This is another reread for me.

I really struggled with finishing this one. Which was greatly disappointing as I loved, loved this series when I read them the first time, and wanted to reread them immediately. I waited for YEARS, savoring the thought of how much I would enjoy it a second time, and I could barely finish the book. What a disappointment.

I finally finished the last 250 pages, all in one sitting, refusing to do anything else until I finished.

I'll take a break before getting the next one.

I originally read this book in 2008, and I'm pretty sure I've read it at least once since then, but not recorded on goodreads.

I read most of the books - I think all but the last one - before ever watching True Blood, and I've only watched the first four or so seasons of True Blood, though I will finish them (I got interrupted by new fall television).

I also skip 99% of the sex, so won't touch upon that in the review really. I'm not a prude, I'm just not really interested in reading romance/sex.

I'll also mention briefly that I always have grave difficulty in reviewing a book that has hundreds or thousands of reviews, especially a book that most people rave about - what I can possibly say that no one else has?

(I'll also mention I'm planning on cutting / pasting the above for however many SS books I happen to reread and review. Right now, I'm planning on doing all of them, along with the Anita Blake series, but we'll see).

So, here goes.

I love Sookie. I don't remember her being quite as stupid the first time I read the books, so I was a bit surprised by that, but I do really love her character. I'm glad there's no Tara in the books for a while, because I hate the Tara character in the show. Rereading the books makes me see some foreshadowing stuff going on, which adds a bit of depth to the books - which honestly, they really need that depth. The book is a very fast read (especially skipping the sex parts, which I do). I really like Bill, and always thought Sookie should end up with him. Yes, he did some things, but he's not any worse than say Eric and how many hundreds of thousands of people adore Eric? (I also happen to love Sam, so *shrug*)

There is definitely some sections that drag - long sections where Sookie goes to work and comes home. I think this is trying to just establish Sookie's life, but to me, it's mostly plot filler to stretch the book out to however many pages it is so it's considered a book, not a novella. I wish it was kept a novella.

Onward to the next one!

I read a lot of biographies & have read a few on polygamy, and was interested in reading Decker's story/memoir about her life in polygamy. I always have a really, really hard time in reviewing memoirs because I feel like I'm reviewing a person's life, not their book, and how does one review someone's life?

Kristyn (born Sophia) was born into polygamy, raised in the faith, and married into the faith. Unlike most of tales of polygamy, Sophia "only" had one sister wife, so her book was really interesting because it was so different. Her life was full of abuse (sexual, emotional & physical) and lived a life of neglect and poverty, which caused her much mental distress (including an addiction to food).

That being said, I found it very difficult to get into the book based upon Decker's very choppy writing style (my review copy was also full of numerous spacing issues, from lack of spacing between words to lack of spacing between paragraphs, all of which I assume is fixed in the final version). Sophia/Kristyn was also very, very, very good at "playing the martyr". I'm sure you have one of those in your life, where no matter what, the person just isn't happy, is always the wronged one, is always the one making the big sacrifices, is always bending over backwards to make everyone else happy and of course, they are perfect in every single way. Between Sophia's constant playing the martyr/"poor me" syndrome, her constant "foreseeing" of truths (i.e. she "knew" what sex her children would be; she knew various men were perverts; she "knew" when one of her kids was in trouble; she "knew" she was going to have one more child because her future child "spoke" to her, etc etc), her constant back and forth ranting and raving, etc., it made it very hard for me to like Sophia.

On the other hand, that was the whole point of the book. This is a memoir, after all, and it's here to tell Kristyn's/Sophia's story of polygamy, and naturally that includes all the horror stories often associated with stories of polygamy, like incest, abuse, poverty, jealous, hatred, etc. She's telling her side of it, and no matter what, you have to feel for what she went through.

And regardless, it's a fascinating tale that will get you to learn about a lifestyle that's probably way, way different from your own.

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion/review.

So, Anita Blake. There's quite a few other Anita Blake reviews I've written already - check out that review link up above to see more. I have a love hate relationship with her. About a year or so ago I decided to read her books over again from the beginning & review them all, and read until I couldn't stand them anymore, taking breaks as needed. So here I am.

I'm still at the point where I mostly like the book. I'm even giving it four stars. There's a decent amount of plot, some sexy scenes but nothing over the top like in later books. There's the usual amount of describing all the clothes bit which drives me bananas, but again, not as bad as in later books where all Hamilton writes about is clothes & sex.

My biggest issue with the book - and why I'm not giving the book 4.5 stars - is the baddies in the book just aren't scary, like, at all. I know part of my problem with the bad guys is I know in every single Anita Blake book the bad guy is described as the scariest bad guy ever - which is exactly how Anita describes the bad guys in this one. Ugh. Really? Every one? And she's just so full of herself and everyone fawns over her. I repeat: Really? Ugh.

Of course, everything wraps up just in the nick of time at the end, and the books are so quick to read it's over before you've realized you've even started reading, so that's a plus too, especially this time of year when everyone's so busy.

But, the world building is great, and I still like Anita, and I'm still interested enough in the series that I'll read the next one, though I'll give it a bit again. I'm kind of interested to read the downward spiral, honestly - a bit of hate reading I guess. It's going to be fun to nitpick the later books, which is why I'm going to keep going.This review was originally posted on Rambling Reviews