The Other Half of the Grave

Jeaniene Frost

Apr 2022 · Night Huntress Book 9 · NYLA

About this ebook

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Night Huntress series comes a thrilling new look at the iconic origin story of Cat and Bones, as experienced by Bones...from the other half of the grave.

There are two sides to every story–and the sizzling British alpha vampire, Bones, has a lot to say...

Ever wondered what Bones was thinking and feeling when he and half-vampire Cat Crawfield first met? Or how their story might differ if he were the one telling it? Now, relive the beginning of Cat and Bones' bestselling love story through Bones' point of view, which reveals a darker, sexier take on their early days, as well as a deeper dive into Bones' past, the vampire world, and other things that Cat didn't see when their story was told only through her eyes in Halfway to the Grave.

Cat had her say. Now, it's Bones' turn.

Ratings and reviews

Jeaniene Frost is one of my favorite authors and Night Huntress one of my favorite series, so I was ESTATIC to be given the opportunity to read this ARC and Bones' point of view in this retelling of Halfway to the Grave, book 1 of the Night Huntress series. I will just start by saying I LOVE BONES and I LOVE THIS BOOK. I actually just finished re-reading the series recently, so Halfway to the Grave was still somewhat fresh in my mind, but that absolutely didn't matter one bit as I still enjoyed the story all over again. I felt like even though there were familiar scenes, Bones' point of view made the whole story feel fresh. Yes, there are "modern" updates and it's not EXACTLY the same as the original, but I think that's why I actually liked it so much. It's not just a retelling from someone else's POV - it's a bit updated and fills in a lot of the blanks from the original. There was so much going on in Bones' life when he meets Cat that you don't realize when you read the story from Cat's POV. Speaking of Cat, this book also gave me a whole different view of her character. From Bones' POV she is way more vulnerable than she realizes. It's amazing she was able to kill so many vampires on her own before Bones came along! I also realized how much Cat had to mature and change her entire way of thinking in such a short period of time. Overall, this story was just fantastic to re-visit in a whole new way. I probably am already a bit prejudice in my opinion, since I knew going into this review that I was already going to love the story and it absolutely did not disappoint. This is one of those rare times when you're actually able to re-live the first time you read a book and falling in love with the story. Bones' POV makes you realize just how different he and Cat really are as people and that is what makes them (and this book!) special. Thank you SO MUCH to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion (even if a bit biased in this case!).

I will always love Jeaniene Frost and her spicy vampire books 🤩🤩 and this book is no different, although it diverts from the typical format, being told from Bones’ POV rather than the FMC. Even though there’s not a lot of new content, being a retelling of Book 1, it was still really interesting getting a glimpse into one of our fav Vampires 🥵. I’ve reread the Night Huntress world twice already, yet each re-read (and this retelling) always provides more insight into the fuller story. And when Jeaniene started publishing this as a short serial on her blog, I WAS SO EXCITED FOR BONESSSS. I remember reading each chapter as it came out, comparing it to the corresponding content in Halfway to the Grave. I was devastated when Jeaniene stopped, but SURPRISE, we get a FULL book of Bones!!! WOOOOO! So it’s been a year or two since I last re-read the series, and I’ve definitely forgotten a few details. But since this is a retelling of the first book, I decided to judge this book both inside the context of the Night Huntress world and as its own work. In this book, I really enjoyed Bones’ voice (oh, Brits 😫). However, insta-love almost never does it for me and this book was no different. I simply don’t believe in love at first sight, and it’s hard for me to envision it, especially as a motivating force for most of the book’s action. Knowing Bones fell in love with Cat almost immediately was a lot easier to hear about in his confessions rather than seeing a play-by-play. Also, when told from Bones’ POV, Cat is lowkey a dislikable character 😬. She often acts in a too stupid to live manner, charging into this Vampiric business when she clearly doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation or the consequences of her actions. Also, knowing the vampire world through this series, the bigotry Cat has is really hard to read. When this was told from her POV, it was a lot easier to understand the way she thinks and the way her family and community has twisted her perception of vampires and herself. And this makes sense in her overall character arc throughout the series. Cat definitely grows and learns a lot throughout the series, but her flaws just didn’t seem as apparent and clear when told from her own voice (which makes sense I guess). However, from Bones’ POV, it does just seem quite strange(?) that mans falls in love with a girl that’s SUPERRRR discriminatory against people (vampires) like him—I mean girl literally murders every one she sees. This is just a Thing that I would probably blame on the faults of the OG story (it was Jeaniene’s first book 🥲), but just seeing it expounded upon through Bones’ words is just a weird out-of-body experience to me. As always, Jeaniene is able to bring in the S P I C E. Told from Bones’ side, we get an added little detail of a little fist pump action we didn’t get to see in book 1 👀👀👀👀. But even though I know I’ve read the smut from Cat’s POV, it’s still so hot from Bones. I’m definitely going to go through and read these side-by-side at some point to get the ~full experience. *evil cackles 😃😃* Overall, for fans of Jeaniene Frost, this is a great book to further explore the nuances of the NH world and to fall back to a story we loved long ago. For readers who haven’t been introduced to this world, I definitely would not start with this book. It’s definitely a lot weaker as a stand-alone than as extra context. Alas, it does feel a bit like Jeaniene is trying to milk out the money from NH without providing anything ~that new BUT IT’S OK BECAUSE WE LOVE JEANIENE!!!! As a NH die-hard stan I will consume all content, but tbh I’d much prefer some more Vlad or Ian up in here 🥵🥵. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free eARC for an honest review!

I absolutely loved the Night Huntress series about Cat and Bones so finally getting his point of view was a must read for me. I can honestly say I'm not disappointed and its just as detailed and passionate as I'd hoped. It's an intense story with fabulous world building because obviously Vampires do have a hierarchy that this book starts to give clues about. Expect action and plenty of it, twists, loads of heat and best of all Bones feeling and being the most patient, loving Vampire that any reader could wish for. It's intense at times, funny too but these Vampires don't mess around and I'm already very eager to go back and re-read the whole series again ! This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

About the author

Jeaniene Frost is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Her works include the Night Huntress series, the Night Prince series, the Broken Destiny series, and the new Night Rebel series. Jeaniene’s novels have also appeared on the Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal, ABA Indiebound, and international bestseller lists. Foreign rights for Jeaniene’s novels have sold to twenty different countries. Jeaniene lives in Florida with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. In addition to being a writer, Jeaniene also enjoys reading, writing, poetry, watching movies, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling – by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.