I enjoyed Grave Witch, so I picked this up to see what Kalayna Price’s Haven series was like. Once Bitten was OK-not as good as Grave Witch, which had a more likeable heroine with some cool powers (and a cute dog!). In Once Bitten, Kita’s behavior can be kind of repetitive and annoying, and the investigation into the rogue dragged (lots of walking around and taking the subway and dodging hunters, while searching for clues) on too long. The vampire side of the plot line was much more interesting to me than the Firth business, and Bobby, childhood friendship and first love notwithstanding, is boring.

I’m glad I stuck with this one, though, because I did like it more from the vampire council scene to the end. Price has a great imagination, and I’m interested enough in the story (and OK, I do love Nathanial) to read the next book.
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Kita has been on the run for five years, running away from home, from leadership responsibilities, from fear, and finally from herself. One night while trying to stay warm she encounters a fight that changes her from a shape shifting kitten to a vampire with very few abilities.

I got this for free from Amazon on kindle. Loved it – bought the second one (for full price.) it was worth it too.
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2.5 Stars really. I don't know what it was but I couldn't really get into this. Better than a few books I've read lately in that at least I didn't mind picking it up again, but I never found myself wondering what would happen next.

Kita is a were-kitty cat, changing into a calico cat when she shifts. Her father tagged her to rule the clan back in Firth - which I got the impression is a magical place you can only get to on the full moon? Anyway, because Kita is tiny, and pretty much a 'fraidy cat she ran off into the human world and has been living as a house cat. Strike 1 - scaredy cat heroine. Now, don't get me wrong, Kita is not one of those girls that screams and hides behind the men folk - much, and she at least isn't prancing around in high heels and a mini skirt proclaiming she is so over this whole princess think. That said, she is pretty timid in a world full of kick butt heroines. Still, I prefer her realism to the sillier heroines out there, but give me my name-taking girls any day.

Kita is attempting to mind her own business in the human world when hunters (were-creatures meant to track other were-creatures and report to some higher up council) start showing up all over. Among the hunters is her ex-boyfriend Bobby, sent to bring her back home to her dad and the clan she's supposed to lead. Kita manages to lose him and in the process gets herself attacked/mugged in an ally. Enter oh-he-of-the-grey-eyes-and-the-tousled-hair, Nathaniel. Nathaniel is more fun than Bobby. Bobby's got little boy angst, Nathaniel's got grown-up angst. There's still a lot of angst and of course we're set up for a love triangle now. Forget the fact that Bobby's "mated", he's still got the hots for Kita. Nathaniel appears to have won this round after all though, as he manages to turn Kita into a vampire while trying to save her life after accidentally almost killing her. Yes you heard that, vampire shifter. It goes over better than I thought it would, but still… And of course Kita doesn’t believe in vampires which is all the more amusing.

Then another council of magical creatures no one else has ever heard up arrives as well. Kita is being convicted of being a rogue and killing girls left and right. With Nathaniel bargaining they manage to convine the mage that Kita will be better used tracking down the rogue vs. being killed. The mage agrees and decides Nathaniel, Bobby and Kita will all die if she fails and gives her a time limit of 2 days.
They gain a student of this new council as a researcher and away they go. There’s a lot of discovering what being a vampire means and running into trouble trying to find this rogue all while time ticks down and Nathaniel keeps trying to grope her.

The book is a little heavy on world building. There’s just a lot to take in and keep straight, with fancy names for this and that and no real explanation as to what it means. The supernaturals are pretty stereotypical – shapeshifters are animal like and shift into animals with varying degrees of success and are turned by scratches/bites. Vampires drink blood, can’t cross doorways or stand sunlight and can fly. I think this book has plenty to work with as the series goes on but I never fell in love with Kita. I liked Nathaniel for whatever reason, but Bobby and Gil, their little tag along were pretty flat as far as characters go. Pretty much it was that flatness that overlay the characterization and the real need for fleshing out what was a story too thick in world-building needs that dropped my score for this book. That said, it is readable, and I don’t actually hate any of the characters. The love triangle is annoying, but at least Kita doesn’t pine after the 2, she admits to feelings and then moves on to what needs to be done.

All and all if you love werewolf/vampire stuff and urban fantasy with some action and an interesting world this would be a series to try. I don’t think I’ll read any further unless kindle has the next book cheap.
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Hmm, a shape shifter who becomes a vampire. That's something I hadn't come across yet, although I suppose the reverse happens to Tyler on the Vampire Diaries. (Ooops. Did I just publicly confess to watching that?)

I enjoyed some aspects of the story more than others. Kita feels like a unique character to me, which is saying something given how much urban fantasy I read. But I don't like where her relationship with the vampire might be going, and I definitely could've done without some of the gory details involved in bringing down the rogue.

What happens to Kita at the end is just horrifyingly gross. Whether or not I'll read the next book in the series depends a lot on whether the author got less, or more, vivid in her descriptions of the kind of damage a body can take. ( )

This was a really good beginning for a new series. I liked the two main characters, Kita and the Hermit. Kita had some really profound lines during her situation of being a runaway, while Nathaniel(Hemit) brought light humor and severe chastisement to the intensity of Kita's character. They exchanged believable and down to Earth dialogue.

A lot of the rules of a vampire novel were stretched thin in places though I saw some of the common factors in sections. It was a really strong resemblance to the movie Underworld: Evolutions, this is a serious pet peeve with me and I wasn't pleased with this factor. Minus 1 star.

The ending well I did like that, and it will be the reason that I continue on with the next book; in the following week. The question remains is will I remember this book two years from now? Certainly debatable.

Price's writing style has always confused me when it comes to her plot. Descriptions are good, but it feels like they are to rushed or forced; like she had a hard time with taking the ending to where it needed to be. Minus half a star.

The cover is awesome, but it small since it is a paperback. It won't stand out on my shelf as you have to read this one, to my husband. :)
Minus half a star.

That's all for now Pretties! Cheers! ( )