First Drop of Crimson
- ISBN13: 9780061583223
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Night Huntress series comes a breathtaking new journey to the dark side of desire. 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. … More >>
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Carol Bua said :
March 5, 2010 at 6:42 pm
As with her other books – this is sooo much fun. Causes massive speed reading. Awesome characters!!!!
Rating: 5 / 5
Anonymous said :
March 5, 2010 at 9:23 pm
I loved this adition to the series. Frost is a fantastic author. I am brimming with excitement for the next book in the series.
Rating: 5 / 5
S. McCullough said :
March 5, 2010 at 10:42 pm
My favorite genres are urban fantasy and then paranormal romance. Far too often paranormal romance novels forget the paranormal storylines and are just a bunch of non-human creatures falling in love. The BEST paranormal romance stories have the ‘love story’ front and center but never forget how valid the surrounding story is to keeping a reader’s interest. Let me see these characters as the fall for each other, yes, but let me see how their love shows as they fight out the dark and gritty elements that surrounds them…or should surround them seeing how this is a ‘paranormal’ romance. This is especially nice for those readers, like me, who enjoy urban fantasy as well. “First Drop of Crimson” is a stand out. This story makes sure to keep all the intensity, humor and underworld dealings that we have come to know and love in the “Night Huntress” series and yet it remains an honest to goodness romance. Frost also gets a big A+ for her characterizations. I fell for Spade right away. He wasn’t whiny when he realized he loved Denise, he didn’t spend a lot of time internally struggling with it. Some other reveiwers didn’t seem to care for Denise but I did like her and I loved how human she was, and yet her sass could still spark up and that was always fun. There is humor galore here such as the scene where Spade goes unconscious and wakes to find himself surrounded by people who think he (really) is dead. The four star instead of five is for a couple of reasons. I thought the love scenes were a little standard fare, and we all know Jeanine can write some crazy fun love scenes. Also, I didn’t like how quickly Denise seemed to be able to put Randy out of sight out of mind. This is a fantastic couple and a great story but it would have been better served a little further down the line in the “Night Huntress World” romances, maybe allowing a little more time for Denise to grieve. The last point is that the story’s whole set up is based on a demon who has a bad business deal with one of Denise’s ancestors. Therefore the demon is killing Denise’s family members. One dies before her eyes. Again, there is such a downplay of grief here…this is a glaring mis-step in a novel where so much else blossoms. That said, this book was a great new entry into my library and I eagerly look forward to any more books that come out by Jeaninene Frost. She has proved herself.
Rating: 4 / 5
Dee18 said :
March 5, 2010 at 11:16 pm
I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t overly excited to read this book (*gasp* *egads*!). Reason being that I was sort of indifferent to Spade as a protagonist. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against Spade – it’s just that I find Mencheres, Vlad, Tate, Juan and Ian more interesting than him. I was also pretty `meh’ about Denise as leading lady – once again, nothing against her character but I’ve never really paid much attention to her over the course of the `Night Huntress’ books.
So I went into `First Drop’ with low expectations, and finished the book with a slight smile on my face.
The book delves into Spade’s past; as a Baron-born nobleman who ended up on the First Fleet bound for Australia’s penal colony. Spade has a very interesting background, perhaps even more interesting than Bones’s prostitute turned bounty-hunter (if that’s possible?). Spade also has a very sad story to tell, about how he lost the love of his life during the Napoleonic Wars. I really appreciated all of the history on Spade, considering he’s always been in the background of the Cat & Bones books. Frost does a great job of feeding bits and pieces of information on Spade – making him into a puzzle piece for readers and Denise to figure out.
Denise is a mediocre leading lady. I didn’t hate her, but I didn’t love her either. I think it’s a case of if you compare Denise to Cat – who is so vibrant, self-deprecating and wisecracking – she pales in comparison. Denise sometimes had a witty comment to make, but they were far and few between. I didn’t expect Denise to be a very interesting heroine, and I think I was right in my presumption.
I did like Spade and Denise’s romance – especially considering the romantic history of these two and the various prejudices/heartaches they each had to overcome. That being said, I think Spade’s feelings for Denise were a little rushed. We learn early on that Spade, having previously met Denise, did find her attractive and was `drawn’ to her. But it felt like after only 60 pages or so Spade had made up his mind to turn Denise into a vampire so they could be together forever. It really felt like he came out of left field: in one moment protesting his feelings for a human and then suddenly deciding to spend eternity with her.
Regardless of the rush-job, I was rooting for Denise and Spade – and they are quite a sweet Night Huntress couple;
There is smut. But to put it in perspective so that Frost fans can gauge the level of smuttiness – I’ll just say that the sex scenes in `First Drop of Crimson’ are not as smutty as the (now infamous) chapter thirty-two of `One Foot in the Grave’.
One complaint I had with this book was the lack of Mencheres. His book (the second Night Huntress spin-off) is `Eternal Kiss of Darkness’, and will be released July 27th this year. Because Mencheres’s story is up next, I thought Frost would whet reader’s appetites and have him in a lengthy cameo. Not the case. Mencheres is in a `blink and you’ll miss him’ appearance toward the end. If I didn’t know better, I would have guessed that Ian would be the next Night Huntress spin-off story. I love Ian, and I was very pleased that he has such a lengthy cameo in `First Drop’. I think his story will be amazing, especially because his character is a bit of an enigma – at once sleazy and power-hungry, but absolutely loyal to his friends and willing to help when needed. But I also love Mencheres, and I was disappointed that he didn’t play a bigger role in `First Drop’. I’m actually frustrated because Ian did play such a big and great role in this book, but Frost doesn’t know if she’s going to write a spin-off for him!
One more small complaint – the various international settings are superfluous. Spade and Denise go jet-setting in this book; from St. Louis to England and Monaco. But whereas Frost spent time depicting the city of New Orleans in ‘Destined for an Early Grave’, she completely skips over the finer points of these cities in ‘First Drop’. There’s no descriptions and therefore no sense of ‘place’. She could have just as easily kept the story in St. Louis and it would have made no difference.
I didn’t LOVE ‘First Drop of Crimson’. I liked it. I’m more looking forward to ‘Eternal Kiss’, purely because I think Mencheres is a fascinating (and sexy) character. And I am really hopeful for an Ian book.
Rating: 3 / 5
Candie said :
March 5, 2010 at 11:20 pm
I did not have high expectations for this book because Spade and Denise were not my favorite characters in the Night Huntress novels and I didn’t think they could top Bones and Cat. I decided to read it anyway and I was pleasantly surprised. I do like the Night Huntress novels better, but I really did enjoy the book. Jeaniene Frost is such a great author and can get you hooked within the first couple of pages. I highly recommend this book!
Rating: 5 / 5