I love Sookie's story and I love the way her world is expanding.
First she met the Vampires, then she finds out about Sam and the shape shifters and that there are other supes out there, then comes the maenad, the witches and the fairies.
But i can't shake the feeling that Sookie's life happens in burst of a week or so.

From the last book to this one we have a couple of months when nothing happens.
Then in the space of a week or so she:
1. Meets Amelia's father that tells her that her cousin has a child (that she tries to find but kind of forget to 2. Meets her great-grandfather who happens to be a fairy
3. Gets attacked twice by weres, finds out about the other were murders, manages to secure a truce between the 2 parts of the Shreveport pack, and uncovers a plot to take over the pack in the process (with a nice fight with her in the middle)
4. Gets attacked by the vampires from Vegas that are taking over Louisiana, with a 30 second advanced notice from her "boyfriend" (fortumately for her the stand off doesn't get to a open fight)
5. Then she gets her witch friends to get the werefox Tanya of Sandra Pelt's tumb and of her case
6. Two days after she finds out that Crystal is cheating on her brother and is forced to break one of calvin's claw
7. She spends the next couple of days sulking, so Sam calls Eric in and on is way out, Eric and the king of Nevada (the new king of Louisiana) and Sam are trapped by the late Queen of Louisiana's bodyguard, and are rescued by Sookie
8. Then Amelia's mentor manages to transform Bob back
9. And to end it all Sookie finds her little cousin, who happens to be a telepath
In the middle all all this events there are a couple of visits from her fairy kin, and a meeting between Amelia's father and the Vegas vamps, brokered by Sookie.

So all the events in this book happen in about 2 weeks, a little before Halloween. I'm betting the next book will be around christmas and nothing will have happened till then... ( )

Lots and lots of changes to Sookie Stackhouse's world. Were wars, vampire wars, family revelations and disasters, and relationship changes all make for a huge upheaval. Sookie has to figure out her own place in all these conflicting loyalties and betrayals, secrets and hidden agendas. But there are glimpses of hope and friendship that keep her plugging along to a brighter future. Looking forward to the next one. ( )

This volume of the series is the last one in my possession and after reading this, I won't bother to seek out any more. It is definitely the weakest so far, with a rambling set of incidents thrown together, starting off with a rather boring and pointless wedding at which Sookie gets to play bridesmaid in great detail. She finally divests herself of at least one more boyfriend, and it seems that in book 7, which I don't have and haven't read, she and Eric were bonded by his having given her blood three times to save her life. It sounds as if book 7 might have been more interesting than this ragbag of ideas.

Some more backstory on the family and Sookie's fairy ancestry is explained, but some of it is pretty distasteful. For someone to hope that her grandmother was raped rather than choosing to have an extramarital affair in order to have children (because her husband was sterile due to having had mumps) is pretty awful. More baggage from the whole Debbie Pelt saga also materialises, something that has been dragged out much longer than it merited. Other distasteful elements are stalkerish behaviour by ex-boyfriend Bill, tolerated by Sookie, and her continuing jealousy towards his ex-girlfriend. She also now seems to be daggers drawn with ex-friend Arlene, which must be due to something that happened in book 7.

In this volume, the decks are cleared for what seems to be a new direction for the series at the very end when Sookie seeks out a family member who seems to have the same gift as herself. All in all, I'm quite content not to bother with any more of these and am rating this rather generously as an OK 2 star read. ( )

eh ( )

Blijft leuk, blijft luchtig tussendoor snackje. ( )

From Dead to Worse
3 Stars

Harris's world building is fascinating and Sookie is a delightful and down-to-earth heroine. Nevertheless, something is missing from this installment perhaps because it is a bridging book with the storyline moving in a new and completely different direction.

Plot threads from previous books are wrapped up quickly with well-established characters disappearing, and new people and elements are introduced. Shaking things up is not necessarily a negative, but not all of the issues are resolved satisfactorily.

Sookie's love life is on hiatus although the men in her life still can't seem to let go. Eric's memories of his time with Sookie return; Bill, the scumbag, is determined to win her back; Sam seems incapable of expressing his true feelings, Alcide has be regulated to "friend of the Sookie status", and Quinn is MIA.

In sum, it will be interesting to see where Harris is going with the new focus, but she definitely needs to liven things up soon.


