I'm giving all of these Southern Vampire novels 4 stars not because of the level of writing, but because of the excellent narrator on the Audible versions. They really were a fun summer read (listen) that once i started i couldn't stop. Of course you all probably know, the True Blood series on HBO is based on these novels. Kudos to narrator Johanna Parker for making this one of the most enjoyable Audible experiences I've had in awhile. ( )

I found that it had quite a few similarities to Twilight, which made me wonder who copied who..but in the end it was ok..Twilight with a comedic twist. I need a break from vampire books now! ( )

I liked parts of this book and disliked parts, I will try to explain.
Liked~ The storyline the whole vampires out of the closet,the characters were interesting even though I felt there may be too many. Oops thats a dislike.
Dislike ~Too much explicit sex~~ The killing of a character that I felt would have made the series more interesting.

I guess I didn't find this book great and don't feel it lived up to all the hype I've heard.I am reading the second installment and do so far like it a bit better except that as with this book she's killed off a colorful character in the first 10 or so pages.But this is about the first book.
So I will conclude that the jury is still out on this series of books we'll see if when I get done with the 2nd one if it makes me want to read the 3rd. ( )

I wasn't going to bother, I had a feeling that these books would not live up to the hype (or compare favourably with Twilight or the Anne Rice books) - and I was right! One of the other reviewers describes it as 'fluffy' and I'd say that is bang on!

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it - in a sort of sugar rush, silliness, non-brain taxing way. But I found it very difficult to get over the writing style. I'm not sure if it's just written very badly, or if it's not been edited properly, but some of the sentences were so 'clunky' and their meaning so difficult to understand, even with rereading a couple of times it was very distracting.

I know it's a bit rich to say this, but I found the whole thing so damn 'unbelieveable' - bearing in mind that you first have to get over the idea that the lead characters are a mind-reading waitress and a vampire!

Some of the things that the characters did (particularly Sookie, the main character) were just weird - why would a waitress go into a car park at night with a piece of chain to defend a vampire and expect to survive - if the vampire can be so easily overcome by the attackers what hope has she?

The main problem was that I just didn't care about the Sookie or Bill, or any of the other characters - the writer brings no dimension to them, there is nothing to make me want to know what they are going to do next or even if they survived to the end of the book - I just went on reading as there was nothing else to read at the time.

I'm going to give the series a second chance, I've ordered the second book - but to be honest I'm not holding out much hope. Maybe I've been spoilt by Twilight (which I'll be the first to admit is not a piece of great literature, but is well written and engaging nonetheless) and Anne Rice (again, not stunning literature), when it comes to my vampire reading choices?

Sookie Stackhouse, a cute blonde with the ability to read minds, is thrilled when a vampire walks into the bar where she works. He's awful sweet to her, and she can't hear a psychic peep from him. But not everyone shares her fondness for vampires... or her tolerance for those who "go" with them. Someone is killing young women - young women tagged as fangbangers. And Sookie knows she's a target.

I've heard a lot about these books over the years. It seems like they're everywhere lately, what with the HBO show and all, so I figured I'd give 'em a go. See what they're like.

I feel strange saying this, given that the book is chock full of murder and bloodlust and other great stuff like that, but I found it... well, fluffy. It's a cute, fun little thing that reads up right quick.

I think Sookie herself sets the tone here. She's such a sweetie. She's friendly and bright and rather naive. She's not your typical angsty, I'll-kick-your-ass-into-next-Thursday-if-you-look-at-me-the-wrong-way urban fantasy heroine. She hasn't let all the dark thoughts she picks up on corrupt her or make her cynical. She's just a big ol' sweetie pie. I couldn't really consider this a dark, gory murder mystery. Not with a heroine like Sookie. She was my favourite part of the book.

I also liked the atmosphere. This is very much a southern vampire story. It's got a real Louisiana feel to it; the way everyone speaks, the names, the attitudes... I thought Harris evoked the setting very well. I appreciated how she incorporated the supernatural into her alternate world, too. It wasn't quite on a par with any of my favourite alternate worlds, but it still felt fairly realistic.

But the rest of the book... well. It's fluffy. It's good, I don't want you to think it isn't, but it's not really very deep. Sookie and Bill's relationship is sketchy at best. I never felt the chemistry between them. Ditto for her friendships with the rest of the town. They're sweet and all, but I couldn't find the spark. I couldn't find the oomph.

The mystery is much the same. It didn't leap out at me. For the most part, I felt like it was just a vehicle whereby Harris could introduce her characters and their world. Given that the series seems to be a vampire detective kind of a deal, I do think she might have done more to build up the mystery angle and show her characters actually solving the crime. Sookie does do a little bit, but for the most part she seems to just fall into the answers she needs.

I also had some trouble with the tenses. The book is told from Sookie's first person POV. At the very beginning, Harris slips back and forth between the past tense and the present tense in order to show that the book's events are in Sookie's fairly recent past, but it doesn't quite jive with the story. Stuff like that bugs me no end.

My final verdict: a fun book and a decent way to pass the time, but nothing special. It reads like the series opener it is. I'll probably read a couple more of the books, but I'm not really sold yet.

(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )