Book Review: Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

Book Information
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: May 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0441017157
MSRP: $25.95
Format: Hardcover
Available from Amazon.com

Sookie Stackhouse is a human (maybe?) with the ability to hear people's thoughts. While that sounds like a nifty trick, in reality picking up stray thoughts from people's heads isn't all that fun and exciting. For Sookie, it is turning out to be hazardous to her health as her abilities take her deeper into the supernatural world around her.

Book #9 of the Southern Vampire sereis opens with the shifters coming out of the closet. Soon after the announcement, Crystal, Jason's wife, is found dead in the parking lot of Merlots. Is this a hate crime since Crystal was a werepanther? Or is Sookie in the middle of yet another war among the supernatural?

The Southern Vampire Series is/was one of my favorite series and I have been reading it since book 1 came out in 2001. So after almost 8 years of following Sookie, I am willing to give the series a little slack. We are old friends and can forgive each other an off day or two. But, the problem with long running series is that eventually the author gets a critical point. She can choose to end the series with a logical and fulfilling conclusion. Or, she can try to squeeze a few more books (and a few more royalty checks) out of it. Option 2 forces the reader to give up on a series completely or fool themselves into thinking that "maybe the next book will be better." Well, when volume #8 came out, I was hoping that volume 9 would be "just a little bit better." But I can see the writing on the wall and I think it is time for me, Sookie and friends to part.

The problem with the book is that nothing happens yet everything happens at the same time. For example, a fairy assassian is gunning for Sookie. Harris spends almost an entire chapter describing how Sookie is going to relieve some stress by gardening. And when the fairy shows up to kill Sookie while she is weeding the plants, Harris is able to kill off the fairy in about 2 paragraphs. I understand the element of surprise was important in Sookie coming out on top. But seriously? All that buildup for a nonexistent scene? No last dying words from the fairy? No "oh shit, I am going to die" inner monologue from Sookie?

The entire book follows the same format. All filler and no resolution or climax. The book ends with a cliffhanger, leaving many dead, countless injured and no real idea if some of the main characters will be around in book 10. But honestly, I closed the book not even caring who makes it and who doesn't. The only thing I could think was that the series used to be soooo good!

For Sookie fans willing to stick it out, at least wait until the paperback comes out. If you are dying to know what happens, check out the hardcover from the library. For readers who were a little skeptical after reading volume 8, I would quit while you are ahead. Stop now while you still have good feelings about the series and the characters. Better yet, just start watching the TV adaptation on HBO, True Blood.

xoxo,
Tissie

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Book Review: Nights in Black Lace by Noelle Mack

Book Information
Publisher: Kensington Publishing
Publication Date: October 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0758221902
MSRP: $12.95
Format: Trade Paperback
Available from Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Powell's

Odette Gaillard, CEO and founder of Oh! Oh! Odette lingerie, is looking for some excitement in her life. At her annual runway show, she finds herself oddly distracted by the young American obviously out of place in the front row. Bryan Bachman is a freewheeling athlete who is backpacking through Europe while waiting to hear back from graduate schools. Bryan spends his last euro on a charity raffle and ends up with front row seats at the sexiest fashion show of the year. But if Odette has her way, Bryan will end up with a few more prizes by the end of the night.

Nights in Black Lace was a disappointment. The story line had a lot of potential, but was squandered by focusing on the wrong aspects. As a backdrop to the story, Odette's new designs get stolen. However, the issue is never really resolved. While a suspect is identified, the subplot is simply dropped in the next to last chapter of the book. It is disappointing because the thefts are the reason Bryan chooses to remain in Paris despite having no money, no place to stay, etc. For such a key aspect of the story to be left unresolved is simply disappointing.

Another disappointment was the flatness of the entire cast. Bryan is portrayed as a very weak character throughout the story. He has no job, no prospects, no money and doesn't really save the heroine of the story from any disaster physical or emotional. He comes across as really being a kept man, which is not sexy at all. But seriously, if Odette can and does do everything on her own, what is the point of having a man around?

Other characters in the story come and go at the drop of the hat. Leaving you wondering why the author chose to introduce them at all. One of Odette's models, we come to find, is transgendered and strips at a nightclub that Bryan happens to end up at one night. That is interesting, but since the model is neither seen nor heard of after that single mention, it leaves the reader wondering why she was mentioned in the first place.