( )

I enjoyed this book a lot. Everything seems to be coming together, and I love the way Eric can remember his time with Sookie now. :) Can't wait for the next one. ( )

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the disaster of the Vampire Summit, Sookie Stackhouse had hoped things might finally return to normal; as normal as things can be for a telepath. But many lives, and dead lives, had been lost with many others left wounded. There was a lot to recover from; uncertainty and danger surrounded Sookie as the vampires struggled to protect a weakened Queen, and the werewolves drew ever closer to taking out their own pack.

Sookie, however, has other things on her mind. There was the double wedding to start with, not to mention the total disappearance of her boyfriend Quinn, at least she thinks he is still her boyfriend, but she's not heard from him in so long she and can't be certain of his feelings. Also, someone is gong out of their way to make life difficult for Sookie and those close to her.

Sookie is in for a lot of surprises, a few are even family related and Hadley also manages to deliver a bombshell from the beyond. Eric has a revelation of his own and even Sam has a few tricks up his sleeves, or at least under his clothing. Sookie finds out that even a telepath can be surprised as everyone seems to have something their keeping from her, but the biggest betrayal will come from someone she loves.

This book is chockfull of excitement, events and surprises, right up until the very last page. An enjoyable read to pass the time and a great story in the continuing adventures of Sookie Stackhouse. ( )

Decent Fluff. ( )

This is probably my favorite book since book 4-Dead To The World. ( )

Once again Charlaine does another good Sookie book, but it's nothing spectacular. ( )

I feel like a lot of things happened in this book, but nothing really happened. The Were-war happened, and then the fae went to war, and then there was that thing with the werepanthers. Overall though, the only purpose any of these events had were just to get the characters positioned for the next book. On the surface this book has a lot to offer, but looking past that the reader will realize that this book doesn't contribute that much to the rest of the series. It simply served its purpose of moving the story forward.

The reason why this story has 2 1/2 stars instead of 3 is because there are way too many sub-plots going on that it is hard to keep track of all the characters involved. I feel like too many things were crammed into this book and many of them didn't serve a further purpose past their resolution in this book. Why cram something into the series that isn't going to be important later on? Though this is not the first time Harris has been guilty of this in this series...

There were two things that really bothered me in this book, and they both deal with Quinn. The first is how the heck is the reader supposed to know that Quinn killed Andre? Why is that just kinda thrown in this book instead of actually being a scene in the last? Seems more of an afterthought than anything else. The second thing is how did Sookie question Quinn's absence? Didn't she think it was strange that he wouldn't even call her? He refusal of reaching out to him was annoying and out of character. She dropped everything when Bill up and left her without staying in contact with her, why does she just get mad at Quinn? And then there's her heartless breakup...I get it, she wants to be put first. But then why would she think about Eric that way? He will never put her first, despite his affection for her. ( )

he reader finds Sookie reeling from an explosive attack on the previous month's vampire summit. Many vampires were killed, including several of Sookie's friends. But most pressing for Sookie is the unknown status of her weretiger boyfriend Quinn. Like it or not, everything is changing in the supernatural world--and Sookie is caught in the middle.

I love reading the Sookie Stackhouse series. Even though most of the characters are paranoral, Harris makes them seem real. Exciting, romantic, and funny. ( )

I bought the 8-book set, and had one dizzying, horrified moment, that this was the end of the series, and I immediately committed to writing Charlaine Harris all kinds of pleading fanmail. Luckily, I came to my senses, realized there were quite a few more, and all is again right with the world.

Seriously enjoyable reads. ( )

I lied. There was one more hiding up in mum's room. So I read it. And I wished I didn't.

I don't like Sookie's new relative, it was a useless plot line that took up pages that could have expanded and clarified other things. He was useless and just created more questions that I just don't care what the answers are.

The were-war was really short. Like not even a war short, just a skirmish. But you know....lions. Right? Lions are cool.

Well bye then Sophie. =/ Hello new weird guy.

Lamest vampire battle ever. So much anxiety for nothing.

Well Quinn, you lasted longer than some.

