Review: Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

Title: Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13)

Author: Charlaine Harris
Publication Date: May 7, 2013
Publisher: Ace
Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy
Find It: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Book Depository
Source: Library

There are secrets in the town of Bon Temps, ones that threaten those closest to Sookie—and could destroy her heart...

Sookie Stackhouse finds it easy to turn down the request of former barmaid Arlene when she wants her job back at Merlotte’s. After all, Arlene tried to have Sookie killed. But her relationship with Eric Northman is not so clearcut. He and his vampires are keeping their distance…and a cold silence. And when Sookie learns the reason why, she is devastated.

Then a shocking murder rocks Bon Temps, and Sookie is arrested for the crime.

But the evidence against Sookie is weak, and she makes bail. Investigating the killing, she’ll learn that what passes for truth in Bon Temps is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough.

Dead Ever After is the final installment of the long running Sookie Stackhouse series. This series has been steadily going downhill for me for a while now but I knew that I wanted to finish it and get some closure. After the previous book, I didn't have very high expectations for this one.

After 13 books, Harris definitely had her work cut out for her. There were a lot of loose ends to figure out and you can never really please everyone with a series as popular as this. I expected Sookie to go out with a bang, but the ending surprised me .

The book starts when a body is found behind Merlotte's.  The body conveniently has a piece of Sookie's clothing on it and she becomes the number one suspect. Harris goes back into familiar territory here as Sookie tries to unravel the mystery, while trying to stay alive. A lot of characters pop up in this book. While some of them do add to the plot, I can't help but feel that some of them are there just to make a goodbye appearance.

Of course, the big question is - which guy does Sookie end up with? Without spoiling it I have to say that I am not surprised by the outcome. Harris has been hinting in the last few books which way this might go. I think a lot of fans might be disappointed but I didn't have a strong feeling about it. In many ways I think she ended up with the right person but I also would have been OK had it gone in another direction. I guess I just didn't have that much invested in Sookie's romantic life anymore.

While I was expecting some kind of epic ending for the series with revelations and battles galore, what I got was just another Sookie book. There were more guest appearances than usual by characters I imagine Harris wanted to say goodbye to but didn't have much bearing on the plot. Harris does wrap up the major plot points. For the most part though, it really didn't feel like an ending, but just another crazy day in Bon Temps. While I was a bit underwhelmed by the whole thing, I wasn't particularly upset about the ending. Would I have liked to have seen some things resolved differently? Sure, but this is Harris's baby, this is how she wanted to end it.

Even though I wasn't a huge fan of the last few books, I will always think of this series fondly, and am interested to see what Harris will do next.

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Visit the author online at www.charlaineharris.com and follow her blog.


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Charlaine Harris Starter Set - Birthday Month Giveaway (INTL ends 7/31)

Hey everyone! Alethea here. I'm kind of hijacking the blog (in a good way) while Thuy is on vacation and enjoying her totally adorable new niece. I'm doing some giveaways over at RNSL so I thought I'd do some over here, too!

July is my birth month!

So to share the love, I will be sending you presents. You! Yes, you.

That is, if you're lucky enough. My birthday is 7/11. That's pretty lucky.

Now, don't try to stake me--I'm not as big a Charlaine Harris fan as all you True Blood folks are. (Blame Anna Paquin, I can't watch anything she's in since she played Rogue in the X-Men movies). But I do think her books are super fun. Did you know she has mystery series aside from the Sookie books? You can click on the covers above to read more about them.

Well, that's what's up for grabs today. You could win the first book in each of Charlaine Harris's series: Sookie Stackhouse, Lily Bard, and Harper Connelly. (If the winner already has one or more of those titles, I can be flexible on which ones you get as long as the $ does not exceed my $21 budget :) The Aurora Teagarden series is also included in the options, I just happen not to have any of those right now.

This contest is open internationally! Click on the bottom of the rafflecopter widget for the rest of the fine print. If the contest reaches 711 entries by the end of the month, I'll draw 2 winners!

There are no mandatory entries, but you have to do at least one to enter. Good luck, and happy birthday to me! Click "Read more"to enter below!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Deadlocked - Review

Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12) by Charlaine Harris

Publication date: 01 May 2012 by Ace

ISBN 10/13: 1937007448 | 9781937007447
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

Category: Adult Urban Fantasy
Keywords: Urban fantasy, paranormal, mystery, vampires, shifters, weres, murder, fae
Format: Hardcover, eBook
Source: Library

Synopsis:

With Felipe de Castro, the Vampire King of Louisiana (and Arkansas and Nevada), in town, it’s the worst possible time for a body to show up in Eric Northman’s front yard—especially the body of a woman whose blood he just drank.

Now, it’s up to Sookie and Bill, the official Area Five investigator, to solve the murder. Sookie thinks that, at least this time, the dead girl’s fate has nothing to do with her. But she is wrong. She has an enemy, one far more devious than she would ever suspect, who’s out to make Sookie’s world come crashing down.

