(B+) 78% | Good Notes: All wolfish ways and hearts ablaze, for me, the series best: fun mystery and—great for me—not bloody sex-obsessed.
*Check out pro(B+) 78% | Good Notes: All wolfish ways and hearts ablaze, for me, the series best: fun mystery and—great for me—not bloody sex-obsessed.
*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary: (view spoiler)[
Progress updates:
11/14/2025 - Preamble [image] (1) I don't remember anything about this from my first time around, except two things: - It's the first one where the central plot/concept wasn't adapted by the TV show. - It's my favorite book in the series—the only one I gave 4 stars. (2) This will fulfill my last remaining reading goal for 2025: - Read (not necessarily finish) a novel series of five books or more.
11/16/2025 - Chapters 1–3 [image] (1) "[Bill] preferred TrueBlood, the most expensive Japanese synthetic." - If TrueBlood's the Dom Pérignon, what's the Kirkland Signature? - Who am I kidding? It's probably called KirklandSignature. Costco has their own everything. (2) "Red Stuff was the cheapest artificial blood..." - Okay, there's my answer. You can tell it's cheap from the space between the words.
11/17/2025 - Chapters 4–5 [image] (1) Alcide: "I was so blind, I almost think [Debbie] used some kind of magic on me. Her mother's a spellcaster and half shifter. Her dad's a full-blooded shifter." - Yes, if only we could all blame staying in a toxic relationship on ensorcellment. - I'm skeptical. Imagine asking your mom to bewitch your ex? Awkward! - Though he is rich... that's primo mom motivation.
11/18/2025 - Chapters 6–7 [image] (1) Until proven otherwise, I'm just going to presume Charlaine Harris came up with the name for pirate vampire Charles Twining whilst drinking tea. - Twinings has the Royal Warrant, meaning it's the official tea of the British Royal Family. - "Charles" could come from anything (e.g. Charlaine), though I'd like to think it's after Charles Grey, of Earl Grey tea fame.
11/19/2025 - Chapters 8–9 [image] (1) "[Dr. Tonnesen] knelt by the man and listened to various parts of his body. 'Yep, dead as a doornail,' she called." - Stumbling upon titular lines will never not be fun :) (2) "'I'm Sookie's fairy godmother,' Claudine said..." - It explains why she hangs around Sookie so much—every other supe that drops by wants to get in her pants... not to say Claudine doesn't.
11/20/2025 - Chapters 10–11 [image] (1) Debbie's a bigger character here than she ever was. - And she's not even in this one. (2) "I was double rebounding. (If you rebound from the two men you've had so far, do you end up a virgin again? To what state are you rebounding?)" - Uh, I don't think it works that way—you can't f*** your way back to virginity! - Granted, she's still never been with a live one.
11/21/2025 - Chapter 12 [image] (1) "...New Year's Eve resolution: I wanted not to get beaten up. Note to self: I should have included 'shot.'" - Nah, personally, I take any loophole I get. (2) Claude is really rude to Sookie, which sort of tracks: He's gay, and so the only male supe in her orbit who doesn't want in her pants. - Am I saying it's why the rest act so nice?... I'm not-not saying that.
11/22/2025 - Chapters 13–14 [image] (1) Sookie gets three orders of flowers at once, from Tara, Calvin and Pam. - I'd never peg supes as flower people... maybe fairies. - You'd think a human, a shifter and a vampire would be more different. - Food's usually the go-to get-well gift in these books—Sookie brings Calvin over some chicken and biscuits—though, I doubt any of these three cook… Pam especially.
11/23/2025 - Chapters 15–16 [image] (1) I stand corrected, the show did adapt one plotline from this book: the packmaster contest—if totally different. - Here it's less backwoods brawl and more Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. (2) In sum, my favorite of the series. Leave it to me to actually enjoy the one with the least romance and most mystery. - The only sexual scene ended up being some leg-licking. (hide spoiler)]...more
Notes: Review pending re-read. Individual reviews for included issues can be found here: - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ar[image] Review to come...
Notes: Review pending re-read. Individual reviews for included issues can be found here: - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2011-2[image] Review to come...
Notes: Review pending re-read. Individual reviews for included issues can be found here: - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ar[image] Review to come...
(A-) 80% | Very Good Notes: Review pending re-read. Individual reviews for included volumes can be found here: - Wanted - Big Game(A-) 80% | Very Good Notes: Review pending re-read. Individual reviews for included volumes can be found here: - Wanted - Big Game...more
(B) 72% | More than Satisfactory Notes: Pablum-fraught, just sex for plot ("story" sets the stage), witches feature—should be creatures—hard to feel en(B) 72% | More than Satisfactory Notes: Pablum-fraught, just sex for plot ("story" sets the stage), witches feature—should be creatures—hard to feel engaged.
