By Laurell K. Hamilton
Published 1994

Okay, I know Friday I said I’d do back to backs, but I caught whatever the hell Sloane had and I still feel like I’ve been hit by a snow plow, so you’re going to be inundated with Anita Blake posts this week. Especially since I’ve started book six this morning.

What? I can’t cook when I’m sick so I read… avidly.

So over the next week you may get more than one post a day. I don’t want to drive people away by just reviewing one author’s works.

Tomorrow I going along with Liz Strauss over at Successful and Outstanding Blog(gers) in going dark for the V Tech slayings.

So, for now, let’s kick it in gear and get to Guilty Pleasures and its writer.

Laurell K. Hamilton is an outstanding writer. Like all good writers she starts a bit rough in her first novel (first I ever read at least) but smoothes things out nicely as she progresses from book to book. The Anita Blake series, of which there are fifteen now, is a very well written series and you can tell that Laurell took pains to ensure there was continuity from book to book.

A lot of people I talk with who have read these books all agree that the best ones are the first seven. After that we playfully call them vampire smut. The stories are still excellent, but sometimes we wonder if they shouldn’t be marked as romantic fantasy. Not that I’m complaining, you should see the shelves of romance novels I own.

After the break you’ll find an overview of Anita Blake and the review of Guilty Pleasures.

An Overview of Anita Blake
Anita Blake is a vampire slayer, she’s known as the Executioner to the vampires themselves. She’s a busy woman as she’s also the paranormal/preternatural expert for the Spook Squad (Regional Preternatural Investigation Team) of St. Louis but her full time job is with Animators, Incorporated… she raises zombies for a living.

She is not a woman to mess with. Friends with the monsters, be they furry, fanged or assassins, and she doesn’t need any of them to defend herself. When people won’t take no for an answer she’s got the same kind or reaction you’d see from Temperance Brennen on Bones – strike first and ask questions later…if they’re still alive that it.

Guilty Pleasures
For a first novel, this is a wonderful story. You meet three of the major players in most of the Blake novels; Anita herself, Jean-Claude – owner of Guilty Pleasures, and Edward – Anita’s good friend and neighborhood bounty hunter.

Vampires are now recognized as living people and some people just don’t see that as a good idea. When a serial killer starts taking out local vampires the Master of the City wants answers and she wants them from Anita Blake.

The series starts with a bang and keeps on going. Laurell’s site offers you the first chapter of each of the books, which is enough to hook a lot of people into getting interested. She clearly defines the characters within the pages of Guilty Pleasures and can leave the reader wanting for more.

Hell, I’ll admit I own about twelve, maybe thirteen books of the series. Just haven’t been able to afford fourteen yet and fifteen isn’t due out till next month.

Rating:

I’ll be back Tuesday with The Laughing Corpse and something non-bookish. For now, I’m going back to bed.