Rising Son
Juliana Lucio, Book #2
By L.C. DeCarlo
IBSN# 9781470136
Author’s website: www.lcdecarlo.com

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Autumn

Summary:

Questions are starting to be raised within the Council as to just who Juliana Lucio is, and what exactly her unique abilities are. William and Ana are no longer able to keep Juliana or her abilities a secret, and just as she thought her son Christian was safe he is pulled deeper into the vampire world than Juliana ever imagined possible.

Two factions of vampires are fighting. They are teetering on the brink of a war that is threatening to spill over onto humankind. The Coven, wants to out vampirekind and their existence to the world; the Council, will do everything in its power to prevent it.

A traitor threatens to bring the entire world as we know it crumbling down as they hand over the keys to the Council, and the lives of Juliana, William and Ana. Will they be able to stop the threat in time?

Will Christian ever break free of the vampire’s grasp or will the traitor in their midst get the best of them all? (Goodreads)

Review :

Rising Son is the second book in the Juliana Lucio series.  I must say that I have been anxiously awaiting the second installment by DeCarlo and she did not disappoint.

It picks up right after the amazing ending of Stolen Sun.  Juliana has had to reveal herself as a vampire to her eldest son, Christian. She is faced with the monumental task of shielding him from others who would kill him for having knowledge of their existence. As hard as she tries, she is unable to stop Christian from becoming even more engrossed in her dark and deadly world.

Seeking a solution with the continued help of Ana and William, she navigates the dangers of the vampire underground where two powerful factions of vampires at war will call into question exactly where her loyalties lie.

To say that I am a fan of Decarlo’s work is an understatement.  Rising Son is yet another example of why.  It combines action, intrigue and steamy romance together with an intelligent prose sure to entertain every fan of the vampire genre.  The heroine, Juliana, is well thought out.  She is multidimensional and strong.  And of course, William is her perfect counterpart as protector and lover.  The relationship between them has evolved and solidified as I hoped that it would.  DeCarlo pulled no punches with the climactic ending and I cannot wait for the next one.  It will immediately go to the top of my to read list.

We are back with another round of Top 10 “The Avengers” quotes. If you missed our first round, feel free to visit part 1 to check them out. Enjoy!

• “Are you ever not going to fall for that?” -Loki
• “Son . . . just don’t.” -Captain America
• “The Avenger’s. It’s what we call ourselves. We’re kind of a team.” -Tony Stark
• “Please tell me nobody kissed me.” -Tony Stark
• “Just like Budapest all over again.” -Black Widow
• “You and I remember Budapest very differently.” -Hawkeye
• “Puny god.” -Hulk
• “That’s my secret Captain. I’m always angry.” -Bruce Banner
• “Hulk . . . smash.” -Captain America
• “Super Hero’s in New York? Give me a break.” -Stan Lee

I was so concentrated in the movie that I almost forgot about Stan Lee and his cameos for the Marvel movies. I was expecting for one of the Avengers to save him at some point during the fight scenes or for him to the one that found the Hulk when he fell Were any of this quotes some of your favorites? Which other quote do you remember that you liked?

Hell Hath No Fury (Kelly and Umber Series #2)

Author: Bill Blais

Synopsis: After the horrific events under the streets of New York City, Kelly McGinnis quit the team of demon hunters who had recruited herand did everything she could to put the experience behind her. Six months later, life is nearly normal, complete with bills, school for her children and hospital visits for her husband.

Dreams of Umber –the handsome and intriguing incubus she saved–continue to tease Kelly’s sleep, but it is only when far darker dreams–and worse–begin to infect her children, that Kelly discovers what happens if you stop hunting demons.

They start hunting you.

Bio of the Author: Bill Blais is a writer, web developer and perennial part-time college instructor. His novels include Witness (winner of the Next Generation Indie Book Award for Fantasy) and the Kelly & Umber urban fantasy series. Bill graduated from Skidmore College before earning an MA in Medieval Studies from University College London. He lives in Maine with his wife and daughter.

