🎧 Into the Fire by Jeaniene Frost @Jeaniene_Frost @taviagilbert @avonbooks @HarperAudio @BerlsS #Read-along #GIVEAWAY #LoveAudiobooks

Posted December 2, 2022 by Anne - Books of My Heart in Book Review, Giveaway, Read-along / 15 Comments

🎧 Into the Fire by Jeaniene Frost @Jeaniene_Frost @taviagilbert @avonbooks @HarperAudio @BerlsS #Read-along #GIVEAWAY #LoveAudiobooks Into The Fire by Jeaniene Frost
Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
Series: Night Huntress #13
Published by HarperAudio on January 28, 2014
Genres: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Length: 8 hours, 41 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
Amazon,  Audible,  Libro.fm,  Barnes & Noble,  Apple
three-flames
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star

For nearly six hundred years, Vlad Tepesh cared for nothing, so he had nothing to lose. His brutal reputation ensured that all but the most foolhardy stayed away. Now, falling in love with Leila has put him at the mercy of his passions. And one adversary has found a devastating way to use Vlad’s new bride against him.

A powerful spell links Leila to the necromancer Mircea. If he suffers or dies, so does she. Magic is forbidden to vampires, so Vlad and Leila enlist an unlikely guide as they search for a way to break the spell.

I have not done a good job keeping up with reviews for these four books… but if I had you would know that I came to this spin off series SO EXCITED. I fell in love with Vlad in the Cat and Bones series and could not wait to get to know him better. And then, meh. It wasn’t until book 3 that I finally felt like we got to see Vlad and Leila in a positive relationship with us getting more insight into Vlad. I was really hoping to see more of that in Into the Fire. Well…

I did. And I didn’t. In terms of Leila and Vlad, it was an improvement on books 1 & 2, but a little backstepping from book 3. Thankfully this was made up for with some great plot progression and character development for Leila and her sister Gretchen, some really fantastic insights into Ian and Verity, and some dangling interesting pieces that MAYBE we’ll see in other books I hope?

Most significantly – and I guess this could technically be a spoiler, so you’ve been warned – Leila was not kidnapped or rescued in this book! That’s right, ya’ll! I’m shocked too!

In fact, Leila got to be an aggressor in this book and I really enjoyed seeing her developing her abilities, and to a fair extent thanks to some new insights into her past. Vlad, though, fell back on some old bad habits – namely making unilateral decisions without discussing with those who it impacted for the sake of protecting Leila (even against her wishes). I do love him, but his arrogant impulsive behavior got under my skin!

If you’re at all curious about Veritas or Ian — two characters I’m immensely interested in – this book will pique your curiosity even more. I’m so excited to read their books next month. In addition to lingering questions about Ian and Veritas (which I expect will be answered), I was left with some questions about Leila’s sister, Gretchen. She’s always been a bit of a comic relief, but I’ve also found her interesting and with potential… so I do find myself wondering if we’ll see any of her in Ian’s books or maybe a spin off still to come?

Narration:

One StarOne StarHalf a Star

 

I listened to this book as I did all of the Vlad books. I’m not a fan of Tavia Gilbert’s narration, but for these books it is tolerable. She does deliver a pretty good voice for Vlad and I was okay with her voice for Ian as well. Thankfully Bones didn’t make an appearance in this book, which is where things tend to get really rough for me. I also find her delivery of intimate scenes too breathy — it makes it a little awkward to listen to and I tend to find myself laughing or fast forwarding. Her voices for female characters – as long as they don’t have an accent – are good though. I think she actually delivers a really good voice for Gretchen. So, tolerable at 2x speed, but not adding anything to the reading. You may enjoy it more in print (if that doesn’t slow you down too much as it does me).

Listen to a clip:  HERE

Games:

Who said (enter the answer in the Rafflecopter, don’t put in the comments)

Who said                              “If anyone else had told me this, I would swear they were lying or insane”.

There are other options in the rafflecopter for you to enter discussion questions and quotes to share.

 

The quote for Who said ““You’re the only one still in denial about who you married.” in Bound by Flames is Marty.

The villain was Syzlgyi.

Share your review/ thoughts on Into the Fire

I thought it might be fun to link up reviews so we can find them all easily.  It can be a link to Goodreads or a blog, or wherever you have a review (short or long).

Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets — Easy-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

Observations and questions you shared from Bound by Flames:

(Thank you  so much for sharing!)  If you can answer any of these numbered questions, you can do so in a comment.

  • I loved it when Vlad told Leila about Bram Stoker!
  • I really think Leila’s Dad needs an attitude adjustment…preferably a nasty one!

Quotes you readers shared from  Bound by Flames:

“This isn’t the first party I’ve thrown where fewer guest left than arrived.”

“This hovel and her RV are palaces compared to some of the places I’ve lived, so if we’re finished with the poverty pissing contest, I have business to discuss.”

