Book #54 week #40, All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

So what happens in All Together Dead you say? Well I'll tell ya! There is a meeting at Fangtasia. Mr. Andre is there asking for financial help to fix the Queen's home which suffered serious damage in hurricane Katrina. It is reveled that only Sookie witnessed the death of the King and this could be a problem. Later Sookie attends Haleigh's (Andy's fiance) bridal shower and then she goes home. Quinn shows up and the two FINALLY have sex. Soon after Jason calls with news about his girlfriend Crystal's new pregnancy and they have decided to get married right away.

Seriously right away. Sookie gets ready and takes Quinn and Amelia with her to the unusual wedding where she promises to be held responsible if Jason messes up in his marriage. Quinn and Sookie head home while Amelia stays behind at the party. In fact Amelia does not return home that night which makes Bob the cat very unhappy. The next night at work Selah (Bill's new girlfriend) comes in alone and accuses Sookie of attending the vampire summit with hopes of stealing back Bill for herself. Claudine, Tara and Sam all express to Sookie at different times that they do not want her to go to the summit.

The next night Pam drops by the bar to talk to Sookie and her and Eric's relationship and about Sookie and Quinn. Pam is concerned and wants her old boss back since Eric has developed feelings for Sookie and is not acting like himself. Sookie is confused by this conversation because Eric has been avoiding her and not acting like he cares for her at all. If it were me I would have ran all the way over there and threw myself at him! Amelia comes into the bar and hits it off with Pam.

Pam and Sookie go outside and talk about Bill and Eric. Pam and Eric did not know Bill was assigned to Sookie. Pam tells her the story about how Eric made her into a vampire. Eric shows up, kisses Sookie and asks her about her relationship with Quinn. He leaves soon after wondering aloud why he was headed to her house after he'd been cursed with amnesia. The next day Amelia drops Sookie off at the airport for the vampire summit. She rides on a private jet with Mr. Cataliades, his niece Diantha and a human vampire lawyer named Johan Glassport and the coffins of their vampire party. Johan questions Sookie about the King's death.

At the hotel Barry the bellboy from book two is there. Sookie and Barry wander off together to test their telepathic gifts when Sookie is confronted by Jennifer Carter (of the dead King of Arkansas group). We learn Quinn is hiding something. Back in the Queen's room, the Queen arranges by phone a meeting with Jennifer but when they arrive at her room a short time later, Jennifer and two other vampires in it are dead. An investigation is under way and Sookie suggest to the Queen that she marry Andre and make him the King of Arkansas. Turns out Eric is a priest! (shocking I know!) and offers his services if need be. The King of Mississippi marries the King of Indiana. And finally the newly made vampire/were Jake tells Sookie Quinn's secret. He has a younger sister, Frannie, he is extremely protective of. Frannie is the result of an awful rape of his mother that Quinn witnessed and sequentially killed all of the men involved.

Andre corners Sookie with the brilliant idea to exchange blood with her so she will be tied to him and therefore the Queen as well. Sookie freaks out and Eric comes to the rescue. He offers to take Andre's place as that is the only feasible option and luckily Andre excepts. Sookie sucks the blood from a cut Eric makes in his chest. He gets very turned on in this moment right in time for them to be interrupted by Quinn. Needless to say Quinn isn't sure what is going on and he is not happy. Later there is a call to the Queen's room about an unclaimed suitcase. Sookie retrieves the bag and brings it to the room. On her way back to the room she notices a weird soda can. Turns out it is a bomb and hotel security come to help. The situation is taken care of and Sookie is interviews. She had sensed Eric coming to help her and he tells her Bill would have come too but he forbade him from coming. Eric is shocked that he even offered to take the bomb from her since he is known for looking out for himself first. Turns out the Queen did not know of Andre's blood exchange plan.

