Dead In The Family by Charlaine Harris

(Sookie Stackhouse series, book 10)
After enduring torture and the loss of loved ones during the brief but deadly Fae War, Sookie Stackhouse is hurt and she’s mad. Just about the only bright spot in her life is the love she thinks she feels for vampire Eric Northman. But he’s under scrutiny by the new vampire king because of their relationship. And as the political implications of the shifters’ coming out are beginning to be felt, Sookie’s connection to one particular Were draws her in to the dangerous debate. Also, unknown to her, though the doors to Faery have been closed, there are still some fae on the human side – and one of them is angry at Sookie. Very, very angry.

Well, this book wasn’t all I expected it to be but I suppose it was slightly better than the previous two books in the series. I still find myself less than impressed with the majority of the plotlines in the most recent books, unfortunately. We come into this story with Sookie recovering from the torture she received from Lochlan and Neave, the demented fairies from the previous book. She seems okay physically, but it’s very apparent that emotionally she’s still a mess.

Eric has cemented himself in her life and is now officially her boyfriend. YAY! I have loved Sookie and Eric together ever since Dead To The World, and I am so happy that they are finally together when they are both in their right mind, and one isn’t in a state of amnesia. Oh! Oh! Oh! For the first time in the series, Sookie FINALLY imagines what it would be like if she were turned into a vampire. I have been waiting for her to at least consider the idea since she got serious with Bill; it only took ten books to get there. I still don’t think she will go through the change, mainly because her relationships with vampires have never been horribly solid.

We get to meet Eric’s maker, Appius Livius Ocella, who comes to Eric for help in returning his brother to sanity. I’m not really sure what to think of Appius; I think it’s just the fact that he’s having sex with Eric’s “brother” Alexei, who is an adolescent. I just could never really get past that whole relationship enough to make an opinion of him.

Sookie contacts Bill’s “sister” (she was created by the same maker as Bill) in an attempt to save Bill’s life. He is still recovering from the silver poisoning he got from one of the demented fairies’ teeth in the Fae War. His “sister” Judith agrees to come stay with Bill, and uses her blood to nurse him back to health. I’m anxious to see where their relationship goes since Judith resembles Bill’s late wife so much. I think this put a nice end to the drama between Bill and Sookie, I really liked it.

Oh, and Sookie also has to deal with her angry half-fae uncle Dermot who managed to stay in the human world since the Fae world was sealed up at the end of the last book. There’s a twist that will make it more difficult to catch this little sneakster though because he just might look exactly like someone else; someone Sookie would never be afraid of. Once again, I’m not horribly interested in any of the faeries (except Sookie) that have been in these books.

There’s a lot of buildup around Sookie’s plan to kill Victor because she sees him as a threat not only to her, but also Eric, Bill, and Pam. As I expected, she doesn’t want to kill him in cold blood; they try to devise a plan that will invoke a battle of some sort so she can use self-defense as her excuse for killing him. Understandable, I guess…but the dude has made it clear he wants to kill you. Just stake him, homegirl!

Overall, there wasn’t a whole lot of action in this book which was quite the change of pace from the previous two books. I still didn’t love this book, but it was a pretty good read. Even so, I’m eager to read the next book just to see if they carry out their plan on Victor and to see if Sookie and Eric are in it for the long haul… (please say yes, please say yes, pleeeease say yes!)

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Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

(Sookie Stackhouse series, book 9)
Except for Sookie Stackhouse, folks in Bon Temps, Louisiana, knew little about vamps – and nothing about Weres. Until now. The Weres and shifters have finally revealed their existence to the ordinary world, and the backlash may have claimed the life of someone Sookie knew. But her determination to find out who is responsible for the murder is put aside in the face of a far greater danger. A race of unhuman beings – older, more powerful and more secretive than vampires or werewolves – is preparing for war. And Sookie will find herself an all-too-human pawn in their battle…

After the clusterfuck that was From Dead To Worse, I was really hoping for something good from this book. Sadly, I wasn’t that impressed. I really hope things turn around with the next book because I’m starting to almost lose interest. There are just too many plotlines jammed into each book that it’s a mess to keep up. I could barely wrap my head around one “HOLY CRAP!” moment, and then I’m smacked in the face with another “WHAT THE HELL?!” twist. It’s almost exhausting.

