Reviewer: Melissa Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton
Series: Anita Blake #1
Also in this series: The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, The Killing Dance
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: September 24th 2002
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 272
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Series Rating:
Published over ten years ago by Ace, Guilty Pleasures marked the debut of a series that was destined to grow from cult favorite to a major New York Times bestseller. Now, for long-time Anita Blake junkies and newfound fans, Guilty Pleasures makes its trade paperback debut. Readers will learn how Anita Blake started raising the dead-and killing the undead. And how she met Jean Claude, the master vampire destined to become not only her biggest nemesis, but her greatest lover...
From the Trade Paperback edition.
This is the first book in the Anita Blake series. I definitely enjoyed this book (well, except the were-rats. eeewwww!). Action, Horror, Humor & Sci-Fi, (I am still looking for the romance), fast paced the 266 pages went by in few hours for me, I didn’t want to put it down.
I totally dig Anita, you just got to love a shit kickin’ female, she is only 24, 5’3″ and known by the vampire world as “The Executioner”. An animator by profession, vampire hunter on the side, yeah, she is B A D. Anita Blake has a weird sort of humor, that I appreciate. Not many people in the book find her funny, but I sure did. The bad guy, well, worst guy, is a 1,000 yr old female master vampire who didn’t even get to complete puberty before her transition. That would totally make me a mega BI too, imagine being trapped for eternity w/out having all your pubies….But what can I say, bad girl, in this case, looses, Anita wins-or there wouldn’t be more in the series right??
My favorite quote from the book:
“No one can make you feel inferior, without your consent” – Eleanor Roosevelt.
Not that this was really important to the story line or anything, I just remember hearing that same quote as a kid.
Now for the part I didn’t like:
Anita-vampire hunter-has a secret crush on a vampire. But not just any vampire, the next in line master vampire, and he linked her to him, without her approval! I guess all in all, it just didn’t have enough LOVIN for me. However, I am hopeful. I have read some reviews that say the sex totally picks up as the series goes on. I guess I’ll just have to see…
LKH was the reason I began reading vampires, watching Buffy and actually buy books in a series. Unfortunately I parted ways with Anita Blake after book 11 but for awhile these books were a wild on the egde of your seat ride.
Enjoy them like I did Holly! 🙂
This is such a well done series. What a treat that you haven’t read it yet.
Melissa – The early books are good, and the lovin’ definitely increases as the series moves on. You’ve got some good reading ahead of you. Not to scare you, you also have some not-so-good reading. But that’s waaaay down the line.
Melissa,
Stick with it (and thank you for starting with the first book in the series!). Some series you can pick up anywhere and be ok, but there is such growth in the characters in this series, that I really feel you need to experience it from the start. There is never a typical love story for Anita but there is certainly romance and a ton of sex later on. There is so much I could say about this series (I LOVE IT!), but I’d rather just encourage you to continue to read. 🙂 Enjoy.
Thanks for all the encouragement. I am having fun, enjoying the comments.
Melissa,
Yes, it takes awhile before Anita humps anyone but when she does…it’s OH SO GOOD! Like some of the other have mentioned the books get a little outta control but that’s way down the line. And I’m one who HAS to finish a series even if I’m not liking it as much… I have to know what happens. But I was pleasantly surprised by the last Antia book, The Harlequin, it was a (kind of) throw back to the earlier books in the series.