Quinn sleeps in Sookie's bed that night be he is very jealous because of Eric. The next night Sookie gets all dressed up for the ball but gets called to the Queen's trail instead as a witness in the killing of the King. The Queen is found innocent and a witness set to speak out against her is killed by an arrow. Quinn gets hit by a second arrow trying to protect Sookie. The assassin is killed while the arrow is pulled from Quinn's shoulder. In a new turn of events Eric's mere presence seems to comfort Sookie. Eric asks Sookie is she loves Quinn and if she loves him. Besides being affected by Eric's presence, drinking his blood for the third time seems to have opened her up to being able to read vampire's minds as well as human's. Sookie gets word that the Fellowship of the Sun is planning some sort of attack.

Barry and Sookie investigate local archery places to find out more about the assassin at the trail. They find the right one and are asked to return later. Sookie leaves the Queen a message stating this and when they return later the employees are dead. Barry gets upset with Sookie for tripping the silent alarm instead of sticking around to help the police. Jake shows an unusual interest in making sure Sookie gets out of the hotel the next day, he suggest she goes shopping or sightseeing. Sookie speaks to Bill and even he starts asking her if she is in love with Eric or Quinn or even JB!

The next morning at 10am, Sookie is awaken by Barry "calling" to her telepathically. She finds Jake knocked out from the sun by her door and she kicks him when she realizes what he has done. The unclaimed suitcases and coffins are bombs planted by the Fellowship and Jake. Sookie manages to wake up Eric enough to get him and Pam out of the hotel. Barry and Sookie uses their gifts to help find survivors and then leave to a motel together when they are too tired to help anymore. At the motel Mr. Cataliades stops by to update them. Queen Sophie-Anne lost both her legs. The hotel owner Christian Baruch planted the soda can bomb. He wanted to impress the Queen with hopes of marrying her and opening a vampire hotel in New Orleans. The Queen is behind the deaths of the accuser at the trail, the assassin (which lead to the deaths of the archery range employee's which Sookie feels guilty for) and the Arkansas vampires. Barry goes to the airport to return home while Sookie visits Quinn in the hospital. Frannie is there and lets Sookie use her car to get home since she needed to drive Quinn's car.

Once home Amelia starts to spill the beans that Sookie's friends got married. She thinks she missed Andy's and Portia's double wedding when a car pulls up. It is Tara, she has come to tell Sookie that her and JB got married! At the end Sookie remembers seeing Quinn crawl over to Andre and stake him in the commotion of the bombing at the hotel.

Book #53 week #39, Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

In Definitely Dead Andy and his sister Portia are planning a double wedding (not to each other of course) and Portia makes it clear to Sookie that she is only invited as a server and not a guest however Andy’s fiancé rectifies the situation. Sookie is now dating the weretiger Quinn. While out one night the couple is attacked by newly bitten teenage werewolves. Because this is witnessed by humans, the teens are arrested and murdered in jail. Sookie is recovering at home when Mr. Cataliades, the queen’s demon secretary, comes to take Sookie to New Orleans to settle her cousin Hadley’s estate. Hadley was a relatively new vampire and the Queen’s lover; she was murdered by a jealous vampire named Waldo. Mr. Cataliades is surprised Sookie is not ready to leave and it is discovered his niece, working as a messenger for the Queen, was murdered on Sookie’s own property before she could deliver the message that Mr. Cataliades would be arriving. Bill goes with them to New Orleans.

Hadley's apartment is locked under the spell of the landlord, a young witch named Amelia Broadway. Amelia removes the spell and they discover the body of a shapeshifter in a closet. But it is not a body after all, it is a newly turned vampire and he attacks the two women. The police break up the attack (vampire police) and Sookie and Amelia are taken to the hospital. While there Eric and Bill visit and Eric forces Bill to drop a bombshell on Sookie. Bill tells her the Queen forced him to return to Bon Temps to procure Sookie’s talent for the Queen’s use. He is to do this in any way possible even using seduction if necessary. I was pretty pissed at this revelation. Sookie came under the Queen’s radar due to Hadley. She told the Queen all about Sookie’s unusually gift. Sookie sends Bill away and walks her badly injured self back to Hadley’s apartment.

