Dead as a Doornail

Book Five is pretty Were heavy. Alcide comes back in along with Calvin who's in charge of the local werepanthers.

Someone is killing off the local Weres while Alcide's dad is making a run at pack leader. A lot of politics in this one but not dull at all.

Eric has his memory back but can't remember what happened while he was in Sookie's care. That's amusing enough.

Sookie meets Quinn, a weretiger and her next love interest, during the battle for pack leader and realizes that things won't work between her and Alcide.

Book Four until further notice is my favorite book of this series.

Bill is off doing research for his database of vampires and isn't featured much in this one.  Yay!

Sookie is feeling pretty shell shocked and sick of her current life.  She tries to lay low but one night low and behold Eric shows up half naked and without a memory.  Some bad witches are in town and put a spell on Eric for refusing to play nice.  Sookie takes care of him while the other vamps try to figure out a way to get the spell removed.  The memory-less Eric is sweet, a little timid, and more affectionate than normal Eric.  It takes a few chapters before Sookie joins Team Eric.  And really, who wouldn't want to join Team Eric.

This plus a big battle at the end between the Vamps, Weres, the local Witches and Wiccans, and Fairies versus the bad Witches won me over.  

Oh, there's a Plot A.  Jason disappears which really isn't such a big deal but Sookie suspects the bad witches have played a part.  He eventually shows back up at the end...a little worse for the Were.  Ha.

Club Dead

Book Three ended my rooting for Vampire Bill.

There's a King or Queen vampire of every state and a Sheriff of each area.  Eric is a sheriff and answers to the Queen of Louisiana.

Bill is called back to the vampire that made him, Lorena, who's working for the King of Mississippi.  Apparently the word is out that Bill has a telepath for a girlfriend and everyone wants her.  Bill is tortured and sexed up by Lorena in an attempt to find who Sookie is. 

Sookie however is dead set on rescuing Bill even after Eric tells her that he's returned to Lorena.  Eric gives her an escort, Alcide, who is a sweet werewolf.  Together they get access to the King of Mississippi's court and with the help of Bubba, vampire Elvis, they rescue Bill.

Sookie does realize that she could have a relationship with Alcide which I took as a turning point for her.  But he is pretty complicated and has a lot of crazy baggage - his ex-girlfriend - that tries to kill Sookie a few times.  

This one was pretty fast paced and we get a brief introduction to the Were world and politics.  I didn't really buy Bill's excuses and just found him to be pretty much a wuss.  Go team Eric.

 

Living Dead in Dallas

Book Two of the Sookie Stackhouse series was not as good as book one.  Sean always hates Simpson episodes that start with plot A move on to an unrelated plot B and finish with a plot C.  This book followed the same pattern which I normally love but I found it irritating.

The story starts with a death of a co-worker of Sookie's.  The body is found in Andy Bellefluer's (the local detective) car.  Dun dun dun.  Plot A.

We move on to Sookie and Bill driving along after being called to Eric's bar Fangtasia.  They begin to argue and the car breaks down.  Sookie in a snit walks off and is attacked by a supernatural who may have orchestrated the fight and break down.  Bill comes to the rescue though and rushes her to Eric.  All the vamps save her but now she owes them.  Plot B.

Sookie is now off to Dallas to find a missing vampire and we get a look into the Fellowship of the Sun, a cult devoted to snuffing out vampire life.  (I did think that was utter genius on Charlaine's part)  She discovers that the cult has the vampire and is going to kill him at dawn unless Sookie can get him out.  Along the way she meets Barry the bellboy, another telepath, who plays an important role later in the books.  Plot C.

Sookie does need some help this time from some Weres to get out alive but still no Vampire Bill busting down doors.  In fact after her escape she's summoned to a party where the house is attacked and its Eric that saves her from being shot.  Bill is around but he's a little busy feasting on their attackers.  Bill really isn't a great boyfriend.  

After she gets back into town Sookie still has to solve the mystery of her dead friend that seems to have been on the back burner for several weeks now.  Slowly she figures out that maybe her friend was partying with the wrong people and has to infiltrate a sex party with the help of Eric again...in neon spandex.  Maybe plot A was worth it for the spandex.

It seems that plot A was just a way to divulge some information about Bill's current relatives none of which are pleasant people.  And it just seems to add to his ADHD around her.  Now he becomes obsessed with helping them and pay less attention to his Suckie.

Dead Until Dark

I started watching True Blood last month and got hooked quickly.  After picking up the hints that there was something going on with Sam, Sookie's boss, I couldn't wait until his secret was revealed in the show and started reading the books.

The first  book was actually better than I thought it was going to be.  There's less gratuitous sex in the book than the series so it does drag here and there.  The book is told from Sookies pov and Sookie is very enamored with herself so there's a lot of description of how she looks, what she's wearing, and how big her bust size...all of that can  be forgiven however.

Sookie is telepathic so she's pretty much a reject in her little town.  Her parents are killed while she's still young leaving her and her brother Jason to be raised by their grandmother.  Sookie grows up to work at the local bar.  One day Vampire Bill walks into the bar and her world gets shaken up.  

I'd have to admit that the Bill/Sookie romance is pretty ok.  I actually liked Bill in this first book and was rooting for him for several books afterwards.  Some of the locals don't take kindly to Sookie dating a vampire and Bill has a few close calls.  I thought that part was the more interesting plot point of the book - how normal people would react to supernaturals coming out.  Some burned down a house and another went on a killing spree.  Wee.

You do get a taste of the vampire community with Eric and Pam at Fangtasia and there are other supernatural beings in this world namely Sam.  I really love Pam in her sweater sets and Eric is just perfection.

I was really happy the ending.  I didn't pick up on who was the real killer until the last moments and was thrilled that Sookie didn't need Vampire Bill to save her.

My new baby!

Isn't she pretty? She's a Dyson Animal. I'll have her sometime next week and I didn't pay $500 for her. I've never been this excited about a vacuum.

Doctor Who Season 4

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/a93187/billie-cameo-stuns-doctor-who-viewers.html

Really? Because I knew about Rose coming back like six months ago. Maybe the people living in basements were surprised.

Wee. Another season of watching the very...talented...and very overpaid David Tennet as Doctor Who. Please, oh, please let him regenerate this season.