Guilty Pleasures

Rating:
Summary: Light and fun. Dark and seductive.
Review: "Guilty Pleasures" quickly became one of my guilty pleasures. I must admit it: I am an elitist book snob. While I read romance books and other such fluffy nonsense, I hide them when people come to visit, setting out my Kafka and The Iliad.

The first time I picked up the book (probably in 1999 or so) I read it on the recommendation of a friend. I figured it would be light and fluffy and I could read it in two hours or less and set it down. Boy. I was right and I was wrong. Guilty Pleasures is light reading (I don't think anyone would disagree that it is much easier to read than Shakespeare or The Death of Ivan Ilych) but it is hardly fluffy. The characters have sharp teeth... literally. Jean-Claude is a sex-driven vampire and who is in his sights? Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter. Executioner.

The Anita Blake series has its problems (later in the series there is too much sex and not enough meat) but it is incredibly written. The humor that can be found in situations is tantalizing, the sexual energy is seductive, and the darkness is liberating. I picked up Guilty Pleasures and never sat it back down. I recommend this series to anybody who enjoys the darker side of life but doesn't want to read the "heavy" writing in Anne Rice's vampire novels.

Light and fun. Dark and seductive.

Anita Blake.

Rating:
Summary: Anita Blake Vampire Hunter - A Series That Will Suck You In!
Review: "I was here to talk about raising the dead. Not resurrection. I'm not that good. I mean zombies. The shambling dead. Rotting corpses. Night of the living dead. That kind of zombie. Though certainly less dramatic than Hollywood would ever put up on the screen. I am an animator. It's a job, that's all. Like selling." Thus speaks Anita Blake, the heroine of Laurell K. Hamilton's "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" series. Vampire hunter, you ask? I thought she worked with zombies. Well, she also does vampires, (the ones who kill humans) - you know, stakes through their hearts, silver bullets, etc.. This is Anita's sideline - a hobby of sorts. The vamps call this 5'3," twenty-four year-old dynamo "The Executioner." She is a feisty, attractive and independent 21st century lady, who finds herself remarkably attracted to Jean-Claude, the very sexy owner of Club Guilty Pleasures...and Master Vampire extraordinaire. She is more than willing to repress these feelings, however. As for Jean-Claude, although he taken just a small bite of Anita, I think he desires more than her blood.

Vampirism has been legal in the USA for almost 2 years, ever since the Supreme Court gave the bloodsucking undead equal rights. America is the only country in the world where these creatures are allowed to, er, live, (?), unless they drain the blood of a human, thereby committing murder. So, even though Anita collaborates with the police's Regional Preternatural Investigation Team when hunting criminal vampires, she needs a court order of execution before she kicks their butts back to the grave. Set in St. Louis, where vampires are much more mainstream than they are on the coasts, "Guilty Pleasures" is Ms. Hamilton's introduction of Anita Blake to the public-at-large.

A serial killer is murdering vampires in Missouri and Nikolaos, the terribly terrifying one thousand year-old Vampire Mistress of St. Louis, has threatened Anita with all kinds of torments and tortures, including becoming one of the undead herself, if she doesn't catch the killer ASAP.

Ms. Hamilton is an excellent writer who, with much flair amd pizzazz, mixes fantasy with mystery, romance and dark humor. Her take on this derivative genre is a most unusual one. The mystery is at the fore of her novels and the supernatural takes second place, almost taken for granted as part of Anita Blake's natural world. And Ms. Blake is a delight - witty, savvy and hard-boiled, as in tough. I am really looking forward to reading more of this series. These novels are a real find!
JANA

Rating:
Summary: A Fabulous First Title
Review: Ah - the book that began it all. And what a beginning it was. I was initally turned off by the cover title, which gave the impression it would be one of those cliched pieces of sexually flooded, vampire goth cheese.
Instead, this book breathed a gale force wind of fresh air into the genre. A plain old fabulous, fun read, with a heroine the likes of which I had never before encountered; ferocious, blunt spoken, humorous, tough as nails - Anita Blake was the new role model for female action leads. Hamilton's writing fairly crackles with energy and a clean, sharp vitality. It is not elegant but she is astoundingly good at characterization and her descriptive turns can be enthralling at delivering the feel of a scene. This book was striking, nearly shockingly fresh in its attitude and portrayal of a woman lead. It had a fast, swift paced storyline, never meandering, never dull and never predictable. The alternate reality it sets up is wildly interesting and chock full of facts on everything from police procedure to vampire habits. The characters were fabulous, and the feel was streamlined and realistic, as if you had just stepped into the ongoing events yourself. Though mostly action, it laid in bits of everything from mystery, to comedy, to romance to horror. A truely original and exciting debut.

