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Most Helpful Favorable Review
35 out of 38 people found this review helpful.
Great Start
The first book of the Anita Blake series was highly entertaining. I picked up this book originally because of Twilight withdrawal. The only thing Twilight and Guilty Pleasures have in common is the fact there are humans, vampires, and werewolves. That's about it. This b...
The first book of the Anita Blake series was highly entertaining. I picked up this book originally because of Twilight withdrawal. The only thing Twilight and Guilty Pleasures have in common is the fact there are humans, vampires, and werewolves. That's about it. This book was positively addicting. Anita Blake is the type of characeter you hope to find in books. She is edgy, witty, and accessible. I wasn't expecting to be sucked into Laurell K. Hamilton's world so easily. After reading this, I immediately had to continue with the other books. I read nothing but the first nine in the Anita Blake series, and still working on reading through the rest.
I reccommend this to anyone who like vampires, or werewolves. Anyone who is a Twilight fan or fan of similiar titles. As well as anyone who wants a fairly quick read that's simply entertaining.
I reccommend this to anyone who like vampires, or werewolves. Anyone who is a Twilight fan or fan of similiar titles. As well as anyone who wants a fairly quick read that's simply entertaining.
posted by FDRoe_282 on September 27, 2009
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43 out of 62 people found this review helpful.
Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series
Ok--I do love vampires. Werewolves, too. So I was really excited to read this series and was left disappointed. The plot was all over the place with major chunks left out or it simply wasn't cohesive. Anita's character made decisions that made no sense and I found m...
Ok--I do love vampires. Werewolves, too. So I was really excited to read this series and was left disappointed. The plot was all over the place with major chunks left out or it simply wasn't cohesive. Anita's character made decisions that made no sense and I found myself skipping over some of the big "fight" scenes because they lost my interest--the gore factor was superfluous and the fact that Anita got attacked every time she returned to her apartment got old very quickly. And all the taglines for this series promised it would be sexy and sultry, but those scenes were few and far between, or not even present. I bought & read the first 4 books and they didn't get any better, so I'm done. Kresley Cole and Gina Showalter write far more interesting, sexy, & funny fantasy/romance books--I would recommend those over the Anita Blake series.
posted by 316219 on November 6, 2008
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Anonymous
Posted November 6, 2008
I Also Recommend:
Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series
Ok--I do love vampires. Werewolves, too. So I was really excited to read this series and was left disappointed. The plot was all over the place with major chunks left out or it simply wasn't cohesive. Anita's character made decisions that made no sense and I found myself skipping over some of the big "fight" scenes because they lost my interest--the gore factor was superfluous and the fact that Anita got attacked every time she returned to her apartment got old very quickly. And all the taglines for this series promised it would be sexy and sultry, but those scenes were few and far between, or not even present. I bought & read the first 4 books and they didn't get any better, so I'm done. Kresley Cole and Gina Showalter write far more interesting, sexy, & funny fantasy/romance books--I would recommend those over the Anita Blake series.
43 out of 62 people found this review helpful.
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Great Start
The first book of the Anita Blake series was highly entertaining. I picked up this book originally because of Twilight withdrawal. The only thing Twilight and Guilty Pleasures have in common is the fact there are humans, vampires, and werewolves. That's about it. This book was positively addicting. Anita Blake is the type of characeter you hope to find in books. She is edgy, witty, and accessible. I wasn't expecting to be sucked into Laurell K. Hamilton's world so easily. After reading this, I immediately had to continue with the other books. I read nothing but the first nine in the Anita Blake series, and still working on reading through the rest.
I reccommend this to anyone who like vampires, or werewolves. Anyone who is a Twilight fan or fan of similiar titles. As well as anyone who wants a fairly quick read that's simply entertaining.35 out of 38 people found this review helpful.
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Nice Introduction
The world that Anita Blake lives in is a lot like our own. The one major difference is that vampires, lycanthropes, and other creatures that go bump in the night are real. Not only are they real, but they are legal. The city of St. Louis has a thriving vampire district. Anita Blake, the main protagonist of this great series of books, is an animator and part-time vampire slayer. She is quite good at both of her jobs and has earned the nickname the "Executioner" for the amount of vampire kills she has to her credit. She is also a consultant for the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team or RPIT. Anita's main job is working for Animators Inc, and using her birth given ability to raise the dead. Anita is small in stature, but makes up for it by being uncommonly standoffish and in your face. She is not afraid to use the Browning High Power that she keeps with her at all times. Anita is a great character. She anchors this series and is a great narrator. <BR/><BR/>Thre thrust of this first novel comes from old vampires, dubbed Master Vampires, being killed. Her normal enemies come to the Executioner for aid. They are at first rebuffed but Anita is soon convinced when someone she cares about is put in danger. Anita is skilled in dealing with the vampires. She knows not to look them directly in the eyes. She also keeps her gun loaded with silver bullets. The debut of this series is a quick read and introduces a few of the mainstays of the series. The cops who work in RPIT, Rudolph "Dolph" Storr, and the wisecracking Zebrowski, Anita's best friend and PI, Veronica "Ronnie" Sims, and of course, Jean-Claude, wanna be Master of the City of St. Louis, and otherworldly gorgeous. Anita is in immediate lust with him and that causes her quite a few issues. <BR/><BR/>This was a great, face paced read, that kicked off the series with a bang. If you're a fan of vampires or other supernatural fiction I would give it a shot. You won't be disappointed.
