Now being offered in BOOKRING format. (See journal entry below.) bookring successfully completed

Anita Blake rocks!

=========================

You get two preternatural experts in one with Anita Blake, animator and vampire slayer. She's one of the good guys in a world full of bad things. A world that Laurell K. Hamilton makes spin in her New York Times bestselling novels. Now, Anita has fallen for the leader of a local pack of werewolves. She's survived a lot, but this love thing may kill her yet....

"Was it too much to ask for someone who was human?
Hell, I knew a lot of women in my age bracket that couldn't get a date at all. I'd been one of them until Richard. All right, Jean-Claude would have taken me out, but I was avoiding him. I couldn't imagine dating Jean-Claude as if he were an ordinary guy. I could imagine having sex with him, but not dating...."

Starting a BookRing for the first 4 books in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. See the forum posting at http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/20/1318548 for details and links to the offered titles.

UPDATE: I've now got rings for the first 8 books of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. See my profile for details and relevant links.

Ring Participants (last modified 02-Mar-2007)
· NeedSun, Ontario, Canada (ship Intl)
· Aramena (formerly casseytara), Oklahoma, USA (ship Intl)
· lyssrose, Texas, USA (ship US) stalled here returned to me 4/7/06
· geniedances, Texas, USA (ship Intl)
· morpha, Oregon, USA (ship Intl)
· gypsyrose02, Western Australia (ship Intl/pref Aussie)
· Rhenium3, Czech Republic (ship pref Europe, else okay)
· Ulrika, Sweden (ship pref Europe, else okay)
· Margih, Finland (ship Europe)
· jessicaloveyou, Singapore (ship Intl)
· GateGypsy, BC, Canada (ship Intl)
· MaryZee, MD, USA (ship Intl)
· yvensong, NV, USA (ship US/CAN)
· CheriePie, Massachusetts, USA <== returned to me

• The above list order may be modified at any time to accomodate new participants or those who withdraw from the ring. So you should always refer to the list included in this journal entry before mailing the book after you've finished with it.
  
• After messaging the next person in the list for their address, you should allow at least a week for a reply, to allow for vacations, etc. You may also want to send more than one PM if they don't reply the first time since BookCrossing PMs sometimes get lost in transit. In Search Of (ISO) posts in the Bookring Forum also work well. And of course, remember to check their profile page in case they've posted news of their whereabouts, or an email address that is more reliable than BookCrossing PMs. If you still haven't heard from them after 1-1/2 to 2 weeks, skip them and move on to the next person in the list.
  
• Please post a journal entry here (1) when you first receive the book so we all know it has arrived safely, and (2) after you've finished reading it and are ready to send it along. Of course, please include your thoughts and opinions on the book itself too. :)
  
• For courtesy sake, please try not to keep this book for more than 4-6 weeks as others are also waiting to read it. If you don't think you can get to the book in that timeframe, you can request to be skipped over and/or added to the end of the ring instead. Just use your best judgement so as not to hold up the ring for all the participants waiting behind you.
  
• Late particpants are welcome—PM me if you'd like to join. Be sure to specify which bookrings you'd like to join, as well as your shipping preferences. If you're joining the ring after it's already begun shipping, know that your place in the list will be determined based on your geographic location in conjunction with what is best for the other participants.
  
• Please do not ask to join any of my rings if you're not a responsible and reliable BookCrosser. If you happen to see someone in the list who you believe is questionable, please let me know immediately. I do research names I don't recognize and use a number of methods for spotting bad Crossers, but I certainly appreciate any additional info.
  
• Remember that at the end of the list, THIS BOOK SHOULD BE RETURNED TO ME, not released into the wild. I enjoy rereading my favorite books over time, and lend them out to other people in my life too, who are not necessarily members of BookCrossing.
  
• Note that while I'll certainly take your shipping preferences into account during list ordering, I don't like to stick the same people with International shipping costs every time, particularly for a series of 10+ books such as this. So if you plan to participate in the rings for the entire series, at least 10 of which will be International, I may ask you if you'd be willing to ship Internationally even if you've requested not to at the beginning. I'll try to minimize this, especially if I have enough International shippers to pass the cost around to, but just in case, I figured I'd bring it up so you're not surprised if I approach you about it later.
  
• In addition, I like to ask the US participants of my rings who are shipping overseas to consider all shipping options in addition to surface mail. Particularly with lightweight books such as these, Air Mail or Global Priority Mail (GPM) is sometimes a more efficient shipping option for certain countries, sometimes costing as little as 50 cents more, certainly worth it to cut the shipping time down by a month or two. I've even come across a few cases where the small GPM envelope (into which these books fit) is even cheaper than surface mail!

