End of an Era: A Night Huntress Series Finale Q&A with Jeaniene Frost

If you’re searching night huntress series finale, you’re probably in one of two moods: you’re finishing Cat and Bones and need emotional support or you’re rereading and bracing yourself for the ending again.

Either way, this interview is from the exact moment fans were living through it in real time, right around the release of Up From the Grave, which was positioned as the conclusion of the Night Huntress series.

If you’re here because you’re reading now and want the clean path through the universe, start with our Night Huntress reading order and/or join the Night Huntress readalong.

What you’ll find in this Night Huntress interview:

• What Frost says she’ll miss most about writing Cat and Bones
• Her reflections on how Night Huntress changed her life
• Favorite moments featuring Bones, Cat, Ian, and Spade
• The “Chapter 32” signing phenomenon
• The hardest scene to write in Up From the Grave
• What she thought she’d write next (and what actually happened later)

Spoiler note
This is an author interview, not a recap. That said, it does reference the general shape of the ending and includes a mild spoiler warning in one answer.

This post contains affiliate links. That means we receive a small commission at no cost to you from any purchases you make through these links.

Night Huntress Series Finale Interview (January 25, 2014)

Hi Jeaniene and welcome to Under the Covers! We are so excited to have you here again and we are sad at the same time because this is the end of an era. The Night Huntress series is coming to a close.

Thanks so much for having me! I’m sad about the Night Huntress series ending, too, but I hope readers of Up From The Grave will feel that I’ve given Cat and Bones the sendoff they deserve.

Writing a series like this, you must’ve grown to know these characters very well and they’ve been part of your everyday life. What will you miss the most about switching gears and writing about new ones? 

I started writing about Cat and Bones back in early 2003, so yes, they’ve been a part of my life for a long time. I’ll miss a lot of things about writing them, like Cat’s sarcastic humor and Bones’s unwavering devotion. A lot of heroes need time to realize their true feelings for the heroine. Bones never did. He knew he loved Cat from the start. She was the one who had to struggle to accept her feelings for him.

Cat and Bones are beloved characters for many readers. As the series comes to an end and you reflect on how they have changed your life, what are your thoughts on the Night Huntress series?

*grin* You don’t really think I can articulate all that in one paragraph, do you? Cat and Bones weren’t just the first characters I cared about enough to finally realize my childhood dream of finishing a novel. Their books also launched a new career for me, allowing me to quit my old day job and become a full-time writer. I thank God every day for putting them into my head (or my dreams, to be exact) because in addition to writing all the stories I had to tell about them, the success of the Night Huntress series allowed me to write about other characters and worlds, too.

Share with us your favorite moment in the series from Bones, Cat, Ian and Spade.

Wow, that’s so hard! Seven books into the Night Huntress series, I’d better have lots of favorite moments or I’m not doing my characters justice while writing them. As a quick, very incomplete rundown, I loved Bones training Cat when they first met in Halfway to the Grave. She was so surly, and he was merciless in teasing her over so many different things. Cat assuming Spade was a bad guy when they met him and her bluffing him with a sharp rock always makes me laugh. Then there’s Ian playing matchmaker in his very twisted way when Spade and Denise were having relationship issues in First Drop of Crimson. Cat finally trusting Bones to change her into a vampire in Destined for an Early Grave will always be a favorite, and pretty much every moment with them in Up From The Grave. I knew it was the end, so each scene with Cat and Bones meant a lot to me while writing it.

How much did Chapter 32 affect your life with fans asking you to sign books on that special chapter?

It’s the fastest way to make me blush! Seriously, I never in a million years thought that chapter would be so popular with readers. In fact, before that book was released, I was so convinced it would alienate readers, I attempted to go back and censor it in edits. My editor, however, wouldn’t let me. Ever since, she’s been able to brag that she was right and I was wrong.

You take readers on a rollercoaster ride in UP FROM THE GRAVE! What was the hardest for you to write?

*Mild spoiler warning* The scene at the pier where Cat confronts Madigan and things go horribly wrong. Readers later see that it works out, but for a while, Cat didn’t know that, and it felt like her emotions were bleeding all over the page as I wrote.

What do you think is it about Bones that has made so many of us melt every time we read about him?

I think it varies from reader to reader. Some like his honesty, his accent, and his sexiness, while others like his protectiveness, his sense of humor, and his loyalty. Don’t get me wrong, Bones also has a dark side, but because readers see him through the eyes of someone who loves him, that often gets overlooked. Bones through Bones’s point of view in the Reckoning novella came off as more ruthless, according to quite a few readers who contacted me after they read it. Of course, that was also before he met Cat. Falling in love tends to change people, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s part of his appeal, too. Readers know that Bones is dangerous, but not ever to Cat, although she doesn’t believe that in the beginning of their relationship.

What is next for you and what novels can we look forward to? Any novellas?

All of my future releases are novels. I don’t intend to do any more novellas because it takes me almost as long to write one of those as it does to write an entire book, so it’s not the best use of my time. After Up From The Grave is The Beautiful Ashes, the first book in the Broken Destiny series, coming out the end of August. This is a NA (New Adult) paranormal romance featuring an entirely different world of supernatural creatures. After that is the final Night Prince novel, title not yet determined, featuring Vlad and Leila. And after that is another novel featuring a character from the Night Huntress universe. I don’t know which character that will be yet, but Ian fans seem to have their fingers crossed

Yes, we want Ian!!! LOL Thank you so much for sharing with us and our readers and we can’t wait for everyone to read UP FROM THE GRAVE. They’re going to love it! And WE can’t wait to see what you do next and go on the next ride with you.

Thank you again for having me and for spreading the news about Up From The Grave! I’m so glad to be able to share Cat and Bones’s last adventure with readers. I hope they enjoy where their final conclusion takes them.

Our take on the Night Huntress series finale

Cat and Bones have been legendary for a reason, and Up From the Grave felt like Jeaniene Frost actually doing right by readers. Instead of stretching the series past its natural endpoint, this book delivers real closure with a pace that doesn’t let up once the action kicks in.

Bones is peak Bones: ruthless, devoted, and fully prepared to burn the world down for Cat. And Cat, who had started to feel a little stuck for us in the later books, shows up here with book-one energy and a fresh dose of confidence. It’s action-packed, emotional, and yes, it will probably wreck you a little before it puts you back together.

If you want the full, tears-and-all breakdown, read our full review of Up From the Grave here.

About Jeaniene Frost

Jeaniene Frost is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author known for blending high-stakes paranormal action with big, bingeable romance. She’s best known for the Night Huntress universe, including the Night Huntress books (Cat and Bones), Night Prince (Vlad), and Night Rebel (Ian), plus the Broken Destiny series. Her novels have appeared on multiple bestseller lists and have been published internationally. You can find her books and updates on her website.

Final thoughts

What I love about revisiting this is how clearly it captures the stakes of the night huntress series finale. She’s talking about finishing a relationship arc she’d lived with since 2003 and saying goodbye to characters who changed her career. Just as we had to.

If you’re here because you’re mid-series and trying not to spoil yourself, go straight to the Night Huntress reading order. If you’re here because you miss screaming about this universe with other people, the readalong is waiting for you. And if you’ve read the series, check out all our Night Huntress reviews.

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