Author Website and Blog: http://www.billblais.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bill-Blais/182283748560756

Twitter: @onemoredraft

 Where to Buy the Kelly and Umber Series books:

No Good Deed (Kelly and Umber #1): http://www.amazon.com/Good-Kelly-Umber-Novel-ebook/dp/B007IXY6UC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335582057&sr=1-1

Hell Hath No Fury (Kelly and Umber #2): http://www.amazon.com/Hell-Kelly-Umber-Novel-ebook/dp/B007IXY7RE/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335921706&sr=1-7

Read Sample Chapters of both books:

No Good Deed: http://www.billblais.com/books/no-good-deed/no-good-deed-excerpt/

Hell Hath No Fury: http://www.billblais.com/books/hell-hath-no-fury/hell-hath-no-fury-excerpt/

Blog tour set up by Illuminated Tours (http://illuminatedtours.weebly.com/)

Doubletake
Cal Leandros, Book# 7
By Rob Thurman
ISBN # 0451464443
Author website: http://robthurman.net/books/cal-leandros/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Verushka

I’ve always been a huge fan of Rob Thurman’s Cal Leandros series. I discovered it just as I discovered Supernatural on television and while I’ve since stopped watching Supernatural, I’ve remained a fan of this series. Cal and Niko remain in this novel fiercely devoted to each other, no matter what. That strength and Thurman’s adept touch at bringing their life together has made this series riveting reading, but I found this one to be somewhat uneven.

The book opens with Robin hiring Cal and Niko to police a Puck family reunion. Hot on the heels of this job, Cal and Niko have family reunions of a sort of their own. Niko’s father Kalakos reappears asking for their help in tracking down a monster called Janus who is homing in on those with Vayash blood and killing them, which means the brothers are targets. This metal monster was made by Haphaestus and, yes, he’s alive and Robin goes above and beyond in dealing with him. Cal’s “family reunion” is with another half-Auphe called Grimm who needs him to rebuild the Auphe race.

Don’t get me wrong – Thurman’s writing is in top form here. I got more of a sense of how Cal views his brother and how much he knows Niko has given up for him. Thurman also shows us in a tender, sad way why nothing and no-one will come between Cal and Niko through a small flashback that had me tearing up.

What didn’t work in this novel was the balance and focus on Grimm and Kalakos in the novel. While Kalakos plays an important part of the conclusion to the novel, he is barely a presence through the novel, he hovers in the background mostly, while Grimm has more of a presence instead. Had Kalakos had more of a presence, had we had more of an insight into him and Niko and that relationship fleshed out more – even if all Niko felt for him was hate – this novel would have been better for it.

Another consequence of this uneven balance in the focus afforded to characters is that Robin, despite having a strong presence in the beginning of the book, suddenly disappears and calls in with some information. On the one hand, this gave Thurman some chance to focus on Grimm and Kalakos and the brothers, but because the writing accompanying these characters was so uneven and Robin’s exit for this book just as uneven, in the end, none of it worked. Robin’s absence and the way Thurman explained was a glaring problem in the book for me, especially as Cal kept noting how Robin would never disappear on them. And as a reader of this series for seven books now, I couldn’t agree more.

In the end, a disappointing addition to the Leandros series.

Best Dressed Kristen vs Charlize

Happy “SWATH” Day, Awful readers! If you tuned into the “Snow White and the Huntsman” premiere via the Facebook livestream this morning (can you believe the gorgeous setting?!), then you saw both Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron rock the enchanting green carpet. Aren’t they just to die for?!

Although Char and Kris became fast friends on set, the Evil Queen and Snow White are fighting to the death in the flick, so it’s only fair we have a little SWATH best-dressed competition, right? (Via Today Entertainment)

I’m sorry Stewart fans, but I think Charlize has her beat by a long shot!!  It’s like putting a supermodel up against a kid.  I’m sorry, but I think Kristen’s dress is just ugly!!  And I’m not sure she really has the body to carry it.  I don’t like Theron’s dress either, but her body sells it.

