Review: First Drop of Crimson - Jeaniene Frost

My Rating: VG, B, X Released: 9th February 2010 Publisher: Avon Books Author's Website: jeanienefrost.com Available @ Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com The night is not safe for mortals. Denise MacGregor knows all too well what lurks in the shadows – her best friend is a 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... First Drop of Crimson is the first novel in the Night Huntress World series, a spin off series from the Night Huntress series starring Cat Crawfield. The Night Huntress World series are novels, I think are, introducing us to the other characters that you would have met if you have read the Night Huntress series and giving us a more in depth look at their history. I’m not sure that I knew what to expect from this book or what to make of it. The beginning felt a bit off for me with Spade’s automatic lust and feelings towards Denise. This was probably because I am used to reading about the emotions flitting back and forth between Cat and Bones, and haven’t really thought much about the other characters and their lives/feelings out with Cat’s knowledge before. I certainly didn’t catch the look that they gave one another in the Night Huntress series – come to think of it, I don’t think it was actually mentioned (I could be wrong, don’t have the book in front of me to check). The plotline was rather interesting as the Night Huntress series, so far, hasn’t dabbled with demons so that put a nice new spin on things. The demon is quite essential to the plotline because he is the one of the reasons that Denise and Spades cross paths. I liked that we found out more about Spade’s rather unfortunate and sad past and what happened to Denise as she was hardly mentioned in the fourth book of the Night Huntress series. It’s a shame that she blamed herself for everything that happened. I felt bad for Denise for being dragged into this whole mess with the demon. Denise’s family’s past has created some serious bad karma for her and has caused some of her family members to end up dead. The demon threatens to kill the rest of her family unless she brings him what he wants, and believe me it’s nothing short of simple. His sought after toy has been hidden deep within the vampire world. This demon business has a bad affect on her and she has to learn how to control herself. Spade craves Denise like he craves blood, ever since the first time he met her, but was warned to stay away, which he has done. But when she calls him requesting supernatural help, he wilfully obliges. He never realised what he was getting himself into when he agreed to help. As the story progresses, Spade doesn’t want to let Denise go. He ends up falling for her and because of what has happened in his past, he is determined not to let her die. The only thing stopping him carrying out his plan is that Denise doesn’t agree with it one bit. (WARNING - SPOILER’S FOR NIGHT HUNTRESS & NIGHT HUNTRESS WORLD SERIES IN FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH) It was a nice surprise to see Cat and Bones in this book. I didn’t think they would appear what with the story focusing on Denise and Spade and their problems, but I suppose Spade has helped them quite a bit in the past. Once they turned up, if felt like everything would be okay, they would take over and save the day. They didn’t take over, but they did help a lot. I was constantly wondering when Denise would find out that Cat had finally gone all the way to the other side – seemed like Spade wasn’t going to tell her. (END OF SPOILER WARNING) Overall, I thought the story was very good and there was a fine balance between romance and the plot. There quite a lot of scenes that contain sexual content. It’s not too explicit but I would recommend the book for more mature teens and adults. First Drop of Crimson was definitely a page turner and I had trouble putting it down at certain bits, so I had to keep reading, even until the late hours of the night, luckily it was a weekend. Disclaimer: I bought this book with my own money and I am not receiving money in for this review. Everything I have said is of my own honest opinion.