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Once Bitten (Haven #1)

by Kalayna Price (Goodreads Author)

3.57 of 5 stars 3.57 · rating details · 1,666 ratings · 186 reviews

Vampires and Shapeshifters.
A Fictionwise bestseller: No. 1 on the Fictionwise Dark Fantasy list in Feb. 2009

Kita Nekai, on the run and the smallest of her shifter clan-a calico cat among lions and tigers-is being hunted. She was expected to accept her role as her father's successor whether or not her cat was up to the task of leading the clan. She disagreed. Now she's les...more Vampires and Shapeshifters.
A Fictionwise bestseller: No. 1 on the Fictionwise Dark Fantasy list in Feb. 2009

Kita Nekai, on the run and the smallest of her shifter clan-a calico cat among lions and tigers-is being hunted. She was expected to accept her role as her father's successor whether or not her cat was up to the task of leading the clan. She disagreed. Now she's less than a step ahead of the hunters, bone-tired, cold, and living hand-to-mouth in the city of Haven. And that's the high point of her day. She's also drugged, "accidently" turned into a vampire, and sentenced to death for recklessly creating a rogue shifter who tortures its human prey. She's got seventy-two hours to find the rogue, evade a city full of hunters, prove she's not responsible for the rogue, and keep the vampire council from killing her. All while sorting out an apprentice mage, a married ex-boyfriend shifter-hunter, and the vampire who made her.

Reviews:

"Many of the world-building elements such as the nature of the vampire council, Firth and the society of the mages and Nathanial's backstory are deliberately left enigmatic to pique our curiosity and look forward to exploring the possibilities in future tales. Refreshingly, Once Bitten wraps up without the usual ubiquitous series cliff-hanger and ends on a positive note. Once Bitten is a solid urban fantasy debut with enough original ideas and twists to satisfy readers looking for something different and fresh. Kalayna Price is currently working on the next book in the Haven series." --Scifiguy Reviews

"Once Bitten is imaginative, thoroughly entertaining, and easily keeps a reader's attention." -- Patricia's Vampire Notes Reviews

"I ll be watching for book two in this exciting new series." -- Darque Reviews

"This was a perfect adventure." -- Paranormal Romance Reviews

"Urban fantasy readers who enjoy the works of Kelly Armstrong and V.K. Forrest will have a great time reading this exhilarating story." -- Harriet Klausner

"Young Adult girls will swoon over the strong male characters and try to be just like Kita. 4 Hearts" -- Book Reviews by Crystal(less)

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Published August 24th 2010 by BelleBooks, Inc. (first published January 9th 2009)

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Jun 05, 2011 Wendy Darling rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, pn-shapeshifters, pn-vampires, read-2011, pnr-urban-fantasy

2.5 stars I really like it when humans turn into animals. I don't know why. But I do. Maybe it's the whole intelligent mind inside dumb animal thing, maybe it's the freedom of moving around in slinky ways.

I downloaded the sample chapters of this book and was pretty excited by the beginning: our heroine is being hunted by someone late at night, and she shifts into a small cat in order to evade her captors. She then cleverly hides inside a shopping bag that is carried out of a woman's restroom. A...more 2.5 stars I really like it when humans turn into animals. I don't know why. But I do. Maybe it's the whole intelligent mind inside dumb animal thing, maybe it's the freedom of moving around in slinky ways.

I downloaded the sample chapters of this book and was pretty excited by the beginning: our heroine is being hunted by someone late at night, and she shifts into a small cat in order to evade her captors. She then cleverly hides inside a shopping bag that is carried out of a woman's restroom. Awesome start, right? Unfortunately, while there were a few other moments that I did like in this book, there were none that really lived up to that particular one.

I had a hard time connecting with Kita, as I just didn't understand her motivation...and the same goes for Bobby, the ex-boyfriend who has been sent by her father to retrieve her (and who is also mated and an expectant father), and Nathaniel, the vampire who turns her into a vampire. Yep, he turns her into a vampire. So we now have a shape-shifting kitty who is also a vampire who is being chased all over town. There was a lot going on, and frankly, I spent most of the book pretty confused. As much as people like to complain about info-dumps that provide explanations and back story, the alternative of too-little information that's illogically inserted is actually a lot worse. The world-building definitely needed more attention here, and it was a little frustrating that Kita didn't really use her powers all that much. She's stripped of her shape-shifting abilities after she's turned into a vampire, see, so that really upsets the whole I-like-manimals thing for me.

There's never any real reason given as to why she keeps pushing Nathaniel away or enough history given for the situation between her and Bobby, and most importantly, not enough information on this supposedly exalted position she holds in the animal kingdom. I also got really tired of everyone addressing her as "Kitten" when she keeps saying she doesn't like it. The girl has a name. Use it.(less)

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Jul 06, 2012 Amy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

About the time I find that the main male-lead, who I think is a horrid asshole that should get his ass kicked repeatedly, is supposed to be the misunderstood love interest, I realize that I've accidentally read a psuedo-romanace novel. Damn. I kept reading and waiting the entire book for him to get his come-uppance and instead of realizing what a vile son of a bitch he was and over-coming his whole vampire allure mesmerizing thing, they start getting all fuzzy toward him, which is what I call st...more

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Mar 26, 2009 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kalayna Price's debut novel, Once Bitten, brings a new twist to urban fantasy. Kita Nekai is a shapeshifter, heir to her clan, and on the run. Initially, her only problem is evading the Hunters that her father has sent to bring her back home. However, things just get worse as she is accidentally turned into a vampire and finds out she may be responsible for creating a rogue shifter who is murdering women. She is given two days to bring the rogue to justice or her life is forfeit.

Price combines v...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Traci (Mad Hatter Reads) rated it 3 of 5 stars

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

In most books with shifters, the beasts in question are usually large-breed (wolves, big cats, bears, etc.). Kalayna Price has created the unusual...a small-breed shifter. Kita shifts into a calico cat, which she uses her advantage by posing as a family pet while on the run from hunters from her home dimension of Firth. But the hunters are only the start of Kita's problems.

There's plenty of action in Once Bitten and it's a great start to the Haven Series. All the action takes...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Blood Rose Books rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In her debut novel Price introduces to new the reader to a new urban paranormal world centered in a city called Haven. Let’s just say the city does not live up to it`s name.

Kita, is a werecat, but not the normal lion, tiger or panther, Kita’s other form is a calico cat. Kita is also the heir to her pride, but as a calico cat, she believes that she would not survive any challenges to leadership, so she has run away. She has been on the run for five years, living on the streets or in stranger`s ho...more In her debut novel Price introduces to new the reader to a new urban paranormal world centered in a city called Haven. Let’s just say the city does not live up to it`s name.