Sookie visits Queen Sophie-Anne. Although she is grieving for her lost love, Hadley, the Queen has married the King of Arkansas, Peter Threadgill. It is a marriage of convenience. In a jealous fit Hadley stole a bracelet of the Queen’s that was a gift from her new husband. The Queen needs this back or else the King will have grounds to divorce her and take her kingdom. Sookie agrees to look for it in exchange for financial help (to buy witchcraft supplies) to learn about the new vampire in Hadley’s apartment. The Queen agrees and comes to the apartment with her entourage to watch Amelia and her friends cast a spell that will recreate the events that took place that night.

The group watches as the man, Jake Purifoy, is killed but can’t see who did it. Then they see Hadley change him into a vampire to save his life and she puts him in the closet. Hadley is killed the next night. While Sookie cleans and packs up the apartment, Quinn arrives. Turns out Jake was an employee of his that had went missing. Quinn and Sookie share a pretty damn steamy encounter (if I can say so myself, who knew keeping clothes on could be so much fun!) in the kitchen which ends just in time for the pair to be attacked and kidnapped by some weres.  

Quinn manages to call the queen, asking for help. Sookie and Quinn are beaten up but they manage to escape from the van and flee into a swamp. The pair find a cabin and inside are the Pelt family (remember Debbie Pelt?). Eric shows up to help overtake the cabin. Sookie finally tells them the truth. The Pelts sadly accept the outcome and agree not to harm Sookie if she keeps this event secret from the pack who will punish the Pelt’s severely if this plot was ever found out.

Before going home to Bon Temps, Sookie and Quinn attend the ball of the newly married King and Queen. She found the bracelet and gave it to the Queen in secret. The King did not expect to see the bracelet. He was planning on it being missing so he could take over the Queen’s kingdom. Since this did not go as envisioned Peter starts an all-out attack on the New Orleans’ vampires. Sookie almost dies... again and is saved by Bill.. again. She escapes the building through the Queen’s bedroom where she sees Sophie-Anne, her bodyguard Andre and Peter fighting. Andre kills King Peter.

Sookie takes Quinn who is wounded back to the apartment and puts him to bed. Bill stops by to confesses he truly fell in love Sookie and still loves her but she tells him to leave and never come back. The next day after accidentally turning her lover Bob into a cat, Amelia asks Sookie if she can stay with her in Bon Temps. She needs to hide out from her coven while she figures out how to fix Bob. Sookie accepts and the two new friends head home.

Quote:
"Here I was, lying on a sidewalk in historical New Orleans, with my boobs hanging out of my dress, my hair coming down, my sandals on my arm, and a large tiger licking my face."

Book #51 week #39, Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

Dead as a Doornail opens on the first full moon since Jason was bitten by a werepanther. The bites were effective and Jason does change into a half man, half panther. Instead of being frightened by this Jason is excited. In the meantime, while standing outside talking to Sookie, Sam is shot in the leg. Since obviously Sam will be unable to tend bar for awhile Sookie asks Eric if he can spare anyone to help out. Eric agrees to let the bar borrow his new employee Charles Twining. Charles is a charming, one-eyed, pirate vampire and after a night or two staying with Sam, Sookie reluctantly agrees to let Charles stay with her.

Along with Sam being shot so are other shape shifters and weres. Some are killed and some are injured, like Calvin Norris who has to stay in the hospital for while after being shot in the chest. Although he wasn't shot, the head of the Shreveport werewolves is also killed. Leading Alcide to invite Sookie to his funeral. A strange event which will also determine who will run for the new lead of the pack. Alicide's father will be running for the spot against a man named Patrick Furnam. On a less serious note, Bill is now dating! The woman's name is Selah Pumphrey and she is quite high and mighty and bitchy. Bill keeps bring her on dates at Sam's bar, trying to make Sookie jealous I suppose, how lame is that!

