Review! First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost

First Drop of Crimson
(Night Huntress Word, book 1)
Jeaniene Frost
Avon
February 9, 2010
ISBN-10: 0061583227
ISBN-13: 978-0061583223

The night is not safe for mortals. Denise MacGregor knows all too well what lurks in the shadows—her best friend is half-vampire Cat Crawfield—and she has already lost more than the average human could bear. But her family's past is wrapped in secrets and shrouded in darkness—and a demon shapeshifter has marked Denise as prey. Now her survival depends on an immortal who lusts for a taste of her.

He is Spade, a powerful, mysterious vampire who has walked the earth for centuries and is now duty-bound to protect this endangered, alluring human—even if it means destroying his own kind. Denise may arouse his deepest hungers, but Spade knows he must fight his urge to have her as they face the nightmare together . . .

Because once the first crimson drop falls, they will both be lost.

Denise MacGregor knows more than most humans. She knows what goes bump in the night, because she's friends with one. After losing her husband in a battle against supernatural nightmarish beings, all she wants to do is be left alone and cut her ties to the paranormal world but it's not as easy as it sounds. Especially when a demon comes calling and marks her. Apparently, one of her distant relative, named Nathaniel, backed out of a deal he made to be immortal decades ago with said demon and it is beyond pissed about it. Now, Denise can't run away from the supernatural world, she has to dive right into it and find this sneaky relative of her and trade herself for him so the demon doesn't kill her.

However, there's only one person that can help her find her distant cousin and it's a vampire named Spade. At first, he's reluctant to help Denise, he's being trying to fight off his attraction to her since he first learned that she was married but he can't just leave her to fend for herself in his world so he's resolved to help her. But that's not all, Denise's demonic mark is slowly turning her into a shapeshifter and if she doesn't find Nathaniel soon, that'll be the least of her problems in hell. 

First Drop of Crimson is the first spin-off novel of Frost's Night Huntress series and as any other Cat and Bones fan, I was beyond excited to read this book but I was sadly disappointed. Denise at first is annoyingly whiny and while she, thankfully, is not whiny throughout the entire book, her character is very one-dimensional and boring and I didn't find it memorable. Spade sort of carried the book for me, I felt his story was really interesting and he's got the sexy, dark vampire persona down pat. What definitely saved this book for me was the plot, it kept me on my toes to see what was going to happen next and if they were going to be able to find Nathaniel in time. While Bones makes a small appearance, Cat is MIA and I was hoping she'd show up but Ian is definitely present and he's one of my favorite characters ever!

I feel that if you read First Drop of Crimson without having read Frost's Night Huntress books, you might be able to enjoy it more and I don't think I've ever recommended something like that. I say this because the Cat and Bones book are insanely good, they will spoil you and you'll start First Drop of Crimson with some preconceived notion on how the book will be and that might not be such a good idea. However, I did enjoy the story, First Drop of Crimson makes for a really fun read, while some characters are lacking, the plot kept me going and I'm definitely looking forward to the next book, especially if Ian is in it! 

Lush Rating: 3!