Juliet Blackwell is the author of  Secondhand Spirits, book one in the Witchcraft Mystery series. Set in San Francisco the book is about Lily Ivory, a witch who owns a vintage clothing shop and becomes embroiled in murder and kidnappings. She tries to keep her witch abilities secret, but with a couple of men sniffing around her it may not be possible.

Read my review at Scooper Speaks for more about Secondhand Spirits. After you’ve read the review, go get the book and make a breakfast trifle to enjoy while you read Secondhand Spirits.

Favorite Lines: “They cut me, and then themselves, and mingled our blood. Then they forced me to suck their wounds and swallow the blood.” (p. 231)

Last Vampire Standing goes on sale tomorrow, so go read the review at Scooper Speaks.

Wanna know who said my favorite line? Then highlight right now: Deke Saber.

I just don’t know. I’ve got a really good selection and I don’t know where to start. What is wrong with me?

So, the other day I picked up book three (I haven’t read any other in the series) of Charlaine Harris’ Harper Connelly series and loved the hell out of it. Harris’ is really good at making her heroines take several ass whoopin’s. LOL

Without further ado here’s the list:

• Blood Lines by Mel Odom
• The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
• Bound by Light by Anna Windsor
• Kiss of Fate by Deborah Cooke
• Bedeviled by Maureen Child
• Marked by Passion by Kate Perry
• Blood Magic by Jennifer Lyon
• Death’s Daughter by Amber Benson
• Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand by Carrie Vaughn
• A Perfect Darkness by Jaime Rush
• About a Dragon by G.A. Aiken
• Dragon Actually by G.A. Aiken
• Every Move you Make by Carla Cassidy
• Blind Spot by Terri Persons
• Last Breath by Mariah Stewart
• Forgotten by Mariah Stewart
• Sirens by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
• Something Wicked by Evelyn Vaughn
• He Loves Me He Loves Me Not by Stephanie Rowe
• Fantasy an Anthology
• One Bite with a Stranger by Christine Warren
• Walk on the Wild Side by Christine Warren
• Single White Vampire by Lynsay Sands

I think there are a few more that I misplaced, but you get the point. So many good books to read and no where to start.

I’m a little pissy. I just realized that I read the G.A. Aiken books when they were printed under the Shelley Laurenston name. I’ve got them in ebook format. I might have bought them, but now I feel like I’ve been tricked. This sucks!

Favorite Lines: “Can you screw death? Or is it exclusively a top?” (p. 226)

Tess Corday is a probationary CSI-1 called to investigate a vampire death. Able to sense auras, she is a low level employee who bucks authority and is told that this case is win or lose for her. If she solves the case all will be fine, but screw up and she is out of Central Occult Regulation Enterprise (CORE), the group that solves magical crimes.

The dead vampire has two clues on his body: a picture of him with a woman and an address. When Tess follows up on the address, she meets a young girl,the girl’s demonic aunt, and a conspiracy firmly rooted in the vampire community. She’ll need the help of the vampire liaison, necromancer Lucian Agrado.

Night Child is an interesting foray into the scientific world of investigative crime work. It gave me flashes of the television series CSI, but where the television show is easy to follow because of the pictures the book is much harder. There are long interruptions in the storytelling so as to explain the science behind many different moves. It was distracting.

I understand that Mr. Battis is a doctor with strong ties to the gay and lesbian community (because it says so in the thank you part of the book), but it was uncomfortable for me to read the first person story of Tess Corday (a young, straight woman), who used words of endearment within the gay community-by this I mean words like fag and twink-constantly in her inner dialogue. It felt wrong; not because there were gays, but because the woman was thinking like a gay man. Maybe I just don’t know women who think like her (and maybe I do and they just don’t tell me), but it was a niggling in my mind.

Once I got past those things, I found myself enjoying the interaction between Lucian and Tess. Lucian was mysterious, sexy and powerful. There is one sizzling scene between the two of them that was the highest point of the story.

The dark parts of the story were great and sometimes creepy. And the murder who-dun-it aspect eluded me (although I feel really dumb that it did).

Overall, it was interesting. I’m not mad that I read the story, but I’m also not interested in reading science enough to closely follow the series.

Favorite Line: “When someone has had approximately a thousand years to practice kissing, he can become very good at it, and I would be lying if I said I was immune to such osculatory talent.” (p. 91)

What can go wrong at a vampire summit when the Queen of one of the territories is accused of breaking a contract? Well everything when Sookie is involved, or everything could go great because of her.

Sookie is going to the summit as a paid member of the Queen of Louisiana’s group to act as a lie detector while the queen interacts with other royalty and their humans. After a Hurricane Katrina weakened Louisiana vampires and made them a prime target for takeover, the queen has to portray the correct image and not be convicted for breaking a contract so that she can rebuild her wealth and strengthen her position.