]]> http://openbooksociety.com/article/kristen-stewart-vs-charlize-theron-best-dressed-twilight-news-for-5-14-2012/feed/ 0 http://openbooksociety.com/article/true-blood-season-5-trailer-true-blood-news-for-5-14-2012/ http://openbooksociety.com/article/true-blood-season-5-trailer-true-blood-news-for-5-14-2012/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 01:25:13 +0000 hmhibbit (online) http://openbooksociety.com/?p=42548

Season 5 Trailer

I really liked this trailer because it gave a glimpse of everything or so it seemed!  It made me want to watch the show much more than the ‘waiting sucks’ teasers do.  And my favorite part was Alcide telling Sookie, “I get your tough, but that doesn’t mean you have to be stupid”.  It’s about time somebody told her that!!

Video via youtube

Wired  & Amped
Wired, Books #1 &2
By Douglas E Richard
ISBN #’s  0982618492 & 0985350318
Author site link: http://www.douglaserichards.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Verushka

Review:

Wired hits the ground running taking us and Desh into Kira Miller’s world at full speed. Originally tasked with finding her, things change drastically when Desh finds out that nothing is what it seems about her or the men who hired him to find her.

Desh is a soldier who has left the army behind when he finds himself trying to find Kira. She is a scientist, a genius who has discovered a way to increase a human being’s intelligence immensely, but that does not come without consequences; something which scares her immensely.

Of the two, Kira is more fascinating to me. She is cool, calm and logical through the novel and just as capable as Desh is. Her intelligence is in all honesty intimidating, but she isn’t shy about showing her emotion when the occasion calls for it. Richards handles these two parts of her skillfully.

In essence, this is a game of cat and mouse, or Sherlock and Moriarty (as the book terms is), but the premise and the science that wraps a familiar story in something new. The desire to be better, cleverer or to live longer (I might have mentioned Kira is a genius) is something anyone can understand. Who wouldn’t want to know and do, well basically everything, or live for ages longer? But along with this question, the book highlights the consequences of such desires as well.

In Amped, the second novel in this series, Kira and Desh are forced to question everything they thought they knew about each other, while trying to fend off the government and another adversary. Richards is as every bit a competent writer as he was in Wired, and as a second novel, it is a worthy sequel. But, I confess, that by the time I started reading this, I found the science less attractive than I did in the first book.

Richards is an excellent writer, who has created interesting, relatable characters who are dealing with pretty mind-blowing (to me) scientific concepts that made me think about things I hadn’t before.

Hopefully by now our readers have seen the Avengers and we’re not spoiling anyone … hopefully. In that case, we present to you some of or reviewer’s favorite top 10 movie quotes. Enjoy!

• “What is this, Shakespeare in the park?” – Iron Man
• “Are you here to kill me Romanoff? ‘Cause that’s not going to go well for anyone.” – Bruce Banner
• “Phil? Uhh his first name is Agent.” – Tony Stark
• “I sort of met you. I watched you . . . while you were sleeping.” -Phil
• “Make your move Reindeer Games.” -Iron Man
• “There’s only one God ma’am. And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.” -Captain America
• “Does mother know you wearith her drapes?” -Iron Man
• “Loki’s head is a bag of cats. You can smell crazy.” -Bruce Banner
• “He’s adopted.” -Thor
• “Last time I was in New York, I kinda . . . broke Harlem.” -Bruce Banner

I’m a fan of Marvel and didn’t know what to expect from this movie after the Hulk and Spider-man movies experiences, but I really enjoyed watching The Avengers, I didn’t wanted it to end . It makes me want too see a sequel. Don’t you think? Which quote do you remember that was your favorite? I have to say that Iron Man had some of the funniest ones, but Thor saying “he’s adopted” was unexpected!

Cover of eBook 1 of the Series: Sorcery & Cecilia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Book One)

Today we at OBS are proud to present Part Two of the deliciously named Enchanted Chocolate Pot Blog Fest! Last week we showcased the first letter from Patricia Wrede writing as Cecy to her cousin Kate in London, while Cecy is in Essex! Not the way these two cousins and BFFs wanted to spent their summer! The unedited first letter from Cecy to Kate showcased how Wrede intended to weave Cecy into the goings-on in London and today we have the edited version of that letter!