The one major storyline that I did like was the Weres and shifters finally revealed their existence to the public. The reaction over the vampire reveal was mixed, so I knew there would be some people wigging out after the big reveal of another mythological creature. Of course, I was right. Someone close to Sookie is brutally murdered and left in the Merlotte’s bar parking lot, but were they killed simply because they were a shifter? I’m always honest in my reviews, so I don’t see any reason to start holding back now. I wasn’t upset about who got killed. There! I said it! That being said, I was very surprised when it was revealed who actually committed the murder and I did enjoy the mystery of that storyline.

I honestly don’t even know what to say about the Fae War. I have found myself often disinterested in the whole Faery world and all that comes along with it. Sookie’s great-grandfather bothers me, and her Fae cousins are boring to me. I can’t really say too much without giving away spoilers, but several people are killed during the war, and after it’s finally over, the Faery world will never quite be the same…and neither will Sookie’s.

I was hoping the blood bond created between Eric and Sookie would be explained in more detail: how long does it last, can it be broken, can either one of them end it, etc. No dice. Not only that, but I got so tired of Sookie constantly questioning whether her feelings for Eric were real or a result of the blood bond. It just made their whole relationship feel contrived, and I loved them together! Oh, and Eric’s sneaky little trick to make sure Felipe de Castro can’t acquire Sookie to use her telepathic talents for his use is super scandalous. I loved it!

This book was alright but after two somewhat sketchy books in a row, I’m getting a little frustrated. I was so enthralled with this series for the first six or seven books, and now I feel like I’ve read the past two books just to get through them; I didn’t really enjoy them all that much. I know I’m going to finish the series regardless, but I really with the next book Harris returns to the stories and structure that made me fall in love with this series to begin with. 

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From Dead To Worse by Charlaine Harris

(Sookie Stackhouse series, book 8)
After the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the man-made horror of the explosion at the vampire summit, Sookie Stackhouse is safe but dazed, yearning for things to get back to normal. But her boyfriend, Quinn, is among the missing. And things are changing, whether the Weres and the vamps in her corner of Louisiana like it or not. In the ensuing battles, Sookie faces danger, death…and, once more, betrayal by someone she loves. And when the fur has finished flying and the cold blood has ceased flowing, her world will be forever altered…

Holy biscuits. This book is jammed packed full of storylines, which I can only assume are all leading up to the following books. I understand the need for a transition book in a series, but this one was almost a little too much. There is a war between the vamps for control of Louisiana, the Weres of Shreveport go to war against rogue Weres seeking to overtake their pack, Sookie learns where her telepathic powers come from and discovers a long lost relative, Quinn reveals information about his family that could jeopardize his relationship with Sookie, Sookie stops all communication with her brother, Jason…whew. I need a breather. None of the storylines flowed together, and I actually found myself annoyed for the first time during this book.

Alright, grab some popcorn and take seat. In a nutshell, Felipe de Castro, the vampire King of Nevada, begins a campaign to gain control of Louisiana and Arkansas. In the aftermath of the explosion at the summit, Sophie-Anne, vamp Queen of Louisiana, is unable to protect her land due to injuries.

Sookie witnesses the war between Were packs, where Alcide is named pack leader. Um…the ritual after someone is promoted to pack leader is so strange, and after seeing it I can understand why Sookie feels differently about Alcide. She also finds herself drawn to Eric, mostly due to the blood exchange that took place in the previous book. Nevertheless, she has to decide if she wants to stay with Quinn after learning about his family problems, or tell the weretiger to kick rocks and act on her feelings for Eric.

Some messy stuff goes down in the werepanther community between Jason and his wife, Crystal, that puts Sookie in a terrible situation which forces her to stop all communication to her brother. I never understood her rage towards Jason in this situation; he wasn’t the problem, Crystal was.

I can’t go into too much detail regarding the information on why Sookie has telepathic powers, but I’ll just say I wasn’t really surprised. It seemed to make sense considering some of the other characters we have been introduced to in the past books.

 This was my least favorite book so far. There were just too many storylines packed into this one book that it felt like the second I was getting into one plotline, Harris killed it and started another plotline. Sookie also seemed irritated throughout this whole book, which is very unlike her character. I get that she has a lot on her plate, but that has been the case since the beginning of the series and she has never reacted like this; she usually takes it with a grain of salt and maintains her sweet self. I don’t care for the new Sookie attitude. Here’s to hoping the next book gets my excitement about this series back on track. 

