Review: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Title: Dead Until Dark

Author:  Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Ace Books

Publishing Date:  May 1st, 2001

Pages: 260
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Series:  Sookie Stackhouse #1
Source:  Audio

 

Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life-and one of her coworkers checks out...
Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn't such a bright idea.

I read this book a while back but never did get around to the review. I recently read the third book and decided to write reviews for the first two. I have to do the entire series. So here is my what's gonna be a short review of this book. I know that many people love this book and it's been around for a while. I was a late bloomer to this series and I haven't read many of the books yet. I do enjoy these books. I like the supernatural elements. I am okay with the main characters. I think the books are just funny and they make me laugh. Easy and breezy, a light read that makes me smile. 

Sookie Stackhouse lives in Louisiana, in a very very small town. She is peculiar and she can read minds. All but the vampires. She doesn't know this yet,  not until she meets her neighbor, Bill, a vampire that has been around since the Civil War. Once she starts dating Bill then her life gets interesting. Not only is her dating life taking off with the dead, but murder is happening in her small town and right now her brother is the main suspect. It seems someone is after the vampires too. So Sookie and Bill join forces to figure all this out and make her town right again.

I have a few thoughts to jot down about this book and this series. It's not a perfect read but its a fun read. I have seen the show and I have read a couple of the books in the series. I can say the show was good, I really enjoyed it. I also really enjoy the books. I do plan on finishing the series. I like the show and the books differently, but I enjoy them both. 

In the books, I really like Sookie. She can be annoying at times and really naive. I think this makes her loveable though. What I like about Sookie, she is nice. I mean totally above the normal kind of nice. She really cares about everyone.... but get in her way and put those she loves in danger, she loses her nice. That is a sight to see too. I like that she is naive. I mean not everyone is worldly and experiences. She has had a strange kind of life, reading people's minds and stuff. I mean she sheltered herself because of what she would always know that she didn't want to know or need to know. So I got it. I think though, she needs more confidence. She allows others to push her around too much. She can be whiny at times but only because she doesn't know how to put her foot down and slap some vampires around. 

I am not the biggest Bill fan. He is okay but he is a little pushy and a little too old-fashioned. I mean Sookie can think for herself and take care of herself. Quit trying to be her handler and just be there if she needs to be saved. He gets on nerves sometimes. 

I did enjoy the story. What I found fun with this read is that there is like a million things going on at once and I never knew what to expect. I think it kept me on my toes, kept me from figuring out who the bad guys were and also just made things happen. I was never bored. It was a quick read and a fun read. There is no real depth, there is no lesson or hidden messages. There is no lecture or important things to ponder. Its a vampire and other supernaturals love story with lots of action and lots of trouble. Sometimes it's just what I need. 

I loved it. 

Charlaine Harris has been a published novelist for over thirty-five years. A native of the Mississippi Delta, she grew up in the middle of a cotton field. Charlaine lives in Texas now, and all of her children and grandchildren are within easy driving distance.