All Together Dead marks a turn in the Southern Vampire series. No Sookie still doesn’t know what she’s going to do from a romance perspective, but she becomes permanently tied to the supernatural world and Eric in particular during her adventures at the summit.

Many of the events from Living Dead in Dallas make an appearance in ATD. The Dallas vampires, their telepath, and the fanatics are mentioned. And the events from Definitely Dead are brought up with deadly consequences.

Quinn and Sookie have little time together at the summit, but they do find time to discuss their compatibilities to one another. Quinn’s past is brought up and his aversion to vampires becomes clear and understandable.

In Bon Temps wedding bells are ringing all over the place. It’s as if everyone is finding their happily ever after while Sookie is trying not to die. More importantly, the wedding information works  nicely to balance all of the destruction that is taking place.

This isn’t my favorite book in the series, but some of the choices made will have severe repercussions in the books to follow I’m sure.

Visit Calico Reaction, Blog Critics, Reviewing the Evidence, Literary Feline, and Peripheral Gravity to read their thoughts on All Together Dead.

Favorite Lines: “Jake Purifoy’s body was heavy on top of mine, and his hands were pressing my free arm to the floor, and his legs were on top of mine. Another hunger was waking in the new vampire, and I felt its evidence pressing against my thigh. He freed a hand to begin yanking at my pants.” (p. 177)

Sookie, cocktail waitress, friend to the Others, and all around confused young woman, is attacked by recently converted weres while she’s on a date with Quinn, the weretiger. She is now a target and has no idea why.

The attack pushes a reluctant Sookie into traveling to New Orleans to clean out her recently murdered cousin’s apartment where she discovers there is more to her cousin’s death than she was told.  Her cousin (Hadley) was a new vampire and consort to Louisiana royalty.

Vampire hierarchy is at play throughout Definitely Dead. A vampire marriage between the Queen of Louisiana and the King of Arkansas is being brokered and Hadley had possession of something that could ruin the Louisiana vampires if it wasn’t returned. Sookie unknowingly has been a cultivated pawn and is brought in to play her part and solve the mystery of the missing possession.

Still consumed by guilt over killing her friend Alcide’s ex-girlfriend, Sookie is being sought out by the dead shifter’s family. The girl’s parents and sister visit Merlotte’s in order to talk to Sookie and sniff out her involvement (if any) in their daughter’s disappearance. Sookie stonewalls the family, but they have other ways of learning what they want.

Out of all the books, Definitely Dead made me thoroughly hate Bill. This book showed him for the conniving bastard he is and firmly (I hope) shut the door on any relationship the two might have been able to have. It also showed the darker side of vampires and their priority of vampires first  which becomes important in the series.

Quinn is back after his brief introduction in Dead as a Doornail and boy is he sizzling. I find myself at odds over wanting both Eric and Quinn for Sookie. Both have their own appeal and I have high hopes for both in future books.

Read Retroredux’s Reviews,  All About, Debbie’s World, Anna the Piper, or Calico Reaction.

Favorite Lines: “He didn’t realize he’d already kissed just about every inch of Sookie Stackhouse. We’d been as up close and personal as a man and woman could be.” (p. 30)

The witch wars ended with the vampires coming out on top and Eric regaining the memory of who he was, but no memory of his time with amnesia. Dying to know what went on between himself and Sookie, he relentlessly drops hints and waits for Sookie to tell him about himself.

Meanwhile, Jason (Sookie’s brother), turns into a werepanther and is accepted into the nearby inbred community of Hotshot. That is until a shooter begins targeting shifters and suspicion drifts to Jason.

Sookie takes it upon herself to find the killer before Jason can become targeted for retaliation.

If you’ve been keeping up with with the Southern Vampire series you know that werecreatures are made after being bit several times. So Dead as a Doornail takes place a few weeks after Dead to the World ends, and begins with Jason turning into a werepanther. This begins an even thorougher introduction into the were-world and its politics.

As is the norm with this series several threads are taking place: Sookie’s hunt for a killer, her concern for Tara and her part in the contest for pack leadership. All have their own climaxes, but Ms. Harris has a talent for making the seemingly seperate stories come together for a great ending.

Bill is still around pissing off Sookie with his new human girlfriend, but he plays a tiny role in this book. Eric’s insecurities show as he makes it clear that he remembers every detail of his life with the exception of his time with amnesia. Tara makes a prolonged appearance with a new vampire never before introduced culminating in a great ending and Eric and Sookie on the same page.

Basically, Dead as a Doornail is an integral part of the Southern Vampire series. It points out interesting things that happened in the past and leads the reader through a mystery to the next book, Definitely Dead.

Okay, now it’s time to read what other people thing about Dead as a Doornail. Check out The Gospel According to Prisco, HorrorScope, and Debbie’s World.