“Because of my promise to Leila, I can’t kill you, so I may as well get some use out of being alive.”

“This place is better than Romania, But one day, I’d like to quit playing hide-and-seek and get on with my life,”

“You’re Dracula, so everyone knows your enemies don’t live long, but my dad and I are still locked up, so whoever’s yanking your chain must be the king of badasses. The only person I know who fits that description is the same old vampire you couldn’t kill before.”

“you might not be the easiest person, but who is? Besides, easy is overrated compared to you in all your spectacular, mercurial, enigmatic glory.”

“Our pasts might shape us, but they weren’t the end sum of us.”

“Killing is Kind of your husband’s thing, or haven’t you bothered to Google ‘Vlad Dracul’ yet?””

“Fear is the Beginning of wisdom, and your sister needs to start somewhere.”

“You aren’t just my weakness, Leila.” Vlad drew me next to him, one hand sliding along my jaw while the other caressed my back. “You are my destruction, because if I were to lose you, it would finish me.”

 

COYER FB Chat – Sunday December 4

Challenge is adopting our Read-along.  You can read about COYER and join that challenge  HERE.   On the Sunday after the review posts, they will host a FB room (like we do for COYER book club) at 12 PT, 2 CT, 3 ET and 9pm Europe, for a one hour chat.  You do not have to join the COYER challenge to participate, only the Facebook group.

If you can’t attend, there is also a Facebook messenger chat which has been fun and active, set up following the live chat.

Jeaniene Frost Q&A:

 

Will Cat’s daughter Katie ever get a book or series of her own? And with Katie’s mixed genes, can she be turned into a vampire or a ghoul?

I would love to do a book on Katie when she is older. I already have so many ideas, including who the hero would be. As for whether she could be turned into a vampire or ghoul with her genetics, the answer is yes. Katie could possibly be all three, in fact. That’s why her existence is still a secret because such an ability would be considered a threat to both the vampire world and the ghoul one.   

 

Cat’s dialog is so funny. Is she based on a real person from your life?

First, thank you! Second, no, I can’t point to any one person and say “She’s just like Cat!” But humor has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother all had a hilariously biting sense of humor, and I think I inherited some of that, too. So, even in times where situations are very dark—and sometimes especially in those times—humor has done a lot of heavy lifting in my family. So, writing a character with a strong sense of humor felt natural to me.

 

We saw Spade and Mencheres’s point of view in their books, plus Bones’s in THE OTHER HALF OF THE GRAVE, so will we ever get to see Vlad’s point of view? And why did you not include that when you wrote the Night Prince books?

Right now, I don’t see doing a book from Vlad’s point of view. Note that I’m only saying “right now” because whenever I say I’m definitely not doing something, I frequently end up doing it, and then I look silly for my previous denials. But, currently, I don’t have plans for Vlad that way, and I didn’t write the Night Prince series from his point of view because Vlad is like an onion. Peel back one layer, and you only realize how many more are beneath it. If I’d dropped readers right into Vlad’s head through his point of view, it would have diluted a lot of the mystery about him, and discovering Vlad’s secrets by peeling them back layer by layer is one of the things I loved about the Night Prince series. You never know what Vlad is going to do until he does it, and even then, it can still be surprising. So, that mystery and sense of discovery is something I wanted to hold onto by only showing him through Leila’s eyes. 

 

Will we ever see Tyler the Medium get a happily-ever-after? I’d love to see him in love! He’s such a riot.

I love Tyler, too! You do get to see him again, briefly, as a side character in WICKED ALL NIGHT, the final Night Rebel book. In that glimpse, you find out what Tyler’s been up to, and I am happy to say that it’s good news. 

 

Family is a common theme in your books, both chosen family and the one you’re born with. The “chosen family” almost seems like the favored type in your books. Does this stem from your own experience?

I’m very fortunate to come from a family that modeled unconditional love. This doesn’t mean my family was perfect, of course. We still had plenty of fights and struggles. But I always knew that, no matter what, my parents and sisters would love me. However, many people can’t say that. Take my husband. His father never saw or spoke to him after his parents divorced when my husband was only six years old. That’s just one example, and some people I’m close with have family members who’ve disowned them, or who they’ve had to disown because the relationships were toxic to the point of being harmful. They taught me that family is far more than biological ties. Family is/are the people who show up not only when it’s convenient, but also when it’s hard, and family is/are the people who love you in ways that build you up rather than tear you down. That’s why my books show that “chosen family” is just as real and precious as bio family, and in some cases, even more so.  

 

Cat and Bones’s relationship evolved over the series, but even in their last book, they still had some problems due to lack of communication. Was this intentional to show that their relationship continued to evolve? Or for some other reason? 

