The Bite Before Christmas audiobook

A Bite Before Christmas was an odd pairing of holiday novellas served up with a fangy twist - Sand's Argeneau vampires are light humorous paranormal romances and Frost's Night Huntress stories are wise cracking sexy urban fantasy. I am a fan of both, but no sure that they belong together and - I have to ask - why are they together in hardback? Anyway on to the important stuff... (4.5 stars = I really really liked it) "Home for the Holidays" by Jeaniene Frost - A Night Huntress novella - Looks like Annette has totally one upped Cat's birthday present to Bones but the surprise guest has almost every one in Bone's 'family' acting really wierd - Frost had released the first few chapter of this as a sneak preview a while back (view spoiler)[I was apparently so excited when I read the teaser that I didn't realize whose relative the new vamp was, and despite the accent, I was thinking Kat's - because he said he'd take her up on her 'flirting' if they were related... (hide spoiler)] but even having read the beginning before, this Cat and Bones short was really excellent. "Home for the Holidays" is a pretty substantial novella length short story, with a really great conflict, with a touching moment near the end, and lots of cameos, plus a decent sized supporting role for Ian - he's so unabashedly bad but with a redeeming touch of loyalty that makes him a standout character. (2 stars = ok) "The Gift" by Lynsay Sands - an Argeneau connected novella, starring Teddy the Port Henry Chief of Police who has appeared in quite a few of the books (Accidental Vampire for one). Teddy's attempt to avoid a 'charity' invite to one of his paired off friends holiday celebrations, ends up with him snowed in and with no power, but with a very interesting neighbor to make the experience more interesting. - I was happy that Teddy got his HEA, but there were places where I was borderline squicked with the 60 something Teddy lusting after the 20's looking Katricia. Katricia is around 1600 years old or something like that and Teddy feels bad about scoping her out before he knows, and Katricia is on the make from the start but ... I'd have been happier if the lustiness had waited until after the turning. And I have had this pet peeve in the last five or so books, I wish Sands would stop using Little 'fill-in-heroes-name-here' for a significant male body part, it was cute the first time in Thomas' book but needs to be retired. The last 14% of the book has sneak previews for Sand's next book Under a Vampire Moon (which if the rumors are true, will no longer be a hardback release) and for Frost's first Night Prince (Vlad's spinoff series) I am skipping both teasers - I will just wait for the real thing. flag

Everytime Cat and Bones make an appearance it is like meeting up with old friends you haven't seen in a while and feels it was yesterday the last time you got together. That is the feeling I get everytime I read about Cat and Bones, a warm, cozy feeling that starts to develop right after the first paragraph. Cat and Bones never lose their appeal and have a spellbound effect so the reader immediately becomes immersed and lost in the pages and becomes part of the story.The time Cat wants to throw Bones a birthday party but things don't go as planned as an unexpected visitor shows up and brings a little surprise of their own.If you are expecting the playful banter that will have you grinning ear-to-ear, the hot passion between Cat and Bones, the action and intrigue, and of course Bones (love that sexy British Vamp)then you will not be disappointed. Even though this was a novella, it packs so much punch that it could easily have been a full-length book. There were so many heart-wrenching moments and surprising revelations that it left my jaw dropping. Many times Jeaniene Frost had stated that she wanted to write about Bones' past but never had the chance until now. All I can say is THANK YOU! It was wonderful reading a storyline where Bones was the focus and the reader got to find out more tidbits about his past.A Cat and Bones story is not complete without the rest of the gang showing up and as always they truly enriched the story. This time Ian took the the center stage for the secondary characters in the series and he was absolutely fantastic. It was so much fun to hear Ian's playful and flirtatious comebacks and watching him revel in his scandalous ways. Without spoiling it Ian really got very involved in helping Cat in the current dilemma that she was facing.Everyone has been saying it and I have to agree I would love to see more of Ian in a spin-off book in the Night Huntress World series. He may be a cad but after seeing his loyalty and devotion for the people he cares about you can see that his passion for that one special woman would be mind-blowing.What I loved most about this book was Jeaniene's ability to still come up with fresh ideas that still had me saying "OMG I did not see that one coming".So what are you waiting for read this book if you want lots of excitement, surprises, laughs and hot sexy times with Cat and Bones!5 Stars

4 ½ stars – Paranormal RomanceA great Night Huntress holiday story that provided a very satisfying Cat and Bones fix!Merged review:4 ½ stars – Paranormal Romance*This review is only for Jeaniene Frost’s Home for the Holidays.*A great Night Huntress holiday story that provided a very satisfying Cat and Bones fix! And don’t miss the teaser for Vlad and Leila’s story, Once Burned, at the end of the book!