Favorite Lines: “I just hope to not be beaten up,” I said my weariness and the hour combining in an ill-timed burst of honesty. “I don’t want to go to the hospital. I don’t want to see a doctor.” I didn’t want to ingest any vampire blood, either, which would cure you in a hurry but had various side effects. “So my resolution is to stay out of trouble.” (p. 14)

And so saying, Sookie left her waitressing job at Merlotte’s and headed home for the night. She didn’t make it very far before seeing a man dressed in only blue jeans running down the road. Shocked, she pulled over and called out to Eric and found he had amnesia.

Sookie contacts Pam, Eric’s second in command, and is told that the vampires are at war with a group of witches intent on taking over all the vampire businesses. Led by a brother and sister team, the witches are terrifying local witches and wiccans while targeting the vampires.

All is not bad though. Eric is kind, gentle, loving and needy. He relies upon Sookie and worms his way into her aching heart, helping to heal the horrible rip Bill rendered.

I know I said Club Dead was my favorite book. I’ve changed by mind. Now I like Dead to the World better because I love the portrayal of Eric. He is sensitive, but protective of Sookie. He seeks her approval and comfort, but he can still fight. In ways he is innocent.

In Dead to the World, Sookie protects Eric from a world that is looking for him, and her brother, Jason, winds up missing. Both throw Sookie into turmoil. Eric by making her start to fall for him and Jason by making her worry over his disappearance. More supernatural creatures are introduced and alliances are made before a peaceful conclusion. Well peaceful and Sookie don’t really go together, so before the conclusion.

One thing niggled in my head though. On page 28 the book says that Jason’s truck has pink and purple flames. In all the other books he had pink and purple swirls. Small, yes. Irritating, definitely.

Visit Loves Vampires, Infinity Plus, The SF Site, or World According to Books, to read other people’s thoughts on this book. Happy Reading!

Favorite Lines: “His hands pulled down my sweatpants, and after a lot of fumbling and rearranging and contorting, he entered me with no preparation at all. I screamed, and he clapped a hand over my mouth. I was crying, sobbing, and my nose was all stopped up, and I needed to breathe through my mouth. All restraint left me and I began fighting like a wildcat. I bit and scratched and kicked, not caring about the air supply, not caring that I would enrage him. I just had to have air.” (p. 223)

When Sookie Stackhouse is told that her boyfriend Bill has been kidnapped, she jumps at the chance to bring him home. Bill’s boss, Eric, tells Sookie Bill is in being held hostage in Mississippi and provides her with an escort to scope out the scene starting with the best night spot for supes, Club Dead.

Once there, she meets her escort’s ex-girlfriend and the King of Mississippi, and gets a little bloody.

Club Dead carries on the tradition started in the previous two books of Sookie being physically damaged by supernatural and human monsters. In this installment she is also emotionally damaged by Bill.

One thing that I’ve really enjoyed about the Southern Vampire series is the two story angle that always takes place. For example in book one you have the introduction of vampire society and a murderer on the loose. Book two you have a sex club and murder in Bon Temps and a missing vampire and crazy hate group in Dallas. In book three you get the hunt for Bill and a psycho ex-girlfriend causing problems.

Bill’s dark side is shown, Eric’s gentler side is shown and we meet a potential new suitor for Sookie’s affections, Alcide. Alcide is a Werewolf and a good contrast to the cold that comes from the vamp world.

Sookie is a permanent fixture in the supernatural world and in this book she meets more shifters and discovers what an ass Bill is. This is my favorite book so far.

Read other reviews at: Thrifty Reader, Bookish, Mostly Fiction Book Reviews, and Greenman Review.

Favorite Line: “The only reason a vampire would enter a bathroom was if there were a human inside he wanted to have sex with, or drink from, or  (any vamps favorite) do both simultaneously.” (p. 94)

Sookie Stackhouse, cocktail waitress  and living lie detector, is attacked, poisoned, and drained in one night. Oh yeah, she also found a dead body that morning. So to top off a horrible day, she is told that the local vampires have loaned her out to another vampire group stationed in Texas.

Sookie is to use her telepathic ability to question humans about a missing vamp and in return the vamps agree to not kill the humans and to pay the Louisiana vamps for borrowing her. The interviews soon lead Sookie to a radical group of humans intent on destroying all the undead and the people who associate with them.

Living Dead in Dallas is book two in the Southern Vampire series. As in book one, poor Sookie gets the crap beat out of her more than once. At home in Bon Temps and abroad in Dallas, trouble seems to migrate her way. Supernatural creatures and humans are out for blood and Sookie is a great place to start.

A fanatical group of humans called The Fellowship of the Sun are prime suspects, so it’s only natural that they are investigated by humans, Sookie and a human companion to one of the vamps. The group is organized and dangerous to humans and the supernatural community, but how dangerous remains to be seen.

Sookie is drawn deeper into the undead and paranormal world as she investigates the missing vamp in Dallas and the murder of her co-worker, Lafayette.

My feelings of dislike towards Bill grow in this novel.

Read reviews at: Alice Osborn, Avid Book Reader, and Renee’s Book Addiction.