Kalayna Price: Once Bitten

Hey Everyone, Sorry it has been a few days I have been able to post a review, but moving has taken up m time for almost the last week. But I was able to finish this book yesterday, hopefully soon, I will be back to my regular posting.

In her debut novel Price introduces to new the reader to a new urban paranormal world centered in a city called Haven. Let’s just say the city does not live up to it`s name.

Kita, is a werecat, but not the normal lion, tiger or panther, Kita’s other form is a calico cat. Kita is also the heir to her pride, but as a calico cat, she believes that she would not survive any challenges to leadership, so she has run away. She has been on the run for five years, living on the streets or in stranger`s home as a stray cat. But her time on the run is about to change, her clan) has decided that they want her back and has sent the Hunters after her. She is now on the run from the hunter of both the cat clan and wolf clan and the train to the town called Haven, sounded like a good idea at the time. However, the town is overrun with Hunters looking for Kita, with some who want to return her to the Firth (her home land) and others who believe she is responsible for creating a Rogue were. A demon judge has determined that Kita will die if she is unable to prove her innocence within three days times, but this does not mean that the hunters will stop looking for her or help her. While eluding the Hunters, Kita runs into a Clanless were who attacks her with silver to try to kill her, thinking that she is the rogue. Nathaniel, a vampire, who while trying to save her from the Clanless, is forced to turn her. Kita wakes up in a strange room, with a strange woman, and cannot find the cat inside her anywhere. Nathaniel has taken away Kita’s ability to be a cat, and turned her into a vampire but can that save her, from not only the hunters but also the rogue were and the judge too, good thing she has nine lives of a cat (well at least she hope she still does).

I enjoyed Price’s debut novel, granted there are some slow spots within the book that did not hold my attention too well but I was able to get past them, so overall this is a really good debut. I enjoyed Kita as a character, though at times I wanted to strangle her for just wanting to run away from her problems but someone cannot always be a hero.  The emotional process Kita goes through within the book was very well written, and supportive.  Price did a good job of showing Kita`s emotional and in a sense growing up process from turning from a possible coward and living for herself, to finding out that maybe she is worthy of something better and maybe can be worth something to someone other than just a heir or stray cat. Additionally, I liked how her cat personalities came out in her human form and her hair. It was a nice twist to have a Were that did not turn into a hunter animal but something as small as a calico cat. I was also very entertained by Gil, the scholar and I believe witch who has been sent to the Human Domain to study Kita and her methods to prove her innocence. Gil, is the comic relief in the book with her naivety of how things are done in the Human World. There is also some good tension between Nathanial and Kita, which will appeal to those who like some romance in the books that they read.  I also liked Price`s ideas of having the Human world, the Were world and the magical world separate yet the vampires live hidden among the humans (I guess due to the need to feed on humans) and the worlds do not interact very often. I believe that Price was purposely ambiguous on some of the aspects within the book such as the Firth and Vampire council in order to pique a reader’s interest for the next books; I know that it worked for me.

This book is an urban paranormal book, there is some action, dark aspect, humour, mystery and a hint of romance, but they all just weave together well to form a good urban paranormal book that, I believe, will have you asking for more.

 

Enjoy!!!!

If You Like This,

Check These Out Too: