Halfway to the Grave

Night Huntress, Book 1

By: Jeaniene Frost

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's Summary

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father - the one responsible for ruining her mother's life. Then she's captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unlikely partnership.

In exchange for help finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She's amazed she doesn't end up as his dinner…are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon, Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn't have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side...and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.

©2007 Jeaniene Frost (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic Reviews

“Take one half-human/half-vampire female with serious anger and parental issues, add in a sexy ancient vampire with his own agenda, and you have the makings for a truly combustible series. Sign me up for the sequel!” (Romantic Times)

Surprised! SPECTACULAR AND SEXY!

Halfway to the Grave is delicious! The Best of the Genre! 10 stars! A+
I am 30 and I write this review for anyone who might think this is young adult nonsense:

Personal Disclaimer: Im new to the genre. I snubbed my nose to it bc of the pop culture craze of Twilight, and a strict loyalty to the Vampire world of Ann Rice. Somehow, I stumbled into the paranormal/time travel genre with Karen 's Fever series, and then finally read Outlander. After dabbling in a few JD Ward books, "The Night Huntress" series was recommended to me and I downloaded this book. I was judgmental of the cover and the silly name, and it just sat in my audible library for months. After listening to a heavy depressing book, I needed a break and put this on...

I LOVE this book. I'm addicted and in love with these characters. Bones is surprisingly funny and charming but very different from the smoldering alpha males in every other romance novel I've read. Cat is my favorite heroine since Scarlet O'hara! This book is so different from any other "vampire" or paranormal book I've ever read. It's funny, sexy, and completely engaging.

But to my amazement, it also contains one of the hottest love scenes ever written, not because of any graphic sex, but because of the chemistry and tenderness of the two characters. I was surprised by how sexy this book was. And the author doesn't play the same old games of delaying the "good parts" till the end, which is frustrating and gets old pretty quick! (I waited 5 books for Moning's characters to finally hook up.. And still resent the frustration i felt) Instead Jeaniene Frost uses the integrity of her writing to create sizzling chemistry and true emotion between this unlikely couple.
The story itself is intriguing and unfolds as a suspense filled battle with the reader just as interested in the plot as in the characters love life. What a true gift of a book.

Finally, I must say a narrator makes or breaks an audio book. In this case, Tavia Gilbert is AMAZING! I want her to read every book I have. Her character voices are wonderful, and she brings this to life better than any actor could on a movie screen.

This book has it all! And I plan to devour every book by this author!

A Total Guilty Pleasure!

Any additional comments?

I got this because it was on sale while I was waiting for my new credit to be available. I think I have to change my current thoughts about what kind of books I like. I normally don't read "these types of books", as I like to call this... but I must say, I really enjoyed the book. While the overall story line has been done a million times over, Frost keeps me wanting more with her use of witty, and downright funny dialog. Her "sex scenes" are very well done without going over the top, and her characters are likeable. Tavia does a great job with the narration. It only took me about 10 minutes to get used to the voice she uses for Bones - (I thought it was a little too high), but it once I got into the book it didn't matter at all. Tavia brings these characters to life with her superb voice acting. I recommend this book to anyone looking for some light, fun, and tantalizing reading. You WILL get hooked!

Love the book but the narrator killed this for me.

I bought this because it was on sale and since I've read all of Jeaniene Frost's books on Kindle I figured it was a no-brainer. Well I should have paid more attention to the reviewer who mentioned how distracting the narrator's voice for Bones is because it completely pulled me out of the story. I would compare it to Spike from Buffy but that's doing a disservice to James Marsters. More like a menacing Eliza Doolittle. I thought I'd get used to it but I'm halfway through the book and I'm giving up. This one's going back.

I encourage everyone to at least try the sample, though, because you may not have the same issue I did and it's really a fantastic, fun, sexy series.

Vampire Romance with Lots of Action

STORY - Halfway to the Grave is what I call a "tweener" book. It is a romance sprinkled with humor, steamy sex and lots of vampire hunting/killing action. There is not any kind of complex plot line which requires concentration, and you will not have your guts wrenched with suspense or emotion. The main character (Cat) is smart and brave. Bones, her lover, is complex yet likeable and very romantic. The book was enjoyable, but there were times when I became bored and just wanted to get it over with. The ending is a cliffhanger, so you will likely want to continue to the next book in the series.

