Two and a half stars.

If you love this, great. I'm happy you and Frost have found each other, and I wish you many hot and heavy installments. But I suggest moving on to another review, because I'm going to be very blunt: I remain unimpressed by paranormal romance, and Frost's Halfway to the Grave seems a rather mediocre example of the genre.

I occasionally get tempted to try paranormal, searching for that one story to surprise me. In this case, a number of friend reviews, particularly Mimi's review and the fact that [a:Ilona Andrews|21748|Ilona Andrews|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1219436898p2/21748.jpg], co-author of one of my favorite UF series, is besties with Frost, inspired me to give her a try. Unfortunately, Frost has done nothing to change my opinion of the genre.

Writing a Paranormal Romance

Characters
1) Alienated but speshul female lead who is insecure about her looks, inexperienced with dating, and trying to build identity away from her family. Preferably has under-developed magic or physical power
2) Sexxy, hawt (other modern adjective) arrogant male lead who dresses well.
3) Dull/clueless boy-next-door admirer (of the female lead)
4) Vampires (sparkling optional). Should include a hawt-but-naughty vampire and an Evil vampire
5) Clueless government representative (evilness optional)

Plotting, romantic
1) Female lead needs to learn to trust rakish male lead while male lead needs to fall in LOVE with female
2) Traditional sex scene
3) Female needs to discover her sexual identity
4) Semi-scandalous sex scene (if you are thirteen)
5) Couple challenged by immortal vs. immortal issue

Plotting, external conflict
1) Evil versus good

World-building
1) Substitution of 'real world' for world-building

Halfway to the Grave is best summarized with an equation: Blade meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, minus Buffy's compassion, intelligence and self-esteem.

Writing was about average for the genre. Family backstory took a vaguely interesting angle on the heroine's background. Heroine had normal to above average amounts of TSTL moments. I did enjoy one scene with a disagreeable ghost, and even laughed out loud at the end of it. I can't say that I recommend it any more than any other PNR books. Worth noting it kept me awake on night shift, so not a waste of time. ( )

Catherine 'Cat' Crawfield's mother was raped by a vampire newly turned and still able to impregnate her, resulting in Cat (half vampire) and a deep hatred of vampires. When Cat is 16 she begins luring and killing vampires. But the last vampire she lured was a bounty hunter named Bones who kidnaps her. They agree to work together to eliminate bad vampires. Bones will train her in exchange for helping to locate the vampire who created her. Romance is hot, action is gory, and Cat has lots of angst surrounding her whiny mother. Good start to a series. ( )

see if youre gonna write trash then at least make it not boring. ( )

Ein grandioser Start in die Serie. Cat und Bones. Von Anbeginn weiss man, dass die beiden zusammen gehören, auch wenn sie es vielleicht noch nicht wissen.

Die Storyline ist simple, ohne viel Schnickschnack. Aber das ist völlig ok.

Leider stören mich die vielen Rechtschreibfehler in dieser Ausgabe. Ich hoffe,in Zukunft wird man besser Fehlerlesen. ( )

This was a re-read from years and years ago. *sigh* I totally forgot how good it was, even now I'm like... I HAVE TO READ MORE!
That's what Cat and Bones do to you ;)

Worldbuilding:
A rich (and volatile) present-day urban fantasy, what more do you want? We have sentient ghosts, English vampires and who knows what else out there.
While Cat is part of the supernatural scene, she doesn't know much about it, so we get all the info alongside her. There never is an information dump, but we slowly and steadily get to know what's going on in the vampire world and how close it is tied to our own.
Scenes and environments were very well described and detailed enough to stay fully immersed in the story.

Character development:
Our cast is amazing, seriously. Prepare to get emotionally invested and enjoy the wild ride.
Catherine, but call her Cat, is a hybrid: half-human and half-vampire. She has been hunting and killing vampires for the last 6 years until one fateful night she met Bones. Ahhhh where to start... I really like that he's so different from the usual vampire stock (as in not dark and broody). I mean, he's English! :D
Both of our main characters are well fleshed out, with a colourful past, their own fears, hopes and dreams for the future.
I don't know, but Cat and Bones just make such an awesome pair. Yes, they kick ass and protect each other, but it goes way deeper and that just makes me sigh with a grin on my face.

Pacing and flow:
As I've said before, it's a wild ride, but sooooo worth it! There is a lot of action going on but perfectly balanced by the conversations that drive the story forward.
There wasn't any part that I felt took too long or felt rushed. The story was told at its own pace and that was perfect.

The book:
The book itself was well written with no (noticeable) errors. There is sex described (if that is important to you).
It's 358 pages long, spread over 27 chapters and told from Cat's point of view.

Final thoughts:
To hell with it, I'm reading the next book immediately afterwards! I can't recommend this series often enough, even if you're not sure, read a sample and you'll be as hooked as I am ;) That just leaves me with one more thing to say: enjoy ;) ( )