One night while sleeping, Sookie's house catches on fire. Claudine, Sookie's fairy godmother, saves her while Charles is outside having killed the suspect. It is discovered that the guy is just a regular human passing through town and he has a Fellowship of the Sun card in his wallet. Sookie's kitchen and car are destroyed in the fire. Sookie takes Sam up on his offer to stay at his empty apartment rental while her house is repaired. Tara loans her old car to Sookie even though their relationship is strained due to Tara's new boyfriend; the weird and scary vampire Mickey.

While returning to her new home one afternoon Sookie is shot in the shoulder. The bullet matches the bullets from the other shootings except for Sam's. So Sookie and Sam (in his collie form) head out to look for the killer. And they find her! It is Sweetie Des Arts, the new cook at the bar who is angry she was bitten and is now a shifter so she has made it her mission to kill shifters. Sookie was targeted because she smells like a shifter from hanging out with them however Sweetie never did realize Sam is a shifter himself. Detective Andy sees the commotion, steps in to help and ends up killing Sweetie himself.

Back at the bar the phone keeps ringing. Charles is answering it and telling Sookie it is just prank calls. Bubba shows up at the back door with an urgent message for Sookie. The message is from Eric (he was the one calling) after digging in Charles past he discovers Charles is a hitman sent by Hot Rain. The intent is to avenge Long Shadow's killing way back in book one Dead Until Dark by killing someone Eric cares deeply about. Turns out Charles staged the fire at Sookie's house and murdered an innocent man in the process trying to cover his tracks. As soon as Bubba leaves Sookie is attacked by Charles but he didn't count on the humans in the bar coming to Sookie's aide. The local men manage to overpower and kill Charles. I was really shocked. I really didn't think these guys would try to take on a vampire.

Due to her concern over Tara's welfare, Sookie contacts Eric for help. Even though he was nice to Tara and showered her with expensive gifts, her old boyfriend Franklin Mott from Club Dead gives Tara to Mickey to settle a debt. Mickey is not treating Tara well and Eric agrees to remove Mickey from the picture in exchange for the truth of what really happened between him and Sookie while he had amnesia. Eric contacts Mickey's maker and asks her to call Mickey home. Before that happens though Mickey attacks Sookie and Eric. Eric gets knocked out and Mickey tricks Sookie into inviting him in the house or else he will kill Tara. Once inside he attacks her and she rescinds his invitation before she is hurt too badly. Mickey ends up leaving town due to the call of his maker. Before I get to Sookie telling Eric what happened between them let me talk about the weres first.

Sookie attends the werewolf competition for the new leader. Alcide wants Sookie there to try and pick some brains and see if the competition is fair. It is not, Sookie discovers Patrick is cheating and she speaks out about it. As punishment the last part of the three part competition will be a fight to the death instead of just until too injured to go on. Patrick overpowers Alcide's father and he is killed. This ruins the relationship between Alcide and Sookie! Aww I was so sad. I really likes Alcide. While there Sookie meets the emcee Quinn and for no reason at all the first image in my mind when reading his description is this guy:

It has been hard for me to shake this image! In my favorite part Sookie tells Eric what happened when he was cursed. The had lots of sex, which surprised Eric but not as much as the revelation that he offered to leave everything to be with Sookie. Not even the knowledge that Sookie killed Debbie and he hid the evidence shocked him as much. Bill shows up to help patch the window Mickey broke and Sookie lets it slip that Eric now knows what happened. Bill knew Sookie slept with Eric because he could smell Eric all over her and now Eric knows as well. And Bill knows that Eric knows which makes for an awkward and awesome for me moment. I am still very much on an anti-Bill kick.

Quote:
“Did we have sex?" he asked directly. For about two minutes, this might actually be fun. 