That's all I can say. There really wasn't a whole lot that happened in all of the things that happened. Meaning that yeah stuff happened, but do we really care? ( )

This book was more of the same. If you liked the first 7 books, then you will like this one. It seems about even in weres, vampires and witches. There is even a little bit of fairy drama in it. I enjoyed reading it, but I don't know if this was the best book in the series. I did really like the final chapter, where Sookie met Hunter. I would really like to see more of him, and explore a relationship between Hunter and Sookie. But I don't know if that will happen any time soon.

It seems like a lot happened in this book. There was an attempted vampire takeover. Drama in the were-panther community. Witchcraft. A resolution to Bob the cat's story. An attempted were takeover. People trying to kill Sookie. Lots of intrigue. But still, I felt the tone of this book was pretty mellow and low key. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to fans of the series.
( )

Lots going on in this one, the 8th book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries. Sookie intervenes in what looks like a war between two groups of werewolves, she also ends up getting caught in the middle of a hostile takeover of the Louisiana vampire region, has to stand up for her brother when his wife, a werepanther, breaks her marriage vows, and also gets to meet her great-grandfather, a fairy prince - who leads her to meet another unknown relative.

It didn't finish in a cliffhanger, thankfully, because I don't have the next book yet, but I definitely want to continue with the series. ( )

Well, so far this one's better than the last one. I'm about halfway through at present. I love Pam/Amelia, Octavia, the abundance of Eric, and the fact that Quinn's missing. And although I didn't like the introduction of fey characters into the series, they're improving slightly from their origin at the outset. I am so, so tired of the weres -- I wish I could skip all the were scenes without missing important plot points (harder to do when you're listening on audiobook like I am). I'm hoping the altercation with Priscilla is the end of their part in this book.

.....

Finished. I agree with other readers that Sookie's breakup with Quinn was cold. I didn't like Quinn, at all, but it was still pretty callous. I also agree with people that the end was totally abrupt. I'm also bummed that Amelia hooked up with Tray, who sounds like a totally uninteresting biker dude with a moustache. Pam is no comparison -- so obviously better!

Better than the last one, but still pretty average, over all.

Also, to add to the list of weird obsessions of Charlaine Harris: anybody else notice she's obsessed with silk shirts? Nobody wears silk that often in real life. ( )

Reread Jan 2019
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Changed rating from 5 to 3 stars. This book is a little all over the place, with too many storylines. The little parts with Eric were fun, as always.
But I still feel like some of the sentences and writing are really dumb and bad. It might interest you to know, miss Harris, that we, who live in a country with Royalty, have pretty much never had to bow for anyone. It's just ignorant to say that you don't know how, just because you're American. It just shows how little you know of the world. And all these chauvinistic dumb sentences really ruin the moment. ( )

"5 out of 5 stars!!! I loved how all the relationships went. Eric. *happy sigh* And I love that she's finding out new relatives now .... but I hope one of them isn't trying to use her. =0/ If you haven't read it yet then you better!"

Read more of this review here: https://frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com/2010/01/we-are-family-get-up-evrybody... ( )

This is a bridge book to the next book. This book is mainly to answer some questions and lead everyone to the next story. I thought it was nicely done and it was nice to find out more about Sookie's past. ( )

For all that was going on it seemed very little happened in this book. Having too many plots caused me to miss out on the character interactions that make these books so fun. ( )

I always have fun with this series, but this wasn't one of my favorites. I haven't read them for quite a while, and I kept forgetting who the many characters are and why I care about them. And my favorite character, Quinn, is barely in there. Still, good for a Sunday afternoon. ( )

This was one of my favorites because there is a lot going on in this book. The last book didn't have a lot of action so this one makes up for it. Debbie Pelt, man that woman pisses me off to know end. I really enjoyed all the Eric in this book. I am sad Quinn is gone though he was delicious. I also love Sam, he is always there when Sookie needs him. I think as much as I like Eric I would much prefer Sookie and Sam together.... ( )

This book has approximately 872 things going on. There's a Were war, a hostile vampire issue, more Debbie Pelt drama, Quinn drama, new family yay for this fairy storyline, I hope it's better than in the show , Jason and Crystal DRAMA, sexual tension between Sookie and Sam, sexual tension between Sookie and Eric, sexual tension between Sookie and the most awful character ever (Bill, obviously), just your basic Sookie Stackhouse adventure. It's like crack. I can't stop. ( )