DEAD IN THE FAMILY: Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series #10 - Charlaine Harris, narr Johanna Parker

From the back of the BOCD: The #1 New York Times best-selling Sookie Stackhouse phenomenon--which inspired the smash hit HBO True Blood--continues with this 10th delicious tale, as Sookie attempts to carve a slice of normalcy from her paranormal world.

The devastating Faery War has ended. Still reeling from the deaths of her cousin Claudine and many others, Sookie attempts to settle in with her beloved vampire Eric. But the new Vampire King is keeping a close eye on the relationship. Meanwhile, the government is pushing the idea of mandatory registration for two-natured beings. Then Claudine's triplet, Claude, appears on Sookie's doorstep--and is rather reluctantly shown the welcome mat.

Peacefulness remains elusive, and chaos touches everything as the stakes are raised in this breathtaking chapter from a series that becomes more popular by the minute.

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This is the 10th in the series and some would argue (on some of the reviews and blogs I follow) that this is the weakest of the series. I would argue against that line of thought. It wasn't my favorite, but it was definitely a good read/listen. I think a lot of the reviewers took issue with Eric showing weakness, whereas I thought it was a wonderful touch having Eric showing weakness. At some point he needed to show that he could become overwhelmed, at least a little bit, by events. And if your 'father' coming to town after a gazillion years (especially bringing his newest progeny in tow) doesn't make one overwhelmed by events, I don't know what would.

Poor Sookie needs some relaxation time after all the crap she's been through and it doesn't look like she's going to get that any time soon. She's got the Fae after her tail, Eric isn't there for her like she wishes, her two-natured friends are under attack and the Feds are still huntin' for a reason to bring her in to work with them.

Would that I could bring more to the review party, but the spoilers would likely start flyin'...so I will leave it at...

Five non-spoiler give Sookie and Eric a break beans.....

CLUB DEAD - Charlaine Harris, narr Johanna Parker

I know I have likely said this before, I've read 1-8 of the series and now I am working my way through listening to 1-8 of the series. Listening to Johanna Parker telling the story is a lot better than what my mental narrator comes up with.

I've listened to the last few of this series with DH on our commute for work. The boy is hooked. His favorite character is Eric for obviously highly way different reasons than mine (thankful am I or Lady K would not have happened to this world)....Eric makes DH laugh when Eric expounds on his various views on this world. Eric just makes me shiver deliciously. Woof. And laugh...but mostly shiver....

CLUB DEAD is #3 in the series and has Sookie once again, at the behest of Eric, helping out the vampires by going down to Jackson, Mississippi to locate her boyfriend Bill. Bill has been working on a super-secret project for the Queen of Louisiana and has now gone missing, possibly kidnapped, while doing research for the project. The last anyone has heard or seen of Bill, he was enthralled by and with Lorena, evil bitch vampire who made Bill. This breaks Sookie's heart, but good person that she is, she goes in search of the cheating Bill.

The search leads her into danger, of course. Wouldn't have it any other way. She's just healed from her injuries from her trip to Dallas and here she is working on possibly getting her ass handed to her again. Thank goodness for Bubba, (vampired Elvis), Eric, Alcede, and a trusty stake, so the ass-handing isn't fatal.

Not my favorite of the series, but it has some excellent parts to it...and there's Eric.....

Four vampires in Mississippi beans.....

LIVING DEAD IN DALLAS: A Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mystery - Charlaine Harris

The Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series is among the top ten, if not top five, of my favorite series. I read this second in the series a long while back, but have decided to add them to my keeper shelf as audioboks. The narrator, Johanna Parker, is absolutely superb for this series. I rented this one from RecordedBooks and will keep it with a coupon I received.
Sookie is trying to get along in her small corner of the world in BonTemps, Louisiana. She has a job she enjoys and a boyfriend, Bill Compton, in her life. He happens to be a vampire, but that's okay. She happens to be able to read minds and it's a treat to be with Bill since his mind is completely blank to her and he treats her wonderfully.
The drawback with being attached to vampires and with her ability, or disability as she calls it, is that she is often requested to help Eric, the sheriff of this particular area of vampires.
Sookie is loaned out to go to Dallas Texas to help another big dawg vampire find out what happened to one of his nestmates. This seems simple enough, but Sookie and company find themselves enmeshed in a soon to be battle with a new church called The Fellowship of the Sun. The followers of this church don't think that vampires should be allowed to exist.
There is another mystery to solve, too. Sookie's friend, Lafayette, the flamboyant short order cook at the bar where Sookie works, has been found dead in the car of a local law officer. Sookie isn't especially fond of the officer, but knows he didn't commit the murder and she did consider Lafayette a friend and wants to do what she can to help find his killer.
And then there's the maenad....In Greek mythology, Maenads (Greek: Μαινάδες) were the inspired and frenzied female worshipers of Dionysus, the Greek god of mystery, wine, and intoxication, the Roman god Bacchus. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". So this makes for an interesting storyline....

All told, this was a great listen. It made carpooling with DH quite bearable. He enjoyed the story, too.

Five southern vampire beans.....