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All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

(Sookie Stackhouse series, book 7)
Betrayed by her longtime vampire love, Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse must now not only deal with a possible new man in her life – the oh-so-handsome shapeshifter Quinn – but also contend with a long-planned vampire summit. With her power base weakened by hurricane damage to New Orleans, the local vampire queen in vulnerable to those hungry for a take-over. Sookie must decide what side she’ll stand with. And her choice may mean the difference between survival and all-out catastrophe…

I stated in a review of one of the previous Sookie Stackhouse books that there would be a bit of an avalanche of characters in the upcoming books. This was the first book of the series where I caught myself saying, “wait…who is that again?” That being said, let’s get the wheels turning on this review.

Sophie-Anne, vampire Queen of Louisiana, has been accused of murdering her husband, the King of Arkansas, and is set to stand trial at the annual vampire summit. She has summoned Sookie to accompany her and use her abilities as a telepath to read the minds of any humans wandering throughout the summit, as well as employees of the hotel. Without delving too deep into vampire politics, Sophie-Anne needs to know if there is any talk of allegiances, or alliances to overtake Louisiana since her powerbase has been weakened by Hurricane Katrina.

Bill and Eric are of course on hand at the summit, as well as Sookie’s boyfriend, weretiger Quinn. (She’s still with him. Ugh.) It’s a no brainer that this will undoubtedly cause rifts between them, as they all want Sookie to themselves. Sookie and Quinn’s relationship heats up until she finds out a shocking revelation about him involving his teen years. I don’t want to spoil it, but I will say this; as much as I dislike Sookie and Quinn together, I can’t understand why she gets so upset with him after finding out this information. Personally, I think it gave him a likable quality…loyalty. So I guess I’ll give him a point for that. Her relationship with Eric could be forever changed after in an attempt to save her, Eric forces her into a third and major blood exchange. I dug this plot twist and I’m anxious to see how it affects her feelings for Eric, if at all.

Relationship storyline aside, Sookie and Barry (the hotel bellboy and fellow telepath) find clues that lead them to believe the Fellowship of the Sun may be up to something big and start to realize there may be something odd going on in the pyramid-like hotel where not only is the summit being held, but is also where all the vampires are shacking up.

I wasn’t as impressed with this book as I was with some of the others, but it was a good read overall. It was a little hard to keep track of all the new character additions, and I did find myself going back to re-read certain parts just to remember why or how certain characters were relevant. Other than that, I’m ready for the next book and hoping for a reconciliation between Sookie and Eric. *Fingers Crossed* 

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Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

(Sookie Stackhouse series, book 6)
Since Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse has so few living relatives, she hates to lose one – even her cousin Hadley, undead consort of the vampire Queen of Louisiana. Hadley’s left everything she has to Sookie, but claiming that inheritance has a high risk factor. Some people don’t want her looking too deeply into Hadley’s past, or Hadley’s possessions. And they’re prepared to do anything in their power to stop her. Whoever it is, they’re definitely dangerous – and Sookie’s life is definitely on the line…

It’s no mystery that I love magic considering my obsession with Harry Potter, and this book has plenty of it! Alright, let’s take it from the top. First of all, Sookie has officially kicked her vamps to the curb and started dating weretiger and over-user of the word “babe”, Quinn. Ugh. Don’t get me started on this relationship. I’ll just say you won’t see me jumping on the Team Quinn bandwagon anytime soon.

Meanwhile, Sookie loses one of the few relatives she has left: her vamp cousin, Hadley…who also happens to be the Queen of Louisiana’s lover. When Sookie finds out Hadley has left all of her possessions to her, she takes a trip down to New Orleans (or Nawlins, as I like to call it) to settle her affairs. It’s here she meets Hadley’s landlord, a young witch named Amelia who has put Hadley’s apartment under a stasis spell. I absolutely adore Amelia! She is such a breath of fresh air to this series, and adds some welcomed comedic relief. After Amelia lifts the spell, she and Sookie find that Hadley had bitten a werewolf in order to turn him vamp, and hid him the closet. You can probably guess what happens next: new vampire craves blood, Sookie and Amelia have said blood, attack ensues, and Sookie winds up in the hospital. It’s here that we find out a shocking detail about why Bill moved to Bon Temps in the first place. I don’t want to say it was a welcome twist, but to be honest I’ve kind of cooled on my love of Bill. I really didn’t see this coming, and I have to wonder if it’s maybe Harris’s attempt to put a stake in the Bill/Sookie relationship.  See what I did there? Just a little vampire humor for you; you’re welcome.