THANKS AND HAPPY READING!

RELEASE NOTES:

Delivered this to NeedSun while meeting up with her in person at Niagara Falls, Canada.

This bookring isn't quite ready to start yet as I need to wait for book #2 to get a little further along. However I figured I'd get this books 3 and 4 to NeedSun now to read whenever she wants to, and then let her know when to start sending them along the ring. The shipping order for this one is definitely not in order as of this date (26-Jun-2005), but it will be before it's ready to mail on to the next person in the list. (So just because NeedSun might have this book in her possession for a long while, doesn't mean she's holding up the ring, it's simply because I wanted to get it to her sooner rather than later, and just asked her to hold on to it until the ring was ready to start.)

UPDATE 18-JUL-2005
Due to a comedy of errors, NeedSun and I didn't hook up that day. Therefore, this box of books is being mailed out to her via UPS Standard on 19-Jul-2005.
UPS Tracking number: 1Z 3TF 086 68 9994 4080.

The package of books including this one arrived today. Thank you so much! Summer has really reduced my reading time. Please let me know a little bit before you want this sent out so I don't hold it up. My bookring pile is so big right now, I am intimidated.

This has been my favorite book in the series so far. I love this author's style and find I can just keep reading and reading.

Let me know as soon as you want this book to begin it's journey and away it will go.

Thank you again for sharing this series with me, it has been a real pleasure to read about Anita Blake and the world she lives in.

Sent today via surface mail to Aramena.

Arrived over the weekend -- can't wait to dive into!

I took longer on this one than I anticipated, as my grandmother became ill and passed away over the holidays. I enjoyed this one as much as the others, though I'm not sure about falling in love with a werewolf...However, Edward is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters and I hope he is featured more and more in the following books. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing he and Anita hook up at some point...

I'm mailing this to Lyssrose today. Thanks again CheriePie for doing these rays!

This book is in limbo, most likely stalled with lyssrose since she hasn't answered any of my attempts to contact her over the last month (PMs, email, livejournal, etc.). And Aramena did confirm that she'd mailed this (from OK to TX) on Jan 5. So I've restarted the ring with a new copy, which can be found at http://bookcrossing.com/journal/3875848. I'll kick it off to geniedances first.

Guess my LiveJournal post to lyssrose finally got her attention and she returned the book to me. Since I haven't yet put the 2nd copy in the mail to geniedances, I may just continue to use this one instead so we can keep with all the current journal entries.

UPDATE 12-APR-2006: Mailed to geniedances on 12-Apr-2006 via Media Mail with Delivery Confirmation # 9102010521297349544686.

Wow! I started reading this one as soon as I got it out of the PO box! Interaction of the main characters is becoming more complex with each book.
Anita really has more in common with Edward than she has with Richard but I guess we will see how all of this progresses with the next book.

I have sent a PM to morpha and hope to get the book moving again this week.

I liked this book the least of books in this series that I have read. Not to say it wasn't a good book, it just didn't pack the usual punch that I have come to expect.
I can't see Anita with either Richard or Edward. In some ways, Richard is a wuss, if he persists in not killing Marcus and in not accepting the neccessity of some of Anita's killings, I think that much trouble lies ahead. On the other hand, Edward kills whomever he is paid to kill. His heart seems cold, Anita needs and deserves someone warm and loving who can accept the ramifications of her career.
I'm looking forward to reading about Anita dating both Jean-Claude and Richard ;-)

arrived today. cheers.

ok. i think out of the 4 anita blake novels ive read, this is my favourite. when i actually had time to read, i couldnt put it down. loved the anita, richard love affair and all the probs that went with it. will post out to rhenium3 as soon as i can. dont panic if it takes a little longer as i have a few to post first, but rest assured its safe with me.

a little backed up, will be read shortly :)

It's here!
//Ulrika

It was fun to se the relationship between Anita and Richard evolve, but I wish it could have been without over using the word furry. This really bugged me. There has to be other words to describe a wherewolf! But I will enjoy seeing what happens to the merry foursome of Anita, Edward, Richard and Jean-Claude. Have to agree with others here that apart from Anita my fav character probably is Edward.

The book is now on the way to Finland.

Thanks, book arived yesterday. Have two ring books to finish first so Anita Blake may stay little longer than one month in Tampere, I guess. But will read asap.