Kita, is a werecat, but not the normal lion, tiger or panther, Kita’s other form is a calico cat. Kita is also the heir to her pride, but as a calico cat, she believes that she would not survive any challenges to leadership, so she has run away. She has been on the run for five years, living on the streets or in stranger`s home as a stray cat. But her time on the run is about to change, her clan) has decided that they want her back and has sent the Hunters after her. She is now on the run from the hunter of both the cat clan and wolf clan and the train to the town called Haven, sounded like a good idea at the time. However, the town is overrun with Hunters looking for Kita, with some who want to return her to the Firth (her home land) and others who believe she is responsible for creating a Rogue were. A demon judge has determined that Kita will die if she is unable to prove her innocence within three days times, but this does not mean that the hunters will stop looking for her or help her. While eluding the Hunters, Kita runs into a Clanless were who attacks her with silver to try to kill her, thinking that she is the rogue. Nathaniel, a vampire, who while trying to save her from the Clanless, is forced to turn her. Kita wakes up in a strange room, with a strange woman, and cannot find the cat inside her anywhere. Nathaniel has taken away Kita’s ability to be a cat, and turned her into a vampire but can that save her, from not only the hunters but also the rogue were and the judge too, good thing she has nine lives of a cat (well at least she hope she still does).

I enjoyed Price’s debut novel, granted there are some slow spots within the book that did not hold my attention too well but I was able to get past them, so overall this is a really good debut.

I enjoyed Kita as a character, though at times I wanted to strangle her for just wanting to run away from her problems but someone cannot always be a hero. The emotional process Kita goes through within the book was very well written, and supportive. Price did a good job of showing Kita`s emotional and in a sense growing up process from turning from a possible coward and living for herself, to finding out that maybe she is worthy of something better and maybe can be worth something to someone other than just a heir or stray cat. Additionally, I liked how her cat personalities came out in her human form and her hair. It was a nice twist to have a Were that did not turn into a hunter animal but something as small as a calico cat.

I was also very entertained by Gil, the scholar and I believe witch who has been sent to the Human Domain to study Kita and her methods to prove her innocence. Gil, is the comic relief in the book with her naivety of how things are done in the Human World. There is also some good tension between Nathanial and Kita, which will appeal to those who like some romance in the books that they read. I also liked Price`s ideas of having the Human world, the Were world and the magical world separate yet the vampires live hidden among the humans (I guess due to the need to feed on humans) and the worlds do not interact very often. I believe that Price was purposely ambiguous on some of the aspects within the book such as the Firth and Vampire council in order to pique a reader’s interest for the next books; I know that it worked for me.

This book is an urban paranormal book, there is some action, dark aspect, humour, mystery and a hint of romance, but they all just weave together well to form a good urban paranormal book that, I believe, will have you asking for more.

Enjoy!!!!(less)

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May 19, 2012 Hayley G rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of the first books that I purchased on my Kindle 2-3 years ago. I only mention this because the synopsis really gripped me and the e-book price was so enticing I had to purchase a kindle so I could read this book, and I haven't looked back since.

This is a great read that many fans of Rachel Vincent's Shifters series will appreciate. While the main plot points of Price and Vincent's stories are similar the setting, action and characters are all unique and set these two authors apart f...more

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Sep 16, 2011 Bell Curran rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: not-a-keeper, vampires, shapeshifters, strains-credulity

2-1/2 stars. I came to read this after getting into Price's Grave Witch series which is quite good and does interesting things with Fae mythology and necromancy. Once Bitten has an equally original fantasy world, but somehow it never came across as very believable.

The heroine, Kita Nekai, is a shifter on the run from some place called "Firth." We're never really told what Firth is. Another world? Dimension? Who the heck knows? A "portal" opens to it once a month. Kita has run away from Firth an...more 2-1/2 stars. I came to read this after getting into Price's Grave Witch series which is quite good and does interesting things with Fae mythology and necromancy. Once Bitten has an equally original fantasy world, but somehow it never came across as very believable.

The heroine, Kita Nekai, is a shifter on the run from some place called "Firth." We're never really told what Firth is. Another world? Dimension? Who the heck knows? A "portal" opens to it once a month. Kita has run away from Firth and is being pursued by Firth hunters. Sounds like a lazy plot device for giving us a heroine on the run.

The ostensible reason she's running is because she doesn't think she's strong enough to inherit her father's place as leader of their clan, even though all the other guys think she is capable, even though she just turns into a calico cat and the other shifters turn into lions and tigers. But also we're told that women are never allowed to leave Firth. So it sounds like a land of patriarchal oppression, but then all the guys -- her father, her ex-, etc -- believe she can rule but she doesn't? We aren't told that much about shifter society, but I'm with Kita here: how the heck is a calico cat going to rule over the lions and tigers? And if they never let women out, then how come women can rule? It just doesn't add up. Running away from patriarchy and the way they all try to control her life (for example, by refusing to let her be with the man she loves and pressuring him to take another mate) would make for a better reason to be on the run, homeless and constantly being hunted, than thinking she can't live up to Daddy's expectations.

Also, the ex- who is pursuing her is an unpleasant mix of creepy and pathetic. He acts all protective and jealous, but meanwhile his mate is back home expecting kittens (or cubs, or whatever). Why Kita lets him hang around instead of ditching him when she has the chance completely escapes me.

Other weird details keep popping up that don't so much add to our understanding of the world she's from as they do perplex -- like the necklace of her own finger bones, five of a kitten and five of a little girl, that she wears which give her some special powers or something (I guess she regenerated those fingers after someone cut them off? Yuck!).

Then there's the apprentice mage who pops out of mid-air to "study" Kita for her thesis project. She's not a very well-realized character, and the logic of what she's doing there (and more to the point, why Kita puts up with this clumsy buffoon of a woman following her around) never made much sense to me. It would have been funny if it were a parody of a cultural anthropologist, but I don't think it is.

And then there's the uber-mage who convicts Kita to die for creating a killer rogue shifter and gives her a 2-night reprieve to find the rogue. The evidence on which he's built his case is ridiculously slim, and no one ever explains why he has the authority to sentence her to death. Kita doesn't even seem to know about the existence of mages until this one shows up and declares himself Super Judge. Why does Kita run to do his bidding instead of plotting to off him when he returns to kill her after 2 days? The mage business is an even worse plot device than the whole Firth thing.

In short, the world-building isn't very convincing.

What the book does do well is the relationship between Kita and the vampire who turns her. Nathaniel is called "The Hermit" by other vampires because he eschews their company. He saves her from an attack outside a nightclub and then takes too much blood and nearly kills her so he turns her into a vampire to save her. Or something like that. It's not terribly clear and he does a lord almighty shitty job of explaining to her that she's a vampire -- after he turns her, he leaves her naked and chained to the floor on a bare mattress in a basement, being cared for by some crazy old vampire lady who tries to make her drink cat blood, which Kita feels is cannibalistic. But that failing aside, Nathaniel is an intriguing and appealing character, and Price writes him hinting at interesting emotional depths.

