
Author: Kalayna Price
Pages: 256
Published: February 12th, 2010 by Bell Bridge Books
ISBN: 0984325670 (ISBN13: 9780984325672)
Summary: Newly undead shifter-turned-vampire Kita Nekai is coming to grips with the reality that her cat has not awakened since her change.
What she needs is a little time to adjust to her new liquid diet and the increasingly complex attraction to her sire, Nathanial. What she gets is a headless harlequin. With the body count rising, Kita is dragged into a dangerous game of vampire politics. Her involvement draws the attention of an ancient vampire known as the Collector who has a penchant for acquiring the unusual - like a pureblood shifter-turned vampire.
Kita still has unfinished business of her own and finds herself deeper in magical debt.
It's a bad time to be a kitten who can't slip her skin. (from Goodreads.com)
As all of my readers know, I've become an avid fan of Kalayna Price's writing (if not, see my reviews of Once Bitten HERE and Grave Witch HERE). This second book in the Haven series, Twice Dead, is no exception. This book was brilliant and exactly what I'd needed to make my reading worthwhile and exhilarating.
In this second book, our little kitty, Kita is on the hot list of vampires. Not because she wants to be, but because of some jealousy and want for power. Isn't that just always the way. Why oh why people can't just be happy with what they have *tsk tsk tsk*. Oh well, guess that would be flouncing upon human and vampire nature. Plus, it makes for an interesting story.
A story with our vampire master Nathanial in a war for the little kitty against the ancient, merciless vampire that rules the city. It just so happens there is also a twist in there which really, believe it or not, surprised me.
We still have the same awesome characters, including Kita who - although a shifter turned vampire and is still trying to learn the ropes - is strong and unrelenting. She still doesn't take the crap the homicidal vamps throw her way, she just pushes it back in their face. Don't get me wrong, as a 6 pound kitty among lions she knows how to stay alive and it's not always with a fight. Plus, she takes stubbornness to an all time high. I'm always at a loss between wanting to cheer her on or wanting to slap her upside the head.
Then, there is Nathanial. I'd say we get an even better side of him in this book, not that we didn't get a good character development of him the first. But in this one, we get to see his feelings for Kita slink through the lines and absorb into our skin. I felt like the pulses of his emotions were being pushed off the electronic pages of my Kindle directly into my nerve endings. And, to top it off, there is a particularly delicious shower scene that involves a blood covered Kita and a similar looking Nathanial. I think it gives a better description to my mind of what exactly Nathanial looks like. *prrrr*
In addition to them, there are also cities of vampires everywhere, mages in abundance and a couple shifters on the prowl. (I fully enjoy Gil, the apprentice mage scholar who follows her around to study her - cracks me up!) I enjoyed this book even more than the first and I can't wait to get my hands on book three. I highly recommend Kalayna Price's Haven series to anyone who is looking for adult fantasy fiction with vampires and intrigue. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 5/5