Destined for an Early Grave (Night Huntress, Book 4) by Jeaniene Frost

The Night Huntress Series is my favorite series. No competition, Jeaniene Frost rocks. Which means Cat and Bones and all of their friends rock, too.

I'll be honest, when I read the blurb and the excerpts for this book ahead of time I was a bit worried that Destined for an Early Grave wouldn't live up to the earlier books in this series. I love Cat and her fiery personality, what if this book spoiled everything? There was no reason to worry. If anything, this book is better than the earlier books, though I wouldn't have thought it possible.

Speaking of the blurb, I should give that now before I start talking about the book:

Her 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 has 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.

The real problem with talking about Destined for an Early Grave is that I don't want to give any spoilers. And let me tell you, there are some humdinger things that happen in this book, some of which come completely out of left field. In a good way, though. Not in a bad way. Well, one bad thing. One really bad thing, actually. But bad things happen in real life, so I suppose they must also happen in fiction.

So, I'll talk in generalities so I don't give any spoilers: Cat and Bones are still strong and powerful, each in their own way. We see a lot of Mencheres and Spade, and Ian and Vlad are around some as well. We even get to see Don and Cooper and Juan and Tate enough that we know they are still doing their thing.

Even though there is only one main plot, a whole lot happens in this book. Five books worth of things happen in this book, and it's all crammed into one really good novel.

After sitting here motionless for a few moments, I'm realizing that I can't write much about Destined for an Early Grave without spoiling it, and I don't want to do that. So you'll just have to take my word for it: If you haven't read this series, you should. And if you've read the series and are wondering how good this book is, it is better than all of the other books that came before. On a scale of One to Ten, this book is about a Fifteen. But I guess I can't do that, so I'll just have to give it a 10 of 10. And a note that of all of the series that I read, this one is my favorite.

Book Rating: 10 of 10
Series Rating: 10 of 10

The end of the book gives us more information about the first spin-off book from this series. Spade is going to get his own book, and it will be called First Drop of Crimson






Night Huntress Novels
1. Halfway to the Grave (2007)
2. One Foot in the Grave (April 2008)
3. At Grave's End (December 2008)
4. Destined for an Early Grave (July 2009)

Night Huntress Universe Series
1. First Drop of Crimson (Feb 2010)