NARRATOR - Tavia Gilbert is an amazing narrator. She does a great job with Bones' Cockney accent as well as the minor characters -- drunks, ghosts, family, etc. I agree with many reviewers that Bones' accent is not the least bit sexy and I was very dissapointed at first, but I came to understand that it is the right accent when you consider his origin and childhood.

OVERALL - I wasn't in love with this book, but it is a nice, easy listen and good enough for me to move to Book 2.

Great series. Worth every credit.

Almost a year ago, I had amassed credits on my account and found a few books to use them up and close my account. One of them was the first book in this series. My 17-year old daughter and I listened to that book late this summer while traveling and I had to rejoin Audible just to get the entire series. The sex scenes can be a bit much, but that would be my only complaint. This series is addictive. We blasted through 5 books in a few weeks and were anxiously awaiting the next credits.

The story: The characters are believable and engaging. They are dynamic. The plots are interesting and fast-moving with just enough twists to keep a sharp mind attentive. The sex scenes are believable and fairly graphic (for my 17-year old, but we openly discuss such things so I was okay with it.) One big caveat: Go to her website to get the reading order. I believe that after book 3, you need to switch to the "Night Huntress World" series before reading books 4 and 5. Double check that, I'm going from memory.

The performance: The reader was FANTASTIC. She really brought the characters to life. She made the action scenes and scenes with emotion really shine. I've since gone looking for other things that she reads.

If another installment of this series came available, it would jump to the top of my wish list.

Fab Story, Good Narrator (British Accent Beware)

I loved pretty much everything about this story but I almost didn't get through the first few chapters...

Bones' character seems to have been strongly influnced by "Spike" from Buffy The Vampire Slayer" (which for me is a good thing!) However, despite Tavia Gilberts stellar overall performance and excellent portrayal of all the other characters, her accent for Bones was TERRIBLE. Being british I'm perhaps more sensitive than others but her cockney accent was totally not sexy, inconsistent and quite frankly all over the place. It was almost a deal breaker for me during the first few chapters. I'm glad I continued listening though, because after a couple of hours her Bones voice didn't bother me quite so much, and I was able to settle in and truly enjoy the story.

one flaw

Loved this story and the characters! The only flaw is the narrator's portrayal of Bones (the male lead): not strong or sexy enough for such a great character. However, Ms. Gilbert did a great job as Cat (the female lead) and a good job with the lesser characters. Can't wait for the 2nd book in this series to go Audible!

NOT A BAD BOOK.

IT TOOK ME AWHILE TO GET INTO THIS BOOK. I THOUGHT IT STARTED OF KIND OF SLOW COMPARED TO WHAT I AM USE TO AND WHAT I WAS EXPECTING. OVER ALL IT WAS PERTTY ENTERTAINING. I JUST FINISHED LISTENING TO THE WHOLE SERIES (or whats availble) AND I WILL SAY BOOK 1 ISNT THE BEST BUT THE OTHER BOOK MAKE UP FOR WHAT THIS ONE IS LACKING. ITS IS DEFINITLY WORTH LISTENING TO. I ALSO LIKE HOW THE AUTHOR ENDS THE BOOKS. YOU DONT HAVE TO ACTUALLY LISTEN TO THE BOOKS IN ORDER LIKE YOU WOULD DO IN OTHER SERIES.

My Favorite PNR series!

I love Cat & Bones! If your looking for a awesome Paranormal Romance Series than you MUST buy the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost.

Completely Awesome!

I so throughly enjoyed this story that (after being dissapointed the other books in the series weren't on audio), I went out and purchased the remaining 3 books and read ALL within 4 days - completely unherd of for me! (I had to go to 3 book stores to find them, the sales staff @ ea. store said they were VERY popular).

I felt the book was very well written, the charaters are well devloped and the story flowed and concluded well, leaving you hungry for more.

