tiny pink books

Club Dead by Charlaine HarrisAce Books, 2003

Club Dead is another fun vampire/mystery/romance novel from Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Chronicles.  Centered around the loveable Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress with a vampire boyfriend, and her misadventures with the supernatural beings of Bon Temps, Louisiana.

In Club Dead, Sookie must go to Alabama to rescue her vampire boyfriend Bill.  Getting tangled with Werewolves, Goblins, Shape-Shifters, and, of course, more Vampires, along the way, Sookie charms her way through another mystery, this time showing us how tough she can be.

Club Dead is very much like the previous books in the series.  It delivers just as much trashy fun as readers have come to expect from Sookie Stackhouse.  I did notice that this book pushes the role of the supernatural just a little bit further than the last two and may start to cross the line for some readers as it delves further and further into the fantasy/horror genre.  It’s still a fun read, perfect for relaxed reading on long commutes or during soaks in the tub.

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine HarrisAce Books, 2002

Book two in the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mysteries, Living Dead in Dallas delivers yet another fun and fast paced vampire meets mystery meets steamy romance combination.

In Living Dead in Dallas the lovable Sookie Stackhouse takes a break from her waitress job at the bar to travel to Dallas with her vampire boyfriend, Bill, and do a little work for the ruling vampire clan there.  But wait, there’s more!  Back home in Bon Temps, Louisiana one of Sookie’s has been murdered, there’s a strange and supernatural creature on the lose in the woods, and Sookie and Bill are still facing some bumps in their relationship.

Recommended to readers who enjoyed Dead Until Dark, the first book of the series, and to more readers looking for a fun, fast-paced guilty pleasure of a book.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Ace Books, 2001

The first of the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire novels, Dead Until Dark is a page turner of a book that’s part vampire story, part mystery, and part trashy romance novel.  Set in Bon Temps, Louisiana, Dead Until Dark introduces us to Sookie Stackhouse, a beautiful, charming and telepathic sweetheart who lives with her grandmother and works at the local bar.  Her telepathy, however, is not seen as a gift to Sookie or the few who understand her ability to read minds.  Sookie puts so much mental effort into blocking out the thoughts of others that she’s seen has half crazy by most people who know her.  Never able to retain a close relationship, sexual or otherwise, Sookie makes due with her little life, plastering a smile on her face to cover up the inappropriate and awkward thoughts that penetrate her mind.

The story begins when a vampire comes into Sookie’s bar.  Now that synthetic blood is available and they no longer have to hide, vampires have “come out of the coffin” in this world.   Naturally, Sookie and the vampire, Bill, begin to fall for each other and, not so naturally, a crop of unsavory murders begin to plague the town.  Somehow, Sookie becomes the center of it all, delivering us one fun book of murder mystery, supernatural, and steamy romance.

I have to admit, I absolutely could not put this book down.  It’s everything you want in a good bathtub or vacation book—it’s exciting, it’s a little bit creepy, and it’s unapologetically trashy!  A different kind of romance + vampires than Twilight books, Dead Until Dark might be a good book for the adults who read Twlight and grew frustrated with the chasteness of the action (or lack thereof).  I’d also recommend this book to readers looking for an offbeat trashy fun book (because we all need a trashy fun book every now and again).