Finally! Finally I´ve read the book :) I enjoyed this one, it´s not about that, I´ve just had many rings and too much neurological pain (have had hard time, unfortunately), as simple as that. And I,ve moved, too.

Shortly about this book; so far the best one of the all I´ve read. Anita´s feminine side with men is getting more interesting and I´m really looking forward the next book (I have to read 5 books before it, at least... *sigh*). But, the whole novel was in my opinion the best so far.

Thanks CheriePie again for sharing and big thanks for patience with me!

Now the book is on its way to GateGypsy, enjoy the book!

This arrived in the mail today. I have a number of rings ahead of it, but if CheriePie is eager for it to come home, I will bump it up in the order of books to read. (Just PM me to let me know!) Unfortunately, I am bound (as I promised) to read Grapes of Wrath next after I've finished the book I'm currently reading (Peacocks Dancing,) so I certainly have my work cut out for me!

I'm really looking forward to getting to this though (ESPECIALLY after a hefty book like Grapes of Wrath!) These Anita Blake books have a special kind of humour to them, and are engaging yet mentally relaxing reads. I've really enjoyed all the books I've had the luck to read, thanks to CheriePie. (ThankyouThankyou!)

Finally got to start (and finish!) this book this week. I was feeling very discouraged, looking at my big TBR stack of bookring books, and struggled to get into this. I was really irritated when Jean-Claude first showed up, because we're all the way to the fourth book and I was tired of his relationship with Anita remaining so static, despite the events in the preceeding books. I'm hoping that turns in this book result in some forward motion. It's not that I *want* Anita to end up with him, it's just that I want *something* to happen because it's frustrating when characters don't grow. I was sad there weren't any zombies in this one, but there were an aweful lot of shapeshifters, so I wasn't wholly disappointed **laughs** I was pleased with Hamilton for her red herring, tossed into the pot of evidence to confuse or distract us. It was well done. I'm still waiting to find out what on earth Gretchen is all about. Overall, this was enjoyable, though not my favourite of the series thusfar. (My favourite was the one with all the zombies!) I felt that the plot-advancing story/mystery was almost just the side-dish to keep us distracted while Hamilton really worked on Anita's relationship issues. Maybe it was. Anyway, everything romantic is still up in the air, so I'll have to wait for the next book before any sort of resolution will be available. Thank you so much for sharing these books, again, CheriePie, and for your patience waiting for me to read! I've PMed MaryZee. With tuition/textbooks/school supplies and rent to pay with my next paycheque, I may not get this book on to her 'til mid-September, but I already warned her of that. Thank you again!

In the post to MaryZee on Sept 22! Thanks so much for your patience, and thank you for sharing! I have enjoyed being part of this series of rings!

Arrived safely today. We had a holiday (no mail) yesterday, and today I received this book and another box from Canada. Glad they both made it safely.

10/21 update - Starting on this today. I've confirmed Yvensong's address, as the next reader.

LKH certainly knows how to write compelling stories. These will never be mistaken for great literature, but they do qualify as a wonderful guilty pleasure. (Hmmm, maybe we should have suspected that based on the name of the 1st one in this series.)

Great to see some progress in Anita's love life, although it's one step forward and two steps back. And LKH continues to come up with very unusual characters. A great read for this Halloween season. Thanks for sharing these, CheriePie! (I have the next one in the series, which is why I'm not on the list for it.)

Mailed out to Yvensong on 10/30.

Updated later to add - this is my 29th release for the "Keep Them Moving" challenge.

This was waiting for me at the post office yesterday! Yay!

I'll start reading this this weekend, between bouts of word wars and other insane attempts at pushing out thousands and thousands of words in my new NaNoWriMo novel.

Thanks for sharing, CheriePie!

Another fun read in the Blake series. With each book we learn more of Anita and the hidden world she cowers in while slaying and being pursued by the good guys and bad guys.


November 17 -- This is on its way back home!

Arrived back home with me today after a nice tour around the world. :) Along with what looks like a surprise RABCK for me. Thank you Yve! :* And thank you to everyone who participated in this ring for taking care of my book, journaling your thoughts on it, and sending it along on it's journey. Blessings of the Season to you all!!

I realized after I journaled this that I had labeled up a second copy of Lunatic Cafe I acquired for my PC, so I could let this particular copy continue to travel and (hopefully) accumulate more journal entries as well.

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to a BookMooch reader in PA on 12-Dec-2007 via USPS First Class Mail with Delivery Confirmation # 9101 8052 1390 7197 0625 42.