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    Twice Dead
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    Twice Dead
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    Twice Dead
    Ebook417 pages5 hours

    Twice Dead

    By Kalayna Price

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook


    Newly undead shifter-turned-vampire Kita Nekai is coming to grips with the reality that her cat has not awakened since her change. What she needs is a little time to adjust to her new liquid diet and the increasingly complex attraction to her sire, Nathanial. What she gets is a headless harlequin. With the body count rising, Kita is dragged into a dangerous game of vampire politics. Her involvement draws the attention of an ancient vampire known as the Collector who has a penchant for acquiring the unusual - like a pureblood shifter-turned vampire. Kita still has unfinished business of her own and finds herself deeper in magical debt. It's a bad time to be a kitten who can't slip her skin.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBelleBooks
    Release dateFeb 12, 2010
    ISBN9781935661542
    Unavailable
    Twice Dead

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    Reviews for Twice Dead

    3.5/5

    147 ratings74 reviews

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    • 2/5
      (Note: This was supplied as a PDF. Reading PDFs is a pain on my eReader, so that meant computer time, and as I usually find myself doing things on the computer instead of reading it slowed finishing this down, a lot, which may reflect in a slightly tetchy review. ePub please!)I'm still trying to decide if I liked this book or not. The series has potential. Against that, it does hit some of my 'annoying' buttons - the heroine seems a little more whinging (though its nice not to see yet another Anita-Blake-super-competant clone) than warrented, the world was solid enough to feel real, and the rest of the characters were pleasantly interesting.Having got MY whining out of the way - I did enjoy the book while I was reading, and the world and characters were deftly enough sketched that I didn't generally suffer a lot of those argh! moments. If you like Urban Fantasy, pick up a copy or skim a few sample pages to see if you'd like the book, and if you do, grab the first in the series (Once Bitten) at the same time.
    • 2/5
      Getting better! Still haven't found a part of this series I can sink my teeth into, but the concept is good enough that I keep coming back for more.
    • 3/5
      I have not read the first book in the series, so I found it a little difficult to get into this book. I did enjoy it once I got into it. Interesting story and world.
    • 3/5
      A little late in coming, but I received and read this book for the Early Reviewers and although I enjoyed the story well enough, the plot moved along, and the characters were likeable, I found it very difficult to "get" based on not having read the first book in the series. In other words, I thought the author (Kalayna Price) did a poor job of setting up the story line and the overall settings for someone who has not read the first book. "Twice Dead" could definitely have benefited from a brief synopsis of how Kita came to be a vampire and/or what she was before that; who Gil is/how Kita knows her; why there were rogue shape shifters; etc. I've read a lot of series, and as tedious as it is sometimes to read a few sentences of why something is happening because of an occurrence in a previous story, it is really necessary for everyone who just happened to want to read this one story.
    • 4/5
      A fun, action-filled story of vampires, shape-shifters and mages. I haven't read the first book in the series, though Price fills in the back story well enough, which can be a challenge I"m sure - not to bore readers following a series with too much old news, yet give new readers enough background that they're not floundering. I would probably have enjoyed the characters a bit more if I'd read Once Bitten, the first book in the series, but that's likely just personal preference. This story has Kita, a shape-shifter and fledgling vampire, and Nathaniel, the vampire who turned her, smack in the middle of some intense vampire politics. At the same time Kita is trying to fulfill a quest to track down people she may have "tagged" as shape-shifters during an attack that occurred in the first book. Complications ensue, including murder and mayhem. I think I'll go find a copy of the first book to see how things start out.
    • 4/5
      I have read this story twice now. The first time I read it, I read it before I had read the first book in the series. I didn't do a review at that time, because I felt that I could not do it justice. I have now read it for the second time, only after reading the first story in the series. This was a good story for this type of read. I did not find that it was wholly original plot, so to speak, for this genre. However, I did enjoy it much more the second time I read it.
    • 4/5
      I liked this book alot. Kita is a fun character to watch as she tries to figure out her new situation as a shifter turned vampire. There is slight romance in this story but it is slow going hopefully to build up more later. The storyline is very good, Kita keeps finding her self in situations that she has to dig herself out of or die. I enjoyed reading this story and would recommend it, but the reader should start with Once Bitten first to fully follow this.
    • 4/5
      I love the Urban Fantasy genre though I have spent more time with the YA portion of it, so I was excited to try out the Adult side, and this book did not disappoint. It is the second book in the series but without having read the first book it was still easy enough to pick up on the characters and not feel that I had missed too much from the previous book. Twice Bad is a quick read and I like that Kalayna Price did her own mythology for vampires. It's always refreshing to find the difference in the lore so it's not always the same thing with every book dealing with vampires. Kita the main character had been a shapeshifter and is now a new vampire and handling all the new territory that comes with the change. She was an interesting character sometimes a bit too much and others you just want to hug her. I enjoyed the interactions between Kita and her sire Nathaniel.Overall this was a fun and fast paced read and has peaked my interest in finding the first book and others to come in this series.
    • 4/5
      I sign up for nearly every book I can when ever Early Reviewer batch comes up, hoping to receive something, maybe widen my chances. I also do it because I receive something I normally wouldn't read.Though I'm a fan of urban fantasy, I likely wouldn't have picked up Twice Dead as it seems like just another book capitalizing on the skinwalker/vampire/werewolf/wizard craze of late. However, I was completely wrong. Twice Dead is a second book in a series yet I had little trouble picking up the story having not read the first.Shapeshifter Kita is a newly turned vampire suddenly thrust into the high stakes political world of vampires and Kita often finds herself in dicey terrain, sometimes literally. The story moves quickly, so much so that I would find it difficult to find a suitable place to stop as the characters scarcely had a rest between scenes. If the novel was longer this might have become a rather tiresome contrivance but at roughly 200 pages, it just made the pages seem to fly by enjoyably.Kita is an interesting narrator, stumbling along making stupid mistakes everywhere (though not enough for the reader to think that she's a moron). All in all I found the world within the book to be quite interesting. I liked the take on shifters and the slightly different take on vampires. It gave the novel just enough of it's own mythology to separate it from the masses of other vampire novels. It was definitely a fun read and I think I'll be looking for more novels from this author.
    • 2/5
      First off, I have to admit that this took me four months to read. Part of it was that it was an ebook, so I couldn't read it for long spans of time. Even if I had been able to, I don't think I would have wanted to. I was very unimpressed with this book. There was very little character growth and even less world building. Main character Kita is originally a shapeshifter who turns into a small cat, but in some vaguely described incident that occurred in the first book, she is now also a vampire. A very whiny, Mary Sue vampire. Despite trouble following her around, everyone seems to be fascinated with her and almost all of the main male characters want her. She's whiny and petulant like a child, and yet you're supposed to be on her side. At the same time, you have Nathaniel, her sire, who is the strong silent type. And that generic stereotype is about all we know about him. All the other characters who are given any amount of page space to make an impression are similar stereotypes - the maniacal, possessive Tatius, the quietly possessive Collector, the scheming china doll-esque Elizabeth. Then there are all the interchangeable characters who are just around to hate on Kita because her life is so. hard.Bland two dimensional characters would be palatable if they lived in a vivid well-structured world, but these don't. Maybe there was more world building in the first book of this series, but in Twice Dead, I couldn't tell if this was supposed to be an Earth-like world, an alternate version of Earth, or something completely different. Humans were very minor elements, so is the world primarily full of supernaturals? How does this world relate to Kita's original home of shapeshifters? Is that in another dimension, on another planet, etc. Mostly you're life to assume this world is just like ours with a supernatural underlining so fill in the blanks yourself. Except there are so many supernatural elements that it doesn't make sense how it could run any entire city/council underneath the humans without anyone noticing.I readily admit I never read the first book, so some background was definitely lacking. Any subsequent books in a series should still give a brief overview of what has happened before so that the plot makes sense in context. The references to rouges and judge's marks were not fully explained and I'm still not quite sure what the point of the mage was other than to be a convenient way to get Kita in and out of trouble. And finally, the book ends and then continues until the new sequel is setup like in a movie with a brand new character appearing out of nowhere with one or two lines of dialogue, except that doesn't really work in a book.Underneath all this, there might have been a pleasant plot, but too many of the large elements did not work. There was one moment, in the middle of the novel, where I couldn't put the book down, but I think that was more because it was so much fun to read on an iPad than my computer. Wouldn't recommend it though I've read worse.