My favorite part of the book is when Amelia and her witch buddies cast an ectoplasmic reconstruction spell; it’s a spell that reconstructs the events of a specified event. They cast the spell in order to see what events led to Hadley biting Jake Purifoy, the werewolf turned vampire hidden in her closet. It’s pretty damn awesome. After being introduced to Amelia, I was praying that Harris would find a way to keep her character around for the remainder of the series. We don’t really get to see Sookie in a female friendship, aside from Tara and her character is rarely a factor in the books.

I really enjoyed this book, with the exception of the Quinn and Sookie romance. Oh! I forgot to mention one little nugget of information that made me roll my eyes and literally say “oh my god…” out loud. Quinn and Sookie dry hump in the kitchen and he enjoys it a little too much if you get my drift. I mean, really? That is something that would happen to a 14 year old boy who got dry humped by a girl for the first time. I was over Quinn before he and Sookie even became an actual couple, so the only thing I’m hoping is that in the next book she decides she wants a man/vampire/were-something that doesn’t get off just from dry humping with clothes on. With that being said…bring on book 7!

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Dead As A Doornail by Charlaine Harris

(Sookie Stackhouse series, book 5)
Small-town cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse has had more than her share of experience with the supernatural – but now it’s really hitting close to home. When Sookie sees her brother Jason’s eyes start to change, she knows he’s about to turn into a werepanther for the first time – a transformation he embraces more readily than most shapeshifters she knows. But her concern becomes cold fear when a sniper sets his deadly sights on the local changeling populations, and Jason’s new panther brethren suspect he may be the shooter. Now Sookie has until the next full moon to find out who’s behind the attacks – unless the killer decides to find her first…

The first line of the book sets the whole storyline for Jason: “I knew my brother turn into a panther before he did.” As we learned in the last book, Jason was kidnapped and bitten repeatedly by werepanther, Felton Norris. As a result, Jason will now shift into half man/half panther on each full moon. Meanwhile, Sam and Calvin Norris are both shot and Sookie finds out that there have been several Were shootings throughout Louisiana. Unfortunately, Calvin immediately suspects Jason is the shooter taking out his anger for being kidnapped and turned into a werepanther. Poor Jason; he’s consistently getting blamed for stuff he didn’t do. His saving grace is unfortunately when Sookie gets shot while leaving the library. Seeing as she is Jason’s only family left, it seems implausible that he would try to gun down his own sister. When Sookie is released from the hospital and she and Sam continue their investigation, they find themselves face to face with one of the “bad guys” in an alley while Sam is in dog form. I was actually incredibly surprised when this shooter was revealed, because I absolutely did not see it coming! As far as the other antagonist in this book, I actually did have an idea who it was from the beginning. I just had a strange feeling about this character and their mannerisms. Something just wasn’t right with this yahoo. Even though one of the villains didn’t come as a surprise to me, I did love being blindsided when the identity of the shooter Sookie and Sam ran into was revealed.

The big news in the Long Tooth pack is that their pack leader is hit and killed by a car, so they need a replacement and Alcide’s father decides to throw his name in the hat. In an attempt to help out his father, Alcide convinces Sookie to read the minds of the other pack leaders and while at the competition for pack leader Sookie meets another potential love interest; a weretiger named Quinn. I actually really liked that we learned more about the werewolf community and their politics. The past four books have pretty well provided us with how vampire politics work, so it was nice to see how werewolf politics differ. I’ll also just come right out and say it; I didn’t like the Sookie and Quinn relationship from the very beginning! I have been swayed between her love interests in the past, but he was one that I never wanted her to end up with. It may sound trivial, but it drove me crazy that he ALWAYS called her Babe. It was never Sookie…always Babe. I’m all for cute pet names, but at least change it up every once in a while, homeboy!

