TITLE: Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, #1)
AUTHOR: Charlaine Harris
GENRE: Paranormal Fantasy
AGE RANGE: AdultSYNOPSIS:
Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life-and one of her coworkers checks out….Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn’t such a bright idea.
This was pretty exotic stuff for a telepathic barmaid from northern Louisiana.
Like many, I first picked up the Sookie Stackhouse series years ago, in my teens, when paranormal fantasy was all the craze and I couldn’t get enough of those sexy, brooding vampires. You know how it goes. I remember loving this book back then, and being exceptionally fond of Bill Compton, but for whatever reason, I never really continued on with the books back then.
Recently, I decided it’d be fun to reread this one and continue the series, so here we are. What surprised me the most was how different Bill was from my memories! Teen Destiny definitely thought he was a brooding, stoic, protective gentleman, but adult Destiny just finds him to be a bit of a pig, frankly — and boring as hell. Give me literally any of her potential love interests other than Bill, please. ? (Preferably Sam — he bored me as a kid, but as an adult? *swoon!* Even if there was the whole peeking-at-Sookie-naked thing… who isn’t a little bit sketchy in this series? Damn!)
I don’t know all the spoilers for this series, but I know enough that I’m really excited to see how Sookie’s going to arrive at certain situations, so I have to say that, despite this not being as good as I remembered it (and the writing itself not being nearly as enjoyable as I once found it to be, either), I’m very intrigued and excited to pick up book 2!
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anovelglimpse
May 10, 2019I was curious as to how these books would stack up over time. I had a feeling they wouldn’t be quite as good. I laughed at your comments about Bill. I could totally see that happening to me, too!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 7, 2019Sorry for the late reply – but I’m glad I could make you laugh about Bill, lmao. He is a MESS!
fictionnochaser
May 10, 2019I have never read these, but of course I saw True Blood and have been dying to see how the books are. Bummer that it’s not as good as your memory though.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 7, 2019Thankfully, books 2 and 3 were great! I’m hoping to start book 4 tomorrow, so we’ll see how it’s aged. 😀
Mani
May 10, 2019I started reading this series a few years ago but only read the first 2 books and have lost interest.
jamsu
May 10, 2019started reading these books when I fell in love with Eric in the show, so teenage me never liked Bill. I do’t really remember which book I DNF’d and this review is making me want to re-read these books too. Sookie can be annoyng as hell but I think Eric would make the re-read worth it.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 7, 2019Eric is honestly SO lovable and I enjoyed him even more in the 2nd and 3rd books. I’m about to pick up book 4 and I hear he’s in this one a lot, so I’m excited.
jamsu
July 8, 2019That one is my favorite! I wish I enjoyed later books as much as that one.
Meeghan reads
May 10, 2019I read this whole series probably 10-15 years ago (I was caught up to all released books before the tv series came out), but I never liked Bill at all. I was 100% team Eric, and a fence-sitter about Sam. I also don’t really love Stephen Moyer, so when the show started (which is so different from the books) it solidified my dislike of Bill ?
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 7, 2019Super late reply but yeah… Stephen Moyer does make it pretty easy to dislike Bill in the show, doesn’t he? ???
Meeghan reads
July 7, 2019??? I kind of just wanted to punch him in the face?? Or stake him… irl. Not that I’m a violent person!! ?
Erin @ Paperbackstash
May 14, 2019I really enjoyed this series until the last few books. I could tell the author lost enthusiasm. The beginning of the series starts a fun ride that has a lot more ups than it has downs.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 20, 2019Sorry for the late reply, but that’s exactly what my mom said about the ending of this series! She said she even had wondered, when she first read the last book, if Charlaine might have hired a ghost writer due to being so done with it, because she said it didn’t even feel like the same writer to her. (We never found out if it was, in fact, ghost-written, but we think most likely not or else people would talk about it.)