Alice's Review: Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost

Released: 26th June 2012
Paperback: 346 pages
Price: $7.99
Publisher: Avon
Source: Book Depository
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Night Prince
Series Order:
1. Once Burned
2. Twice Tempted (26th March 2013)
Summary

After a tragic accident scarred her body and destroyed her dreams, Leila never imagined that the worst was still to come: terrifying powers that let her channel electricity and learn a person's darkest secrets through a single touch. Leila is doomed to a life of solitude...until creatures of the night kidnap her, forcing her to reach out with a telepathic distress call to the world's most infamous vampire...

Vlad Tepesh inspired the greatest vampire legend of all—but whatever you do, don't call him Dracula. Vlad's ability to control fire makes him one of the most feared vampires in existence, but his enemies have found a new weapon against him—a beautiful mortal with powers to match his own. When Vlad and Leila meet, however, passion ignites between them, threatening to consume them both. It will take everything that they are to stop an enemy intent on bringing them down in flames.

My Rating:

My Opinion: So I really like Jeaniene Frost's books. I fell in love with her Night Huntress series (which is fantastic, you need to check it out!) a few years ago and the books have been re-read so many times. Vlad has been featured in these books quite a bit and each time I read about him, I liked him more and more! He's a great character and he's made me laugh with his quips to Bones, who he really doesn't like. I still giggle over his Anne Rice comeback. (It's the first one.) I knew I'd love this book and it's no wonder I gave it five stars!

This starts off with introducing the heroine, Frankie (whose real name we find out in the next few chapters), who can channel electricity through her right hand and can see someone's past or future when she touches a person or their belongings. She's working in a circus and practising her moves one night when she gets kidnapped. Asked to find Vlad through touching his weapons, she finds out that she can communicate with him through the connection she forms when she touched his weapons and so she bargains for his help and he agrees. This is what I like about Frankie: she's strong, quick and smart. She's not scared easily and fights for what she believes is right. Her quickness in making a deal with Vlad is only the first of the many awesome feats she pulls off.

So, uhh, Vlad. Gosh, he is just so sexy. Like, I like him even more than I like Bones and I thought Bones was one of the hottest heroes I'd read about so far. As we read more about Vlad as he and Frankie interact, we see more of his awesome qualities, such as his loyalty, bravery, strength and... sassiness. On a scale of one to Crowley (any Supernatural fans out here?), Vlad is pretty much on par with Crowley. He's hilarious and I love that side of him. But don't forget, he's also a vampire who's survived for so long for a reason: he's bloodthirsty and cruel. We see some of his cruelty and yeah, it kinda scared me but it also showed that he's not a wimpy little vamp.

You know how Vlad Tepesh was nicknamed Vlad the Impaler? We see some of this impaling done in the book. Only from what I've read about Vlad in history books, he didn't impale people through their chests, as he does in this book. Of course, I may be wrong or this is different in the book due to the fact that the other method is just far too disgusting for me to think about. I really didn't like reading about Vlad's cruelty and I thought that some of it was overkill.

Frost does a wonderful job in creating two really great characters and making their adventures really bloody awesome. Frost also writes about Marty, a dwarf vampire who is like a father to Frankie. Marty is willing to sacrifice his life for Frankie and he's just a really great guy who I hope isn't killed off later in this series.

My verdict: I could go on and on about all the awesomeness in this book but who wants to read a short novel? All I can say is that this is my favourite book of Jeaniene's so far and I'm looking forward to more romance between Frankie and Vlad in their next book. Hurry up, March!

Hey guys, I wanted to apologise for being away for so long. This year was my final year at school and it was full of exams and just really stressful so I had to give up reviewing and most of my reading to focus on school and my future. Now that my exams are over, I'll be reviewing a lot more! :)