"Eric," I said, "we had sex in every position I could imagine, and some I couldn’t. We had sex in every room in my house, and we had sex outdoors. You told me it was the best you’d ever had." (At the time he couldn’t recall all the sex he’d ever had. But he’d paid me a compliment.) "Too bad you can’t remember it," I concluded with a modest smile.
 
Eric looked like I’d hit him in the forehead with a mallet. For all of thirty seconds his reaction was completely gratifying.”

Book #50 week #39, Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

I am really loving the Sookie Stackhouse series!

Dead to the World starts off on New Year's Eve. Even though they are still broken up Bill informs Sookie that he is going to Peru to work on his vampire database. On her way home from a very long night at the bar, Sookie passes a very tall, very blond, very naked somebody running down the road. It is Eric and he is scared and confused. Turns out he has amnesia forced upon him for refusing the demands of some powerful werewolf witches. After talking to Pam and Chow, Sookie agrees to hide Eric at her home until this whole mess is sorted out. Meanwhile Jason goes missing.

As the time passed Sookie begins to fall for the new kinder gentler Eric and soon they begin having a sexual relationship. Which I have to say is pretty damn hot. I know the show has a lot of sex but surprisingly the books do not. It is more sprinkled here and there rather than being heavily saturated with sex. I like Eric a lot so this turn of events made me really happy. Eric even starts calling Sookie "lover" and offers to leave his whole life and business to stay with her and take care of her forever.

Eventually the vampires team up with the Shreveport werewolf pack (Alcide and even Debbie are there) and some local Wiccans to fight the witch coven that cursed Eric. Before setting out to battle, Bill shows up and sees Debbie. He informs Alcide that he knows Debbie because she was present and even participated in Bill's torture in the last book Club Dead. Upon hearing this Alcide abjures Debbie (meaning he officially servers all ties to her) in front of everyone  The coven is defeated and Eric returns home with Sookie while Pam works on Hallow (the head of the coven) to reverse the spell on Eric. Debbie is waiting for Sookie when she returns home and shoots at her but Eric jumps in the way. This gives Sookie a chance to grab Jason's shotgun and kill Debbie. Eric then disposes of Debbie's body and car.

By the time Eric awakes the next evening, the curse has been lifted and Eric has no memory of the events of the past few days. Sookie is a bit sad, I would be too! But now she is able to focus on finding Jason. Turns out he is being held in a storage shed out in Hotshot by a werepanther named Felton. Felton is in love with Crystal who is dating Jason. He feels she is only dating Jason because he is not a were and their specific gene pool is all muddled up due to years of inbreeding. This is also why Crystal's uncle Calvin has propositioned Sookie to marry him and help diversify their gene pool. Anyway Felton has been biting Jason with the hopes of turning him into a werepanther so Crystal will be uninterested in him. Calvin agrees to handle Felton's punishment if Sookie agrees not to involve the police. She agrees and it is implied that Felton is killed for his actions against Jason.

I really liked this book. Seeing Sookie and Eric together was awesome. Even after he is back to normal he sends Sookie a new coat to replace her damaged one. Not knowing what happened while he had amnesia is driving Eric crazy and I kind of enjoy that. I also enjoy the fact that Bill seems to know something was up between Eric and Sookie.

Quote:
“We could go back," he said. In the dome light of the car, his face looked hard as stone. "We could go back to your house. I can stay with you always. We can know each others bodies in every way, night after night. I could love you." His nostrils flared, and he looked suddenly proud. "I could work. You would not be poor. I would help you."
 
"Sounds like a marriage," I said, trying to lighten the atmosphere. But my voice was too shaky.
 
"Yes," he said.”

Book #48 week #38, Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

I really didn't read anything this week until Friday night. It is just my luck that my library carries several copies of Club Dead, I even saw two last time I was there, but when I need it they are all checked out! So I had to wait to have a copy transferred. It came in on Friday along with another book I've been dying to read and lets just say I didn't accomplish much other than reading this weekend!

