Book 33 of 2008: From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

Book Description:

After the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the manmade explosion at the vampire summit, everyone—human and otherwise—is stressed, including Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse, who is trying to cope with the fact that her boyfriend Quinn has gone missing.

It's clear that things are changing—whether the weres and vamps of her corner of Louisiana like it or not. And Sookie—Friend to the Pack and blood-bonded to Eric Northman, leader of the local vampire community—is caught up in the changes.

In the ensuing battles, Sookie faces danger, death, and once more, betrayal by someone she loves. And when the fur has finished flying and the cold blood finished flowing, her world will be forever altered.

My Opinion:

The latest installment of the Sookie Stackhouse series (8) by Charlaine Harris was just as fabulous as the previous 7 novels by her. I love how this storyline progresses throughout each book. This book wrapped up some loose ends, but then unraveled some new ones that will need to be fixed up in the remaining books to come. I believe there are 2 more books contracted, though I'm definitely hoping for more!

I'm kind of nervous about how much to say in this posting as it'd be easy to give stuff away to people considering this is so far into a series so I'll leave it at that, but if you haven't read this series and are a fan of paranormal fiction and mysteries, definitely check out this series. Or... if you just like mysteries, check out her Lily Bard series.

Book 31 of 2008: Bloody Mary by J.A. Konrath

Book Description:

When Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels receives a report of an excess of body parts appearing at the Cook County Morgue, she hopes it's only a miscount. It's not. Even worse, these extra limbs seem to be accessorized with Jack's handcuffs. Jack must put her train wreck of a personal life on hold to catch a terrifying and brillian maniac - a maniac for whom getting caught is only the beginning...

My Opinion:

If possible, the 2nd installment of Konrath's Jack Daniels mystery series was even better than the first, WHISKEY SOUR. (you can see my blog post here) Konrath's books are super fast-paced with lots of twists and turns throughout. I was wondering how he was going to wrap things up in the end and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. I don't want to say too much though due to possible spoiler potential. For anyone that likes mysteries/thrillers, if you haven't checked out this series yet, I HIGHLY recommend it!!! It's got lots of action, some comic relief, semi-detailed murder scenes (don't way I didn't warn ya!), etc... Konrath is definitely gaining momentum up my list of fave authors!

Book 18 of 2008: Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath

Book Description:

Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels is having a bad week. Her live-in boyfriend has left her for his personal trainer, chronic insomnia has caused her to max out her credit cards with late-night home shopping purchases and a frightening killer who calls himself "The Gingerbread Man" is dumping mutilated bodies in her district. Whiskey Sour is full of laugh-out-loud humour and edge-of-your-seat suspense. It also introduces a fun, fully drawn heroine in the grand tradition of Kinsey Millhone, Stephanie Plum and Kay Scarpetta.

My Opinion:

Fabulous read!!! I wish I had listened to my friends and started into this series sooner. I finally made myself start the series due to the upcoming release of SUCKERS which is co-written by J.A. Konrath and Jeff Strand (my favorite author for those who don’t know me all that well) as SUCKERS includes a character from both this series as well as Strand’s sickeningly-awesome Andrew Mayhem series.

Konrath definitely has a way with keeping his viewers interested. This book is full of action from the first page to the last. You are immediately thrown into the nightmare life of "Jack" Daniels. She is one kick-ass lieutenant who doesn’t take shit from anyone... well, except Harry McGlade, somewhat. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of "trouble" Jack and the rest of the cast get into in the future installments of this series.