I honestly am such a fan of Charlaine Harris that I'd go just about anywhere she'd take me. From Dead to Worse wasn't quite all over the map, but there wasn't as much of a central theme in this book as there was in her previous entries in this series.

We went from weddings to family revelations to were-wars -- and there was so much more. While the varying parts are interesting and many did tie together, there isn't the overall unity in this book I have come to expect from Harris's work.

The beginning chapter in which Sookie Stackhouse serves as the bridesmaid for Halleigh's wedding was a spinoff from Harris's short story in an anthology collection, "My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding." I'm wondering if the rest isn't bits and pieces that have just needed resolving for some time.

I think you will see some answers to some interesting questions you've had as readers all along -- like where did Sookie get her gift, what makes her different? And there are a few other surprises in store.

Interesting, in part, but not as cohesive and riveting as her usual offerings are as a whole. From Dead to Worse is still very much worth the read if you are a diehard Sookie fan like I am, but this is honestly the first of the series I can't simply rave about.

by Becky Kyle
Rambles.NET
7 June 2008

Sookie Stackhouse, telepath and friend to supernaturals everywhere, has several situations exploding all around her. Her boyfriend Quinn is MIA, the were community is at odds, as is the vampire community, her brother's marriage seems to be off to a rocky start and Sookie seems to be front and center when it all comes to a head.

With attempts on her life and the deaths of some of her friends, Sookie's world is getting more and more dangerous. Yet in the midst of all the danger, Sookie finds some unexpected happy surprises.

I loved this book with a capital L! So much is going on with the supernatural folk that Sookie associates with; it's nonstop action from cover to cover. Some things I have been dying to see happen in this series finally do. While chaos surrounds Sookie, she starts putting some order in her life, and she and Eric, her former Vamp lover, almost have a REAL conversation. *gasp*

This is a book that has Sookie going through a lot of changes and making all sorts of discoveries in her life. I was all consumed in this book from page one, and when I reached the last page I debated whether or not to start reading it all over again. Had it not been for my impatiently waiting sister, I would have.

Harris is a fabulous author, no question. Her style of writing is so engaging, so descriptive and entertaining; it takes only about a page of reading before I feel like I have been transplanted to Bon Temps, La. I have been counting down the days 'til this book's release, greedy to get my hands on it, and I was not disappointed in the least; Harris always delivers. The last two pages have me already eagerly anticipating the next in the series ... and hoping she inherits a little vampire speed while writing so I don't have to wait so long!

by Cherise Everhard
Rambles.NET
7 June 2008