I am trying something different this post. I am getting kind of bored just writing synopsis of books, if you wanted that you could just read the cover of the book! So I am going to talk about how I really feel and that means spoilers. So not only will I recap book #2 Living Dead in Dallas I am going to recap book #3 Club Dead as well. So spoiler alert! : )

In Living Dead in Dallas Lafayette is murdered right off the bat and his body found in detective Andy's car. After some probing around it is reveled that Lafayette has been talking to multiple people about his involvement in a secret sex club. Meanwhile Sookie and Bill are fighting and his car breaks down so Sookie storms off. While walking she encounters a strange naked woman, a maenad, who attacks Sookie and cuts her back with her claws. The maenad tells Sookie this is a message for Eric.

Bill takes Sookie to Eric who explains what the woman is and tells Sookie she has been poisoned. The vampires with the help of a strange doctor set her right again and Eric tells Bill and Sookie he has a job for them to do. The pair head to Dallas to investigate a vampire disappearance. Long story short a new cult called "The Fellowship of the Sun" is behind the kidnapping. They want to eradicate vampires. Sookie gets herself kidnapped and almost raped and killed. The missing vampire is set free and all return to the vampire mansion to celebrate. Eric is there undercover and the group is ambushed by the cult members who fire into the house from outside. Sookie is able to "hear" them and shout a warning over the music only the vampires are able to hear, this means the human companions are the ones mowed down. Eric throws himself on top of Sookie and takes a bullet in the process. Nevertheless he enjoys this situation too much while Bill on the other hand is overcome by his vampire nature and goes after the attackers without so much of a thought of Sookie's well being.

Back at home Sookie and Bill break up for a few weeks. Since Bill is out of town Sookie commissions Eric to accompany her to a sex party. Even though she asks him to pretend to be gay, Eric is all to happy to oblige and takes every liberty he can with Sookie while there. Although she is not happy to be there, Sookie's friend, Tara is at the party with her fiance Eggs. Sookie soon learns that three other members of the party are responsible for the murder of Lafayette. Before anything to graphic happens the party is interuppted. Bill, Andy, Sam in his collie form and the maenad are all outside. The maenad kills all the humans at the party except for Eggs and Tara who Eric glamors to forget the events of the evening.

Club Dead
Bill and Sookie's relationship is strained as Bill is spending all his awake time working on a secret project for the (Vampire) Queen of Louisiana. Bill informs Sookie that he must travel alone to Seattle and he should be back in eight weeks or so. Eight weeks! While he is gone Sookie gets attacked by a biker (werewolf) while at work but she is saved by Bubba who has been sent by Eric to protect her. Eric informs Sookie that Bill has disappeared. He was last known to be in Mississippi not Seattle with the woman who changed him, Lorena. Lorena has summoned Bill and then turned on him. Eric goes on to tell Sookie that Bill was going to break off their relationship after making sure she is taken care of financially. Eric then convinces Sookie to go to Mississippi and try to find Bill using her gift. I am really pissed off at Bill at this point!

Eric sets Sookie up with a werewolf named Alcide to accompany her on her trip under the pretense that they are dating so she can get into an exclusive supes only club. Of course there is physical tension between Alcide and Sookie but she manages to keep it in her pants so to speak. One night at the club they have an altercation with Alcide's ex Debbie who is there celebrating her engagement to another man. The second night Sookie ends up getting staked in the side while intervening in a murder attempt. The (vampire) King of Mississippi takes Sookie back to his mansion so she can be healed. Eric is with her by this time, undercover, and he gives her his blood to heal her. He also starts to show her a good time if you catch my drift but they get interrupted by Bubba who has found Bill being tortured in the pool house. The next morning Sookie frees Bill and kills Lorena in the process. She puts Bill in the trunk of a car and drives back to Alcide's apartment. While checking on Bill, Debbie pushes Sookie into the trunk with him and when Bill wakes up he is in desperate need for blood due to the torture. Bill ends up biting Sookie pretty badly and begins raping her before he wakes fully and realizes what he is doing.