For sexy reads and contemporary romance, you are much better off checking out Carly Phillips, MJ Rose or Shayla Black.

xoxo,

Tissie

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Book Review: Coyote's Mate: A Novel of the Breeds by Lora Leigh

Book Information
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Publication Date: February 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0425226339
MSRP:$7.99
Format: Mass market paperback
Available from Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble and Powell's

Del-Ray Delgado is a genetically altered rebel known as Coyote Ghost. Created in a lab, Coyote breeds are manipulating, cunning and a little on the paranoid side. The ultimate killers, the Coyotes have decided to take their fate into their own hands and escape their creators.

Anya Korbin is only 16 years old when she pleads with Del-Ray to help free the Coyote women trapped in her father's lab. For 6 years, she and Del-Ray plot the escape with Anya's only plea that her family not be harmed. But Coyotes can't be trusted and Del Ray is no exception. He has plans for Anya. Plans that include claiming her as his mate whether she agrees or not!

I am normally a big fan of romance novels and picked up Lora Leigh on the recommendation from my local book seller. Leigh is definitely an imaginative and popular writer - she makes it on the New York Times Bestseller's List pretty often; however, Coyote's Mate wasn't my cup of tea. Instead of Anya coming off as a smart, independent woman in her own right, she came of as a selfish, whinny brat to me.

The majority of the book deals with Del-Ray forcing Anya in a sense to marry him. Since the breeds are a mixture of human and animal, mating is more of a hormonal exchange instead of an exchange of vowels. But Anya petitions the Breeds council to basically get a restraining order against her mate for 1 year. The whole situation is just a bit too far-fetched to me. Del-Ray is in essence the King of the Coyotes and he is kicked out of his own home for the better part of a year!

I guess I wanted Anya to deal with the situation instead of running away from it. I much prefer heroines who use their brains to get what they want, not tears. So that being said, if you go for the angst filled romantic stories where the heroine wants to be swept off her feet but feels like giving into her desires makes her a weak person, this is the book for you. If you prefer characters who end up in sticky situations and must use their own brains and wiles to get out of them, you might want to pick up one of Leigh's other series.

xoxo,

Tissie

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Book Review: A Red Hot Valentine's Day by Danes, Hart, Kessler and Michaels

Book Information

Authors: Lacy Danes, Megan Hart, Jackie Kessler and Jess Michaels
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: January 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0061689390
MSRP: $13.99
Format: Trade Paperback
Available from Amazon.com, Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Powell's

I normally don't buy anthologies because I feel 80 pages isn't enough flush out a really good story. However, I am huge Megan Hart fan. So I figured I would give this book a try while I wait for her next full length novel. A Red Hot Valentine's Day is a mixed bag with a few good stories and a few that were just okay.

In Get There, by Megan Hart, Edie and Ty are long distance lovers who will finally be together on Valentine's Day. To pass the time until their reunion, they swap love letters detailing erotic journeys of parted lovers.

Eternal damnation has never been so sweet as in Hell Is Where the Heart Is by Jackie Kessler. The succubus Jezebel is about to get a very special Valentine's Day gift from her demon lover.

In Torn Desires, by Lacy Danes, Lady Sophia finds that her neighbor and lover Lord Quinton has been toying with her affections when he hires a matchmaker. But to Lord Quniton's displeasure, it is Lady Sophia who is introduced to her dream lover.

Finally, the Earl of Atleigh has less than one week to prevent the woman he loves from marrying another man. The name of the game is seduction in Jess Michaels's regency romance By Valentine's Day.

By far, Hart and Michaels have the strongest stories of the bunch. Danes's Torn Desire was a little too light on the plot and too heavy on the sex for me to really enjoy it. And Kessler's story was gruesome and strange to say the least.

This is definitely a book to buy from a used bookstore or check out from the library. If, like me, you are a fan of one of the individual creators, the 80 page novellas are a nice read while you are waiting for the next full length book. But overall, this one isn't a keeper for the shelves. Or if you are looking for new authors to read, this one might be a great preview of their styles before you commit to reading a 400+ page paperback . I am definitely going to look up other works by Jess Michaels.

xoxo,

Tissie

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