Title: Twice Tempted
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Series: Night Prince #2
Publication: March 26th 2013 by Avon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format: Paperback, 360 pages
Cover Rating: 5/5
Overall Rating: 3/5
Dating the Prince of Darkness has its challenges…
Leila’s psychic abilities have been failing her, and now she isn’t sure what the future holds. If that weren’t enough, her lover, Vlad, has been acting distant. Though Leila is a mere mortal, she’s also a modern woman who refuses to accept the cold shoulder treatment forever–especially from the darkly handsome vampire who still won’t admit that he loves her.
Like choosing between eternal love and a loveless eternity…
Soon circumstances send Leila back to the carnival circuit, where tragedy strikes. And when she finds herself in the crosshairs of a killer who may be closer than she realizes, Leila must decide who to trust– the fiery vampire who arouses her passions like no other or the tortured knight who longs to be more than a friend? With danger stalking her every step of the way, all it takes is one wrong move to damn her for eternity.
~My thoughts:
Beware for spoilers!
I have read every full lenght book by Jeaniene Frost and I consider myself also a huge fan of hers. I fell in love with her books because of Cat and Bones. They’re one of my favorite book couples ever. I also loved every spin-off book Frost has written, like the Night Huntress World book. I was also blown away by Once Burned, the first book in Night Prince…
However, and this really pains me to say, Twice Tempted felt rather disappointing to me. I can’t believe the day has come where I rate a Frost book only 3 stars. The world must be ending…
Twice Tempted starts pretty much where Once Burned ended (not that I remember a lot from it anymore). Leila’s powers are diminished and she feels like Vlad is pulling away from her. Eventually after Vlad keeps refusing to say he does love her she ends up back at a carnival. Of course that’s where the problems start again…
I liked the book, I really did but overall I couldn’t help but not totally loving it like I would expect from a Frost book. I am not pleased at all. There were just too many things bothering me. First of all, Leila. I do like her. Or I did in the previous book. I don’t know what happened to that girl. Okay, I’ll give her kudos for leaving Vlad because he keeps saying he can’t love her but eventually she ends up back where she started and then suddenly Vlad can say he does loves her. What the hell? And this doesn’t mean I don’t love Vlad. I love him to death. He’s always been one of my favorite characters from the Night Huntress series. I don’t have anything negative to say about him in this one except why does he rush things like it. One moment he refuses to tell Leila he loves her (which we all know he does) and the next he’s saying they’re getting married. I mean, no… just no. On to my next issue, which was Maximus. I don’t know why Frost created his character only to make him a Tate (from Night Huntress) clone. There’s almost no difference between the two. Tate wanted Cat but couldn’t have her. Maximus wants Leila but can’t have her. CLONE!
As for the other characters, none of them really captured my attention. I did like Leila’s father. He only wants what’s best for her and I love him for that. And Marty too. I’m so glad he didn’t die like I thought!
Also what happened to the famous Frost sex scenes? People are still talking about her Chapter 32 from the second Night Huntress book. Compared to that, the two in Twice Tempted were let’s say without any fire. I didn’t like it at all. So very disappointed for those alone.
Some very important scenes seemed so rushed for me. Vlad saying he loved Leila, announcing they would get married right away pretty much, her changing into a vampire. I would’ve rather seen that they got married or in this book and her changing into a vampire in the next or the other way around but not all at once. That’s just too much.
And the whole plot just seemed really weak to me. We finally find out who is really behind it all and then it’s her? Again I say, very disappointing.
But of course not all was bad. There was Vlad and face it, we all love him + he’s burning hot!
As always with a Frost book, I pretty much raced through the book. I do love Frost’s writing a lot. It’s very face-paced and she has a good way with words. Another thing I like was when Leila felt the past from certain objects. We got quite a lot history from Vlad. I loved that. Oh and Cat was there. Always a plus but I wished we would’ve actually seen Bones too instead of just knowing he was there. But oh well this is Vlad and Leila’s story so that was only a minor disappointment. Though it brings me to my next thought… This series is called Night Prince meaning Vlad, then why not make it really Vlad’s book by writing in in his point of view or at least have dual point of views along with Leila’s. But, oh well, I’m happy Vlad is there anyway even when I didn’t like this one as much as I would’ve liked. But I have to keep in mind that sequels rarely live up to the first books. It’s only too bad it had to be like this with this one.
All in all Twice Tempted was a slightly disappointing sequel to Once Burned. I had expected a lot more from this book and I guess it backfired on me. I did love Vlad, and I always will. He’s Dracula and that’ll always be an awesome character to read about. Frost’s writing and ability to capture her readers hasn’t disappeared at all even when I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would so it’s not an awful book or anything. It’s still a very likeable read and I’d recommend it to Frost and vampire fans everywhere.
Then he leaned down, breath warm on my neck as he whispered his next words. “You’ve wondered if I felt differently about you since your abilities diminished. Let this serve as your answer.”
“If you introduce yourself to anyone as Mrs. Dracula, I’ll bite you in a manner you won’t enjoy.”
“Fourteen hundred and thirty-one.”
I blinked. “What’s that?”
“The year I was born, which is not, as you’ll not yesterday.”
Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the Night Huntress series, the Night Prince series and the Night Huntress World novels. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to nineteen different countries. Jeaniene lives in North Carolina with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling – by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.
For information on Jeaniene’s books, reading the first 20% of each book free, book trailers, deleted scenes, creature mythology, and more, please visit: www.jeanienefrost.com
I agree with you. Only I wasn't a big fan of Leila in the first book, but in Twice Tempted it felt like she took ten giant steps back and let Vlad walk all over her. And I liked Maximus; unlike Tate, though, he had a potential to be a decent character. His reasons for wanting Leila were a bit more believable; he's been lonely for over a millennia.
And I agree about what you said about Leila's father and Marty. I didn't really like daddy dearest in the first one, but I loved him here. Wished Leila had his common sense – her disregard for her own life was absolutely ridiculous, especially since she's supposed to have "a survivor's instinct". Marty was cool as always; I freaked out when Leila thought he was dead. When he came back on page… better than Christmas time! haha
Great review! You put into words almost everything I felt about Twice Tempted.
Yes. I love Vlad but Leila let him walk over her, like you said. Maximus I like better than Tate too. I just wish it wouldn't be almost exactly the same as in NH! I do hope we see more of him in the next book.
Leila should listen to her daddy more! And another thing I kind of liked with Marty's dead. I really believed he died. Sometimes when a character supposedly dies, you know he/she will be back but I didn't believe it this time and then voila! alive anyway. Damn, Jeaniene Frost for giving me a heart attack like that!
I'm glad someone agrees with me. It seems like everyone really loved it.
I…skimmed. I've not read the series yet, and hope to one day. 🙂
Do it! It is a great one even when this book was a little less to me.