Sookie is naturally pissed at Bill and asks Eric to take her home leaving Bill in Mississippi. Eric is happy to help (isn't he always : ) but they get attacked by bikers on the way home and then ambushed at Sookie's house. Miraculously Bill shows up on time to help Eric, who has been shot several times, kill the 6 or 7 attackers. In the end Sookie breaks things off with Bill and rescinds both Eric and Bill's invitation into her home. In a very sweet move Eric does arrange and pay for Sookie's driveway to be re-graveled.

At this point in time I think I am switching to team Eric or maybe even team Alcide. I like Bill and I know he cannot do anything about his vampire commands but I feel he isn't that into his relationship with Sookie. Even though she is a fictional character I cannot help but be jealous of Sookie! Having all these hot men want you all the time must be really difficult ; )

Quote:
“How grateful are you?" he whispered, his mouth hovering over mine. His eyes were very alert now, and his gaze was boring into mine.

"That kind of ruins it, when you say something like that," I said, trying to keep my voice gentle. "You shouldn't want me to have sex with you just because I owe you."

"I don't really care why you have sex with me, as long as you do it," he said, equally gently.”

True Blood Show vs. The Books

Coming off of a marathon session of the first season of True Blood (thanks library for renting a whole season for only 2 days) I sat down today all excited to write a comparison of True Blood season one versus Dead Until Dark (the first volume in the Sookie Stackhouse series) but alas there is no point. When talking to a friend about the differences between book vs. show I learned that this is the only season that followed the book at all! Boo that sucks.

Well I can't help myself so I will post a little about how I feel about the show. I expected the show to be cheesy and I was not disappointed. I love Anna Paquin but it took sometime to get use to her playing a blond haired, respectful southern belle complete with accent to match. It is just so unlike her.

Don't get me wrong here I know in TV or movie adaptations changes are to be expected. The producers have to keep the material interesting and exciting and sometimes what is in the book doesn't translate well into screen form. Most of the main plot of season one is on par with the book with minor changes here and there. So not a huge deal overall. I did not like the adding of new characters or giving very minor characters, at best, big roles. Mostly however I did not like the character changes.

Aggh so frustrating! A lot of the characters are pretty true to the book; Sookie, Bill, Sam, grandma. But others were not. Take Sookie's brother Jason for instance, in the book he is handsome, slightly dumb and a ladies man. He is all those things in the show as well but also addicted to vampire blood and ends up joining the Fellowship of the Sun, what??? Oh and Lafayette... in the book he is a funny and flamboyant man. In the show? Still flamboyant and a little funny but also a hardass wannabe.

Then there is Eric. Where to start. I normally cut actors some slack because they will never live up to everyone's version of the perfect _______ whatever. But to me Alex Skarsgård looks more like a sad puppy than a burly, mean viking (don't hate me! I just don't like him, maybe he will grow on me). Then there is his personality. In the book Eric is tough and mean but also inappropriately funny. In the show he just comes off as indifferent all the time and so far all the sexual tension between Sookie and Eric is no where to be found. 

I hate feeling so torn. Especially since I can't stop once I started something so I will probably continue the TV series and just cross my fingers that it isn't too bad. Maybe I will post updates on character development because I don't think I will be able to compare books vs. show at this point.

Anyone else feel torn like me? I think if I hadn't started reading the books the show would appeal to me more.

Book #46 week #36, Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

It didn't take me long to move on to Sookie Stachouse #2 (aka The Southern Vampire Mysteries) Living Dead in Dallas. That is my problem with series.. I need to know and I need to know NOW! I like to start posts about sequels with a recap of the book before the one I am posting about so if you haven't read book #1 you might want to stop reading now.