    • 4/5
      Just two short weeks ago, Kita was turned from shape shifter to vampire. Now she and her maker, Nathanial, must navigate an increasingly deadly game of vampire politics while Kita adjusts to her new lifestyle. Kita must also resolve some personal issues from her past and in doing so gets herself deeper into magical debt. All the while, Kita is wondering if she will ever shift into her cat again.Although the events of Twice Dead take place very shortly after those of the first book, Once Bitten, it has been about a year and a half since I read the first book which means I have forgotten a lot of the details. Price does give the reader reminders of the main events of the first book but I still started out a bit confused until I reoriented myself with the world and Kita and Nathanial's situation.Twice Dead is every bit as complicated as Once Bitten with multiple story lines pulling Kita in different directions. Kita has every intention of thinking through her situations and trying to reason them out but often she reacts impulsively which generally lands her in even more trouble. Kita has to fight to not wear her emotions plainly and to calm her cat's nervous energy. She is being used politically and magically in many ways and finds it difficult to sort the real and true from the false.The characters are all well-drawn and the events of the book are all very emotionally charged. I did feel that some of the characters were not well introduced if someone hadn't read the first book. I remember really loving the first book because it was so different from many of the other books I was reading at the time. Price continues to highlight those differences in Twice Dead. I wasn't as completely enthralled by this book however because the writing didn't seem to be up to the standards of other books I've been reading recently. Kalayna Price will be an author to watch though because her writing shows incredible promise and I think she will only continue to improve with future books. The ending of Twice Dead leaves no room for doubt that we will be seeing more of Kita and Nathanial.I would highly suggest starting with Once Bitten if you are interested in this series at all. The books take place quite close together and the events of that book are fundamental for understanding Twice Dead.
    • 4/5
      This is the second book in Price's "Haven" series. I'm usually hesitant to pick up a book in the middle of a series but since I won it as one of my Early Reviewer books I didn't have much choice. It was no problem at all getting caught up with the who's who, what happened before and what was happening now. This was an ebook and I read it on my iPhone with the Dropbox application.The story was gripping from the first page and I didn't want to put it down. An alien shapeshifter turned vampire? It sounds crazy but it works. And how could I not like Nathanial, the vampire with a dog who lets Kita's shapeshifter friend stick around until he can return to their planet? Kita finds she's no longer able to shift to her cat form nor is she able to communicate with her sire as expected. Her sense of smell is greater than other vampires and when combined with her catlike curiosity and independent streak naturally makes her the one who investigates what is going on with the headless harlequin.I'm looking forward to the next book.
    • 4/5
      I took a little to read the book because I don't have an ebook reader and need to read at the PC, but as soon as I could sit to read it, I was caught in it. It's full of action, some kind of black humor, creepiness and it went in directions I couldn't predict. Even if this is a second in a series, and I hadn't read the first one, I could follow without problems. I'll read more by the author.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this book. I actually read it without reading the first book, and it has made me want to go back and read the first one. I thought the world building was unique and believable. I would recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      It took awhile for me to get the opportunity to sit down and read this book and after the first few chapters I was wondering if I was wasting my time, thankfully I continued and found the characters interesting and the plot fascinating. I suspect that my initial dislike for Twice Dead was not having read the first book in the series, Once Bitten. I quickly looked for the first novel in the Haven Series but a Canadian source could not be found at the library, in a bookstore, or on line. My experience with fantasy novels has been limited to the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy so I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself having a hard time putting it down. Kalayna Price’s first chapter starts out fast and she keeps this pace till the end dangling a wickedly juicy teaser. She leaves you wanting more. I want more. I look forward to the continuation of Kita’s and her entourage’s adventures.
