Tag Archives: charlaine harris

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris: On the spine of my copy, this book is categorized as “fantasy/mystery.” Which is only partially true. I mean, sure, there are a few murders to be solved but mostly it’s about what it’s like to date a vampire. Sookie is a telepathic waitress with the reputation of being crazy because she has trouble blocking out the continual chatter of other people’s thoughts. I appreciated this little detail, actually – usually telepathic characters have to actively read people’s thoughts, as opposed to being constantly bombarded by them. Her life is turned upside down when a sexy vampire shows up in her tiny town and acquaintances start turning up dead. It’s a quick and mostly entertaining read, and while I am mildly curious about the vampire politics only hinted at in this volume, I feel no desire to continue on with the series. It didn’t draw me in enough: I wasn’t emotionally invested enough in the characters to care who committed the murders, and I’m honestly not all that interested in Sookie’s love life. But I can still see the appeal to fans of “paranormal romance” and “romantic suspense”, and it’s always nice to expand my pop culture lexicon a little bit.

Side note: this book is about a psychic woman who falls in love with a vampire and/because his are the only thoughts she cannot hear. Twilight is about a psychic vampire who falls in love with a human woman and/because hers are the only thoughts he cannot hear. Both include love triangles involving shapeshifters. Both have protagonists who lose their virginity to vampires. I’m not accusing anyone of plagiarism; it’s just a weird set of coincidences.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Shakespeare’s Landlord by Charlaine Harris

Shakespeare’s Landlord by Charlaine Harris: First of all, forget old Willie; the title comes from Shakespeare, Arkansas, where our story takes place. The landlord in question is the murder victim. The protagonist is Lily Bard, a standoffish housecleaner with a dark past, whose only hobbies appear to be working out at the gym, taking martial arts classes, and obsessing over whether or not people have learned her secrets. When she happens to see the body being transported using her garbage cart one dark evening she quickly discovers that she must find the killer in order to prevent her secrets from being blasted all over town. As this is the first book in a series, we are introduced to tons of characters and even a couple of potential love interests, neither of which are particularly interesting. The cover art made me think it would be a touch more light-hearted, but in the end it’s a somewhat humdrum murder mystery with just barely enough suspense to keep the reader involved. The ending was too predictable to justify the lead-up, but I won’t say that I necessarily saw it coming from a mile away either. It was fine as a quick gym read, keeping my attention while I was on the stationary bike, but I won’t be reading any more in the series.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

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