 Read the: Edited Version of Cecy’s First Letter to Kate

Here we see a Cecy that isn’t above using her brother Oliver to her own advantage and a tension between them is brought to light – after all what older brother wants to listen to their younger sister’s words of wisdom? It also highlights the way Cecy’s mind works compared to her older brother – she can see “which way the wind is blowing” even if he cannot. She is far more astute than Oliver in the ways of society and the rules she must abide by – she is quite capable of making those rules work to her advantage.

Cover of eBook 2: The Grand Tour

We also see in the edited version that Cecy is to have an introduction to the Lady Tarleton and her niece and I don’t know about you, but I get two impressions – the niece might every well prove to be a thorn in Cecy’s side, and no matter what, Cecy will not let anything keep her from a good party! However, what is most interesting is that Cecy’s opinion of Lord Bedrick and his talent for magic seems to have been toned down. In the earlier, unedited version of the letter, she seemed to know that he had not done anything noteworthy, but in the new letter, that sentence has been removed. In the context of that particular paragraph, it seems Cecy’s knowledge has been toned down in order perhaps, for Kate to be the one to bring aspects of Bedrick’s character to light? Or for them to put their heads and their respective information from Essex and London together to realize that Bedrick doesn’t have the talent to be inducted into the College?

What do you think? Should Cecy have retained her opinion of Bedrick? Look at the two letters side by side and let us know!

Read the unedited version of Kate’s First Reply to Cecy

Above is Kate’s first letter to Cecy. For me, the impression I get is that perhaps Cecy’s and Kate’s positions should have been better switched: Cecy seems like someone who would enjoy shopping more, whereas Kate seems bored after only 3 days in London. And maybe on her way to being exasperated.

Cover of eBook 3: The Mislaid Magician: or Ten Years After

She seems to be more practically minded and does not care for the airs of London society. Cecy might be more inclined to make those rules work for her, Kate thus far seems to only want to follow such rules if she has to – I get the impression of a woman who would have not trouble busying herself with far more interesting things than going shopping, for instance. It’s no wonder they’re BFFs, they complement each other quite well.

There is also an aura of someone who is more self-aware (and older) about Kate from the writing in her letter. I can definitely identify with her self-deprecation is describing her clumsiness or the honesty with which she says she believes Georgina will never shine in London society – there doesn’t seem to be malice around the latter though, just awareness. In the end, the first letter paints a picture of someone better suited to be seeking out the truth by attending a “wizard’s installation” – I can imagine Kate sweet-talking her way into it quite easily.

What do you think of the letters? And the hints of the way Kate and Cecy’s characters may complement each other? Who is going to get into trouble first – Kate or Cecy? Do you think Cecy might have been better suited to London after all?

Brought to you by OBS staff member Heidi

Selkies or silkies come from Irish and Scottish Fokelore.  They are believed to be seal people.  In the oceans where they live they swim around in their seal form, but when they come upon shore they take their seal pelts off and hide them and walk around as humans.   In human form they are more beautiful than any normal human and can easily be-spell people to fall in love with them, even though the selkie rarely stays in relationships with humans for long.  If someone should find their pelt the selkie is basically enslaved to that person, having to do their bidding or whatever the person commands (in most stories this is for female selkies only and the selkie usually ends up married to the one who finds their pelt, but a few stories have this fate for the male as well).  If they find their pelt they will leave that person and any children they may have and return to the sea.

It is often said that if a human woman wishes to have an encounter with a male selkie she is to go to a rocky beach and shed seven tears into the ocean at high tide.  They are said to be adventurous lovers, even though they don’t stick around long.

