Kalayna Price has a style of writing that appeals to me. Her Haven series is interesting and uses a lot of supernatural beings: Vampires, Shifters, Mages, etc. This second book in the Haven Series follows the path of Kita a shifter from Firth. No spoilers here, if you want to know you should read it. If you like Grave Witch you like this one as well. ( )

A huge improvement over Once Bitten, Kalayna Price’s second Haven book, Twice Dead, had the imagination of the first installment, with none of the boring descriptions of endless walking around looking for clues, and a lot less annoying behavior from Kita. Kita’s introduction to the vampire world in Once Bitten was the most interesting thing about the book, and Price played to that strength in Twice Dead. The addition of Avin the necromancer was fun, and the progress of the relationship with Nathanial, Kita’s ongoing discovery of her vampiric powers, and the question of whether or not she’ll eventually be able to completely shift all give me plenty of reason to look forward to book three in the Haven series. Glad I stuck with the series after Once Bitten. ( )

Twice Dead starts where Once Bitten left off. It’s only been two weeks since Kita lost her cat and became a vampire. She and Nathaniel, her sire are caught in a vampire political power struggle that may cost them their bond, if not their lives. Events are complicated by others power players - like mages, scholars, and a necromancer. I am hooked on this series because of the shifter/vampire twist. I’ll have to wait until next year for the third book. Ugh! Kita is an interesting character – strong, used to doing her own thing and not depending on other people. Her life would be a bit easier if she’d trust more than just herself and her childhood friend, Bobby. I believe Nathaniel has fallen in love with her; she just needs to realize that she’s headed that direction too. ( )

For the record, I am going to say that I have not read the first book in this series. I got Twice Dead as a freebie on Amazon. Kaylana Price has an ability to make something that has been written about time and again seem fresh and new again. The idea of a shifter, turned into a vampire, is one that meshes the two genres of horror into something dysfunctional yet perfect in the same breath. I liked the tension that accumulated within the novel regarding Kita and her struggles with the shifter part of her, and her reluctance but eventual acceptance to finish things off in the vampire fashion.

Some of the relationships, which I'm sure were explained in the first installation of the series, were a little lost on me. I understand the tense relationship between Kita and Nathaniel, and it makes me want to pull my hair out at how they seem to balk at one another after every turn. I did like the hierarchy that she set up, and the way that they enforce vampire order in her world. It's something that, at its basest roots, sound legitimate.

If you like vampire books, thrown in with drama and a mystery, this one will definitely throw you for a loop. There were some unexpected twists and turns, and I'm sure I would have given it 5 stars had I actually known some of the more obscure details that were implied, just not outright explained, as they may have been in book 1. ( )

(Note: This was supplied as a PDF. Reading PDFs is a pain on my eReader, so that meant computer time, and as I usually find myself doing things on the computer instead of reading it slowed finishing this down, a lot, which may reflect in a slightly tetchy review. ePub please!)

I'm still trying to decide if I liked this book or not. The series has potential. Against that, it does hit some of my 'annoying' buttons - the heroine seems a little more whinging (though its nice not to see yet another Anita-Blake-super-competant clone) than warrented, the world was solid enough to feel real, and the rest of the characters were pleasantly interesting.

Having got MY whining out of the way - I did enjoy the book while I was reading, and the world and characters were deftly enough sketched that I didn't generally suffer a lot of those argh! moments. If you like Urban Fantasy, pick up a copy or skim a few sample pages to see if you'd like the book, and if you do, grab the first in the series (Once Bitten) at the same time. ( )