These books were a great blend of action, mystery, romance, sex, and the supernatural(mainly in the form of vampires).
There was alot of violence, but not overly done, & some profanity, so heads up if you're sensitive to this kind of material. But unlike many supernatural stories I didn't find this spiturally disturbing.
Another thing I appreciated was that the author doesn't dissapoint when it comes to the passionate intimacy Cat and Bones share (unlike Twlight which I LOVED but left me high and dry in that dept.). If you get to the 3rd book there's a great inclusion of Vlad Tepes (AKA Dracula) into the story.
I mention the other books in the series as a testament as to how enjoyable the story was, and as a warning as to how addictive they are!
Narrator did a wonderful job w/ her British accent of Bones.

OMG - If you cant do an English Accent - Don't Try

This story is great, I'm still evaluating the vampire story line but first impressions is that it's great.



The thing that really raped my ears was the really really awful english accent, really awful!

Think the story has a lot of promise, but OMG - the accent. We're not all cockneys and even the ones that are don't sound like THAT!

Americans my find the pseudo cockney accent charming, but any English people out there will wince.

Disappointing narration

I actually enjoyed the storyline of Halfway to the Grave and would recommend it as a read but I found that the dreadful English Mockney accent Tavia Gilbert adopted for Bones just spoiled my whole listening experience - if only she'd stuck to her normal accent, the whole thing would have been much more enjoyable. Regrettably I won't be downloading the follow-ups because of this.

The accents make this book hard work.

The first time I picked listened to this Audio book, I returned it before I'd even gotten a couple of chapters in, the English accent that "Bones" has is just so horrific, think Dick Van Dike in Mary Poppins, meets Austin Powers. it's just so damn bad that it can take real work getting through this sometimes. But the story itself really is worth the work.

Blimey! What bloody awful narration!

Listener beware, I ignored the previous reviews to my peril. This will hurt and offended your ears! Tavia Gilbert out-mockney's Dick Van Dyke, in the most appalling take on the British accent you will ever hear. So embarrassingly bad that it is funny , but ultimately I couldn't focus on the book and turned it off.Buy the hard copy you'll be doing your ears a favour. And Audible I want my money back!

Loved it when I read it but the accent!

I have actually read all the Night Huntress books before I listened to this, so I knew I would love the story but I like to listen to audiobooks through out the day. This is book 1 in the series and a brilliant introduction to this fast-paced, fun and sexy world. The combination of fantasy, humour and action is a winning one if you're a fan of the genre (Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance). I have given this 4 stars simply for the reason that I got so irratated with the accent the narrator had given Bones! I always imagined it more Spike from Buffy than Artful Dodger from Olive!. Unfortunately the accent contiunes throughout the series on audio (appreciate they couldn't change the accent after the first, especially with the same narrator.) It does some what spoill the character, which really is a shame.
All in all this is a fantastic story and continues on into equally fantastic series. Worth a listen if you're a fan of Kelley Armstrong, Patricia Briggs, Charlaine Harris etc.

A wild ride

This book has everything: laugh out loud moments, action, romance, great characters and a fast-moving tight plot which makes it impossible to put down. The hero alone is worth reading the story to the end and the first person narrative is strong. The heroine borders on the psychotic and I can't say I exactly like her. In places, the violence was a bit graphic for my taste too. Despite this, I must confess I can't wait to read the others in the series, so here's hoping Audible gets the rest of them.

Love the story but...........

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I've read the books and loved the story but i had to stop listening to the audio version because of the dreadful Brisih accent, I won't be buying the follow up books because of this.

Let down by narration

I agree with the reviewer that commented on the 'English' accent the narrator adopted for Bones. It was completely wrong and devoid of any sort of emotional variations so made the story very one sided. A real shame as the remaining narration was good. I will try Book 2 but if the accent continues, that will be it!!

A rubbish English accent

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Love the book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bones .....A guy to fall in love with

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Most annoying English accent I have ever heard

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No

Any additional comments?

My favorite author but badly read which is off putting

story ruined by mock accent

One character is English the performer gave a mock south London accent which is truly awful example "dawn" spoken as "don". The character which is also male sounds more girly than the bodice ripping seducer.
The female lead voice is okay and I bought this book based on the reviews and the sample of that voice.
This ones going back as the narrator attempt at characteriation is getting on my nerves.