Books with Selkies

• Tempest Series by Tracy Deebs
• Storm Prince by Terri Lynn Wilhelm
• The Selkie Spell by Sophie Moss
• The Selkie Bride by Melanie Jackson

Movies with Selkies

• Selkie
• The Secret of Roan Inish

Source
Source
Source

What do you think of Selkies as mythical creatures? Have you read any other books as them being the main character? I’m actually reading Seanan McGuire’s “A Local Habitation” and they are mentioned there, though I’m not going to tell you how it ends

Firelight
Firelight, Book #1
By Sophie Jordan
ISBN# 9780061935084
Author’s website: http://www.sophiejordan.net/

Brought to you by Shae

Synopsis:

A HIDDEN TRUTH

MORTAL ENEMIES

DOOMED LOVE

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet of her kind, she nearly pays with her life, only to be spared by a beautiful stranger sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki–a descendant of dragons whose ability to shift into human form is her best defense.

Forced to flee into the mortal world, Jacinda struggles to adapt. The one bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will’s dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away – if it dies she will be left a human forever. She’ll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.

Mythical powers and irresistible passion ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide … Source

Review:

Only a few books ever leave me absolutely craving the next in the series. Firelight has left me with this feeling. I can not wait to get Vanished in my hands and devour it. This book had page by page action and drama.

It starts out with Jacinda doing a very bad thing, that has many consequences, but instead of staying her mom packs up J and her sister and leaves in the middle of the night. They leave the Pride, the only home Jacinda has ever known, and the only people she thinks she can ever belong with.

Jacinda is a Draki, they are descendants of dragons, with the ability to take human form to blend in if they have to. They are hunted and need a cover. For many, many years the hunters have never figured out the draki can turn into humans. They have a home hidden in the mountains, cloaked with a mist that one of the pride can produce to conceal them. The draki take on human form in their village, and only fly at night under cover of darkness.

I was very afraid this book was going to be way under my maturity level. Instead, it is right there in the middle. It has just the right amount of young content to keep the younger readers interested, and adds things to keep the older readers in as well.

I had a few issues with the way Jacinda processed things. She knows the pride wants to use her and punish her, and the pride is close to a cult. She is a bit brainwashed, and stills wants to go back. This started to get annoying, but after a while the story changes up, and she finally realizes this is a very stupid thing to even consider.

I became very familiar with Jacinda, and started to sympathize with her missing the pride though. I found myself trying to read very fast, because I could not wait to find out what was going on.

Jacinda is a very nice person, she can not help but to put others first. I like the connections she makes with the other characters in the book. She finds a very close friend and a boyfriend, and that’s all Jacinda really needs.  There are many possible plots that I started to suspect, some happened, and some either won’t or will be in the next book.

The ending not only surprised me, but has left me going crazy. It is such a big cliff hanger. Everything just kept getting so intense and then it was over. I know that I will be getting Vanished as soon as possible.

Overall, I love this book, and I am looking very much forward to the rest of the series.

Tempest Unleashed
Tempest, Book #2
By Tracy Deebs
ISBN# 13: 9780802728302
Author’s site: http://www.tracywolff.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Tempest Unleashed picks up about eight months after Tempest Rising left off.  Tempest is sticking to her decision to live in the ocean and is getting used to her daily life serving the queen, who she doesn’t get along with, and going to see Kona whenever she can.   But she can never quite shake her feelings for Mark.

But when Tempest is plagued with a feeling that something is wrong at home, she and Kona flee to La Jolla to find out what it is.  When they arrive they discover that her little brother, Moku, nearly drowned and is in a coma.  As the days pass the doctors are getting less and less optimistic that he will ever wake up.  It takes Kona going back into the ocean and bringing back the selkie healer to bring him out of it.

Then, her dad informs Tempest that Moku didn’t have a surfing accident, but that it was the sea witch trying to take him.  After hearing this, she has no choice, but to return to the ocean and face Tiamat head-on.

But when she gets back to her undersea home, Coral Straights, she discovers that it has been attacked by Tiamat and her army.  Tempest is also informed that her new trainer, Sabyn helped Tiamat destroy their village.

Tempest seeks out the queen to figure out the best way to attack Tiamat only to learn that the selkies were also attacked.

