I have yet to see any Buffy episodes, so that comparison doesn’t bother me in the least. I do agree that there are tons of plain romance novels masquerading as paranormals simply by putting a vampire or other supernatural being in one or both lead roles, with resulting poor quality. I’ve read a good few of them this year it would seem, but I thought this was an absolute standout. I gave it a 5-star review on my blog and am hawking it to all my friends.

I did not find Cat to be particularly immature or rather I could see tremendous growth in her character over the course of the book, probably mostly attributable, in my mind, *to* her relationship with Bones. I disagree that the romance angle between them was contrived or distracting. To the contrary, I fell for it hook, line and sinker — loved the two of them together.

If Jeaniene is still reading here, kudos! I absolutely adored this book and am waiting impatiently for the next one (and hoping to goodness that Bones is not going to be absent entirely or significantly from it). Also, if you are reading, I do have some questions. Will we find out more about the biology of how Cat came to be? If Bones is correct and her vampire father was still using residual human sperm that hadn’t yet flushed out of his system, then how was he able to pass on vampire genetic material to his child? I found myself puzzling over that, which seems rather fundamental to the overall premise.

There are too many paranormals on the market. It is very hard to wade through them and find the ones that appeal to me.

Thank you for taking the time to read and review HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE. Sorry it wasn’t more your cup of tea, but I appreciate your comments and insight.

Thankfully, only the ARC had the description of “If Buffy and Angel had a daughter, she'd be just like Cat Crawfield.” It’s not on the back on the finished product, and it’s not how I see my heroine. I *was* a Buffy fan, but Cat is not based on Buffy, nor is my hero based on Spike (I was a Billy Idol fan long before I was a Spike fan, so the blond hair and English accent are more inspired by Billy Idol than Spike. Yes, I realize I’m dating myself with this admittance :) ) As far as vampires? Loved ‘em since I was a child, so when I wrote my first book, it had to have my favorite creature in it.

Again, Jane, thank you for reviewing my novel. As always, I look forward to seeing what’s new on Dear Author, and as a debut novelist, it’s a thrill to see my book here, even if it didn’t please as much as I would have hoped.

Cat Crawfield is a half vampire/half human woman. She was created violently when her mother went out on date with a vampire and was raped

Actually, this sounds more like Blade to me…except it Blade has better one-liners.

If Buffy and Angel had a daughter, she'd be just like Cat Crawfield.

Why is it always Buffy and Angel? Why not Buffy and Spike? Honestly, I always preferred Spike the Bloody (a nickname for his bloody awful poetry). Even when he was supposedly evil, he was entertaining. Angel’s doom-and-gloom attitude got boring fast. Spike would keep you laughing when you get old and viagra doesn’t cut it anymore.

And I strongly second the recommendation for Kelley Armstrong. Right now, I think she’s one of two paranormal author I still read because her H/H don’t make me roll my eyes or cringe.

It marked a kind of resurgence in reading for me. Most books for me are DNF. After having a dry run for a few months, I picked that one up and finished it in three hours. It left me with that slightly giddy feeling of having read a good book.

I see what Jane is saying about the unlikely romance and youth of the heroine, but I still liked it a lot. I guess it didn’t matter as much to me.

P.S. Jill, omg, bff, tnx, iou!