    • 3/5
      I recieved this as an e-book for the Early Bird Reviews and, as a bonus, I was also sent the first in the series, Once Bitten. I will confess immediately that I did not finish either book - but that was because of the format rather than the quality of the writing. Kalayna Price in an engaging writer who paints vivid characters; her stories are a little slow-moving though and certainly not suited to reading an the computer!
    • 4/5
      Kita is in major trouble. She has been turned by Nathanial who cares for her deeply. She can't shapeshift anymore, apparently being a vampire is enough for one body to handle. (And she was such a cute little kitten!!) Her friend Gil, magic student extraordinaire, keeps popping in and out of the atmosphere and Bobby, a shapeshifter friend wants to be much more. What's a girl to do? In Twice Dead, the second novel of Haven by Kalayna Price, it seems all Kita can do is keep paddling like hell to keep from being bitten, killed, and chased by a really, REALLY large snake. Nathaniel takes her to a costume party and, when trying to be nonchalant by sitting quietly on the couch, Kita turns to speak to the person beside her and the person's head falls off! Not a good beginning. Accused of murder by a very powerful vampire called The Collector (you don't want to know of what), Nathanial and Kita flee to another town where things don't get any simpler.There is a snake/shifter trying do kill anyone who annoys it. Elizabeth, The Collector's truthseeker, has plans for Kita and they don't include staying alive any longer than necessary. Plus Kita must find the other men she thinks she may have tagged the last time she was in Demur. And then there is the bond she made with the rogue shapeshifter to find him a new body. Why can't the girl just keep her mouth shut?
    • 3/5
      There's a new vampire in the city of Haven, and she's not like any vampire ever made before. Kita is her name, and before she was turned by Nathaniel the Hermit, she was a shifter. In the alternate world of Firth, Kita was the calico werecat daughter of her clan's Torin, or Alpha, and the smallest shifter in the clan. Now a newly-turned vampire, one of the first things she realizes is that she no longer possesses the ability to shift out of her human form.Kita finds herself thrust into a new and totally unfamiliar environment, embroiled in vampire politics, struggling to finish righting a wrong she committed before her turn. She finds herself embroiled in one dangerous situation to the other, persevering by her wits and determination alone. Along the way, she encounters a vast assortment of entities including vampires, necromancers, humans, rogue shifters, mages, and skinwalkers. Some are friends and some are foe.I received this e-book through the Early Reviewers program. Although it took me a short while to figure out the story line and main characters, having not read the first book of the series, this action-packed book ensnared my interest very quickly and kept me engrossed to the very last page, culminating in an excellent teaser leading to book three. I believe I will have to go back and read book one now, so I will be completely caught up and ready to enjoy the third upon its release!
    • 3/5
      Kita is a shifter, a being that can take both human and animal form. However, Kita has recently been turned into a vampire, one of the side effects of this being that she can no longer shift into her animal form (a cat). As a newborn vampire Kita has to learn the ways of the vampires and their rather hierarchical society – and she has to learn it the hard way. Most vampires are power-hungry and do not hesitate to abuse their powers to get what they want.A lot of things happen in this book. The short version: no matter which way Kita turns, she walks straight into trouble.I enjoyed reading this book, although in the beginning it was confusing since I haven’t read the first part. The interactions are described very vividly; in such a way that it pulls you right into it. I thought the plot was a bit too fragmented, though. It keeps jumping from one situation to another, and although in the end everything seems to come together, I haven’t got a clue whether it all made sense anymore. Still, it was worth reading.
    • 2/5
