Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris~~DIK Reading Challenge

"Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of "disability". She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome- and Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting for all her life...

But Bill has a disability of his own. He's a vampire with a bad reputation. He hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of- big surprise-murder. And when one of Sookie's coworkers is killed, she fears she's next..."


MY Thoughts:

 Dead Until Dark did not appeal to me on several reasons... let me clarify that statement-- I did not want to buy this book because I didn't think the synopsis on the back was very intriguing or interesting and the cover is rather silly. We all know that there is a mass of people out there raving on this series. I started watching the HBO True Blood series on Demand a few months ago and became addicted. I sat in my husbands recliner for several days watching the 24 episodes of  Seasons 1 &2, and then had to impatiently wait for Season 3 to start in mid June. My mother in the mean time had been sending me her entire set of books, which I kept telling myself  (and her) I was not going to read. I finally resigned myself to reading them... I mean I was in love with the TV series and the books had to be even better right?!!


So I finally picked up book 1 Dead Until Dark and I am happy to say that the events did follow along closely with the HBO series ( I guess I should really say the TV series follows closely to the books). And I should stress "events" because I was extremely shocked and disappointed to find that Tara was not mentioned in this book and Lafayette did not show as much flair as he did in the TV series. I absolutely love these two people... and then to find out that they are not related at all (ok that is definitely later, but still shocker to me). I had to get past all the first person POV and the fact that you really don't get to see what the other characters are doing when Sookie is not around, but hey the books are about Sookie and her friends not friends and Sookie.  I did completely love the book!! At first I had mixed emotions, I wasn't sure if I would have read the book if I had not watched the TV show and didn't know if I liked the book enough to continue on with the series, etc. I waited a couple of days mulling it over and definitely decided that I needed to continue to read. So that being said I have read the entire series--yes all 10 books have been read!! So I have a feeling that this review is going to be hard for me because I don't want to give anything away and hope that I don't get my stuff mixed up!!


Sookie is a Southern girl living with her Grandmother in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She has what she calls a disability... she can read people's minds (whether she wants to or not at times). She is working as a cocktail waitress at Merlotte's. Because of her "disability" keeping friends and having boyfriends is almost an impossibility. People around town thinks she's crazy and look at her funny or steer clear of her completely. Being able to hear every thought running through someone's head definitely has it's disadvantages when it comes to dating and therefore she doesn't date. 


Vampires have decided to "come out" of the coffin and make themselves known to the public. The Japanese developed a synthetic blood making it possible for them to live among the living without harming anyone. This doesn't always work out the way it is suppose to but both sides are attempting to make a go of it. 


Bill walks into Merlottes one night and Sookie instantly knows that he is a vampire. There is something definitely different about him and she is amazed that no one else in the bar immediately recognizes him for what he is. Sookie finds a peace that she has never experienced when she is around Bill and they hit it off quite well. 


While Sookie and Bill are dabbling in Sookie's first romance there is a murderer running around town killing women. Some of the victims have close ties to Sookie and she is starting to fear for her life. 


Dead Until Dark definitely did its job of introducing us to the world where Vampires and Humans are trying to find common ground and a peaceful existence with each other. The characters are all memorable and I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions. I don't know if my rating is due to the conflict I have with the book and the HBO series or if it was the book itself (and I have tried desperately to separate the two), but all in all I really enjoyed the start of this series and was drawn in enough to continue reading the next nine books cover to cover without stopping!!


rating: 4