Once Burned (Night Prince, #1) in Vampires, Weres and Fae!

Jun 20, 2012 Melindeeloo rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Having tormented myself with the extended 20% excerpt while waiting for my book to arrive, I ripped through Once Burned. I really liked the story and I really enjoyed Frost's newest heroine, circus performer Leila, who still suffers the after effects of being struck by lightning as a child - which has left her unable to touch anyone without possibly deadly consequences. Leila is smart, funny, straight forward, loyal and independant, and I really liked her with Vlad I could just feel the heat and Having tormented myself with the extended 20% excerpt while waiting for my book to arrive, I ripped through Once Burned. I really liked the story and I really enjoyed Frost's newest heroine, circus performer Leila, who still suffers the after effects of being struck by lightning as a child - which has left her unable to touch anyone without possibly deadly consequences. Leila is smart, funny, straight forward, loyal and independant, and I really liked her with Vlad I could just feel the heat and electricity between them - both literally and figuratively:)

A human vamp pairing is tough in some ways, because of the imbalance of power between mortal and immortal and the fiery Vlad is one of the most powerful immortals. But fortunately Leila isn't entirely powerless and her unusual talents were enough to capture Vlad's attention but it's her attitude and the fact that she is 'beautiful and diabolical' that intrigue him enough to pursue her.

I also loved Vlad - the most famous of vampires and the original fearsome impaling prince - he's so beautiful, arrogant and merciless. Vlad is definitely one to give IAD's Lothaire a run for the money, except while Vlad is ruthless he's not evil - he just protects what is his. But while I loved Vlad, who has been a treat throughout Frost's Night Huntress series, I didn't really find Vlad as funny without Cat to play off of. (Cat, Bones, Kira and Mencheres had a very brief cameo - and Bones gives Leila a very helpful hint for dealing with mind-reading vamps.)

A word of warning, unlike the other Night Huntress spin offs this isn't a one-book romance, it is first person sexy UF from Leila's point of view - with only a few brief glimpses into Vlad's mind courtesy of Leila's magic touch, and since this is only the first of Vlad and Leila's books, their story doesn't feel finished - because it isn't. So the ending which left several facets of the story open didn't bother me - though it is a bummer that the next book isn't until spring of 2013.

Two nits, and don't read this spoiler before reading the book, someone pointed this out and I don't know if I'd have noticed it otherwise but since I was aware of it, it was a bit distracting during the love scenes and I don't want you to bring the same mental baggage into the story just in case. (view spoiler) The second was with the initial love scene between Vlad and Leila, since it's Leila's 'first time' there is pain accenting the pleasure, but there is also a weird element that didn't strike me until thinking about it for a while (view spoiler)
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Jun 26, 2012 Yodamom rated it it was amazing

Shelves: cliffhanger-craptastic-ending, favorite-author, favorites, vampires, favorite, urban-fantasy, pure-awesomeness, want-to-do-it-again, romance, yummy-men

Vlad- he can take my flying any time anyway ! He shows his arrogant, princely side in this first book in a series based on the sex god of the night himself and some woman, what was her name.... ? LOL Anyway enough about her. Vlad takes on the badness when it comes for him and it comes from a long thought gone source. He travels around wearing sexy well fit clothes, wonderfully sexy jackets, he is a sight to read. Let's talk about his power, his very soul radiates power and demands respect. He i ...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Vannessa rated it liked it

Shelves: kindle-books, vampire-mostly, paranormal-romance

This is a the first book in a spin off series from Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series, which I totally love and whilst it didn't quite live up to the Night Huntress standard, it was pretty good.

This series tells the story of Vlad Tepesh, the Dracula of local legends, but he's more than just a legend. However, he's not quite the same Vlad as we have previously seen in the Night Huntress books and I do wonder if that's because the banter between Vlad and Bones was in those books and was very This is a the first book in a spin off series from Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series, which I totally love and whilst it didn't quite live up to the Night Huntress standard, it was pretty good.

This series tells the story of Vlad Tepesh, the Dracula of local legends, but he's more than just a legend. However, he's not quite the same Vlad as we have previously seen in the Night Huntress books and I do wonder if that's because the banter between Vlad and Bones was in those books and was very funny, but as Bones is lacking in this book, we don't get to see that same side of him.

In this book, Vlad has a serious ego problem and I actually wanted Leila, the main female character, to slap him a few more times than she did. He was such an arrogant git! But then I guess if I had been around a few thousand years, had the fire powers he had, had a huge vampire family all scared to death of me along with umpteen amounts of money, I would probably be a bit arrogant too. Doesn't mean I like it in the so-called hero of a book though.

Leila was a good enough heroine - she certainly didn't stand for any of Vlad's arrogance and gave as good as she got, but I did find the romance between the two of them was just not romantic enough, if that makes sense. I know she's had a difficult background after being electrocuted and scarred as a teenager, losing her mother when the electric powers Leila absorbed killed her and therefore had had no romantic interludes ever, but it just didn't do it for me.

The main plot of the story revolves around Leila's kidnapping by a group of vampires, who know what her powers can do. As well as electrocuting people, she can touch people to read their biggest sins and touch objects to locate the past, present and future of the last users of that object. These kidnappers want to use her to find Vlad, but when she does, she accidentally taps into his mind and they can mind-talk to each other. He rescues her, but then the hunt is on to find out who kidnapped her and why they want to kill Vlad as well.

Overall I thought this book was good, but not great. I will read the next book in this spin-off series to see where Vlad and Leila go to next (and I already have it on my kindle so why not?!), but I can't wait to get back to the Night Huntress series instead. ...more

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