      In this installment, vampire-werecat-shifter Kita continues her adventures. The vampires Nathaniel, the vamp who made her, and Tatius, the vampires’ leader, are vying for control over Kita. The young vampire’s special powers make her particularly sought-after by the bloodsucking underworld. Mystery and suspense are literally around every corner for Kita, which is something you can look forward to as a reader of this particular action-packed tale. Part urban fantasy, part teen vampire drama, this title features a relatable character in the enigmatic Kita. The second part in a series, it’s possible to read “Twice Dead” without reading its predecessor but you might feel a little bit like you are missing out on a large part of Kita’s backstory. A lot of questions are left unanswered by the end of the story, presumably to be addressed in the next installment of “The Haven” series. This book is not entirely unreadable, and is in fact a pretty quick read overall, but sadly does little to stand out from your average vampire teen Twilight-inspired clone.
    • 4/5
      Twice Dead is the second book in the Haven Series. In the first installment we met Kita the half Werecat / half Vampire and her band of misfit "friends" and followed them in search of a rouge shifter. This time around we witness Kita being torn between two master vampires battling to control her, Kita searching for more humans she may have accidentally turned into shifters, a murderer framing Kita and an odd zombie/necromancer/ghost...thing....just to name a few. I received Twice Dead through the Early Reviewers program at LibraryThing.com. Surprisingly I really liked this book more than the first one in the series. It takes us so many places and has so many things going on, you would think that you would be lost or confused, but Ms. Price does very well with keeping you up to pace. I'm really liking all the characters and just can't wait to read the next book. We still don't see anymore of an explination of what Kita's homeland, Firth, is, but according to the exerpt in the back of this book, it looks like the next book will take us there. I definately recommend reading Once Bitten first. I started to read Twice Dead first, but was pretty lost after the first two chapters.
    • 5/5
      This was a page turner. I couldn't help myself, I read it in two sittings! Rollicking good read with a couple of fresh (for me) story lines. If you like Stephanie Meyers Twilight series, you'll definately enjoy this one by Kalayna Price.
    • 3/5
      continuing in the same vein as the previous volume in the series - too short and confusing.Were-vampire Kita gets to deal with the local vampire court and politics. Whilst being presented to a visiting dignatry Kita discover a corpse - one of The Collector's companions. Cue much running around, unexplained vampire tricks and abilities that some can do and others can't, general duex et machina, in other cities than conveniently involve this one, and an unrelated sideplot with the magic people again so that Gil can appear a few times to transport Kita when there's no other recourse. Although basically canon, Price needs to explain exactly how her world works. How do vampires get their abilites, what constraints are there, how doe sthe whole master thing work etc etc. Kita's completely new to this world so she wouldn't know any of it - but she doesn't seem to be able to figure it out as she goes along, and the little titbits of information that are dropped from other characters just confuse the reader. Also why don't the vampires get another world/dimension like all the other supernatural creatures? At least there's no more glaring errors in fundamental physics.If you don't think about it too hard, the plots is kind of well done - I didn't guess the villans until at least halfway through. I still like Kita as a heroine, and her confusion regarding the whole were-vampire thing works fairly well. As does the confusion and loyalty issues she faces. It is fast paced, and easy reading.
    • 3/5
      I received this book through the Early Reviewers program, otherwise I probably would not have picked up this second book in a series. This book referred to quite a lot from the first in the series, and I felt like I was missing things. I hate to downgrade a book because of it being second in a series, but there was an undercurrent that I just wasn't getting, and I bet it could have been better with that. For instance, apparently the MC is from another world--but this is never explained to the novice reader.Second book aside, this was an interesting urban fantasy, though I must admit I'm a little sick of paranormal vampire politics. The mystery behind the murdered vampires was pretty good up til the end--I felt a little snookered by the villain behind them, because he wasn't in the story until then. As per usual with these books there is plenty of sexual tension and a love triangle or two. I personally would have liked to have seen more of Kita's shifter side, which I think might have been apparent in the first book. Instead of having her two natures collide, her shifter side is subsumed, for the most part, by her vampire side, and I wish there had been more interplay between them. Perhaps in the third book.I'd be interested in finding out what happened in the first book, but I probably won't seek it out. The writing is perfectly decent compared to some of the paranormal fluff out there. If you like paranormals and you can find the first book, this would probably be a worthy read.