*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary: (view spoiler)[
Progress updates:
11/05/2025 - Preamble [image] (1) So, as far as I can recall from my first read of the series, this is the point where the novels and the TV show completely diverge. - Hence, I can't see how I can use GIFs in updates anymore—the last book was a real struggle! - I think the only holdover element is the Eric amnesia storyline, and more-or-less only in concept. Though, given that, voilà: status GIF.
11/06/2025 - Prologue–Chapter 1 [image] (1) Okay, let's do math: if Arlene is 5'8" and she's 2" taller than Sookie, that means Sookie is 5'6", and if she's 10" shorter than Eric, that means he's 6'4". - I get that Vikings were tall, but medieval "tall" was like 5'7". (2) "Oh, God, puppy dog eyes. From a 6'4" ancient Viking vampire. It was just too much." - No, "too much" is doing math for no reason!
11/07/2025 - Chapters 2–3 [image] (1) Pam: "[Witches] wanted—they want—to take over Eric's businesses ... or make Eric pay them to leave him alone." - Just lazy all around. Leeching off of someone else's hard work was the plot of the last book too! (2) "[Eric] relaxed completely. After a moment's tension, I did, too, and then I was dead to the world." - It's always fun to stumble upon a titular line!
11/08/2025 - Chapters 4–5 [image] (1) "I've never been able to squeeze my budget enough to afford a cell phone, so I began driving home." - Believe it or not, back in the day, phones were attached to your house! (2) I'm not saying that Shreveport is less exciting a town than Dallas or Jackson, but most of this plot is just Sookie driving around. - No supernatural hotels or night clubs... nothing new.
11/09/2025 - Chapters 6–7 [image] (1) To the extent this has a "story," it's entirely about setting up situations where Sookie and Eric have sex. - Call me crazy, but isn't that the definition of porn? (2) It can't just be me who considers the end of sex scenes as "surviving another one," right? - See, this is why I don't read more romance novels: there's a decent chance I'll literally die of cringe.
11/11/2025 - Chapters 8–9 [image] (1) We're officially introduced to Claudine. She couldn't be more different than the show version. - Basically the goddess Aphrodite: sex in a dress, if a bit ditzy. (2) "The closest hospital was not in Bon Temps, which is way too small to have its own (we're lucky to have a Wal-Mart)..." - Frankly, I'm impressed. My city has tons of hospitals, but only one Wal-Mart.
11/12/2025 - Chapters 10–11 [image] (1) Maybe it makes women swoon—I don't know—but it creeps me out to no end how Eric calls Sookie "lover." - It's just so pretentious, the pet name equivalent of wearing sunglasses indoors. (2) "Eric’s skills did not include map reading, so I had to pull over to check my Shreveport map to plot our course..." - Eric's Gen-Z? JK! The opposite, in fact… he's pre-roadmap.
11/13/2025 (1) - Chapters 12–13 [image] (1) "The air was so permeated with scent, I was reminded of passing a candle shop in a mall." - I was with her until she said "candle shop." That's a thing? - Where I am, it's soap shops… suffocating! (2) "I felt better when I had the knife, which was real pretty and felt very sharp." - Personally, middle of a bloody battle, "pretty" would not be my initial reaction.
11/13/2025 (2) - Chapters 14–15 [image] (1) In sum: not enough of everything I like about the series and too much of everything I hate. (2) Usually with mysteries, two seemingly-separate cases/incidents are eventually revealed to be related. With this series it's the opposite. - I didn't like it before and I don't like it here with Jason's disappearance—it all feels very "Oh yeah, almost forgot, this too." (hide spoiler)]...more
(B+) 77% | Good Notes: All cozy/cute, but plot's minute, the art's the part that hooks, and feels far less a comic quest than Little Golden Book.
*Progr(B+) 77% | Good Notes: All cozy/cute, but plot's minute, the art's the part that hooks, and feels far less a comic quest than Little Golden Book.
(B+) 78% | Good Notes: Read in trade paperback. Collective review for issues #1-6 can be found here: The Rocketfellers, Vol. 1.(B+) 78% | Good Notes: Read in trade paperback. Collective review for issues #1-6 can be found here: The Rocketfellers, Vol. 1....more
(B+) 77% | Good Notes: Read in trade paperback. Collective review for issues #1-6 can be found here: The Rocketfellers, Vol. 1.(B+) 77% | Good Notes: Read in trade paperback. Collective review for issues #1-6 can be found here: The Rocketfellers, Vol. 1....more
(B+) 77% | Good Notes: Read in trade paperback. Collective review for issues #1-6 can be found here: The Rocketfellers, Vol. 1.(B+) 77% | Good Notes: Read in trade paperback. Collective review for issues #1-6 can be found here: The Rocketfellers, Vol. 1....more
(B+) 76% | Good Notes: Read in trade paperback. Collective review for issues #1-6 can be found here: The Rocketfellers, Vol. 1.(B+) 76% | Good Notes: Read in trade paperback. Collective review for issues #1-6 can be found here: The Rocketfellers, Vol. 1....more
Loading...
