilt trip Bones sent Cat on about not letting him read her mind. Sharing is caring, so long as it only goes one way, apparently.