Rating:
Summary: I had avoided this series...
Review: Although I love vampire series, because the cover art made me think it was very slanted towards being a romance novel with just a little vampiric story thrown in.

A friend recommended the series to me, recently, and described it and it sounded much more exciting. She was right. Many stories of this type have some exciting vampiric action and then some long lulls of description or more dull events thrown in the middle before getting back to more action. This story is more similar to the first Indiana Jones movie. Where the story never lulls. The action never lulls. And the tension is kept up from the first page til the last.

Good read. Look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Rating:
Summary: This book sucks you in and doesn't let go
Review: I picked up this book after my sister checked it out for me from the library. She said it was her favorite series but had trouble describing why she liked them so much. Now I am experiencing the same difficulties explaining why I am recommending this book.
As you may read other places, this is not the best-written book in the world. Sometimes actions are a bit unbelievable and the vocabulary isn't anything to write home about. However, the story has a magical ability to draw you in and completly entrance the reader. I had to read the book in one sitting and resented any disturbance, even down to my growling stomach.
In short, if you are looking for the type of book which is entertaining and draws you to it in a way few others can, this is a book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Best dark novel you could start reading!
Review: I've read all the Anita Blake books up to The Killing Dance so far and I am enthralled. This is the best series I have ever read and by the time I reached The Laughing Corpse this series officially became my past-time. I'm more of a video game and movie person myself, but these books stole me away. If you're too timid and can't read gore or sex you probably should'nt start reading it because it gets more explicit as the series progresses. Otherwise, I guarantee you'll get caught up in this series. If you're really into Werewolves, Vampires, etc, you'll enjoy it even more.

P.s. Edward rules...

Rating:
Summary: GREAT SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: If you are into vampires then this is the book for you!!!!! It was really good, and introduced some fun new twists into the ledgend of vampires! Let me just say that if I could bring one character from any book to life, it would have to be Jean-Claude!!!! He is the, by far, sexiest, most drop dead gorgous vampire ever!!!!!!! He sounds sooooooo HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Antia is sooooo lucky. The rest of the books are really good too, although in the later ones things get . . . complicated, but still a good read!!!!

Rating:
Summary: An action-packed page-turner.
Review: Laurell Hamilton's "Guilty Pleasures" is definitely a "pleasure" to read. It is fast-paced and straight to the point, just like her main character, Anita Blake, the animator/vampire hunter. Anita is hired (somewhat against her will) to investigate a series of vampire murders. Her client is the most powerful vampire in the city whose need for Anita's talent surpasses the desire she has to destroy her. In an exciting series of events, Anita recruits the assistance of humans, wereanimals, and vampires but, as the ending proves, Anita works on her own. Hamilton creates an interesting alternative world where we are "not alone": there are vampires, ghouls, zombies, wereanimals, and humans who coexist and even interact. Hamiliton also creates a main character who can be admired for her physical and emotional strength, as well as her vulnerabities which makes her character a lot more believable.

I have not met a person who read the book and did not like it!


Rating:
Summary: The beginning of a beautiful relationship
Review: Laurell K. Hamilton's style of writing is unique...not many writers are able to use the first-person perspective effectively. The telling of the story from Anita Blake's point of view is quite compelling and offers insights to the fiesty necromancer's motivations. LKH's attention to detail, and obvious research, create a believable world and believable characters that readers will respond to with enthusiasm.

The consummate "bad boy", Jean-Claude is a wonderfully created character with depth and a great potential for growth, even if he is a walking corpse. Sexy and intelligent, he's a romantic vampire at heart with a head for modern business. Readers can't help but falling in love with Jean-Claude...and hating themselves for it.

The social structure LKH establishes for her vampires to work within is quite interesting. They are part of modern society but retain their own sense of "culture". Part of that culture is seen in the Master of the City, Nikolaos, a wonderfully sadistic character...all the knowledge and abilites of a powerful, centuries old vampire with the demanding nature of a child driving her psyche.

Guilty Pleasures establishes the beginning of a beautiful relationship between Jean-Claude and Anita Blake. The entire series is worth a read to see this relationship evolve and unfold, but this one is a must for any vampire fiction fan.

Rating:
Summary: Needed more substance
Review: Not the best book I've read this year, not the worst. It seemed to me that with the (SPOILER AHEAD) ease in which Anita dispatched Nickalaos, it is illogical that she was so frightened of her in the first place. It also seemed like the author planned the book to be a series, and therefore several sub-plots were introduced that went nowhere in this installment. I'm all for aiming at a continuing storyline, but a book should stand alone on it's own merits, rather that counting on the future to provide answers. This one didn't quite make it.