Mandy's Vampire Reviews

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Club Dead By: Charlaine Harris

Overview:
Bill, Sookie’s vampire boyfriend had been preoccupied with some sort of project. He was so absorbed he had all but forgotten she was around. They ended up fighting and Sookie told him that she needed some space. All at the same time Bill told her that he had to go to Seattle for business. Sookie knew that he was lying but what could she do.

After Bill had been gone for a few days Sookie was visited by the vampires from Fangtasia. Eric was one of the head guys of there area and was alarmed that Bill had not contacted them. Eric, Pam, and Chow came to inform Sookie that Bill was not in Seattle but he was in Mississippi because of Lorena his old lover and maker. Eric tells Sookie that he was going to arrange for Sookie to be comfortable but he was not going to see her again. Eric had reason to believe that Bill had been kidnapped for what ever project he had been working on for the queen.

Eric asked Sookie to go to Mississippi to try and help find Bill because there life depended on it. Sookie agrees and they concocted an elaborate plan. Sookie is to play a Were’s (Alcide) girlfriend to gain access to the club Josephine’s (Club Dead) in Mississippi run by the vampire king of Mississippi Russell.

While at the bar Sookie meets Alcide’s ex girlfriend Debbie who is a mean nasty person angry to see Alcide happy with another female even though she was engaged to another. Eric finds out that Bill is most likely being held up in Russell’s compound, but cannot get close enough to find out for sure. Sookie now must find a way to get Russell to invite her to his home.

Getting man handled by the werewolf when Alcide had to use the restroom because she refused to go with him the werewolf was escorted out. So they leave the bar to go home and get some rest. The next day Alcide insists that Sookie go to his sisters beauty salon and treat her self letting her know that she didn’t have to worry about anything and that he was going to take care of some business. Once all primped and pampered her and Alcide went back to the apartment to rest before going back to Club Dead when they find the body of the werewolf that had given them problems the night before dead. Getting rid of the body because they didn’t want to get in trouble for his murder they went home to get ready for the night.

When Sookie went into the club she had her mental ears on alert to hear anything that would tell her where Bill was. Hearing thoughts from someone that planned on killing one of the vampires she had to act like she was taken by surprised because if the Vampires or the Were’s found out that she was a telepath she would be done for. Right at the moment he was pulling out the stake she screamed, “Stake.” She fought with the guy until he used the stake on her. Getting stabbed and the guy ran with the were’s hot on his trail. Sookie learned that he had been someone from the Fellowship of the Sun which was the vampire hating organization that that had almost killed Sookie a short while back.

Seen as how Sookie had saved one of Russell’s people he felt that it would only be proper to see to it that she is taken care of at his home. Eric stepping forward claiming to be one of Alcide friend told them that he was to see to it that Sookie was ok and he was to stay with her because Alcide had changed and went after the guy who had put the stake that was still sticking out her side. Russell had a vampire that had more of the healing agents in his saliva so she would heal more quickly. Once they took the stake out and the vampire got to work Sookie was too weak to do anything. Eric went to her and gave her his blood to heal her remarkably faster. Bubba comes to her room apologizing for not being there when she had been staked but the doorman would not let him in the club. Eric told Bubba that he needed to be as quiet as he could and search the premises for Bill and then to report back to him when he was found. Bubba had found him being tortured but alive.

Once Bill had been located Eric and Sookie made a plan to retrieve Bill while the vampires were all sleeping. When she awoke she went to the garage that she was told he was being held in. Eric had left the car parked right out in front of it. Going in she assumed that all the vampires were sleeping but she was as quiet as possible just in case. Working on freeing Bill, Lorena come out of her sleeping place. Knowing that she couldn’t defeat a vampire she used the stake that she had been stuck with to kill her. Once dead Sookie hid the body. Getting Bill into the trunk she drive to Alcide’s apartment. Parking in the underground parking area away from the light Sookie wanted to make sure that Bill was ok before she went up to Alcide place. Opening the trunk she was pushed from behind into the trunk with and the trunk door closed behind her.

