Living Dead in Dallas

This is Book 2 in the Sookie Stackhouse series. The book starts with Sookie finding Lafayette dead in the backseat of Andy Bellefleur's car. Sookie learns that Lafayette had recently attended a sex party and thinks that may have led to his death. In the meantime, a new supernatural being is introduced. Sookie is attacked by a maenad and Sookie and Bill go to Fangtasia to seek help and information from Eric. In return for his help, Eric asks Sookie to use her gift to help find a missing vampire in Dallas. Road trip! 

The majority of this book is centered around Sookie being in Dallas looking for the missing vampire and dealing with the fanatic religious group Fellowship of the Sun. We learn about other supernatural beings when Sookie is rescued by more shapeshifters (the kind that howl at the full moon). When Sookie returns to Bon Temps, she still has to solve Lafayette's murder. Even though in the first book, Sookie laments having her gift (or disability as she calls it), in this book, it comes in handy and makes her valuable to a lot of people.

Season 2 of True Blood is based on this book. Again, I was confusing the TV show with the book (since the season finale just aired a couple of weeks ago).  I'm looking forward to reading Club Dead - Book 3. I won't have True Blood to muddle my mind and will be able to read it with a clear head.

The book was a little slow in some parts but I finished this book a lot quicker than I'd expected. I think because I just wanted to get it over with so that I can read Book 3.

Dead Until Dark

Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress at a bar named Merlotte's. She lives in Bon Temps, a small town in Louisiana. Everything about Sookie is ordinary except for her disability. Sookie can read minds. It's not a talent that she advertises. She sees it more as a hindrance than an asset. Everything is normal and boring in Bon Temps until Vampire Bill walks into Merlotte's. Sookie had been waiting for a vampire to arrive in Bon Temps ever since they came out of the coffin and started living among society. Sookie is excited that Bon Temps finally has its very own vampire. A vampire isn't the only new thing to enter the small town. There's also a murderer on the loose. And this person seems to be targeting fang bangers - women who like to have sex with vampires. Sookie uses her "disability" with help from Bill and his vampire buddies to try and catch a killer before Sookie becomes the next victim.

I absolutely love HBO's True Blood. I'd never heard of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series until the show premiered. I was immediately sucked into the show and its characters. While watching the first season, I thought about reading Charlaine Harris' books to see how similar the show was to the series. I never got around to reading the bookies until I saw Beth Fish Reads Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to become familiar with Charlaine Harris and the series. It was difficult at first reading Dead Until Dark because everything was in first person - from Sookie's perspective. I didn't expect that. You don't get to know more about the other characters unless they have a relationship with Sookie. True Blood also added characters that weren't in the book. For instance, on the show Sookie has a childhood friend named Tara. I was really disappointed that when I noticed that the character wasn't in the book.

I wasn't thoroughly impressed with Dead Until Dark. The book seemed to drag in some parts and I was ecstatic when I finally finished the book. That never happens. I'm normally sad when a book ends. I hope that now I know what to expect from Charlaine in regards to her writing style, I will enjoy Living Dead in Dallas more.

The Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge

I love the HBO show "True Blood." It's my new favorite obsession and I was counting down until the season premiere last Sunday. While perusing the blogs that I follow, I found a reading challenge that I can really sink my teeth into. Ha-ha. I've never read any of books in Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Series. But since I've started watching "True Blood" I've been interested in reading the books; mostly to compare the books to the TV show. And now, here's my chance!

Here's the link to the blog post that explains how the challenge works.





I can't wait! Summer reading here I come!

Side note: I'm nowhere near finished with my VCA reading challenge. I have a lot of reading I need to do!