This was apparently Price's first book and it looks like it was published with a small press and unfortunately that shows in the number of typos -- apparently the press is too small to afford careful copy editing. Pity, as it distracts from the storytelling, especially when the number of guys who had attacked her a few months back (this is an important plot point) keeps changing from 3 to 5 and back to 3 again.(less)

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Jul 16, 2011 Sheyla rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kita Nekai is a shifter from Firth. She can turn into a calico cat which is the reason for her peculiar tri color hair. She has run away from her birth place avoiding becoming her father's successor as the clan leader and because the man she loved, Bobby mated with someone else. She has been on the run for five years successfully. Her luck is about to change.
She arrives at Haven and discovers that the city is surrounded by Hunters, wolves who want to take her back to her father 's realm. Trying...more Kita Nekai is a shifter from Firth. She can turn into a calico cat which is the reason for her peculiar tri color hair. She has run away from her birth place avoiding becoming her father's successor as the clan leader and because the man she loved, Bobby mated with someone else. She has been on the run for five years successfully. Her luck is about to change.
She arrives at Haven and discovers that the city is surrounded by Hunters, wolves who want to take her back to her father 's realm. Trying to escape the hunters she goes into a rave party where she is drugged and later attacked by another shifter. Nathanial, the Hermit, a vampire interrupts them. He proceeds to feed from her and is unable to stop himself. She becomes a vampire.
While she is trying to deal with this new state of her life, Bobby finds her and she learns that there is a rogue serial killer attacking women and she may have been responsible for turning him into a shifter. A Mage Judge marks her and if she doesn't find the rogue, not only is her life at stake but Nathanial and Bobby's.
Half of the time she is starving herself avoiding drinking blood. When she does feed she acquires memories from whom she feeds and this scares her. Is unknown if she will be able to shift again. Most vampires have some special powers. Nathanial is an illusionist, he can also fly.
When the Vampire Council learned about the Hermit's new Companion they are summoned to it. She is introduced to Tatius, an ancient vampire, King of Haven, who immediately becomes interested in her. We know there will be more interaction between both.
I enjoyed this new mythology, especially Nathanial and Bobby. I know she can't end up with Bobby. I mean he has a mate and cubs on the way. At times I was upset at Kita for pushing everyone away including Nathanial. She also didn't think before talking and most of the time she didn't take his advice. But, I hope she learns better in books to come.
cross posted at my blog http://mrsleifs.blogspot.com (less)

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Jun 18, 2011 Kitty rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal, kindle

I had mixed feelings about this book - before and after reading it.

Before: learning it was about a shape-shifter cat, my first thought was "cool - I like cats". My second thought was "but how can a person turn into a cat, when a cat is so much smaller than a person?". But my third thought was "how can a person turn into any animal? if I can enjoy a book about werewolves, is this really that more far-fetched?" So I gave it a try.

Here's what I liked about it: without giving any spoilers, this book...more

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Mar 19, 2011 Tracy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: alternate-universe-fantasy

~* 2.5 Stars *~
There was a lot of potential in Once Bitten, unfortunately, mostly unrealized. Despite some genuine originality in theme, plot, and character - I can't actually recall an urban fantasy featuring a half shifter, half vampire as the protagonist - and despite the broody, deep, protective, and emotionally stunted (yet yummy) vampire, Once Bitten fell short for me. There are several reasons why.

Kita is from an alternate...world? dimension?...some other place, anyway. I'm not too clear...more ~* 2.5 Stars *~
There was a lot of potential in Once Bitten, unfortunately, mostly unrealized. Despite some genuine originality in theme, plot, and character - I can't actually recall an urban fantasy featuring a half shifter, half vampire as the protagonist - and despite the broody, deep, protective, and emotionally stunted (yet yummy) vampire, Once Bitten fell short for me. There are several reasons why.

Kita is from an alternate...world? dimension?...some other place, anyway. I'm not too clear on that point. She's in our world...I think (there are humans anyway, so I assumed...but I may be wrong). She's on the run from the hunters from her - lets just say 'world' for convenience - and has been since fleeing Firth (said world) five years ago, running from a future as leader of her clan. I don't really know why that's something she needed to run away from, given what happens in Once Bitten, but I'm guessing a self esteem issue - and the fact that her "animal" is a calico house cat. There are some allusions to the rigid society and lack of freedoms, specifically for females, as they aren't allowed to be in our(?) world, but male shifters don't seem to have the same restrictions. Not really sure why. And that not knowing is a prevalent theme throughout Once Bitten, to the detriment of a fluid narrative and burdening this reader's interest.

So anyway, running from hunters, Kita flees into a rave to hide her scent and ends up drugged, gets away before she's molested only to be attacked again, only to wake up in a strange place with a crazy lady feeding her cat blood, to find out that she'd been 'sampled' by a vampire and - because of the drugs in her system - turned to save her life after he lost control and fed too deeply. Then there's the rogue shifter she may or may not have "tagged" and the mage judge out to exterminate her in two nights for doing so and the green demons and the clutzy, falls-all-over-herself scholar mage out to study her every move, and the vampire trying to keep her alive who is drawn to her as the source of renewed emotions after centuries of being the Hermit, and the old flame ex-boyfriend from home out to bring her home with him and despite him being married with cubs on the way who obviously doesn't feel ambivalent about his former childhood friend and sweetheart, the mysterious vampire council...

Actually, I'm just gonna stop there. That's not all there is, but it's so much. It's a lot to shove into one book without an intricate and strong foundation for the plot - and that's exactly what was missing here.

Had any of that been written with any sort of...fluidity of prose (I found the first half of the book comprised of a lot of short, choppy sentences that kept tripping me out of a willing suspension of disbelief), the bare bones exposition could have been fleshed out to set up a strong beginning of an original, impressive alternate universe fantasy. Unfortunately, it wasn't. And the problems don't end there. Kita was exceedingly immature, bitchy, and unsympathetic. Stubborn and contrary, and more likely to run from the slightest hint of conflict instead of trying to figure things out, I found it impossible to warm to her. When taken together with the lack of definition of the world (or worlds), the insufficient exposition, and haphazard plot with never-ending complications and superficial characters, it just isn't a satisfying read.

On the bright side - and there is a small one - I really did enjoy the vampire Nathaniel and the ex-boyfriend Bobby. It was underwritten for my taste, but I enjoyed the dynamics between the two of them and really liked how they dealt with each other and with Kita. I did spend a lot of time wondering how Nathaniel could keep reaching out a hand to Kita no matter how many times she pulled away from him, though, as the petulant whelp didn't do anything but label him and his ways monstrous. That does slowly change and develop along different lines as the book reached its conclusion and there might be a glimmer of character growth in the mix.

