Anita Blake - Laurell K. Hamilton

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Romance?
Subgenre: Vampire, werewolves, zombies
Age Appropriate: Adults, especially as the series progresses
Recommended for my sister: YES

"I proved what I needed to prove to myself a long time ago. I don't care what you think." - Anita

It all begins with a lonely, young hardheaded woman with a special affinity for the dead. Anita Blake is an animator, a person who can raise zombies from the grave. Part of her "day job" is literally to raise zombies from the grace, for a variety a reasons. She works for a firm - Animators, Inc. - with a business manager and other animators. It's her "day job" because she can only raise zombies at night, but it is still her main working position. At least, it is in the beginning.

Anita has a secondary job, one that is much more intense, and calls more for the hardheaded stubbornness she becomes known for. She's a vampire executioner. With lots of training and skill, she's become one of the most notorious vampire hunters in the United States, at least among the vampires. Her kill count eventually breaches the numbers of all of the others in her field, and earns her the disdainful nickname The Executioner.

The series, now at 23 books, follows the beginning of Anita's illustrious career, a mix of zombies, preternatural police assistance, and vampire hunting. In the first few books, she adds romance to her daily struggles, switching between a closeted werewolf and a disturbingly (but sexy) master vampire. Each book adds, or removes, some layer of new and old relationships while exploring Anita's reluctance to fit any type of defined love in her life - both because of her personal convictions about supernaturals and her own personal values.

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I won't lie. I decided to review this book first because its my favorite series of all time. I also want to be upfront with the high level of smut that has found its way into a number of books. In the first few books of the series, there was a high level of focus on the actual storyline, and character development for everyone involved. It definitely sucked me in, and I became such a fan that I spent most of my life from that one day in the used bookstore, until last month, waiting patiently for each book to be released. However, somewhere in the middle the books turned into some softcore bowchicawowow that leads me to make sure this series was titled "Adult." It really wasn't that way for the first part of the series, which was good since I was a pre-teen. It wasn't until later that it was a little over the top. Luck for me (and you?) I don't mind over the top. Ha.

I love the Anita books. They are a great escape for me, and almost every character is some level of sexy, but no lacking major issues. It's not that I want everyone to have major issues, but those issues make her hot male leads seems a little more human (or whatever part of them is human). I enjoyed watching her rail against her love life, but I have to say that I most enjoyed the actual storylines. My favorite character is, by far, Edward - Anita's obvious best friend and vampire bounty hunter guru. Anita's character development includes the changes in her attitudes to more align with Edward's and her interal struggles into turning into a sociopath. If anyone is more dangerous than Anita, it's Edward - nicknamed Death. My favorite books are the ones where Edward shows up. As soon as he's on the scene, you know you're in for some good action scenes and funny banter.

Recommendation: Obviously, yes. I sucked my sister into these a long time ago. I think she may have stopped when LKH took her break from "real" writing and fell into the pit of softcore dispair, but I totally dug it. Read it again, sister!

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Next Up: Black Jewels Trilogy

Since the beginning…..

A long long time ago, when I was younger, I picked up my first urban fantasy novel. I was with my father and my sister on a father-daughter camping trip, when we stopped in some unknown town for a break. While I knew that I was always some sort of wierdo when it came to those types of interests, it is my strongest literary memory.

I remember picking up the book, reading the synopsis and wanting to read it right away. I also knew that I wasn't about to ask my father to buy it for his 12-year-old daughter. So, I ran to my sister and asked her to buy it for me. Of course, she did. I am incredibly spoiled, and I admit it. The funny part was that she didn't understand what the book was, and I'm fairly certain she had some reservations buying me a book titled "Guilty Pleasures."

It was my first Laurell K. Hamilton book, and the beginning of the end. I read it at least three times on that trip and I've read it at least 50 times since - along with every other book that I've been able to get my hands on.

Needless to say, my sister was relieved when she realized it was vampires. She often indulged my obsessions with vampires, were animals, witches…etc. In my adventures of elves to angels, my sister has also been my favorite person to trade books back and forth. I frequently send her emails now whenever I finish something good. Since the beginning of the e-book trend, we no longer trade real books (and spend more money!) but the fun hasn't stopped.

So, I decided the other day to start this blog with my sister in mind. It's not that I believe she'll become an avid reader of my blog, but I wanted to share my thoughts on those books that might be fun for the both of us. I mean, if we both think they might be good, then someone else will, right?
(Maybe I can convince her to help me write some reviews!)

We shall see.