Southern Vampire/ Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris

My friend Mary suggested the first book in this series to me. She told me it was like the Twilight series, but for grownups, because it is much funnier and much saucier. She was quite right. It is not as "romantic", although there is quite a bit of romance. The first book is Dead Until Dark. In it Sookie Stackhouse is a telepathic barmaid. She has many problems because of her ability. She knows too much and if she lets others know she can hear their thoughts, the think she is crazy. When Bill Compton, a vampire, moves into the area, he is perfect for her to date since he is dead, therefore no thoughts. The whole series is very good, I would love to have a week to sit on a beach and read them all. Much good fun!

Book 1: "Dead Until Dark"
Book 2: "Living Dead in Dallas"
Book 3: "Club Dead"
Book 4: "Dead to the World"
Book 5: "Dead as a Doornail"
Book 6: "Definitely Dead"
Book 7: "All Together Dead"
Book 8: "From Dead to Worse"
Book 9: "Dead and Gone"

Aside from being a great book series, I am told that HBO has made the first book into a TV series called True Blood. I have not seen any of it since I have no cable, but maybe someday.

My mother-in-law had recommended Charlaine Harris' other series' to me as well. I will try them soon and get back to you. For more information, check out her website.

Booked for Breakfast

I joined an e-mail book club a couple of years ago. It's quite fun. They feature a new book each week and M-F you receive a small snippet of the book, along with funny stories by the host, Suzanne. If you don't like the book, you can delete it. Sometimes I do, but I always read Suzanne's column. She's very funny and she likes to give things away, like home-baked chocolate chip cookies and fuzzy socks. I belong to the Mystery and Thriller Book Club, but they offer others as well. Check it out here: http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/bookedforbreakfast/

Zapped by Carol Higgins Clark

For those of you who have never read Carol Higgins Clark, don't go into her books thinking that you are getting something like what her mother, Mary Higgins Clark, writes. Carol does write mysteries, but they are not nearly as well written or thought out as Mary's. Not that I don't like Carol's, there are just a lot different.

In Zapped, Reagan Reilly (P.I.) and her new husband, Jack (head of the Major Crimes Squad at NYU) are returning home to New York City as a major blackout occurs. Somehow, they are each able to run separate investigations of separate crimes, but all the bad guys and all the good guys somehow run into each other in the darkness of NYC and all is solved almost concurrently. There are way too many coincidences in this book, but yet it is a light mystery read, if that is what you are looking for.