Now, onto the vampires; Eric got his memory back at the end of the last book and has been grilling Sookie for information on what exactly happened between them while he was in his amnesia state. Sookie finally agrees to tell him…everything…from their sexual escapades to him hiding Debbie Pelt’s body. I feel for Sookie during this moment, because she really fell for him while he had amnesia, and you can tell that she knows they will never have that same relationship. I was actually really disappointed about this too, because I loved Sookie and Eric’s relationship…while he had amnesia. He was so sweet and wonderful to her, and it made me firmly plant myself on Team Eric. I want them together! But now that Sookie’s list of possible love interests has grown by a couple more (Calvin Norris and Quinn) maybe she’ll decide to stray away from the vamps for a while and take a walk on the wild side.

This maintained the same level of writing as the previous books, although this was probably my least favorite book so far. Harris maintains to add more mystery and keep me wanting to read more about Sookie Stackhouse’s crazy world full of mythological creatures.

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Confetti Covered Quicksand by Amy Asbury

(The Sunset Strip Diaries series, book 2)
Fresh from the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, Amy Asbury is at a crossroads. The grunge scene took over and left her hair band crowd in the dust. Where to go? What to do? It was as if a three year long party had just been broken up and no one remembered where they lived. Everyone was left with an identity crisis. Those who turned to drugs found themselves spinning out of control, especially Amy’s friend Birdie.

The Sunset Strip girls migrated into the mainstream LA club scene and took over the VIP rooms. Read about lots of run-ins with 1990’s stars like Anna Nicole Smith, Pamela Anderson, and many others. What happened inside the clubs? Read about the insane nights of young twenty-somethings on the loose in Los Angeles.

When Amy became overwhelmed by LA, she headed for Aspen, Colorado. Read about the total chaos inside the closed doors of Aspen ski lodges, where cocaine was king. The death of a close friend caused her to sink into an ugly depression. Will she turn to drugs to comfort herself?

This is a true story of a girl in Los Angeles, trying to survive on her looks and struggling with her identity. It is about using drugs and alcohol to cover up pain and humiliation. Can she find happiness in the emptiest, numbest city in the world?

A quote from page 146: “Los Angeles makes me sad. It’s like confetti covered quicksand. You don’t notice you are sinking, because there is always a party going on around you, so sensationally slick and fun.”

Amy finds herself lost, not sure where to turn now that her party scene on the Sunset Strip has officially been taken over by the grunge movement. Does she stick around and become a washed up has-been, does she move? No. She does the only thing that she can think of to keep the party going; she redefines herself and makes new friends who are tuned into the new LA club scene. She manages to make herself an “it-girl” in the club scene, and continues the constant party that her life has become over the past three years. Her life is just as chaotic now as it was during the glam rock scene, which actually surprised me. She’s still hanging out with dancers, getting blackout drunk, obsessing about her looks, and having frequent celebrity run-ins with people such as Tommy Lee, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt LeBlanc, and Anna Nicole Smith.

She finally moves to Aspen, Colorado after having a breakdown, losing a number of her close friends, and trying to distance herself from her friend Birdie, who is now a full blown heroin junkie. As she takes in Aspen, she quotes “I half expected some yodeling son of a bitch to zoom by me on a bobsled or the Von Trapps from The Sound of Music to come frolicking over the mountaintops.” That made me giggle : ) She quickly finds the party scene in Aspen, at which time she finds out the drug of choice that everyone seems to be doing there is cocaine. One guy actually deals coke to his own parents! His own parents! Is this real life?! I was continually shocked reading this book, and I really thought after reading The Sunset Strip Diaries that nothing in this book would wow me the way the stories in that book did; I was wrong.

The stories in this book are just as ridiculous, which just goes to show you that even though the glam rock scene on the Sunset Strip died, Amy still found a way to keep her party alive. It was kind of mindboggling just how much energy she put into completely revamping her look, attitude, and trying not to look “white trash” just so she could keep partying with the “in-crowd.” When one of her close friends died, I was a little bit heartbroken. I kind of had an inkling it was coming, but I just didn’t want to believe it.

Like I said in my review of The Sunset Strip Diaries, Amy’s writing style makes you feel like you’re right there with her experiencing all of this craziness first hand. It’s captivating, scandalous, and incredibly delicious.  

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