Review: First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost

This book falls into my Vampire Reading Challenge.

Let me begin by saying I am a total Jeaniene Frost fangirl and she could write her grocery list and I would probably buy it. That being said, First Drop of Crimson did not disappoint.

I liked Denise in the Night Huntress series, and when Randy died I was so sad for her. Spade is Bones' best friend, and he's been all sexy and mysterious in the Night Huntress books - in FDOC he's super sexy!

Denise is living her life after the death of her husband, staying clear of the supernatural world, trying to forget. That plan is blown out of the water when she witnesses the murder of her cousin by a man who turns into a dog and a demon shows up at her house looking for one of her ancestors. The demon tells her she must find this ancestor, Nathaniel, and bring him back or the demon will kill all her relatives one by one. As an incentive, the demon marks Denise before leaving her. Denise calls her best friend Cat, who is a vampire, for her help. She can't reach Cat but remembers she has Spade's phone number and asks him to contact Cat for her. Spade tells her Cat is out with her husband Bones and offers to help instead.

Spade views humans as a food source only; we learn the reasons why later in the book. Denise is terrified of vampires as she holds them responsible for the death of her husband. She's not thrilled about asking Spade for help but knows she doesn't have any other choice. Spade agrees to help at first because she's Cat's best friend, but as the story progresses we watch his feelings start to change. Let's just say I'm a sucker for a vamp with sex appeal and a heart of gold.

We also get to see a lot of Ian, the vampire who sired Bones and Spade (well,sort of). He's been such a skeevy character, I loved every minute of him in this book! One of his funniest scenes was a few pages after Denise had accidentally interrupted Ian and a "donor" in flagrante delicto. I hope he eventually gets his own book, he would definitely be a great bad boy hero.

Now, I know several people have complained that Denise is a wimpy heroine, but I read her as she was mourning her dead husband, and PTSD is a very real (well, as real as it can be in a fictional world anyway) consequence of her experience at the time of his death. Was she a kick-ass heroine? No, but she didn't get on my nerves either.

I thought this book was great - it kept me intersted throughout and I had to stop myself from peeking ahead to see what was going to happen a several times. I'm giving it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.