Thuy's Review:

I think this is my least favorite Sookie Stackhouse book. Unlike a lot of people, I really enjoyed the previous book, Dead Reckoning. The series to me had been going downhill for the last few books. Perhaps Harris was losing steam or maybe I was just losing interest. But I felt like Dead Reckoning was finally getting the series back on track and I found myself once again engaged in Sookie’s world. So it was with anticipation and excitement that I opened up Deadlocked.

Unfortunately Deadlocked was not what I was hoping for. The first hundred pages or so were slow but I figured that the series has so many characters and crazy plot lines that Harris really needed to get us caught up with everyone. Finally they find a dead body and I thought, “Now things are going to start happening.” Only...they don’t. I mean, they do, but not in a way that moves the series forward. Like trying to walk through knee high wet sand, I felt like I was trudging through this book with little to show for my efforts. There were no sexy times, no fun times and even the murder mystery was uninteresting after awhile.

I also didn’t want to hear about every little detail of Sookie’s day. Sookie goes to the grocery store, she paints her nails, does the laundry, goes to work, goes to the grocery store again....You get the idea. Now I don’t mind a little taste of Sookie’s life. The series has always had little bits here and there about how Sookie goes about her day and I appreciate these small details. However, this book was filled with mundane tasks that added nothing to the story and only succeeded in boring me. And the endless recapping! Everyone was constantly recapping events to someone who wasn’t there who would then recap it to another person and then they’d go over it again themselves in case they missed something. I was almost hoping that someone would just send out a mass email or put it on Facebook to save me the trouble of reading it 5 different ways.

Now let’s talk romance, or the lack of it. I am in the minority here since I have always been Team Bill and that possibility died long ago. But that doesn’t mean that I want Sookie and Eric to go kaput. I actually like them together and it’s clear that they have strong feelings for each other, despite all the angst. Vampire politics once again rears its ugly head with Eric and Sookie caught in the middle. The politics only aid in showing how dysfunctional their relationship is and Eric has very little page time in this book. This book is also sadly lacking in any hot sex scenes. Perhaps Harris is slowly leading Sookie in another romantic path but the constant drama between Sookie and Eric is getting old and I find myself not caring one way or the other if they stay together or not. Sookie does have a few nice moments with Bill though I don’t think they’ll ever be together again (Bill, call me!). Sam is as faithful and true as ever and his taste in women still sucks.

The story finally picked up in the last few chapters but, by that point, I didn’t really care. This really felt like a filler book. I just finished it half an hour ago and already I am hard pressed to recall what happened in it. I am glad the series is coming to a close. I still love the series and the characters in it but I think Harris has done all she can with it and it’s time to move on. I look forward to seeing how Harris closes out the series and what the fate holds in store for Sookie and the rest of the Bon Temps gang.

 

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Visit the author online at www.charlaineharris.com 

Dead Reckoning - Review

Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris
Publication date: 03 May 2011 by Penguin/Ace Roc
ISBN 10/13: 0441020313 | 9780441020317

Category: Adult Urban Fantasy
Keywords: Urban fantasy, vampires, weres, fae, shapeshifters
Format: Hardcover, eBook and audiobook

From goodreads:

With her knack for being in trouble's way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. Sookie suspects otherwise, but her attention is divided when she realizes that her lover Eric Northman and his "child" Pam are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, Sookie is drawn into the plot-which is much more complicated than she knows.

Thuy's review:

Sookie finds herself once again in a whole heap of trouble when she witnesses a fire bomb at Merlotte’s. The suspicion falls on the anti-Shifter groups in the area but Sookie has her own ideas about who might be behind it the attack. Throw in an assassination plot to kill the current vampire king and Sookie may have bitten off more than she can chew.

Charlaine Harris gets back on track with Dead Reckoning. The last book in the series was a huge disappointment for me. It was bogged down with way to many characters and dry explanations of vampire politics. This book returns to what I loved about the series in the first place - fun and interesting characters, drama and hot vampires! There was a little less Bill than I would have liked (Team Bill!) but Eric was definitely great. Some changes to Sookie and Eric’s relationship happen that I think were inevitable. There’s also plenty of sweet, sexy Sam in this one. Harris seriously needs to give him a girlfriend who isn’t mean or crazy (and yes, I volunteer).

We see the return of fan fave Bubba in a rare concert performance and Amelia the witch even makes a brief appearance. Sookie learns more about her fae heritage and the origins of her telepathic ability. This revelation wasn’t quite what I was expecting but it’s a nice piece of the Sookie puzzle to have.

Dead Reckoning is a quick, fun read that reminds me why I originally started reading this series and why I love Sookie. Looking forward to the next installment!

say "twee!"

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Find Thuy on Twitter @fishgirl182