At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost

(Night Huntress, #3)
URBAN FANTASY

It should be the best time of half-vampire Cat Crawfield’s life. With her undead lover Bones at her side, she’s successfully protected mortals from the rogue undead. But though Cat’s worn disguise after disguise to keep her true identity a secret from the brazen bloodsuckers, her cover’s finally been blown, placing her in terrible danger.

As if that wasn’t enough, a woman from Bones’s past is determined to bury him once and for all. Caught in the crosshairs of a vengeful vamp, yet determined to help Bones stop a lethal magic from being unleashed, Cat’s about to learn the true meaning of bad blood. And the tricks she’s learned as a special agent won’t help her. She will need to fully embrace her vampire instincts in order to save herself—and Bones—from a fate worse than the grave.

What usually happens with a series I end up loving is that I seriously fall head over heels for it by the third book. That's happened more times than I can remember, that third time is a charm that really lures me in. Sadly that's not the case yet with the Night Huntress series - I'm still finding the series hard to put down once I've picked the book up, but not in love with what I'm reading. It must just be that call of a series, where I keep reading because I'm into some parts of it, hoping the parts that are lackluster start shining more.

This time we don't jump ahead by years, but we still jump forward a bit, to where Bones and Cat have been working on the team together for awhile. They're much more welcoming where vampires are involved, even to the tune where they're starting to turn team members. As with the other stories, there's a big bad danger out there, first to Cat, but now also to Bones, and they have to come together with both teams (Bone's allies and Cat's paranormal team) to combat the biggest villain they've fought so far.

Cat still isn't a character I dig. She's not the worst I've read, but I find little redeeming about her. Her attitude wasn't as abrasive as the second book when it comes to trashy dialogue and manners in groups, but she's still too bloodthirsty and stereotypical for me. Bones calls her compassionate, but I have no idea where he's drawing that from. Besides sweet moments with Bones in private, she's socially horrid and I find it surprising anyone can stand her outside of the supposed appearance allure she apparently has. Bones himself shows even darker sides, and I do have to say the book takes too light an indulgence in torture for my tastes. It's not shown in detail thankfully, but I can imagine.

Side characters are where the book shines - Ian is still likable enough, Mencheres rocks with his powerful old self, Vlad is a surprisingly humorous addition that totally worked, I still like Tate, Don remains boring the background. I still don't like Cat's mother, although for different reasons this time - before she was just a close-minded nub, but now she's a stereotypical, irritating inconvenience.

Plot-wise, the book actually works - there's tension, sad parts, a huge finale where there are major causalities, and vampire politics. I didn't enjoy the part where Cat took over for an interim, it's just too cheesy and unrealistic for me to swallow. Sure, she's a good fighter and Bones, the best, taught her - but that easily she takes down that many ancient vamps on the stage? I can't buy that.

I'll continue with the series, already own the rest, and I do want to see how everything turns out. I'm only hoping I start liking the series more by the fourth book. I like it, but I'm not sucked in yet.