Guilty Pleasures... I was feeling nostalgic

I read Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton when I was a sophomore in high school. I actually had read Obsidian Butterfly first, and went back and read the in order, stopping at about, number 12 or so.


I had fallen in love with the books, even though I was quite ashamed to let anyone see me read them, and I certainly didn't want to explain to them what they were about (well, there's this vampire hunter/zombie raiser who falls in love with a master vampire and a werewolf, befriends a wereleopard and wererat.... etc).


I picked them back up about a year and a half or two years ago. As with many people, I was disappointed about all the orgies and the all-powerful Anita. I was feeling nostalgic this week though, and thought I would read the old Laurell K Hamilton. I didn't realize how much I had forgotten about Anita's story until I started reading.



Most vampire fans have read the Anita Blake books. Most of you know the story. In case you have forgotten, like I did, here is what happens in book 1:

Anita is forced into helping the master vampire Nikalaos (not Jean-Claude) find out who is responsible for the vampire killings. Anita's main job is still an animator, but she does do some vampire hunting on the side... she's killed 14 so far. Anita is also quite afraid of vampires.

Book 1 is where she becomes tied to Jean-Claude before he becomes master of the city himself. She meets the rat king Raphael too. Most of the human characters that are in the other books are introduced in this one. Not so many lycanthropes or other friendly vamps though. You don't see in were wolfs or leopards, just rats; no Asher either.

Anita is still innocent and fearful in Guilty Pleasures. She is also stubborn, has a temper, and very against anyone having control of her... typical Anita. Throughout the book Anita questions whether or not vampires have a soul. She thinks that all vampires are pretty much no good and not to be trusted.

I also found it interesting that Phillip, a co-dependent stripper from Guilty Pleasures who is addicted to vampire bites, likes pain, abused as a child, and wants approval is so incredibly similar to Nathaniel. I thought for a while that it was Nathaniel using a different name.

Guess what? Besides a pretty PG description of the guys dancing, there was no sex! No animal orgies, no 3-ways, nothing. I wish they were still like this one!

While getting the book picture, I was looking through the different book covers from around the world. I am particularly fond of the one from Hungary. The German one is nice too. You can find the rest here.