I think I'm going to give the next book in the series, Twice Dead, a try just to see if there can be an improvement on the things I didn't like in this one, and to revisit some of the stuff I did.

~*~*~*~
Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another. (less)

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Feb 13, 2011 Jen (In the Closet With a Bibliophile) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This book was freaking awesome. I have now grown very fond of all books by Kalayna Price. I wish there were so many more to read. *sigh* As there are currently only three, I'll be waiting on bended knee for the rest to be released.

Til then, here is my review:

This particular novel is about a shifter turned vampire. Kita (coolest name by the way), had grown up as a calico cat shifter. I was cracking up at that one, nothing like being a six pound kitty to really make you feel as uncomfortable as po...more This book was freaking awesome. I have now grown very fond of all books by Kalayna Price. I wish there were so many more to read. *sigh* As there are currently only three, I'll be waiting on bended knee for the rest to be released.

Til then, here is my review:

This particular novel is about a shifter turned vampire. Kita (coolest name by the way), had grown up as a calico cat shifter. I was cracking up at that one, nothing like being a six pound kitty to really make you feel as uncomfortable as possible in a world of Lions, Tigers and Bears (oh my!). But, that doesn't stop Kita from pushing for survival and running from the life she'd always known. I don't blame her, to be so confined to a way of life is way too oppressing.

Kita ends up in Haven were she ends up turned into a vampire by the sexy professor Nathaniel (don't get any ideas, he is way to chaste for this book *wink wink*). Anyhoo, as you can imagine, Kita is pretty pissed by the whole thing and I can't really blame her. I think it's why I love her so much as a character. She is super stubborn and there is no insta-feelings, she doesn't let go of all the pain in her life all of the sudden and embrace a life of vampirism. I think it makes the whole thing a bit more realistic. The character development invested in Kita by Price is amazing to me. It's tugged me into this world of shifter/vampire making me itch for more. Kita though, she is so stubborn and even though sometimes I want to slap her upside the head, I can't blame her, I can only move through the story with her feeling her pain. She pushes and pushes because she doesn't want to be hurt and I get that, no matter how sad that is that I get it, I just do. But, I also love that she isn't prone to complaining about it. She life sucks, but what can yah do?! Just try to make it out alive if you're Kita.

Then, there is Nathanial *licks lips*. I've always been into the scholarly type. Anyone who can keep up with me, that's my thinking. Now, he kind of falls into The Bad Boy Complex in the way that he kills bad guys by sucking the life out of them and he is seductive when he wants to be. Even if he may hide a lot of that behind him, he is definitely appealing. I really enjoyed his character and his ability to let Kita be who she is instead of the whole vampire mine bit. Albeit, there are sometimes when I enjoy the mine theme, sometimes I think authors take it beyond what they should, Price does not. And Nathanial is definitely sexy and alluring in most senses of the words.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, Price has created another delectable piece of fiction with Once Bitten. She has thrown me into this crazy world of Haven where vampires are sadistic and fun to read as well as shifters who change into bobcats and still have the ability to take out homicidal vamps. I highly recommend you give this book a read because Kalayna Price has created a brilliant novel with Once Bitten, the first in the Haven series!(less)

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Jan 12, 2011 Manda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I first started reading this book, I was expecting another vampire flick that would leave me cringing. It turned out to be a nicely written novel about more than just that.

I could understand Kita's character, unlike some other reviewer who said they couldn't relate to or understand how she always seems to scorn help or assistance. Said reviewer must have never owned a cat. By nature they are independent and stubborn. Price captured those qualities in Kita perfectly. It was a tad annoying,...more

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Dec 28, 2010 Sarah A. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-couldn-t-finish

For the life of me I couldn't understand what this book wanted to tell me! It kept unrelenting pace with events that I didn't care much about. The characters weren't properly intoduced in order for me to like them or at least understand them and have some sort of familiarity with them therefor I coudln't care less what happened to them! Another thing irked me in this book was the 100 times repeated gestures, it seems the heroine "Kita" is a magnet for the touch! EVERY guy wants to touch her some...more

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Oct 12, 2010 Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Sharon by: sharon.passmore@yahoo.co.uk

Shelves: favorites, paranormal-fantasy

Kita is on the run, she is a calico cat were, there's no way her cat is strong enough to rule her clan, no matter what her father says, but being hunted for the past five years has taken it's toll. Kita is tired, but there is no end in sight.
Kita is drugged, attacked, turned into a vampire, albeitly by accident and her inner cat is like cold stone, she can no longer change. The 'hermit'(Nathanial) insists on staying with her, Bobby her childhood friend just wants to protect her & Gil studie...more

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Nov 17, 2009 All Things Urban Fantasy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-by-abigail

Review Courtesy of AllThingsUrbanFantasy.blogspot.com

A Dhampir is a half vampire/half human, but what do you call a half vampire/half were? Well, if your Kaylana Price, you call her Kita, or as the men in her life call her, Kitten. Kita is a Shifter who can turn into a cat. Thinking herself and her alter ego calico too weak to take over for her father as the leader of the other Shifters of Firth, Kita escapes to the human world city of Haven and goes on the run from Hunters who would return her...more Review Courtesy of AllThingsUrbanFantasy.blogspot.com

A Dhampir is a half vampire/half human, but what do you call a half vampire/half were? Well, if your Kaylana Price, you call her Kita, or as the men in her life call her, Kitten. Kita is a Shifter who can turn into a cat. Thinking herself and her alter ego calico too weak to take over for her father as the leader of the other Shifters of Firth, Kita escapes to the human world city of Haven and goes on the run from Hunters who would return her home. After a slow start, the story picks up when Kita eventually runs into her ex-boyfriend/Hunter Bobby, accidentally gets turned into a Vampire by the Hermit Nathaniel, and becomes the research subject for a student Mage named Gil. This motley crew then gets recruited by a Judge who threatens to turn Kita and her friends over to a bunch of demons if they don’t track down a rogue Shifter/rapist (who Kita may have a connection to) within 48 hours. Sound confusing? Well it is. Not in the sense that you won’t understand what is happening, but you won’t know why because the world building of Once Bitten is never fully built.

This lack of world building wasn’t as frustrating early on when we first meet Kita and learn that she can turn into a cat etc. because we expect all the details of her world to be explained later. And while some things are explained, like Kita’s history with Bobby, others like the world Kita comes from, never are. Is Firth a magically hidden world? Is it an alternate dimension? What about Haven? Is that a city on Earth or some other planet? Then there are the vampire, demon, and mages. Do they all come from the same world? What are their rules? We get a glimpse of the Vampire society towards the end of Once Bitten, (and it’s something of a cross between Kim Harrison’s vamps and the Volturi from Twilight) but it is all too brief and ends up raising more questions then it answers.