When Bill awoke he was wounded and he needed blood. He bit into Sookie not knowing who she was, not caring because he wasn’t him self being tortured for so many days and blood starved. Finally realizing it was Sookie that he was feeding on he stopped. Getting them out of the trunk he took her up to Alcide apartment. Once Sookie got her wits back she tells Eric to take her home. She was too angry at Bill for betraying her and she didn’t have the energy to fight.

Want to find out what happens next? I recommend you read Club Dead after you read the first two books Dead Until Dark and Living Dead in Dallas.

Like:
I’m really enjoying this Southern Vampire Series. They suck you in and make the time spent reading enjoyable. Club Dead was the most action packed book I have read so far. Club Dead kept me at the edge of my seat the whole time.

Dislike:
The only thing that I didn’t like about Club Dead was that Alcide went back to Debbie even after telling Sookie that he was going to come find her when he got Debbie out of his system and Sookie got Bill out of her system.

Rate:
I would say that Club Dead deserves 4 Fangs out of 5 because it had everything and the suspense was the best part. As many times as Sookie has come close to death you would think that she would stop flirting with the supernatural, but then it always seems to find her.

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
 
Overview:
Sookie found the body of Lafayette the cook in the back seat of Andy Bellefleur’s patrol car that had been left at Merlotte’s. Finding out her friend went to the local sex party she used her gift to hear anything that could to find out what happen to him. Bill got a summons from the vampire Eric from Fangtasia. On their way to see him Sookie and Bill got into a big fight and the car died. Sookie got out and stomped off in the woods. Bill went to find a mechanic to fix the care. Little did she know that a maenad was waiting for her in the woods to send Eric a message. The maenad stung her when she tried to run the poison slowly killing her.

Bill come back to find her hurt in the woods. He took her to Eric’s and they had a doctor there that said the only way Sookie was going to live was if all the vampires helped drain her blood to remove the poison and give her a transfusion so they did so. Once she was feeling better Eric told her that she was to go to the Dallas vampire nest and help find their missing brother Farrell because he had not come back for five days.

Discovering that they thought it was a vampire name Godfrey that was behind the disappearance. Sookie decides to go to The Fellowship of the Sun. Taking one of the vampire’s human lovers they went to the church. Sookie finds out that Hugo was a traitor right before they take her under the church to hold her. She tried to escape when she found out that they knew who she was. They locked her in a room with Hugo. This is when she confronted him about being a traitor and he spilled everything. One of the Fellowships members that was standing guard decided that he wanted to have a little fun with Sookie so he kicked Hugo out and put him in with the cell with Godfrey. Godfrey had heard everything that was said between Sookie and Hugo and didn’t think that it was ok. Breaking out of his cell after drinking from Hugo he grabbed the assaulter just into saving Sookie from being raped. Once she got out Luna a shape shifter Sookie had sensed when she come in helped her get out and they were on the run. Getting in a car accident and flipping the car Luna and Sookie were taken to the hospital. Once back to the hotel after going to the hospital and sneaking out the back door she found out that The Fellowship had been raided and they got Farrell back.

Having a party for Farrell’s return The Fellowship surrounded and shot up the house. Bill disappeared and when he came back Sookie knew Bill had killed. She drove to the airport and flew back to Bon Temps.

Sookie didn’t talk to Bill for weeks and they saw each other at a football game bringing jealousy to both of them because Sookie was sitting next to one of the most good looking guys in Bon Temps while Bill was sitting with Andy’s sister. That night Bill went to Sookie and they talked everything out. But they still had a murderer at large. Sookie got invited to the sex party that Lafayette was last seen at. Sookie wanted to go to the party so that she could read the thoughts to the people that were in there sex circle to find out who the murderer or murderers were.

She took Eric with her to keep her safe because Bill was not going to be in town. Once at the party she listened to all the minds around her and when Sookie heard it in the minds of the guilty she wanted to get out of there.

But I don’t want to ruin the story for you so I’m going to leave you with that. You have to read the book Living Dead in Dallas to find out what happens next. The ending will surprise you.

