Review: Once Burned – Jeanine Frost

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.

Series:  Night Prince #1
Release Date:  June 26, 2012
Publisher:  Avon
Source:  Amazon, via my own wallet
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Reviewer’s Thoughts:

I have been eagerly waiting for Vlad’s story.  While he comes across as an arrogant ass most of the time, I knew there had to be a reason (and we caught glimpses of that whenever he interacted with Cat…especially the top of the mountain scene when she thought Bones was dead).  I was not disappointed.

Leila was electrocuted after a tornado when she was a young girl.  While she survived her ordeal, she’s now left with a gift/curse that allows her to see the past, present, or future sins of someone through touch.  She’s also able to zap you with an electrical current if you get too close.  While for humans this ability makes her an outcast (perfect for the circus) in the Vampire world her talents make her a weapon  many would go to lengths to control.

Leila is kidnapped and forced to handle objects belonging to someone this group of vampires wish to find.  Leila’s gift forces her to relive the unspeakable sins of the object’s holder, but it also gives her a line to connect mentally with the vampire her captives are hunting.  One Vlad Tepesh.

Vlad doesn’t know what to make of Leila, but he flies his arrogant self to her rescue.  He’s determined to discover who is after him and to protect Leila.  At first, his protection is just because she was straight with him about why she was being used.  But soon his protection is because Leila manages to break through Vlad’s walls and touch his humanity and heart.

If you love Cat, you will adore Leila.  They are quite similar in personalities, but at the same time different.  Leila was forced into  keeping people at arms length to ensure her sanity (who would want to see everyone’s sins or risk accidentally electrocuting them).  But she also hides from the guilt she feels over the death of her mother and the destruction of her family.  With Vlad she finds someone who understands the guilt that she’s dealing with and doesn’t look at her as a freak because of her gift.

For Vlad, Leila is someone who doesn’t allow him to walk all over her.  She questions him when she doesn’t agree with one of his edicts and is willing to go behind his back when she believes what she’s doing will help save a friend or even Vlad himself.  She proves to Vlad that he is lovable, despite what he’s done or who he is.

My only problem with this book was that it ended all too soon and I have to wait far too long for the next book.  Vlad and Leila rank right up there with Cat and Bones (who do make a brief appearance in this book.  Bones even gifts Leila with the ultimate weapon for keeping Vlad from reading her thoughts…which was absolutely fabulous.  Do you really want to hurt me?) and will have you rushing to your computer to search for any little tidbit on what the next story will be.