When Tempest goes to look for Kona she finds that his parents have died, making him king, if he’s still alive that is!  She can’t find Kona anywhere, but finds a note written in his blood telling her where to meet Tiamat.  Now she must risk everything, including her life, to save him.

Again, I was taken in by the cover.  The artwork is breathtaking and I can almost feel the ocean spraying me in the face.  Unfortunately, that was about the only thing in this book that took my breath away.

I found the first half of the book to be pretty boring.  It was basically just showing us readers what a day in life of mermaid tempest was like.  We were introduced to the merQueen and shown how she and Tempest don’t get along and were shown some memories of Cecily, Tempest’s mom.

I was expecting more romance between Tempest and Kona since he was the man she chose to be with, but it just wasn’t there.  In fact, they spent most of their time arguing and Kona’s character still didn’t have any real depth.

I hated seeing more wishy-washiness with Tempest when it came to the loves of her life.  I hate her grass is always greener on the other side type of mentality when it comes to men.  Mark wasn’t good enough when she was with him, but after she was with Kona, he wasn’t either and she wanted Mark back.  It annoyed me how easily Mark took her back and the relationship seems unrealistic as how can she really devote much time an attention to it, when he is on land and she’s in the ocean….talk about a long distance relationship.  Tempest swears she doesn’t want to be anything like her mom, but she continues to get more and more like her and her rekindling a relationship with Mark is a case in point.  Now that she has him will she choose to be with Kona again?  You can just never tell with her.

I really wanted to like this book and I won’t say that I disliked it, but I was just unimpressed.

Tara’s Fate Revealed

HBO’s season five of “True Blood” is quickly approaching, and spoilers are continuing to bleed out.

At the end of season four, viewers were left wondering if Tara would live to see season five after a deadly encounter with Debbie. In a crazed state after being caught cheating by Alcide, Debbie went over to Sookie’s house to shoot her. While things looked grim for a helpless Sookie, Tara quickly jumped in front of the bullet. (Via IB times)

Well looking at the plot descriptions (which you can see on IB times’ webstite here) it looks like Tara survives, which I expected all along.  She is just too much of a main character for them to kill her off just yet!

Tricked
Iron Druid Chronicles, Book #4
by Kevin Hearne

Review brought to you by OBS staff member Verushka

I wish desperately that everything could stop when a new Atticus novel is released – and by that I mean work, emails and you know just real life. It’s easy to get lost in the books of this series, and to get grumpy when real life beckons you – okay, just me – out.

Tricked is a start to what is a new segment of Atticus’ life. It has the feel of being the first half of a greater story, with the focus in this title being on the groundwork for his, Oberon and Granuaile’s new life in Arizona. With change, Hearne takes his intrepid trio into Coyote’s world and Native American mythology (Coyote being the Trickster of the previous novels).

Coyote enlists Atticus help to help his people, in essence, and while the thought is to be commended, he basically leaves it up to Atticus to do all the heavy lifting, slaying and saving.

Skinwalkers. Let me leave that with you. Please remember also this is Kevin Hearne so whatever you think you know, chuck it out and get lost in the ride, research and writing.

At the beginning of this book, we get an inkling of the greater powers snapping at Atticus’ heels, even though he has faked his death by all accounts, before Atticus’ true adventure begins. I confess I felt the lack of knowledge about the greater powers at work keenly in this book. I guess I don’t need to know everything coming up, but I did hope for more than what we were told.

Without his familiar surroundings and numerous groups and Gods vying for his attention, Atticus’ attention is also focused on Granuaile and her presence in his life. I figured there was a romance coming, but the slow simmer has hit the boiling point pretty quickly – well okay, four books isn’t quick, but it took some getting used to. Granuaile is probably the one person he has let gets close to him in a long while, so it’s going to be a treat watching her deal with him.

Oberon…at this stage, I think he deserves his own title. Hearne’s absolute talent at writing humor never shines as brightly than with Oberon and I will gladly read anything and everything that features him.