Like:
I like that Living Dead in Dallas started out fast and kept you at the edge of your seat because even though you think you know what might be coming it turns and surprises you. Living Dead in Dallas was ever better then Dead till Dark.

Unlike:
I honestly don’t have any complaints except that I would have like to seen more of the shape shifter because they are the ones that had saved Sookie from being murdered. Also, I didn’t like the way Sookie over reacted about Bill when he had taken a human life after they had murdered some of the people at the party. I would think that Sookie would be a little less naïve since she had been dating a vampire for a while.

Rate:
I’m going to have to give Living Dead in Dallas 4 out of 5 Fangs. Sookie doesn’t seem to be learning from any of the danger that she has been in. But hopefully in the books to come that will change.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
 
Overview:
Sookie Stackhouse is a naïve Southern girl that lives in the small town of Bon Temps. Also, she is a telepath.  She lives with her grandmother Adele Stackhouse and she has a brother named Jason that lives in there childhood home where her parents lived before they had died. She worked as a bar maid in a bar call Merlotte's. Sam is her boss.

In this story vampires are part of society because scientist were able to make a synthetic blood that kept the vampires from feeding on humans. It was said that vampires were infected by some sort of ailment that made them allergic to the sun, among other things. Sookie meets Bill Compton in the bar where she worked. She had always wanted a vampire to come in but never did until him. Bill was 30 in 1870 when he was turned into a vampire. Bill had come to Bon Temps being the first vampire in the town to mainstream, which mean he wanted to live among humans and act as human as possible. Sookie started noticing that several of the myths about repelling a vampire where just that, myths. Silver was a good repellent and vampires did not like the smell of garlic.

In Bon Temps, after the vampires started showing up, murdered victims were being found. Bill and Sookie went to a vampire club called Fangtasia to find out if the girls that were being murdered had been there recently. Eric Northman one very old vampire was quite taken with Sookie and this made Bill jealous and angry but because Eric was so much older then Bill he was stronger. Bill made sure to let everyone that approached him and Sookie know that she was his. The fang bangers as they called them, the ones that like to be fed on and liked to take in blood because it was like a drug trip, were always throwing them selves at the vampires.

Sookie’s brother was under investigation because he had been romantically involved with a couple of the victims. But the strange thing was that each of the women found had a vampire bite on their inner thigh, but the cause of death was strangulation. Vampires thought that to be a waste of blood so they would never kill a human that way. Everyone was on edge because her grandmother was one of the victims but she did not have bite marks on her body, Sookie found her slaughtered in the kitchen.  Sookie started putting two and two together, every woman that was killed liked vampires in one way or another. Sookie felt like she was going to be next.

Finally one night she was falling asleep when she heard a noise. It scared her so bad that she wasn’t waiting around to find out what it was. Someone had cut the phone lines so that she couldn’t call the police. Long story short the killer was the least expected person in the story. Also, some turns out to be a shape shifter but you will have to read it to find out more.

Like:
I like that the vampires were not the villains in this book. It was different from all the books I have read because it is usually the vampires doing all the killing, but these vampires were just trying to live an as normal as can be expected from the undead, life. I liked it when Sookie killed but without any man there to help her.

Dislike:
I did not like how it took so long to get into the story. It took a few chapters to get any kind of action. I personally like something that’s going to catch me in the first chapter and keep me hanging onto the edge of my seat till the last page. I hated when Sookie needed Bill the most, he wasn’t there.

Rate:
I give Dead Until Dark 3 Fangs out of 5. It was ok but when it comes to vampires there should be more action.

Silver Kisses by Annette Klause

Overview:
Simons father was a businessman, bringing a business partner to stay at his home. Everyone was quite taken with him. He was charming and had great stories. Unfortunately, Simon’s younger brother, Christopher, was especially taken with him and spending too much time together. One night they both disappeared. Simon’s parents searched everywhere for them to no avail. Life went on but Simons mother was never the same. She would imagine seeing Christopher but when someone else looked no one was there. Finally one evening his mother left the house and never returned. His father never smiled again barely acknowledging that Simon existed and that’s how he started his lonely life.