It was intentional because you can love someone, be with them for a long time, and still have communication issues. I mean, I’ll be married thirty years next month, and while I love my hubby to death, we can still fight when one-or both!- of us fails to communicate. That’s life since we’re all flawed people even on our best days. On our not-best days, we can get into communication trouble through impatience, or by feeling like we’re right and the other person is wrong, or by simply forgetting to take the time to talk things out. So, to me, Cat and Bones still dealing with some communication issues was a slice of normal in the midst of their many paranormal challenges. 

 

When you started writing the Night Huntress series, did you know how it would end? Or did you see the ending come about as you were writing it?

I didn’t know the ending at first. In fact, I only thought I was writing one book about Cat and Bones when I started Halfway to the Grave! But, about four books into the series, I knew the main points of the ending, and everything was working toward those main points from book four on. In fact, fellow author Ilona Andrews can tell you that I called her literally crying back in January 2012 because the movie Underworld: Awakening had just come out, and it had a “secret daughter” plot point, which is what I had been planning to do. I was absolutely crushed thinking that I had to now change that or people would assume that I was copying the movie. Ilona talked me down from my panic, and I went ahead with Katie’s subplot in Up From The Grave.  I’m sure someone, somewhere thinks I copied it from the movie, but I can’t help that. At the end of the day, there’s nothing new under the sun. There are only new ways of telling things. 

 

If Mircea feels any pain Leila does,  can he also feel the pleasure and more specifically sexual pleasure?   

No, Mircea CAN’T feel pleasure through his tie to Leila, and vice versa. He only feels destruction of flesh (broken bones, deep cuts, stabs, burns, etc.) So, he doesn’t get any of the good stuff when Vlad and Leila have sex. Likewise, if Mircea had sex with anyone, Leila would not feel it.

 

Will there ever be another book for Mencheres?

Probably not. I loved writing about him, but Mencheres is so powerful that the only truly dangerous enemy I could pit him against in his book was himself. Radje was the main antagonist in Eternal Kiss of Darkness, and he managed to do some terrible things, but that was mostly by hurting the people Mencheres cared about. In a straight fight against Mencheres, Radje was toast. Practically anybody would be, so Mencheres’s main struggle had to be internal. With him resolving that internal struggle at the end of Eternal Kiss of Darkness, it left Mencheres in a place where he makes a great side character, but he wouldn’t make a great protagonist again. I mean, how interesting is it to write “The evil villain approached..and Mencheres telekinetically ripped off his head! Problem solved. The End.” *wink* 

 

Here are some other interviews of Jeaniene Frost which I found interesting:

 

Here’s your to-do list:

  1. Find your copies of these books, borrow them from a friend, get them at the library or buy them.
  2. Read Book 14, Shades of Wicked, by January 8.
  3. Make note of a favorite quote or two as you read the book.
  4. If you haven’t read the books before, make a list of questions you have for the discussion. If you have read them, please don’t spoil new readers.
  5. Link up your review on Goodreads, FB or other site to the post.
  6. Join the COYER book chat on the Sunday following the post.
  7. Enter the giveaways!

Schedule:   

We are doing one book every 3-4 weeks, posting on Fridays. We will have a review for the books with the team here at Books of My Heart plus some of our friends.  We are following the author recommended reading order.

 

Dec 2:    Into the Fire                                   – Berls @ Because Reading

 

Miss a post?

Jan 14:    Halfway to the Grave               – Melissa @ Tea & Books

Feb 11:    One Foot in the Grave              –  Victoria @ First of All

Mar 11:   At Grave’s End                            –  Kimberly @Caffeinated Reviewer

Apr  1:     Destined for an Early Grave   –  Stephanie @ Once Upon a Chapter  

Apr 29:   First Drop of Crimson               – Kai @ Fiction State of Mind

May 20:  Eternal Kiss of Darkness         – Jen @ That’s What I’m Talkin About

Jun 10:    This Side of the Grave              – Brandee @Unconventional Bookworms

Jul 8:       One Grave at a Time                  –  Lorna 

Aug 5:      Once Burned                                –  Lexxie @Unconventional Bookworms

Sep 9:     Twice Tempted                             –  Angela @ Angel’s Guilty Pleasures

Oct 7:      Up from the Grave                      –  Melanie

Nov 4:     Bound by Flames                        –  Sophia

 

Bonus round – Read a Series in a Month  January 2023:

Jan 8:    Shades of Wicked              –  Carole @ Carol’s Random Life in Books

Jan 22:    Wicked Bite                        –  Robin

Feb 5:       Wicked All Night             –   Anne

 

These are Sunday posts.      There will be one COYER FB Chat at the end of the series on Feb 5th.

Be sure to enter the giveaways!!!

Giveaway:

For a US winner, this will be one digital copies ( your choice of her books) generously provided by Jeaniene Frost  (US only) but they can be from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Kobo.

