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.

Review: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

Title: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Author: Ann Brashares
Publisher: Delacorte

Publication Date: September 11^th 2001

Pages: 294
Genre: Young Adult, Coming of Age, Realistic Fiction

Series: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants  #1
Source: Paperback

  

Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn’t look all that great: they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them. But Tibby says they’re great. She'd love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they’re fabulous. Lena decides that they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them. Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. Even Carmen (who never thinks she looks good in anything) thinks she looks good in the pants. Over a few bags of cheese puffs, they decide to form a sisterhood and take the vow of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants . . . the next morning, they say good-bye. And then the journey of the pants — and the most memorable summer of their lives — begins.

I was late bloomer when it came to reading this book. I watched the movie with my daughter when it first came out, and I enjoyed it and vowed to read the books one day. Well here it is yearssss later and I have read it and I loved it…. I ask myself, what took so long?

The story is simple it’s about 4 best friends. These 4 friends have been together every summer from… well basically before they were born. Their mother’s were in a birthing class together and all the girls were born within a month. They call themselves “The Septembers”. The books begin right before the girls will spend their first summer apart. They are nervous and a little scared of the summer they would have without each other, until the pants came along. With these magic pants the friends decide they will have the strength to make it through the summer with keeping in touch with letters and passing around the pants.

This book was filled with so much goodness. It made me laugh, it made me cry. I remembered what it was like to be a teenager and to get through life’s adventures with my friends along for the ride. It’s a book about life, friendship, sadness, joy, and growing up.  The author did a great job on the emotions in this book, I felt I was right there the entire time. There were times I wanted to hug, lecture, or just join the girls in their fun. It’s a must read. It’s a real feel good book!

The girls were so very different and even though they were their own person, they worked best together. Where one was shy another made up by being the life of the party. The way they complimented each other really made their friendship.  Lena was the head on straight, shy, good girl. Bee was the outgoing charismatic, trouble maker. Carmen was the loud, say it like it was, not gonna take anything from anyone girl. Tibby was the artistic, genuine, out there girl. Yup a one of kind group.  I loved them all because they all had something to bring to the story. 

Even though they worked well together, they didn't share their problems. The girls shared most things but when they were separeted for the summer, they didn't share as much as they should have, well except for the pants. They were able to make their own stories and deal with the problems alone. They all tended to forget that the others helped with their problems. Once they all got together again, things started to fall back into place. 

I loved the story of relationships in this book. Friendship took center but the stories also contained some really good stuff about family and romance too.  A great balance of issues and resolve that take place in a teenage girls life. 

A real treat. I am can't wait to read more.