One night when Simon was out for a walk he was lured to a vampires dwelling place under false pretences. Simon was very ill and the vampire who had lured him in said that he would take care of him, until he was strong enough to leave. Little did Simon know that he was about to become someone’s dinner. When he was bitten is when he figured it out but it was too late, he didn’t have enough strength to leave. The vampire’s servant decided to help Simon because he despised his vampire master. He gave Simon the choice to live or die. Simon was afraid of dying so he agreed to the servants offer.

After become a vampire his life was even lonelier then it had been before. Simon was ashamed of what he had to do to stay alive. He tried to never see humans as anything other then food. He did his best to leave them alive when he fed from them. One day Zoe walked into his life. She was even sadder then Simon.

Zoe’s mother was dying of cancer and her father spent all his time at the hospital with his wife. She felt so alone. She wanted to call and talk to her mother, but her parents where trying to shield her from the terrible disease taking over her mother. To top everything off her best friend had to up and move away. Lorain was Zoe’s only friend and now they weren’t even going to be in the same state. This made her feel even more alone. Feeling the need for companionship with both Simon and Zoe they became friends. Simon had allowed Zoe to become real to him, allowing himself to care for her.

Simon had spent many years trying to find and kill Christopher because he was the reason that their mother had died. He had been the one to take her life. Finally after the cat and mouse games that they had been playing for years Christopher grew bored with them and called Simon out. Keep in mind that not only did he kill their mother but when he feed he could have left them alive but he choose to take their lives. Simon would make it enjoyable when he fed but Christopher would make it excruciating for anyone that he would come in contact with. He looked like a small helpless child so many people wanted to help him find his way home. Once Christopher was taken care of Simon felt that he had resolved what kept him alive for so long.

Finally feeling love and compassion Simon decided to watch one last sunrise with Zoe. To be released from this world that holds him.

Likes:
I can honestly say that I enjoyed this book. I felt Zoe’s pain. I cried and normally when I read a book they never make me cry. The way the author described things I could see it in my head. I would recommend this book to anyone. Even though the main characters were teens I think that everyone can relate to the loneliness sometimes.

Dislikes:
My biggest complaint is that when I finished the book I was under the impression that there would be a second installment and I was very disappointed to find there wasn’t one.

Rate:
I’m going to have to give Silver Kisses 4 fangs out of 5. It held my interest and kept me wanting more. When someone can write something that gets me to feel what the character is feeling it keeps me remembering the book and I want to pass the experience on. I highly recommend this book but I want to warn you that you will get a little teary eyed at the end. I did.



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Night World: Secret Vampire by L. J. Smith

Overview
Poppy is a little pixy like girl with green eyes, she has a twin name Philip and the only thing they have in common are their green eyes. He is a jock that plays football, baseball, and hockey. He is also the class president. None of that mattered to Poppy she thought her brother was too much of a straight lace. James is her life long best friend but little does she know he is a vampire. He lives in the night world where vampires, witches, and werewolves live without human knowledge.

Poppy is dying from cancer. Risking death himself he tells Poppy that he is a vampire and that he can save her but she has to leave her human life behind. Once turned she is a rogue vampire and must lay low so the elders do not find out what James has done to save her. Ash, James’ cousin, comes into town to find Poppy at James’ apartment and decides to play with her before he turns her over to the elders. James has to find her before Ash gives her to the elders, counting on the fact that Ash likes to play games he hopes he has time to save her life again.

Likes
I like that the story was sweet and that she finds out he has loved her against his will, trying to follow the laws of the Night World. James was willing to give up everything to save her from dying of the cancer that was killing her as a human.

Dislikes
I did not like that her reaction to dying of cancer that young was not more heart shattering. I did not feel for the character and her situation because it looks like it was just another day. I needed more feeling and description. Poppy is a strong character with a will to live but there wasn’t really anything that made me fell like she cared whether she lives or dies. I did not like that there was no real action. It is defiantly for the younger crowd. 12-16 years of age I think would appreciate this story.

Rating 
I give Night World: Secret Vampire 2 Fangs out of 5. It needed to have more bite.


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