21 out of 23 people found this review helpful.
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NorthernLightsGal
Posted December 27, 2009
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Guilty Displeasure!
This was my first foray into Laurell K. Hamilton's work. I will not be persuing her work in the future. I am a big fan of both the paranormal and vampire genres, but I could not get past page 50 and ended up giving the book away in disgust. This book was very dark, and gross to the point where I couldn't stand it-and I'm a medical professional for pete's sake! When I have time to read, it is supposed to be a pleasurable experience, but this book and it's themes were far too noir for me to find any enjoyment in them. I know that Laurell is quite a prolific author and has many fans, but I will not join them. I just can't "go there". I am going to stick to Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed Series; this is about how dark I am willing to go. Her characters are intoxicating, the plotlines engaging and the writing is brilliant!
16 out of 28 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted August 11, 2010
Blah!
I was really excited to read this book and get into another fun series. I love the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris and thought this series would be similar. I was SO WRONG! The story never caught my attention. The dialogue came across as forced and cheesy at times and I felt as if characters came out of no where with no introduction and then left again with no explanation. It just felt disjointed. I hate not finished a book so I forced myself to finish it but needless to say, I won't be continuing with the series.
13 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
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AxelMi
Posted May 25, 2010
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NOT LKH'S debut book....
This was an excellent book, but not her debut as the book description says. Her original debut book was Nightseer. Which was also and excellent book and the reason I picked this one up as well. I have read all of her books to date and must say that the early books were great, but they declined into nothing but sex as the "plot" (if you could actually find a plot in them).I will start reading them again if she returns to her original writing style.
9 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
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booksonmynook
Posted July 11, 2012
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I loved this book. very well written. Finished it very quickly
I loved this book. very well written. Finished it very quickly
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Daniee
Posted June 8, 2010
Anita Blake
I read up to Burnt Offerings (Book Seven) and I won't lie when I say I enjoyed the series (even though Anita pissed me off) but friends have told me that the series becomes about sex, orgies, and more sex (with maybe a hint of plot mixed in). If you're into that you'll love this series, but I decided to give up Anita s and move on. Laurell K. Hamilton is a great author, but she's just not for me. It's just a matter of opinion.
Side-note: If you want to read a series that is a little bit less erotica (but still gory) try Kate Daniels.5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Chels-Nich
Posted March 18, 2010
Not the best vampire novel out there...
If you are into the whole "new" vampire era with books like Twilight, Sookie Stackhouse Series, Vampire Diaries, etc. This is not a good read for you.
I really did not enjoy the main character. Hamilton tried to hard to make Anita come off as this hardcore feminist vampire hunter, it ended up fake and a little too obnoxious. There is no "romance" between her and the vampires... yet. There may be in the later books, but in this particular novel she basically hated them.
The vampires were really poorly developed. They just came off as stupid, hateful, and no common sense.
ITS NOT A VAMPIRE-HUMAN ROMANCE NOVEL, so don't read if that's what you want. Its about a vampire hunter, not a vampire lover.5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Anita kicks major vampire butt!!
I don't remember how I found out about this series but I love the Anita Blake vampire hunter series. I love supernatural books that are set in modern day times. People know that vampires,were's,fae, and other magical things exist in the world. Anita Blake is a 5 foot 2 inches woman who knows her way around a weapon. She works for a place called Animator's Inc. Not only is Anita a vampire hunter, she is an animator as well. Which means, she can raise the dead from their graves. If Anita is not busy with vampire business or raising the dead,she also works for the police on cases that are about magical beings. There have been many killins lately of vampires. Until not too long ago, it wasn't illegal to kill vampires,but after much dispute Congress passed a law giving vampires the same rights as humans. So Anita gets hired by the terrifying head vampire of the city to track down the killer. As if Anita didn't have enough on her plate,try throwing off the advances of a powerful vampire Jean Claude who is as hot as he looks. I love the Anita Blake series. I've read all of them already and anticipating the next one that comes out sometime in 2009. The beginning of the books have low level romance. But beware that furhter into the series, there is a lot of graphic sex scenes. So if you have problems with graphic sex scenes or don't like any type of yaoi(maleXmale) i would not recommend this series to you. But if you don't mind you'll love these books!!!
