QB's Aural Quickies

"So, HEARD any good books lately?"
"What did you think of...?"

Here's the Quickie answers to those questions. Click on the Links for more info.


Charlaine Harris - Southern Vampire series

1. Dead Until Dark♥
2. Living Dead in Dallas
3. Club Dead
4. Dead to the World
4.1 Powers of Detection anthology
4.3 Night's Edge anthology
4.5 Bite anthology, One Word Answer
4.7 My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding anthology, Tacky
5. Dead as a Doornail♥
6. Definitely Dead♥
7. All Together Dead (click here for print link)♥

♥ = in addition to print, these titles are also available as downloadable audio books from Audible.com; all are narrated by Johanna Parker

Category: Peanut M&Ms - mmmm...devour... sigh... then reach for the next one. My daily dose of Insanity-B-Gone. Most books I read fall in this category. (A-,B+,B)
Flame Height: 4" out of 9"

This is a series that I initially didn't care for. It just moved too slow for me in print form. The problem was that I just wasn't hearing Sookie's voice in my head. But now I can't wait for each new release because Johanna Parker brings Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse to Southern Fried life! I find myself stopping and just floating along with her smooth, small town Louisiana drawl filled with Sookie's vulnerabilty and strength. Then she changes not only the pitch and tone, but also the cadence of her narration to bring all the characters in Sookie's world to life. I notice that book 1, Dead Until Dark, has recently been released in audio, so I hope that bodes well for the release of all the earlier books in audio format.

As for the story itself, this one takes place almost entirely at the Vampire Summit and serves to remind us that vamps are SO not warm and cuddly, they are ruthless mercenaries who feel no qualms doing whatever is necessary in their quest to obtain and/or hold power. Sookie's newest hunny-bunny, Quinn, may not be quite as likeable as I originally thought he was either. And events happen that should make for some interesting future story lines.
Piquant Opines (print version): RT (4.5 stars!), LV (5 stars)