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....(Back cover blurb)

New purchase based on a recommendation from a fellow BXer. That would be you, N8an, if you happen to read this journal entry. [grin] First of a series. (Ha, just what I need: another series of vampire books to get hooked on.) I sincerely hope this storyline doesn't metamorphosize into semi-porn the way Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series did.

Interesting little alternate reality tale set in rural northern Louisiana. Vampires are real and "out of the coffin" -- that is, no longer hiding their existence from humans. Many of them are "mainstreaming" themselves, living among and working with humans. They drink synthetic blood and/or subsist on animals. However, there are some who insist on the real thing, human blood. Fortunately for them, an entire subculture of humans, known as fang-bangers, has arisen, willing and eager to provide sustenance.

Sookie is a guarded, closed-off young woman. She's had to be, as a result of her own odd talent and a childhood trauma. When Bill enters her life, she is at once intrigued by him, and then strongly attracted to him once she realizes she cannot hear his thoughts. She can relax and let her guard down with him as she can with no one else.

But then women start dying in town -- women with a history of multiple sexual encounters with humans and vampires. Bill falls under suspicion, and so does Sookie's brother, Jason, a handsome womanizer, who a century or so earlier may have been euphemistically deemed a "rake."

Vampire politics come into play, along with a few other, ummm, interesting plot twists, plus a couple of mildly steamy scenes between Bill and Sookie, resulting in a fast-paced frothy way to while away an afternoon.

Fun, if predictable. I look forward to reading the second in the series.

Mailed to dyluvsbooks today.

Thanks avanta7!!

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