Kita herself is an interesting character and the conflict she felt over the romantic feelings she still harbored for her mated (married) ex along with the burgeoning feelings she was developing for Nathaniel were realistically portrayed and easily the most compelling aspects of Once Bitten. But the handful of other characters were fairly one dimensional. Gil, for example, was supposed to be the eager, goofy sidekick who I constantly forgot about the moment she left the page. I still don’t remember why she showed up in the first place (and I read the book today) and the reason she stuck around was pretty flimsy.

Normally it can be a good thing when a book leaves you asking questions because then you are motivated to pick up the next book. Not this time. I stopped being curious about this Kitten long before I reached the end of Once Bitten. I still have a lot of questions, but I have very little motivation to seek out the answers in future Haven novels.

Sexual Content: Character’s pass through a vampire sex club, but nothing is graphically described. References to a rapist. (less)

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Feb 05, 2011 Kait Ballenger rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just finished Kalayna Price's debut urban fantasy novel, Once Bitten, and I did not regret picking it up. The novel was pretty far down on my TBR list, simply because I'd found it after many others that have been on the list for a while. But despite that I was in the middle of reading something else, I kept itching to pick up this book. It was definitely worth the move to the top of the TBR pile. Before I jump in head-first, here is the novel's back cover blurb:

"For the past five years, Kita N...more I just finished Kalayna Price's debut urban fantasy novel, Once Bitten, and I did not regret picking it up. The novel was pretty far down on my TBR list, simply because I'd found it after many others that have been on the list for a while. But despite that I was in the middle of reading something else, I kept itching to pick up this book. It was definitely worth the move to the top of the TBR pile. Before I jump in head-first, here is the novel's back cover blurb:

"For the past five years, Kita Nekai has faded into the background of the human world, but when a rogue shifter begins littering the city of Haven with bodies, Kita's illegal status lands her on the suspect list. During a confrontation with hunters that she can't win, rescue arrives in the form of the mysterious Nathanial Deaton. Kita soon wishes it hadn't when his method of saving her leaves her undead. With only three nights to prove her innocence and a new liquid diet to worry about, Kita doesn't want to deal with her infuriating rescuer or the ghost from her past who is determined to drag her back home. But, she needs help if she's going to stand any chance of survival."

The start of this book was absolutely page-turning. I literally could not set it down as I read through the first couple of chapters. If you crack this book open, I'm pretty definite that after chapter one, you'll be committed to reading the whole thing. Price's voice is very fresh in a genre that can often be overrun, and as dark as some of the novel may be, she manages to incorporate humor as well, which was a major plus for me.

Like the voice, the plot of the novel is also very fresh and unique. I loved the idea of bad ass heroine, Kita Nekai, being the smallest shifter in her clan--a little kitten! It was a great contrast to her character, and Price is crafty at thinking of new ways to present classic paranormal situations.

I found that the novel slowed down a bit compared to the page-turning opening once I hit about chapter four, though I definitely was still enjoying the read. Kita was a fun character, and the tension between her and her sire, Nathanial, was sizzling--something I find refreshing compared to the 'rip your clothes off' hotness of many current paranormals. It left me wanting more to happen between them, which is great. That means I'm definitely picking up book two. You've got me hooked, Kalayna Price!

The only objections I had were that I wanted more characterization of Kita--she is strong and a fun heroine to read about, but I wanted to see more of her vulnerability--and I also wanted to see more of her as a kitten. After only the first few chapters, she completes her fatal transformation into a vampire and I would've liked for her to either a) maintain her shifting abilities or b) changed a little later in the story. Also, while Nathanial definitely adds sizzle, I wanted more vulnerability from him too.

However, this is just a matter of my personal taste; I LOVE raw characters, and since this novel is the first in a series which centers around the same characters, they have plenty of time to blossom.

I highly recommend this novel for any urban fantasy fan. The Novels of Haven are at the top of my TBR list.(less)

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Jul 14, 2010 M. B. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Run Kita Run! That is what Kita has done all her life. As the smallest of her clan of cat shape shifters, she has always... ran! Ran away from danger, ran away from her clan and her magical homeland, ran from anything that was a threat of some sort to her. In fact, this story begins with her running... running from other shape shifters--hunters-- hellbent on capturing her and sending her back home. She soon finds out that her time on the run has, for lack of a better term, run out. The hunted mu...more

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Oct 30, 2011 Lolly's rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: were-y-things, urban-fantasy, contemporary-fantasy, paranormal-mys-suspense, part-of-a-series

There's a good book lurking somewhere in here; one just needs a machete, a weed-whacker and a couple of sturdy pruning shears in order to find it. Don't get me wrong, I like it when an author gets creative with certain stock genre archetypes and messes with the traditional mythology associated with said archetypes. I don't like it when authors then decide to cram every single item which pops into their head into one book. With Once Bitten we have shape-shifters, but not just of your lupine varie...more There's a good book lurking somewhere in here; one just needs a machete, a weed-whacker and a couple of sturdy pruning shears in order to find it. Don't get me wrong, I like it when an author gets creative with certain stock genre archetypes and messes with the traditional mythology associated with said archetypes. I don't like it when authors then decide to cram every single item which pops into their head into one book. With Once Bitten we have shape-shifters, but not just of your lupine variety but also of feline, in the the shapes of lions, tigers, bobcats and, in the case of the lead character, a calico housecat. Okay, no probs with that, especially the housecat bit; that's rather amusing, once your brain stops trying to figure out the physics and logistics of squishing a human into a tiny cat form, complete with clothes, and just goes with the flow. Then you have vampires. Okay, sure, why not? After that, though, it starts to get a bit over the top, as you have a vampire "bringing over" a shifter (said calico housecat), a mage shows up with his demon hoarde, a fairy pops by (at least, I think she's as fairy; it's never clearly explained, another of the author's problems I'll get to in a moment), a vampire council is introduced, not to mention we have a rogue shifter who's the main thrust of the plot. It's exhausting! It's as though the author, in one of her brainstorming sessions, thought, "Hmm, what else can I add to make sure this book is as 'supernatural' as possible?"

Basically, the story runs like this: We have our calico shifter, Kita (whom everyone calls "Kitten" even though she hates that nickname and, trust me, by the end of the book, you'll hate it as well), who's run away from her clan. Now, according to her, this clan lives in Firth. We don't know where Firth is, whether it's another city or country or dimension; we can kind of guess it's the latter, as a 'gate' opens up between the human world and Firth every full moon or so and apparently that's the only method of travel between the two places. But we're never told explicitly. And here's where we run into the information problem. I've been very vocal about my hatred of info dumps: they are poor excuses for exposition and world-building. However, the opposite, info droughts, are just as despised. Ideally, an author should sprinkle pertinent information, including backstory, throughout his or her novel, like a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar through a coffee cake: Little nuggets of extra information which add bursts of yumminess and dimension to the experience. Withholding information doesn't make you seem mature as a writer; it makes you seem even more inexperienced as, the further you go on not explaining your world, the more a reader believes you haven't taken the time to fully build it and its mythology. We are left to fill in so many blanks in the story, after a while it's easy just to give up and skim through the remainder of the book. After all, if the author didn't put the effort into writing it, why should we put any effort into reading it?

