Title: Once Burned
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: June 2012
Genre: Adult Fiction/Paranormal Romance
Series or Stand Alone: Series, Book One
Synopsis can be found here.
I purchased this book for review.
Review:
Leila has an extraordinary power. She can harness electricity and when she touches people or objects, seh can read their past. But once her secret is revealed, she is kidnapped and forced to go against the most famous vampire of all time – Vlad.
Vlad is somewhat taken by this woman and her abilities. But can she be trusted? He’s one of the oldest and most feared vampires around, and he didn’t get there by being warm and fuzzy. But there’s something about Leila he can’t stay away from. Can they figure out who hired to kidnap her? And can he protect his heart and hers in the process?
So much fun.
I’ve been having a little bit of a hard time concentrating on any one book recently. Could be because of traveling, or work, or a number of other things. But this is the first book in a couple of weeks that I was happy to focus solely on. I have to admit, I was even disappointed that I had some lunches this week and couldn’t read during lunch like I planned to.
I loved Vlad from the Cat and Bones series so for him to get his own book is like this:
SCORE!
And I was so not disappointed!
Vlad is dangerous, deadly and oh, very rough around the edges. Most of the time, Leila and I wanted to kiss him, slap him, then kiss him some more. Stubborn vampires.
Leila is a great heroine to get behind. She’s feisty without being annoying. She’s brave without being stupid. Her inner monologue is funny and their conversations made me smile. And she’s got some baggage to her but luckily, it doesn’t make her this really depressing and hard to love character. It toughens her up, makes her lash out and gives her some depth but doesn’t control her. I really liked this because a lot of characters these days can wallow in guilt and depression, losing their personality in the process. But not Leila. This is Frost at her best with two different, well drawn characters in a deadly game and a lot of humor.
The book moves fast and if you’re a fan of her Cat and Bones series, you’ll be happy to see some cameos. Vlad’s storyline is more fleshed out which is pretty awesome. There are so many re-tellings and stories about Vlad out there. Frost does a fine job making this Vlad her own. I liked Maximus a lot too, Vlad’s second in command. He’s so different from Vlad!
There’s some steamy you know what and though it’s been a while since I read a Frost book (maybe a year), I had no problem jumping into her world again! Enjoying every minute of it.
Overall, a great start to an exciting series. In fact, I’ve started book two as soon as I was done with book one. What can I say?
Love me those vampires!
Rating: 9 Ridiculously Awesome like Cookies and Ice Cream
Kimberly majored in Songwriting and currently works full time in the music industry. When she's not listening to music, knitting or writing, you can find her outside reading her favorite genres: Young Adult, Adult Fiction, Mystery, and Romance.
I need to read something by Jeaniene Frost. I keep hearing good things about her.
Pamela, this is one of my favorites of hers. The first and second Cat and Bones books are wonderful too! Try them out! and thanks for stopping by!