First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost + New Pre-Cleansing Ritual

K.C. — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:14:33 +0000

Night Huntress World Series (384 pages)

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Amazon

FDOC is an off shoot series of Night of the Huntress. Despite completing the Smokin Hot Pre-Ritual Cleanse (utter crap FYI but continue to do it anyway), FDOC is a different read than Jeanine Frost’s Grave series or what I refer to as Bones series. First of all this is a more traditional paranormal romance instead of a series (think Faith Hill when she crossed from Country to Pop) sometimes I want everything wrapped up (neat and tidy ) in one book.

The night is not safe for mortals. Denise MacGregor knows all too well what lurks in the shadows—her best friend is half-vampire Cat Crawfield—and she has already lost more than the average human could bear. But her family’s past is wrapped in secrets and shrouded in darkness—and a demon shapeshifter has marked Denise as prey. Now her survival depends on an immortal who lusts for a taste of her.

He is Spade, a powerful, mysterious vampire who has walked the earth for centuries and is now duty-bound to protect this endangered, alluring human—even if it means destroying his own kind. Denise may arouse his deepest hungers, but Spade knows he must fight his urge to have her as they face the nightmare together . . .

Because once the first crimson drop falls, they will both be lost.

What to do when an author has given you the stars so to speak, and has no where to go but down? As you all know, I have a little woman-crush on Jeanine Frost. I love that she created one of the best, most interesting male leads that I have read to date. I’m so obsessed with Bones that I’d fight Gena Showalter for him. (reference comment ‘mary me bones’).

So what are we to do when Frost’ end’s her series only to begin a hybrid of the series with First Drop of Crimson. I’ll admit, I was expecting to fall in lust with Spade as I did with Bones. Only, I didn’t feel that way toward Spade at all. I know variety is good for your health and all, but I was really looking forward to having the same emotional attachment to this book as I had in the series. So, truly, Ms. Frost didn’t stand a chance with my unrelenting, unrealistic expectations.

How can we transition from such a great series to her new stand-alones?? I know that I have to have an ‘attitude adjustment’, but I just couldn’t put myself in the mindset that this was somehow connected to the other series. Would I have liked it better had this been a completely different book with no ties to Cat and Bones?

No!

(See Below Pre-Ritual Cleanse to Clear All Thoughts of Cat and Bones Before Reading FTOC)

What I liked:

I liked Denise, which is odd because she is nothing like Cat. She suffers from PTSD, and is a girl that likes to pay her own way and can still be cute after accidently puking in front of sexy Spade. I found her to be endearing. I also liked the twist of what her blood does to Spade and why she has to get tattoos

Frost brings her usual awesomeness with great suspense and action in FDOC. When Denise and Spade are battling Raum towards the end I may have gripped Mrs. Easy Peasy a bit too hard. Sorry girl.

Loved Ian. Okay he isn’t the main character, but he has such a unique presence in FDOC that you can’t help but fall a little in lust with him. He steals the show. I also liked *clears throat* his “special piercing” and his perverted ways. In one scene he turns on porn during a strategy session. My kind of guy.

What I didn’t like:

I’ll be honest I didn’t connect with Spade and I was not feeling the Denise and Spade relationship tingle. As characters they were interesting but I felt the relationship sizzle could be been kicked up a notch. I did think Spade was more interesting in the Grave series than FDOC, perhaps if he remained aloof and Darcy-like I would have connected with him more. At times he read a little flat (mutters I’m not comparing to Bones I’m not comparing to Bones).

Denise’s PTSD . Did not care for this angle one bit. I thought Frost used PTSD a bit too much, sometimes when you bring a real life concept into paranormal it can seem a bit off. For instance, when she has to attend a vampire function with Spade (to find Nicholas) she starts to clam up and Spade has to help her through her “PTSD” moment. Didn’t buy it and didn’t like it – felt like a flimsy excuse. In no way did this deter from my reading enjoyment but I did think it was an odd and unnecessary element.

Final Verdict Although I came to expect the same incredible tension and action that Ms. Frost is known for and while there was plenty of action, the relationship tension was a little lacking. Other than that First Drop of Crimson is a great traditional paranormal romance that made me (makes gasp noises) and had me reading until past my bedtime. If you were hoping for anything like Cat and Bones, sorry you might be disappointed with First Drop of Crimson – overall this is still a great read.

Rating

Book News

Next book is about Mencheres – Eternal Kiss of Darkness out in July 2010. I know we all want Tate, Vlad, or Ian’s book but we will have to be patient…or someone needs to start another cleansing ritual.

P.S. Jeanine Frost will be writing 3 More Cat and Bones books, with 2 released in 2011 (click here) !!!

—————————————————————————————————————————–

Smokin Hot’s Pre-Ritual Cleanse to Clear All Thoughts of Cat’s and Bones Before Reading FDOC

1. Take deep meditative breaths - in and out. Repeat until you find your chi (wherever that may be)

2. Fold leg’s into Lotus style position and continue your yoga breaths (PS. do not attempt to wear skinny jeans)

3. Breathe through the nose and out of the mouth (pop in a breath mint to be polite to fellow peeps nearby)

4. Utter “Namaste I won’t think of Bones and Cat-as-tae” 5 times.

*Anyone else notice that they can’t breathe out of their right nostril…or is that just me?

Possibly Related Posts:

» night huntress world series

First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost + New Pre-Cleansing Ritual