Review: Once Burned (Night Prince #1) by Jeaniene Frost

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Title: Once Burned (Night Prince #1)
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Publisher: Avon
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Format: Paperback
Buy: Amazon / The Book Depository / Barnes & Noble

She's a mortal with dark powers...

After a tragic accident scarred her body and destroyed her dreams, Leila never imagined that the worst was still to come: terrifying powers that let her channel electricity and learn a person's darkest secrets through a single touch. Leila is doomed to a life of solitude...until creatures of the night kidnap her, forcing her to reach out with a telepathic distress call to the world's most infamous vampire...

He's the Prince of Night...

Vlad Tepesh inspired the greatest vampire legend of all—but whatever you do, don't call him Dracula. Vlad's ability to control fire makes him one of the most feared vampires in existence, but his enemies have found a new weapon against him—a beautiful mortal with powers to match his own. When Vlad and Leila meet, however, passion ignites between them, threatening to consume them both. It will take everything that they are to stop an enemy intent on bringing them down in flames.

A Jeaniene Frost book that will make you lust for more.

If I had to summarize the whole book in one word it would be "AH-MAZ-ING". Not because it is based on Dracula but because it had all the best things the urban fantasy and paranormal romance genre's can offer. Action, romance, brilliantly constructed plot, characters, and setting. 

Leila is our narrator, she's a carny with electric abilities that can literally zap you to death with one touch. And because of this ability, she is left scarred, alone, and never-been kissed. At least, she's got her 4-feet-something friend, Marty to help her through the rough times and routines at the circus and in life in general. 

Eventually, word got out about her abilities (she's psychic too), and a high-end dangerous vampire hires other vampires to kidnap and use her to find a certain Romanian Prince, Vladislav Basarab Dracul, or otherwise known as Vlad (or Dracula, but he doesn't like being called that). He can read-minds and start fires from nothing. Sounds pretty awesome to me. 

Things get really page-turning once Vlad came into the story and I, literally, could not put the book down. I've been anticipating the release of this book for almost a year. When I found out that Vlad from the Night Huntress Series was getting his own series. I couldn't help but rejoice. 

After finishing the book, I am confident enough to say, that it did not disappoint me at all. The pace of the entire book was perfect. It was not rushed, and the information to a new reader to Jeaniene Frost's books won't be overwhelming at all. It is rather, refreshing and fluid unlike other books that seem overwhelm their readers to the point of confusion. This is not the case for Once Burned. 

Instantly you will feel drawn to the characters. Leila, Vlad and even the side characters were promising in their own ways. The dialogue was fluid, snarky and sometimes hilarious (depending on the character). 

Like Frost's previous works, her plots can be a little repetitive but her characters make up for it, they're the type that you would want to always be around, despite almost getting killed once or twice. Let's just say, you can't help but connect with the characters and love them as they appear in following books. 

Overall, this long anticipated release met all my expectations with action, romance, the characters even the plot. It simply left no room for disappointment or time to put it down. It is an extremely unputdownable book. I need the next book soon!