**Warning Spoilers for book #1**
Dead Until Dark- Sookie Stackhouse is a telepathic who lives with her grandmother. Her parents died when she was young in an accident leaving grandma to care for Sookie and her brother Jason. Working at a bar in a small town is pretty boring until Sookie meets the vampire Bill. Vampires are now members of mainstream society. She is relived to find she cannot read vampires minds and it is a welcome break for her. Pretty soon people start turning up murdered by strangulation but with fang marks on their bodies. Sookie asks Bill to help her investigate at a well know vampire club. While there Sookie meets Eric, an older and stronger vampire than Bill. Basically Bill has to answer to Eric. Sookie is able to use her powers to find out who is stealing from Eric, a move that almost costs her her life. Now Eric is very interested in her and has contracted Bill to use Sookie's powers whenever he needs to. Being wary of Eric, Bill decides to become a vampire investigator that way Eric will be his boss and owes Bill his protection, this protection extends to anything belonging to Bill and that means Sookie is protected from any unwanted advances from Eric.

Getting back to the murders it doesn't take long until Jason is considered a suspect and their grandmother is among the victims. It is clear that Sookie was the intended target. In the end it is a friend of Jason's who is killing women who have been known to fraternize with vampires and he almost does kill Sookie as well but she is able to overpower him due to the vampire blood she has been ingesting. And on a side note we discover that Sam (Sookie's boss) not only has a thing for her but he is a shape-shifter as well!

Living Dead in Dallas takes our new twosome to, well you guessed it, Dallas. Eric has contracted Sookie out to the vampires of Dallas in order to help them locate a missing vampire. Naturally she needs an escort and that would be Bill. But first a coworker has been murdered and the body left in a police officer's car outside of the bar and Sookie gets attacked by a crazy woman beast in the forest as a message to Eric. The attack almost kills her yet again.

Now they are in Dallas. While investigating the vampire's disappearance Sookie discovers a new anti-vampire organization called "The Fellowship of the Sun". Seemingly a little nutty but basically harmless at first. Their main mission is to help vampires see the light, quite literally as in "meet the sun", but they should not be underestimated.

Quote:
  
I looked up into Eric's eyes. Incredibly, he was excited. He smiled at me. "I knew I'd get on top of you somehow," he said.
"Are you trying to make me mad so I'll forget how scared I am?"
"No, I'm just opportunistic."
I wiggled, trying to get out from under him, and he said, "Oh, do that again. It felt great.”

Book #45 week #36, Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

This series, the Sookie Stackhouse series, was recommended to me. It is the series the TV show True Blood was based on (which I have yet to watch but will check out from the library, we'll see how the show matches up).  I like vampires so what the heck. "Like" might be an understatement here I've been obsessed with vampires as long as I can remember.

Dead Until Dark is about Sookie Stackhouse, a twenty-five-year -old waitress in a bar in a small town in northern Louisiana. Her life is pretty uneventful and she has been waiting to meet a vampire. Vampires have recently come out in mainstream society and are no longer hiding. Finally one day while at work in walks a vampire.

Sookie is frustrated. Frustrated with her "disability" (she can read minds) and frustrated sexually. She is still a virgin at twenty-five because her mind reading intensifies with physical contact. Turns out she cannot read vampire's minds so there just maybe some hope for her yet! Everything is going well until people start turning up dead and naturally the new vampire in town is under suspicion.

I really liked this book more than I thought I would. The cheesy cover really through me off. Before I saw the cover I was expecting a more serious book. Dead Until Dark has its serious moments (and sexy moments) but it is also fun and funny. Though not as funny as the cover led me to believe, talk about "Don't judge a book by its cover!'. I'm glad I gave it a shot. Really short book though, I tend to like my books a bit longer luckily it is a long series!

Quote:

“Eric appeared to be counting my eyelashes. I tried to keep my gaze on my hands, to indicate modesty. I felt power tweaks kind of flow over me and had an uneasy feeling Eric was trying to influence me. I risked a quick peek, and sure enough he was looking at me expectantly. Was I supposed to pull off my dress? Bark like a dog? Kick Bill in the shins? Shit.”