For an Intl winner,  it will be a print copy of Wicked All Night from Book Depository.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Grand-Prize Giveaway:

For a US winner, this will be 12 digital copies ( your choice of her books) generously provided by Jeaniene Frost  (US only) but they can be from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Kobo.

For an Intl winner,  it will be $50 at Book Depository.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About Tavia Gilbert

Tavia Gilbert (SAG-AFTRA) is an award-winning narrator with more than 150 audiobooks under her belt. Contemporary and literary fiction, biography and memoir, fantasy, romance, children’s literature, science, religion…Tavia’s range of genres is a direct result of her intuitive interpretation, clever diction and pacing, and sensitivity to each author’s or publisher’s needs.

Classically trained in voice and theater, Tavia attended the University of Washington and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Original Works in Acting from Cornish College of the Arts. She has been singing in choirs since she was 12 years old and has been working full time as a voice actor since 2006.

Tavia is also a producer with nine years experience. After moving to Portland, Maine in 2001, she studied audio documentary production at the Salt Institute. With 11 years of paralegal experience, Tavia has a clear understanding and appreciation for the business side of her world, including contractual language and legal strategy. Her creative eye, vivid personality, and experience and contacts help her cast the highest caliber of artists, including actors, musicians, videographers, and other talent. Her clients hire her again and again, recognizing her exceptional work and the advantage they have in someone with both a creative and business mind.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

About Jeaniene Frost

Jeaniene Frost is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Her works include the Night Huntress series, the Night Prince series, the Broken Destiny series, and the new Night Rebel series. Jeaniene’s novels have also appeared on the Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal, ABA Indiebound, and international bestseller lists. Foreign rights for Jeaniene’s novels have sold to twenty different countries.

Jeaniene lives in Maryland with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. In addition to being a writer, Jeaniene also enjoys reading, writing, poetry, watching movies, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling – by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

About Berls at Because Reading

Michelle adopted me as part of her blog when I decided to close down my blog, Fantasy is More Fun. The blog was dying, but my love of reading and the blogosphere was still strong as ever – so I found my new home here at Because Reading!

I’ve loved reading as long as I can remember knowing how and will always pick a book over watching tv, a movie, or sometimes even spending time with friends/family. I caught the blogging bug when I started my blog in July 2013 and it takes up most of my spare time (that’s not spent reading). When I’m not reading or blogging, I’m usually spending time with my husband of 12 years, my teenage stepson, or my brother. My dog, Buffy (yes, she’s named for Buffy the Vampire Slayer my all-time favorite show) is always by my side, whether I’m reading, blogging, or just hanging – and she’ll probably show up in a few blog posts.

As a little girl I wanted to be author and even wrote a short story that I sent to a publisher. I did this all on my own, just taking the address out of my favorite Babysitter’s Club book and asking them to make it into a book for other people to read for me. Although my first attempt at publishing wasn’t successful, I cherished that rejection letter for years and maybe someday I’ll fulfill that childhood dream of writing my own books. I recently finished the first draft of my first novel – Sweeter Than Death – and really hope that I’ll be able to make a go of it someday not too far away. And in 2013 I authored a short story in the anothology Welcome to the Future that I hope to someday expand into a full-fledged series. But in the meantime, I enjoy sharing my love of books with others and will often showcase indie authors that I admire for doing what it takes to make their dreams to write come true.

I can’t remember a time that I wasn’t reading at least one book and I’ve often longed for people that I could share that joy with. That’s what I love so much about blogging and communities like Goodreads – I finally found people who love to read as much as I do and who enjoy the kind of books I do!

I also have the privilege of teaching Kindergarten. I love what I do and you can expect it to bleed into my posts. Teaching is a big a part of me as my family and reading. So grab a glass of wine and chat books, blogging, and family with me!

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Anne - Books of My Heart
Follow me
Latest posts by Anne - Books of My Heart (see all)
Please follow and like us:
Follow by Email
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Instagram
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
RSS

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • 22-COYER

Related Posts

Posted December 2, 2022 by Anne - Books of My Heart in Book Review, Giveaway, Read-along / 15 Comments

15 responses to “🎧 Into the Fire by Jeaniene Frost”

    • Anne - Books of My Heart

      No problem. I stopped right before the end of Cat & Bones and now finally am finishing reading the series. I owned them all too. Into the Fire will make you very excited to read Ian’s books also and the reviews I read from when they released are excellent. I’m looking forward to them.

      Anne - Books of My Heart recently posted: Thrifty Thursday Challenge 2023
  5. Carole @ Carole's Random Life

    I listened to this one just a year or two ago. I like Vlad and Leila but yes, Leila spends a lot of time being rescued/kidnapped in the series. I actually really enjoy Tavia Gilbert’s narration of the series so it is interesting to see another perspective.

  7. Sheryl

    I am a huge fan of Jeanine’s books. Honestly I loved Vlad from the minute he showed up.