To get back to Kita, she's apparently run away from her clan because she's the next in line to be clan leader or Torin; she doesn't think she's powerful enough to take over, even though everyone else is seemingly okay with it (and once again we have another author falling prey to the tired PNR cliche concerning their female lead: "Ooh, poor me, I have no self-esteem even though everyone I know tells me I'm great, but I just can't believe it, woe is me, I'm so pitiful"). So now she's been on the run for five years and has hunters from her clan and others on her tail, so she's constantly on the move, changing cities quicker than some people change their underwear. The latest town, Haven, isn't turning out to be one; hunters have found her already, including one of her childhood pals from Firth, Bobby. To escape them, she hides inside a local rave. She finds herself roofied, on her way to crying out "Goodbye, cruel world!" only to be rescued by a vampire who has to turn her in order to save her life (which he endangered in the first place, as he decided to feed from Kita but found her memories and life force so interesting, he took a wee drop of blood too much; finding he couldn't let such an "interesting" creature die, he turned her instead. Nice, huh?) Waking up naked and chained to a wall, naturally Kita's a bit perturbed. Even more so when the mad vampire woman who's guarding her offers her a cup of warm cat's blood to drink. The vampire who turned her, Nathanial, finally releases Kita (who was chained for her own good; yeah, we've all heard that one before), who, quite naturally, tries to get as far away as possible. Just then, however, is when this mage pops up, who's apparently some kind of uber-judge for supernatural creatures, and sentences Kita to death for creating a rogue shifter who's been piling up the bodies in the local environs. Are you saying "Huh?" yet? Because I know I was. Who is this judge? Why does he have the right to sentence Kita? How does he know she's responsible, because, as far as I can see, there's no obvious evidence leading to a glaring neon sign of 'Guilt' over Kita's head. Why does he have demons doing his bidding? What the hell is going on? So, to try and wrap this up, Kita has two nights to find the rogue and kill it. She's helped in her hunt by Nathanial and Bobby (who, despite the fact he has a mate who's expecting a litter of his whelps, still pines for Kita's affection), as well as the fairy Gil, who tags along, studying Kita for some sort of interdimensional college doctoral thesis (or something like that; once again we're never explicitly told, leading to yet another round of questions: Who is this Gil? Why does she have the authority to study Kita? Why the hell would she want to? How did she know about the judge and Kita's case?)

While there is some good writing in here, the book is clunky. I had a hard time identifying or even liking any of the characters. Kita is whiny and whimpy; most of the time I just wanted to punch her and turn her over to the judge. She's also a complete mess: she's feisty when she should be calm and showing some sense, and meekly docile when she should be kicking some ass. Bobby is underdeveloped, with little-to-personality; the most we know from him is that Kita and he used to be an item when they were kids, but, because he's a wolf and she's a cat, I suppose (although it's never specifically stated), he wasn't allowed to mate with Kita and instead was forced to mate with another, a female wolf from a different clan. So Bobby moons over Kita and bristles at any affection shown to her by Nathanial, but that's about it. Nathanial has the most potential for being a well-rounded character; although he's still slightly one-dimensional in the novel, things are hinted about him which could add depth to his story. I presume those hints are further explored in subsequent novels. And although you can sympathize with Kita's anger over being forcibly turned into a vampire and her reluctance to initially trust Nathanial, the way she treats him and her situation is more like a toddler throwing a temper-tantrum: "I don't like it, I don't wanna do it, you can make me, waaaaaaa!" Not to mention the many questions and inconsistencies throughout the book. For instance, in Firth, females cannot be hunters (why the hell not?), in fact females seem to be good for nothing other than breeding, yet there's no problem with Kita taking over as leader? That doesn't jive with such a seemingly misogynistic society. Why does Kita wear a necklace into which the finger bones of a human child and kitten (her own bones, taken when she was little) are woven? What does that signify? What about the number of bones, which is more than Bobby's, who, apparently, shouldn't even have the right to wear such a necklace, but petitioned the clan elders to do so and was allowed.

Frankly, there are too many questions, not enough answers and not enough sympathy or interest generated to make me care enough to read the next book.(less)

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Mar 28, 2012 MissM rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: nook, read-2012

Even after finishing the book, I felt like I didn't really understand all of what was going on. Despite it being the first book by the author, it read like you were coming into an existing world because she just didn't explain anything.

From what I gather, there is some alternate reality? world? dimension? planet? named Firth and there is some kind of portal? gate? that opens between it and what I presume is supposed to be the "real" world. On Firth, there are shifters who are in clans but female...more Even after finishing the book, I felt like I didn't really understand all of what was going on. Despite it being the first book by the author, it read like you were coming into an existing world because she just didn't explain anything.

From what I gather, there is some alternate reality? world? dimension? planet? named Firth and there is some kind of portal? gate? that opens between it and what I presume is supposed to be the "real" world. On Firth, there are shifters who are in clans but female shifters aren't allowed to go to the "real" world. Why? Who knows. But Kita decides she doesn't want to be "Dyre" (which is italicized but never defined) and leaves. But now she's constantly being tracked by "hunters" to bring her home. They're supposed to be really scary and awesome but she's apparently avoided them for 5 years. Until of course, the start of the book.

She gets jumped and then a vampire comes to her defense, except instead, he bites her, drains her and apparently makes her a vampire.

Kita didn't know vampires existed and yet doesn't bother to ask a single thing about it, what it means, how her life is going to change, what the rules are - nothing. She also ignores things that the vampire who turned her tells her she needs to do, like drink blood. Which leads her to continually be weak and pathetic and suffering all these continual degradations of senses.

Meanwhile, some "Judge" who's a mage? or something, decides she's responsible for all these brutal killings of humans. Why? Who knows. So he sentences her to death but grants her two days to find the real killer. He also assigns her some lady named "Gil" who's apparently also a mage but - big surprise! - nothing is explained there either. Despite mentioning the fact she comes from some other world/reality/dimension/planet that runs on different time from the "real" world, you have no clue what any of it means.

So Kita, her ex-boyfriend shifter, the vampire and the mage flounder around trying to find the real killer for the next two days.

Nothing gets explained, Kita remains purposefully obtuse, and you just wander around randomly following her as nothing of interest happens.

