Review: This Side of the Grave - Jeaniene Frost

Danger waits on both sides of the grave.

Half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her vampire husband Bones have fought for their lives, as well as for their relationship. But just when they've triumphed over the latest battle, Cat's new and unexpected abilities threaten to upset a long-standing balance . . .

With the mysterious disappearance of vampires, rumors abound that a species war is brewing. A zealot is inciting tensions between the vampires and ghouls, and if these two powerful groups clash, innocent mortals could become collateral damage. Now Cat and Bones are forced to seek help from a dangerous "ally" - the ghoul queen of New Orleans herself. But the price of her assistance may prove more treacherous than even the threat of a supernatural war . . . to say nothing of the repercussions Cat never imagined.

Night Huntress Series:
Halfway to the Grave
One Foot in the Grave
At Grave's End
Destined for an Early Grave
One for the Money (Short Story in the Magic Graves Anthology)
This Side of the Grave
One Grave at a Time
Home for the Holidays (Novella available as an ebook or as part of The Bite Before Christmas anthology)
Up from the Grave

Night Huntress World Series:
(This is a spin off from the Night Huntress Series that fits into the time line after Destined for an Early Grave)
First Drop Of Crimson
Eternal Kiss of Darkness

Night Prince Series:
(This is a spin off from the Night Huntress series that fits into the time line after One Grave at a Time)
Once Burned
Twice Tempted

For more information visit Jeaniene Frost's website

Review:
With Apollyon still spreading rumours about Cat's abilities it looks like the vampires and ghouls could soon find themselves at war.  Vampires have started to go missing and it looks like gangs of ghouls are responsible. Cat & Bones are forced to seek the help of ghoul queen Marie to try and prevent all out war but it seems she has an agenda of her own so can they really trust her as their ally? When Cat picks up a new ability it looks like this could cause even more trouble for them, especially if she can't learn to control it in time.

I'm a massive fan of the Night Huntress series so have been looking forward to reading This Side of the Grave for months. That's the one problem with starting a series before all of the books have been published - I've now got another long wait for book 6! Cat and Bones are my favourite urban fantasy / paranormal romance couple and I can't get enough of them. If you haven't started reading this series yet then I would highly recommend it but I would suggest reading the books in order starting with Halfway to the Grave. If you're already a fan of the series but haven't started the spin off Night Huntress World series yet then I would recommend reading those two books before you start this one, the timeline has now caught up and this does contain slight spoilers for First Drop of Crimson and Eternal Kiss of Darkness.

I'll admit that this wasn't my favourite book in the series but it was still a worthwhile addition to the series and one I'm sure fans will enjoy. The story is a little slower paced this time around but there are still some great action scenes, the only one I was a little disappointed in was towards the end and that was because I expected a bigger more dramatic ending to the one we got. Having said that I think this was probably the best possible outcome for all concerned so I'm not too upset by it! I love spending time with Cat & Bones, this is a series that I will happily re-read many times over and I'm glad that they are in a better place regarding their relationship. It's been fun watching them work out their differences but I'm glad we don't have to see them struggle as a couple forever more.

One of the things I really enjoyed in this instalment was getting to see more of Mencheres & Spade along with their partners (I don't want to give anything away if you've not read the spin off series). I like both of these characters (Mencheres in particular) a lot more than I did before I read their books so it was good to catch up with them and see how things are going. I also loved the fact we got to see a lot more of Vlad, he is such a fun character and I love the way he banters with Cat - I absolutely can't wait to get my hands on his series.

After some new developments I'm hoping that we're going to get to see more of Cat's old team in the next book. Cat has some very difficult family matters to deal with in this instalment and it was heartbreaking seeing some of the things she has to go through. Luckily she has Bones to support her but even then it isn't easy for her and after the twist at the end I'm very curious to see what the future holds. Justine (Cat's mum) continues to surprise me and I laughed out loud when I found out what she has been up to. I'm still a massive fan of the series and would highly recommend it to any urban fantasy / paranormal romance fans.

Source: Purchased

Other Reviews:
Mysterious Books
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