Review—Twice Dead by Kalayna Price

Happy Monday, everyone! This particular Monday is happier for me than usual. I finished up my final paper for postcolonial lit, so that means the hardest part of my finals is out of the way. I still have quite a few more things to do, but it already feels like I’ve been given a slight break.

Well over the weekend, as promised, I finished reading Twice Dead by Kalayna Price and I’m ready to give you a full review.

As a reminder, I rated Price’s first novel, Once Bitten, as a “three-quarter moon,” which here at Nocturnal Readings is the equivalent of 4/5 stars—therefore, I highly recommend it and I hope some of you read it after seeing the review. You can find the old review on our "Previous Reviews" page or you can read the back cover blurb by clicking on the above link. Before I read Twice Dead I thought this was a writer to keep an eye on, now that I’ve read the second novel, my belief has only strengthened.

While the first novel was definitely enjoyable, the second novel was a big improvement. Price dove deeper into the unique paranormal world she created in Once Bitten and the character development continued at a good pace. I saw a nice twist in Price’s writing from the first to the second book. Kudos to her!

Not only was the paranormal world more intricate, but the heat really cranked up on Kita and Nathanial’s romance for book two. By the time I’d reached the end of the book, I was craving for more between them. And though I won’t explain how this sizzling situation came about, I was surprised by the unexpected chemistry between Kita and Tatius, the head vampire of the city of Haven. Honestly, I think I like Tatius, an all around badass vampire and seemingly cold-hearted soul, more than I like Nathanial. But that has nothing to do with Price’s writing and characterization, and is more my own personal taste for bad boys. Nathanial just doesn’t really fulfill that bad boy complex for me.

However, for you ladies, and maybe gentlemen as well, who enjoy a sweet, hopeless romantic hero, look no more—Nathanial is your guy. In my opinion, the best way to describe Nathanial is to say he is a slightly less mischievous Edward Cullen (the hot Edward from the first Twilight book, before he went completely starry eyed over Bella *gags at the thought.* Go team, Jacob). However, Tatius, my personal favorite, is similar to Eric Northman in punk clothing, though a little more rough around the edges than the smooth talking Eric (and all of you regular readers know how much I LOVE Eric).

In other words, the fact that I am comparing Price’s characters to two major fictional hotties shows my opinion of the novel. For this reason, I give Twice Dead, the second book of the Novels of Haven series, a rating of:

Three-quarter moon! This book is just as equally good as the first, plus a tad bit better. This book is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a good urban fantasy novel. I'm looking forward to the release of the third novel just after the holidays. For anyone interested, here is the back cover blurb for Twice Dead.

I hope you enjoyed the review! On Friday I’ll be posting a review of the short, Nocturne Bites novella, After the Kiss by Michelle Hauf. Also keep an eye out for an upcoming review of the Hunger Games book #1. Til Wednesday! ;-)