It's so frustrating to constantly feel like you're being purposefully excluded from the conversation. It's like the school yard playground where the kids all giggle and talk about something but won't tell you what it is. The fact that the author drops random bits of info that never gets explained seems like some immature taunt. It's stupid and total author fail.

This book was ultimately pointless and the author really needs to take up a different profession. Writing clearly isn't her forte.(less)

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Oct 15, 2011 Chris rated it 1 of 5 stars

If I could give this book negative 5 stars I would. I love shifters, vampires, demons, fairies, etc., but they were not presented well in this book. From the very first page, I had no clue what was going on. This remained the case through most of this book. (view spoiler)...more If I could give this book negative 5 stars I would. I love shifters, vampires, demons, fairies, etc., but they were not presented well in this book. From the very first page, I had no clue what was going on. This remained the case through most of this book. (view spoiler)[It started off as a shifter book, then poof! a vampire was thrown in, then poof a "judge" and demons, then poof! some fairy observer who was writing a thesis appeared. I was never really sure who was the hero here. There was a detective story somewhere in the mix.

There were too many lead characters who never really took the lead and we never really got to know any of them. They all had a lot of potential, but no personality or character strength was ever developed. And at one time I swore that if Kita said "what are we going to do now?" one more time I would literally scream!

Kita, (the shifter cat turned vampire who wasn't sure whether she was still able to shift into a cat) had the maturity of a 6 year old (sorry 6 year olds.) Honestly, if I was attacked and woke up as a vampire, I swear I would want to know what happened after I was turned AND why I had to be turned. Instead of asking those quesitons, she constantly whined about the stupid vampire and having to drink blood. She was supposed to be the heir apparent to something, but it was never really made clear what that was.

Bobby was supposed to be her brave first love who was forced to mate with someone else, who, by the way was expecting "cubs". He never spoke of his mate and left her alone when she was about to give birth to hunt for Kita to bring her home. Then he never really tried to bring her home.

The Hermit vampire evidently refused to hang out with other vampires and elected to kill bad humans by draining them dry. Supposedly he was so attracted to Kita that he decided to save her life by making her a vampire. Then he pretty much neglected to tell her anything about her new vampire life until she learned the hard way. I guess he was supposed to be a troubled soul with a painful past, but since that was never addressed in the book, he could have just been a snobby know it all introvert.

Gil was some sort of student of something who was supposed to study Kita and write a research paper. I guessed she was some sort of fairy, but I'm really not sure. (hide spoiler)]

If there was romance here, I couldn't find it. If there was a story here, it was buried so far beneath all the other stuff that I couldn't decifer it.

In a nutshell, the book was too busy and never really let me get to know any of the characters with an depth. None of them seemed to have made any type of meaningful connection. And they stumbled onto the end of the mystery they were trying to solve after failing at every turn. I will not be reading Haven II and recommend it to NO ONE!

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Oct 13, 2011 Lauren rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, werewolves

2.5 Stars really. I don't know what it was but I couldn't really get into this. Better than a few books I've read lately in that at least I didn't mind picking it up again, but I never found myself wondering what would happen next.

Kita is a were-kitty cat, changing into a calico cat when she shifts. Her father tagged her to rule the clan back in Firth - which I got the impression is a magical place you can only get to on the full moon? Anyway, because Kita is tiny, and pretty much a 'fraidy cat...more 2.5 Stars really. I don't know what it was but I couldn't really get into this. Better than a few books I've read lately in that at least I didn't mind picking it up again, but I never found myself wondering what would happen next.

Kita is a were-kitty cat, changing into a calico cat when she shifts. Her father tagged her to rule the clan back in Firth - which I got the impression is a magical place you can only get to on the full moon? Anyway, because Kita is tiny, and pretty much a 'fraidy cat she ran off into the human world and has been living as a house cat. Strike 1 - scaredy cat heroine. Now, don't get me wrong, Kita is not one of those girls that screams and hides behind the men folk - much, and she at least isn't prancing around in high heels and a mini skirt proclaiming she is so over this whole princess think. That said, she is pretty timid in a world full of kick butt heroines. Still, I prefer her realism to the sillier heroines out there, but give me my name-taking girls any day.

Kita is attempting to mind her own business in the human world when hunters (were-creatures meant to track other were-creatures and report to some higher up council) start showing up all over. Among the hunters is her ex-boyfriend Bobby, sent to bring her back home to her dad and the clan she's supposed to lead. Kita manages to lose him and in the process gets herself attacked/mugged in an ally. Enter oh-he-of-the-grey-eyes-and-the-tousled-hair, Nathaniel. Nathaniel is more fun than Bobby. Bobby's got little boy angst, Nathaniel's got grown-up angst. There's still a lot of angst and of course we're set up for a love triangle now. Forget the fact that Bobby's "mated", he's still got the hots for Kita. Nathaniel appears to have won this round after all though, as he manages to turn Kita into a vampire while trying to save her life after accidentally almost killing her. Yes you heard that, vampire shifter. It goes over better than I thought it would, but still… And of course Kita doesn’t believe in vampires which is all the more amusing.

Then another council of magical creatures no one else has ever heard up arrives as well. Kita is being convicted of being a rogue and killing girls left and right. With Nathaniel bargaining they manage to convine the mage that Kita will be better used tracking down the rogue vs. being killed. The mage agrees and decides Nathaniel, Bobby and Kita will all die if she fails and gives her a time limit of 2 days.
They gain a student of this new council as a researcher and away they go. There’s a lot of discovering what being a vampire means and running into trouble trying to find this rogue all while time ticks down and Nathaniel keeps trying to grope her.

The book is a little heavy on world building. There’s just a lot to take in and keep straight, with fancy names for this and that and no real explanation as to what it means. The supernaturals are pretty stereotypical – shapeshifters are animal like and shift into animals with varying degrees of success and are turned by scratches/bites. Vampires drink blood, can’t cross doorways or stand sunlight and can fly. I think this book has plenty to work with as the series goes on but I never fell in love with Kita. I liked Nathaniel for whatever reason, but Bobby and Gil, their little tag along were pretty flat as far as characters go. Pretty much it was that flatness that overlay the characterization and the real need for fleshing out what was a story too thick in world-building needs that dropped my score for this book. That said, it is readable, and I don’t actually hate any of the characters. The love triangle is annoying, but at least Kita doesn’t pine after the 2, she admits to feelings and then moves on to what needs to be done.

All and all if you love werewolf/vampire stuff and urban fantasy with some action and an interesting world this would be a series to try. I don’t think I’ll read any further unless kindle has the next book cheap.
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Sep 17, 2010 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I received this book from Deb at Bell Bridge Books for review, it is Kalayna Price's first novel, Once Bitten and it was great!