Reviewed by: Rabid ReadsThere’s nothing like a Christmas themed book to put me in the holiday spirit and this anthology is no exception. I’m a newcomer to Lynsay Sands’ writing but a long-time fan of Jeaniene Frost’s so this novel was a nice mix of new and old for me. I wasn’t lost by starting at book 15.5 in the Argeneau series but I did find the storyline a little odd. On the other hand, I’m caught up in Frost’ Night Huntress series and couldn’t help but get a little giddy at the chance to check-in with Cat and Bones again.The Gift by Lynsay SandsThis is a cute novella that introduced me to a few of the characters in the Argeneau series and also provided me with a bit of background information. Every author has their own take on vampires but I struggled with Sands’ version. It’s a little “out there”. My understanding is that the undead are a result of some weird science project and they need blood to feed their “nanos”. Also, they are originally from the lost city of Atlantis. Sounds more like the makings of a sci-fi novel than a paranormal one in my opinion. I liked how she spun the mate concept. Vampires have soul mates but sometimes it can take them centuries to find theirs. Katricia is ancient and has spent so many years alone that she no longer craves food or sex but all of that changes when she meets Teddy. At first she’s reluctant to inform him of the fact that they’re mates for fear of him running for the hills. I don’t want to go into too much detail because this is only a novella and I don’t want to ruin it but a few unexpected things do happen to keep things interesting. It’s a Christmas story though, so as expected, everyone lives happily ever after!Home for the Holidays by Jeaniene FrostIan fans will love this short story because he gets lots of face-time. He’s not on my list of favorite fictional characters but he does have a few personality traits that make his POV a fun read. A new persona is introduced in this novella that had my head buzzing with possibilities. Mainly I started speculating as to how Frost was going to incorporate this tidbit into her series. Things didn’t work out as I expected but a brilliant author is always a step ahead of her readers! As usual, Cat and Bones are spectacular together and I gobbled up the pages faster than I would have liked. The next full length novel isn’t due out for a while so I try to savor my time with these two as much as possible. Unfortunately for me, that never works out as planned. I become so engulfed in Jeaniene’s awesome world that I end up finishing the book in record time without even realizing it until it’s too late. Ooh well, if I become desperate I can always re-read an installment or two! Home for the Holidays is a quick and spicy read that’ll put you in the mood for more things than just Christmas (if you get my meaning!). The two stories in The Bite Before Christmas are festive while managing to maintain their paranormal cores. A great read for those looking to read something holiday-themed without having to go overboard on the Xmas cheer.

This review is only for Home for the Holidays by Jeaniene FrostAnother short story about Cat and Bones. As the case usually is with Jeaniene Frost it has great plot, skillful writing, awkward and funny scenes and some English-accented hotness. Unfortunately the lately tendency continues and the relationship between Cat and Bones is boring. There were some revelations about Bones human family. Quite unexpected family members were found.The highlight of this book was my favorite Ian. Amoral, cocky and always horny he brings so much entertainment into old series. And I finally got to see him making out with Cat again. But I won’t say more. You will have to read it on your own to know what happened ;)

4.5 stars for the Jeaniene Frost story. In typical Cat & Bones fashion, and Jeaniene Frost style, the story was exciting, gave us significant character development with characters we have come to love (and perhaps even some we love to dislike), fattened parts of the world and lore up, and opened up some possibilities for long arc storylines, all wrapped up in a very satisfying ending. I also read the preview peek at the new Vlad series (Prince of Darkness) and I'm really looking forward to that first book! I will return to Ms. Sands' story when I have read some of that series. I'm an Argeneau virgin and want to let the series unfold naturally. :D

I have to admit that I only read Jeaniene's story so far.And of course it was awesome. I love Cat and Bones and as far as I'm concerned they can do no wrong. In this story Cat is once again our heroine...as Bones and the others are under some kind of mind control.Fantastic read...Highly recommend this book.

