Spike and Buffy. Sookie and Eric. Elena and Damon. All favorite vampire and human couples of mine. Now I can add Cat and Bones to that list. Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost is the first book in her series Night Huntress that introduces us to the half-dead Catherine Crawfield and the paranormal world of vampires.

Cat is an interesting character in her own right. She’s half vampire, half human, and jokingly calls herself half-dead. Raised to hate vampires by her mother, Cat spends her days as a college student and her nights killing vampires. One night doing what she does best, Cat comes across a vampire far stronger than any other she’s encountered.

Bones rivals Eric as my favorite vampire (and that is saying something because no one else has come close). He challenges everything Cat has been raised to believe. Bones pushes Cat outside of her comfort zone. He trains her so she won’t be defenseless against the stronger (i.e. older) vamps and makes a deal with her. She’ll quit killing every vampire she encounters and work with him to take down the truly bad ones.

With no real choice in the matter (at least she doesn’t think so), Cat agrees and so begins the story. I loved the dynamic between these two. Banter can make or break a book for me, and theirs is spot on. This made it easy to buy into the romance that buds between them. Now the romance is spicy, but keep in mind that this is more urban fantasy than romance. There is a ton of action mixed between those spicy scenes. The action really drives the plot and kept me engaged from beginning to end. This book can be quite horrific at times with details of what happens to Cat’s mother and others as well as the gory vampiric deaths she encounters, however there is enough humor to offset it.

Overall I really enjoyed Halfway to the Grave. I buddy read it with Berls, Stephanie, and Anne, and it helped being able to discuss some of what was happening as we read. If you are a fan of urban fantasy, I highly recommend it.