I will admit to some confusion in the beginning though. Kita is already on the run and it's a little disorienting because other than what we know from the BOC we don't really get why she's running. Along the way we get pieces of her thoughts and know it has something to do with her clan and father. We never actually see these people/shifters for they live in Firth, this...more

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Apr 03, 2010 Beanbag Love rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is definitely a 3.5 but I couldn't decide whether to round up or down.

It took me forever to finish this book! A Kindle freebie, I couldn't figure out why I had a problem getting into it, but here's what I came up with:

1. The heroine is a selfish, spoiled, childish, hothead whose problems are all her own fault, and she spends much of the time snapping at everyone else.

2. She remains ignorant of the details of her own situation simply because she refuses -- in her anger -- to listen to the o...more This is definitely a 3.5 but I couldn't decide whether to round up or down.

It took me forever to finish this book! A Kindle freebie, I couldn't figure out why I had a problem getting into it, but here's what I came up with:

1. The heroine is a selfish, spoiled, childish, hothead whose problems are all her own fault, and she spends much of the time snapping at everyone else.

2. She remains ignorant of the details of her own situation simply because she refuses -- in her anger -- to listen to the one person who can explain things to her.

3. There was too little development of the three main characters, so they remained mostly vague through the majority of the book.

Okay, that's about it. HOWEVER -- after about 55% this book really took off. I really started to enjoy it. Although the heroine was still a pain in the butt, her stupid refusal to listen finally got her in the trouble of which she'd been warned and she learned a valuable lesson. Hopefully it will not be forgotten in the next book.

I really liked Price's writing style and the "voice" of the heroine would have been very enjoyable (very Mac-like for Fever fans) if her personality had been better. I hate when someone is nothing more than a pill and still ends up with a posse of guys obsessed with her. Even as bitchy women get great guys in real life, I know there's something more than what I'm seeing that attracts those guys and I did not see it here. Unless it's only physical and how freaking unsatisfying is that?

I give it four stars instead of three because I think Price has real talent and, if she can get a handle on developing characters her readers want to invest in, she can be an urban fantasy success.

Nathaniel and Kita are an interesting team. It appears Bobby might not be going anywhere for a while and that really bugs me because he's got obligations elsewhere and I personally take those obligations as sacred. So, yeah, he's not winning any popularity contests with me. But I do like the leads (when, finally, Kita settles down) and I'm hoping for interesting things to come. Nathaniel did have a couple of great lines that kicked Kita's snotty a** and that was very nice to see -- promising.

Rambling. Sorry. In short, I think this book is evidence of very good potential and the possibility of an auto-buy series.

We shall see.(less)

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Dec 20, 2010 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Once Bitten is the first book in the Haven series by Kalayna Price and a Dark Fantasy from Bell Bridge Books.

Book Blurb:

Dead cats don't cry. Kita Nekai finds that out the hard way.

For the past five years, Kita, a shapeshifter, has faded into the background of the human world, but when a rogue shifter begins littering the city of Haven with bodies, Kita becomes a suspect.

Hunters are after her. She barely avoids being plucked off the street, and owes the near miss to the fact her second form is a...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Dawn rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, vampires, werewolves-shifter, 2012-books

This one just wasn't for me.
To be fair I skimmed about 100 pages or so but I feel like I did not miss anything. The biggest challenge is there is a lack of world building so the reader is thrown into this confusing world. Perhaps this was supposed to be a device to provide intrigue and mystery but frankly it was a turn off and I just did not care. I also did not care for Kitten or whatever her name was the girl was just TSTL at times and the guys seemed two dimensional. The shifter guy Bobby who...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Lorelei rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

A very disappointing book. The characters feel poorly developed and their relationships are not properly fleshed out. I came to this one having read Grave Witch, which I loved. This book, however, needs a lot of work.

I found myself scanning a lot of superfluous description on the one hand and looking for extra description around the fight scenes which were very confusing on the other.

The main character seems unbelievably disinterested in asking questions about what has happened to her and we re...more

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Jan 16, 2010 Amber rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I got this book free off my Kindle and since I'm broke I'm trying to balance my reading of free classics with some fantasy, mystery, basically whatever they will let me download for free. I was sceptical about the book in the beginning. I didn't feel properly introduced to the characters or the fantasy land the author created. I enjoy true fantasy, where lands are created and such, but felt like the author assumed I knew more than I did. The plot felt jumpy. It also took me a long time to connec...more

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Jan 27, 2010 Tina rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chose-not-to-finish

Since this book was free on Amazon Kindle, I thought i would give it a try, and I really wanted to like it. I read pieces of it night after night, hoping that the dialogue or the plot would improve-- but I'm giving up. I typically read epic fantasy and horror novels. As a blend of these genres (fantasy, horror, romance?), it doesn't quite live up to any of them. This is probably better targeted towards someone who enjoys light YA Urban Fantasy.

The story centers around Kita, a calico cat shapeshi...more

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Apr 16, 2013 Alexandria rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book starts off on a very interesting note. And truthfully? I really liked it at first.

Within the first few chapters things go from being interesting, to downright bland, to deathly boring. There was just so much about it that seemed half assed to me. And I hate to say it, but it's true.

The characters were shallow at times, and seem impersonal to both the reader and to each other throughout most of the book. You also spend a lot of this novel asking questions about Kita's past; this is mo...more

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Jun 06, 2011 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, urban-fantasy

I enjoyed Grave Witch, so I picked this up to see what Kalayna Price’s Haven series was like. Once Bitten was OK-not as good as Grave Witch, which had a more likeable heroine with some cool powers (and a cute dog!). In Once Bitten, Kita’s behavior can be kind of repetitive and annoying, and the investigation into the rogue dragged (lots of walking around and taking the subway and dodging hunters, while searching for clues) on too long. The vampire side of the plot line was much more interesting...more

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Genres

Fantasy > Urban Fantasy

121 users

Paranormal > Vampires

78 users

Fantasy > Paranormal

75 users

Fantasy

58 users

Paranormal > Shapeshifters

28 users

Romance

26 users

Shapeshifters > Werewolves

11 users

Adult

10 users

Romance > Paranormal Romance

9 users

Horror

8 users

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About Kalayna Price

USA Today Bestselling author Kalayna Price writes the Alex Craft Novels, a new dark urban fantasy series from Roc, and the Novels of Haven from Bell Bridge Books. Her works have been translated into several languages and are available (or have been contracted for release) in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Poland, Russia, and Germany. Kalayna draws her ideas from the world around her,...more

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Trivia About Once Bitten

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Quotes from Once Bitten

“You didn't save my life, you postponed my death. There's a difference.” — 18 people liked it

“I have seen your disregard for other's hearts. I would not choose to trust you with mine” — 10 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9223606-once-bitten?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1301316102l/9223606.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9223606-once-bitten?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Once Bitten by Kalayna Price[/url]

Once Bitten (Haven #1)

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