    • 5/5
      Different from the stereotypical vampire novels populating the market now, “Twice Bitten” by Kalayna Price is so well written, you can almost picture the scenes in front of your very own eyes. In fact, where the writing and plot waivers, however few and far between this happens, converting this manuscript to film would remove these shortcomings. I have not read the first book in the series, which accounts for some of the confusion in the plot but writing style of Mrs. Price is so good, and the story is so interesting, that I have put a call into my local bookshop to get the first novel in the series. Can’t wait until there is more on this trilogy.
    • 2/5
      I love vampire novels. I even read the New Moon series even though I’m about forty years older than their target demographic. Twice Dead reads as though the author read all the Sookie Stackhouse and New Moon novels in one sitting (plus watched a good deal of Buffy) and then sat down to write. I did not read the first in the series. Perhaps that would have made this one a little more interesting and the characters a little more alive and likeable. I’m not sure what kind of 24 year olds the author has been exposed to but the main character, Kita, sounds more like my fifteen year old in a snit. By the time the book is over you pretty much quit caring what kind of trouble she gets into since her character is so immature. I almost put the book down about ¾ through when they are preparing for battle and someone asks if there is a plan “Yea, try not to die”. (Shades of Buffy? I’m almost positive I heard Buffy say that.)The premise of the book, shape shifters turned vampire, mages, mages turned vampire, were all interesting. Another author might have used these characters to write a really good book. This one falls very short of good. I rate it tolerable for super vampire book lovers like myself and painful for all others.Should you read the book? Probably, if you like vampires there are a couple to like. Nat and his brother, the Master of the city especially.
    • 4/5
      It's been a while since I read the first book in this series. But it wasn't very hard to jump back into the storyline. Kita is a shapeshifter, turned vampire. As unusual as that sounds, she makes it pretty interesting in her quest to stay alive. She's living with her maker, Nathaniel and it seems that a lot of other people of taken an interest in her un-natural abilities.....lol What could be better than a shapeshifter/ vampire, right? She's snarky, full of P & V and just one fabulous character!It seems that the Master of the city has an interest in her and tries to kill Nathaniel to accomplish that, but Kita makes a deal to give herself to him to spare Nat's life. Nathaniel doesn't like it but there really isn't anything he can do. Now a shapeshifting snake seems to have it out for her and the Collector (the big honcho vampire) seems to like her too! Great, right? No, not really. And everywhere she turns someone is turning up either missing their head or their body. What is going on? Well, at least that's what I kept wondering. I mean, there are vampires who can 'read' the truth and wipe out minds on a whim and then there are creepy snake shifters, and plenty of other vampires who have very strange abilities. And Kita when she's near danger and feels threatened her hands turn to paws and claws. Pretty cool huh?Kalayna Price has a world where no one has really gone before. I mean, who would have thought of putting shapeshifter and vampire together right in the same package. But all the added elements of creepiness and tension is incredible. There is alot going on in this book and it keeps you on the edge of your seat cause you have no idea who's behind all of the 'murders' and who is really telling the truth. Quite fascinating! Loved it and would recommend it to everyone out there in the blogosphere!
    • 5/5
      Twice Dead starts where Once Bitten left off. It’s only been two weeks since Kita lost her cat and became a vampire. She and Nathaniel, her sire are caught in a vampire political power struggle that may cost them their bond, if not their lives. Events are complicated by others power players - like mages, scholars, and a necromancer. I am hooked on this series because of the shifter/vampire twist. I’ll have to wait until next year for the third book. Ugh! Kita is an interesting character – strong, used to doing her own thing and not depending on other people. Her life would be a bit easier if she’d trust more than just herself and her childhood friend, Bobby. I believe Nathaniel has fallen in love with her; she just needs to realize that she’s headed that direction too.
    • 2/5
      FROST MOON was way too weird for me. I was cool with protagonist Dakota Frost’s big Mohawk, and her tattoos, and her bisexuality. But the uber-Christian vampire ex-girlfriend who accuses Dakota’s tattoos of being the work of Satan while tarted up in a French maid’s uniform? The “elegant gothic Lolita” and the guy in “cheekchiller” chaps who roleplayed as a dog for the whole book? Toss in a few random vampires with names like Transomnia and Calaphase, and I’d had enough.