I confess it is jarring not having Morrigan, the Widow Macdonagh (much of her that is), or Leif and Hal in this story, but everything changes and for a druid who has lived millennia, this move was bound to happen. Old, established friendships are also changed profoundly in this novel and I will mourn the loss of Leif’s friendship in Atticus’ life – and it’s more than a move that changes things between them.

Overall, this is a beginning to a new chapter in Atticus’ life and I am going to sit on my hands and remind myself constantly that I can’t know everything straightaway. I’m just going to have to wait for the next one and the one after that!

Deadlocked
Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampires, Book #12
By Charlaine Harris

Review brought to you by OBS staff member Heidi

Deadlocked is the 12th installment of the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.  In this one, Sookie is still working at Merlotte’s and has actually helped Sam financially to keep the bar afloat, making it to where she owns part of the bar now.  Claude and Dermot are still living with Sookie.  She and Eric have just been going through the motions as far as their relationship is concerned.  The vampire king of Louisiana has been visiting along with his entourage and everything is still undecided as far as Eric going off to marry the Queen of Oklahoma, Freyda, as the contract his maker signed before his death states he must.

Sookie has been summoned to go to a gathering at Eric’s house where they are supposed to meet with the king and discuss Victor’s death as the king is still deciding whether or not to bring charges against Eric.

When Sookie arrives she finds Eric drinking from someone else (someone with the scent of fairy blood on them making her irresistible to vampires) and after he and Pam force the girl out of the house, she is later found dead on his lawn.  Now the cops are there and suspecting him of murder.

I was really excited to start reading the latest installment of Sookie,  and I was hoping her and Eric’s relationship problems would be solved in this one as I am team Eric all the way.  Unfortunately, that was not the case with this book.

First off, I thought this installment had an incredibly slow start and found the first three chapters to be torturous.  A majority of it was reminding the reader of what was going on, which some of it I was thankful for as I haven’t read Dead Reckoning (Book #11) since it came out almost a year ago and I forgot some key details.  But I think the amount of reminding us in this one was overkill….not to mention the slow-paced scene at the strip club (how could a strip club scene be THAT boring?).  Needless to say I was happy with the story actually got going.

Being on team Eric as I mentioned earlier, I was extremely disappointed in the lack of Eric in this book.  And when he did appear, he didn’t really make me like him too much.  I felt he treated Sookie like a possession, but nothing that he really loved or even liked that much…..almost like an obligation he was hoping to pawn off on somebody else soon.  Not to mention that it was obvious that he wanted her to fix his whole wedding problem now that he knew about the cluviel dor.  Granted, before this book I totally wanted her to use it to fix their relationship as well, but he just wasn’t putting forth any kind of effort in this novel, which was just sad.  Where is the passion, excitement and undying love?  Still in my heart of hearts I was hoping all their problems would be corrected once Eric’s visitors left.

I wasn’t really all that surprised that Claude was up to no good, but I thought it had more to do with the lack of fairy babies than it did his dreams of overthrowing Niall.  I am glad to see that all the fairies are gone from the series now as I don’t see anything positive that they bring to the story.  I just hope they stay gone!

And what was up with all the fast food plugs in this one?  Sonic, Taco Bell, Dairy Queen…Is Harris getting royalties to mention them (LOL)?

I really didn’t like how this book ended mainly because it really makes it sound like Harris is setting up Sookie’s happily ever after to be with Sam.  I didn’t like at the beginning of the series when he was hot for her and I don’t like the idea of them being together at the end any better.  I think I’d even rather her take Quinn back or hook up with Alcide than be with Sam.  I guess I just feel that she and Sam should be friends not lovers.  So I can only hope that Harris isn’t going in that direction after all, but I’m just not feeling very optimistic about it.

Overall, I thought this book was mediocre and wasn’t Charlaine’s best.  It’s one that left me wondering if she’s just really tired of this series and is just trying to wrap it up as quickly as she can while still meeting her contractual agreement of 13 books.  This series is dying and taking everything I love with it on its way out of this world.