HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE: The Night Huntress, Book 1 by Jeaniene Frost.

Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

½ Romance + ½ Urban Fantasy = Vehicle for a Great Narrator

This is a loosely veiled Romance novel; a breathless love story cloaked in Urban Fantasy trappings. The protagonist Kat is motivated equally by (1) her need to fight the vampire bad guys and (2) her attraction to a man she is reluctantly falling in love with. This is an unfair gross oversimplification of the book, but does I believe accurately classify the genre in which this novel could be categorized.  I acquired this first Night Huntress installment despite suspecting the above to be true because of the comments from other listeners on the performance of the narrator Tavia Gilbert. I am always on the lookout for narrators that put on a great act and this seemed like just such an offering. I was quite pleased. Tavia Gilbert has a wide range of character voices and emotional inflections that make this book a joy to listen to. With such a talent I wish she had more outlandish characters to work with. She even knows the correct pronunciation of the much maligned word “sentient.” (Go to hour 1:37 to hear the two syllable word “SEN-shunt”) This alone is enough to endear a narrator to me. She is one of the top audiobook performers I have heard.