      I’m guessing that Anthony Francis is going for the Laurell K Hamilton crowd here, because in FROST MOON all of his characters are always in costume, they all have stage names, and relationship drama masquerades as plot.

      Speaking of plot: FROST MOON has about a dozen. Francis kickstarts the book with a hunt for a serial killer who’s targeting people with magic tattoos, like the ones that Dakota makes. Then we get a sub-plot with a lone werewolf who wants a special tattoo to control his beast. We get a third sub-plot when a sleight-of-hand magician who tries to debunk supernatural events challenges Dakota to a sort of duel. Add in Dakota’s reconciliation with her ex-girlfriend, her relationship with the organized weres (including a young stray named, of course, “Cinnamon”), and a half-crazed vampire out to revenge an insult to his pride, and what you’ve got is…a mess, actually.

      At first, none of these plots seem to have anything to do with one another. By the end, they intersect too neatly. In the meanwhile, it seems like Francis forgets about one story in order to pursue another. Halfway through the novel I found myself wondering if anyone was ever going to go look for that serial killer.

      Personally, I think it’s a bad sign when a half-dozen people in the novel accuse Dakota, the protagonist, of looking like a stripper or a prostitute. I want to clutch my pearls and buy her a sweater. I roll my eyes when Dakota insults someone for looking like they shop at Hot Topic in one sentence and then admits to shopping there herself in the next. Because I’m not in the target demographic and FROST MOON was written for a different audience.
    • 3/5
      3.5 stars, a very promising start to a new series.

      dakota frost is a tattoo artist that has a gift for binding magic into her clients' skin along with the ink. it's not a common trade in this version of our world, and her dad's former partner on the atlanta police force thinks that she may be able to help them find a killer who's collecting magical tattoos by flaying his victims.

      love it like i do, but UF is a crowded genre, and i really appreciate ideas that don't rehash what we've all read many times over. the civilian asset to the police bit is a well-trodden angle, but the magic in ink idea felt rather fresh. dakota isn't a super vampire-slaying badass (and in fact, gets her ass soundly kicked when she's confronted by something supernaturally deadly), but she does wear enough midriff-baring leather that the cover is fully accurate. dakota's a rather colorfully drawn character (all pun fully intended) herself, but wow does she have a lot of interesting friends in the atlanta fetish culture - at times, this book feels like an almost painfully matter-of-fact tour into the normalcy of BDSM relationships, the kind where you have a pet grad student dressed as a dog chained to your throne. on one hand, it's really nice to have nobody demonized or slut-shamed for just doin' their own crazy thang, but it is all a bit much.

      huge bonus points for the lack of an ill-timed romance, since nothing is so foolish as a quick roll in the hay when you're trying to outrun a murderer. extra bonus for the price - who doesn't love a free book? i've snapped up plenty of kindle freebies that had interesting-sounding premises, and generally i assume that the lack of editing & the profusion of typos in indie/free books is me getting what i pay for. it's nicely refreshing for this to not be the case - 'frost moon' is polished, and nary a typo to be found.