Reckoning by Jeaniene Frost

Reckoning
(Originally appeared in the anthology Unbound)
by Jeaniene Frost

Genre: Supernatural Thriller | Short-Story (eBook only)

In New Orleans, a pair of undead serial killers are about to turn Mardi Gras into a horror show—unless the immortal hitman Bones can hunt them down first.
From Jeaniene Frost comes a thrilling prequel novella featuring characters from her New York Times bestselling Night Huntress series.

IN HONOR OF MARDI GRAS (Today, Feb 21st). . .

Bones is on the hunt for the famous Delphine & Louis LaLourie, who are actually ghouls and back in New Orleans during Mardi Gras to continue their deadly reign on innocent tourists. With the Majestic Voodoo Queen, Marie, out of town on business, Bones hopes this would be an easy mission, except there is also someone trying to murder him as well, with silver arrows nonetheless. As this twisted cat-and-mouse thriller quickly gets out of control, can Bones save the day (as well as his own neck) from becoming any more bloodier during carnival time?

I just had to tackle a Mardi Gras related story for today and what better character to read about than Bones, so win-win! Overall, I'll just start off by stating I'm not a fan of anthologies since the stories are way too short and always leave me wanting more, but this tale was enjoyable for the fact that it contained lots of Mardi Gras spirit - which I am totally in by the way (and, in real life, out in costume on St. Charles Avenue yelling for REX beads!) This suspenseful thriller shorty contains lots of Bone(s) action (no pun intended), so have fun with that, but also somewhat emotional when you find out the real reason behind Bones mission. Enjoy!

If you don't know about the LaLourie's . . . click here. Sometimes the truth can be creepier than fiction!

Likes: Interesting spin of truth and fiction . . . had me cracking up when I first started reading. The LaLourie's story is truly a famous New Orleans dark tale - so thanks for the spin-off Jeaniene!

Dislikes: As most short-stories in anthologies can be - the story was too choppy for me and somewhat silly (the whole musical Phantom of the Opera Mardi Gras float scene . . . I mean, seriously?)

Rating:

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This Side of the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

This Side of the Grave

(A Night Huntress Novel Book # 5)

by Jeaniene Frost

Genre: Paranormal Romance | Dark Fantasy

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.

I'm happy we got back into a story about the original characters. Cat is just as hard-ass and Bones as frustratingly suave as always, but you gotta love them! You can defiantly tell we're on Book #5 in series since the plot no longer focuses on the main characters and one major plot anymore and, overall, I felt this story went all over the place; from emotional family baggage to catch-up with previous characters to ghouls / ghosts galore.

Unfortunately, I went about the wrong way in reading this book. First, opted for the audio-book on a drive to Texas, didn't finish all the way. About a week passed. Second, I had the paperback to continue reading, but still didn't finish all the way since I got busy with work and ending up reading another book all together. Then another week passed. All in all, I really haven't finished the book YET (honestly, only a few pages till the end) BUT I will get to them soon, promise! ;)

From what I read though, it is full of high-intense action, some HOT (H-O-T-T-HOT!) sex scenes, tearfully emotional family scenes, and lots of new spooky abilities for Cat - which means . . . more books to come. Even though the Night Huntress series is beginning to take on characteristics of a chain of books becoming too much for the reader (i.e. too much plot, too many characters, too much action, etc.) that the simple story in-between it all is lost, I still love Bones and will always be coming back for more!

Likes: A visit to New Orleans - Whoot! Whoot!

Dislikes: I don't like the ghouls. None of them grew on me and all Cat's interactions with them was just "so-so". Blah!

Rating:

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