The Bite Before Christmas contains two novellas, "The Gift" by Lynsay Sands (Argeneau #15.5) and "Home for the Holidays" by Jeaniene Frost (Night Huntress #6.5). In "The Gift", Port Henry's middle aged bachelor police chief, Teddy Brunswick, gladly accepts Margeurite Argeneau's offer of her cottage in Muskoka to avoid being alone and pitied on Christmas. But the morning after he arrives, he wakes up to find that a storm has taken out the power, his truck is completely snowed in (even the door handle is frozen), and a fallen tree has blocked the road. He has no food and his mobile phone needs recharging - all he has is a fireplace and some heat. When he treks out to the road to survey the damage, he encounters a lovely young woman called Katricia, who is also alone and borrowing the neighbouring cottage which belongs to friends of hers (Mortimer and Sam, from The Rogue Hunter ). She has loads of food but no heat, so they decide to pool resources. Tricia brings over the food, something she didn't think she'd need since she hasn't been interested in eating for centuries - but now that she's met her life mate, Teddy, it's one of the things that's returned to her. Like all her kind, she'd despaired of ever meeting her life mate, and now here he is - and they're confined to a cottage on a lake for a few days. It seems the perfect situation to Tricia, but Teddy is fifty and thinks he's way too old for her, and that his attraction to her is a little creepy. But he knows about her kind, coming from Port Henry where immortals are a kind of half-open secret, so Katricia has every hope that he'll welcome the idea. She just has to find the right moment to tell him."Home for the Holidays" begins with a surprise birthday celebration for Bones, organised by his loving wife Cat, to which all the old crowd is invited (their main paranormal crew is there except for Vlad - Ian, Spade, Fabian, Elisabeth, Denise, Mencheres, Kira and Annette). Annette is late to the party, though, and when Ian goes to her hotel to fetch her, he finds her being assailed by an unknown man, the room covered in blood. The assailant flees out the window and Annette is strangely reticent in giving Bones any information.That night, a stranger breaches their property, a vampire in a frilly shirt who calls himself Wraith and claims to be Bone's half-brother, and a loner whose Sire is dead. Bones is sceptical, but hopeful, for he's never known where he came from. But soon after Wraith is welcomed into the house, Cat notices something strange. Everyone except her, Denise and Ian are entranced by the vampire as he tells long-winded story after long-winded story. When Bones completely loses interest in Cat and doesn't show any of his usual reactions towards her, she becomes as worried as Ian. The two of them have to work together to figure out what's going on and how to fix it, before Bones is lost to her forever.I enjoyed both of these stories a great deal, though "Home for the Holidays" was the stronger one - and glad I was of it too, since the last Cat and Bones book I read was pretty disappointing for me. "The Gift" was a fun read, returning to the lighter early books in the series in tone, with no dark sub-plots, just a scenario that brings together two people and gives them time to explore things. Interestingly, after Teddy is turned (not a spoiler, since of course he's turned) and becomes young again - about twenty-five - I found myself missing the Teddy I'd come to know, the older man facing retirement. Of course it changes things, getting your youth back, and if this were a longer story, or a work of speculative fiction rather than romance, it could have become a very dark story, if Teddy wasn't as lovely as he is. But I really liked him, so it was easy to be happy for him and to smile at his sudden youthful enthusiasm. Still, when you fall in love with a person, having them suddenly lose decades would make me feel like I was now stuck with someone I didn't know. Interesting thought, anyway.Overall, it was great getting back to Canada and a quieter, more light-hearted story in the Argeneau series.With "Home for the Holidays", Frost struck gold, creating a neat, tight story, plenty of action, a situation that seemed unsolvable (Kresley Cole has turned me into a fan of these kinds of twisted plots!), and Cat gets to seriously kick arse, again. Plus, you will actually like Ian in this story, since he gets to act hero without losing his crude and irreverent sense of humour.More than that, though, we learn more about Bones' lineage and past, and that glimpse of repressed hope that Cat sees in his eyes when Wraith dangles the long-lost-brother card makes your heart break a bit. The ghosts get some good air time too, action-wise, which I always love, since the vampires always ignore and underestimate them. And on the romance front, there are some lovely intense scenes between Cat and Bones - not the sex, interestingly enough, but before that.Overall, a winning novella in the Night Huntress world that reinvigorates my previously waning love for the series.