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted August 31, 2008
Guilty Pleasures - Not really my kind of book, sorry
I've always wanted to read the Anita Blake series and the first book that caught my eye was the cover for Incubus Dreams. So I started reading the first book in the series and to be honest it just wasn't my kind of book. Maybe it was a bit too adult for my kind of reading. I gave it a shot. Here we meet the infamous Anita Blake who fights vampires and can raise the dead. But hey read the series for yourself and see whether its for you or not. Get it from the library first if you not sure whether to buy it or not. Got to hand it to Anita, she is one tough fighter.
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted February 10, 2011
First few are GREAT, then they get smutty...
I really enjoyed this series until about the 6th or 7th book. Then there's just too much gratuitous sex. I'm not a prude, but I prefer the suggestion of sex and sexual tension more than outright erotica. I don't think that the sex scenes add to the story. In fact I think they take away from it. So if you get into these books just be aware, the series takes a turn for the erotica later on. Fine if you want erotica, not fine if you just signed on for fantasy.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Florry
Posted May 26, 2010
First book read of Hamilton's, but not the last!
I am a very big fan of all things paranormal and offbeat, and this book did not disappoint me at all! When this series was suggested to me, it was described as a more adult Buffy the Vampire Slayer. To a degree this is correct, but I feel as though the complexity of the story and the development of so many of the characters puts it in a more developed league than Buffy or even a lot of other paranormal stories I have read. I love the character, Anita, and how she is quirky and all together unique. She is not all flowers and sunshine, but she is also not all gloom and doom. She's her own fantastic mixture of many different traits. I definitely recommend this book for anyone that enjoys paranormal thrillers!
4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted March 28, 2012
Forever fan
This is definitely a series to start reading. I absolutely love it. I was addicted once i started with this first novel. :D
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anita Blake 1- 4 Great! 5 - 16 oversexed. 16+ back on track.
The first four books in this series are interesting. There is a balance of action, sensuality, and challenges to over come in the bid for power and Anita finding love. Then around book five she becomes a succubus. The result: books 5 - 16 are oversexed. So much to the point that I skipped entire chapters to get back to the plot and action. There was one book, somewhere in the middle that was just one hook up after another as Anita comes into her new power and identity. (And the one thing I can't stand: characters that whine and pine incessantly. I'm looking at you, male supporting characters!)
I gave the series one more chance when I heard TED had made a comeback in Skin Trade. I was well pleased with a return to the the fully armed Anita I fell in love with (if not changed). I have read the first few chapters in Flirt and hope this continues. I still skip her hookups, after this long, I know exactly what the characters like.
If you are overloaded with Vampires, in general or with this author, Hamilton's "Meridith Gentry" series is a refreshing change. The lead female is a bit softer, collects lovers much like Anita, and struggles to stay alive and come into her new power.3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Could not put it down
I love reading books about vampires and really enjoyed this book. It was a very fast read and I could not put it down. From the first sentence of the booked I was hooked. The more I read the more I wanted to know. Anita (the main character) was an interesting. She always said what she thought and felt no remorse for it. The vampires in this book call her the executioner, because she is legally allowed to kill them if she has a court order. Not only is she a vampire hunter but she is an animator, which means she can raise the dead. The master vampire wants Anita's help to find out who has been killing powerful vampires in the city. In the beginning Anita does not want to help, because she doesn't want anything to do with them. However, she is forced to help and a fascinating story ensues. If you enjoy reading vampire and mystery books then this book is for you.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted May 14, 2010
Excellent Read!
I bought this book with low expectations. I was in Twilight withdrawal and thought I would give it a try. I was very pleasantly surprised. It was suspenseful enough that I didn't want to read it alone at night before I went to bed, but it had passion and romance all mixed together in a world where vampires are real and werewolves walk among us. It was no more violent than most crime novels, and no more racy than a romance novel, but so much more interesting! I couldn't put it down. I have given it to many friends and their reactions are the same. They loved it. I couldn't wait to read the next in the series and am now up to #6. I highly recommend it!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Rowol
Posted January 3, 2013
While Guilty Pleasures (and it's accompanying sequels) helped sh
While Guilty Pleasures (and it's accompanying sequels) helped shape the urban fantasy genre, the novel just isn't good.
The characters are very poorly written, the decisions they make little to no sense and the dialogue is cringe worthy. The author spends far too much time trying to make the main character clever and not enough time trying to make anything, anybody says sensible.
The plot has no focus, spending the first half trying to be a mystery novel, in which the protagonist bounces from one area to another for reasons only apparent to herself, then the last half is paraded around as an action/thriller with some of the most dry fighting sequences I can recollect reading.
Bottom line, your characters should be memorable and should make you want to build a relationship with them. The characters found in Anita Blake are either too bland or too over the top and at the end of the day, you just right don't care what happens to them.1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted August 24, 2012
Good
Good. Parts of the story draw me in, but there are parts that I don't mind putting the book down.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted July 24, 2012
Couldn't finish
I tried to push through and made it to page 80 before giving up I just didn' t find th main character intereating at all and at timesI found myself to be lost and trying to figure out what in th heck had just happened! I read lots of different genres and I loveparanormal book but this one wasn' t worth the three dollars I spent on it!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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