This series began with a concept that I usually love - supernatural police force - and then immediately complicated itself by starting us off in the middle of a relationship that we, as the audience, are not emotionally invested in. Pierce had to convince us of the sincerity of emotion that comes from a partnership of years falling apart due to abandonment, with the additional complications of the betrayed party cycling through part of the 5 stages of grief (but really only managing to end up in anger again and again) and falling into a drug addiction. There was also the added bonus of a surprise dead sister lurking in Grissom's recent past as well, shoehorned in without adding a goddamn thing to the narrative. Needless to say, I was not persuaded.

To me, this read more as an outline than a novel - if fleshed out (hah!) properly, I could have really enjoyed the plot of "who is this gross skinless zombie?" It would have been great to see Grissom and Ender finally stopped fucking around and put their heads together in order to figure out if Ender's bloodlust issues were relevant to their case. I just really hate miscommunication as a plot device. Ender is over two hundred years old, surely he can adult by now.

Instead, we get some very rushed bits and pieces of a crime scene (why skip the fun forensic parts?) and a strategically placed clairvoyant fae side character who just lobs answers at Grissom. These two were great investigative partners two years ago? Could have fooled me. Everything Grissom "figured out" about their Big Bad came from Clover and Ender was basically a useless lump.

The obligatory sex scene (not including the

rutting against one another IN FRONT OF THE BIG BAD because they're totally professionals who can do their jobs

) was filled with genre cliches of alpha male provocation and sexy growling and also "taut anus muscles". If I had to have that phrase inside my head, so do you.

NEW THINGS I LEARNED:
⇴ The Battle of Navarino, where Ender was killed and subsequently turned into a vampire, is the subject of some rather lovely art.


[Battle of Navarino by Ivan Aivozovsky, 1846]

The title and cover have literally nothing to do with the subject matter in this book. Randy is homesick for NYC - and why wouldn't she be? She lives in a converted barn in Bumfuck, Minnesota now. This book is essentially Randy considering moving to live with her music producer father back in the city while she entertains her friend from back home. Shenanigans ensue.

Even when I was ten I cringed at the descriptions/image of their wedding outfits. So much taffeta, so much satin.

After rereading this recently, I am kind of appalled at some of the subject matter that totally slipped by me the first time. The concept that men are pretty much just animals who just barely learn how to control themselves (dancing a very fine line, apparently) from constantly attacking and assaulting women is pretty gross. This is especially true when one of the main female characters gets turned into a man and has to deal with all the ~unchecked passions~.

There is the matter of a "very good man" who has an interest in young girls. I don't believe the character he gets involved with has a stated age, but she is constantly referred to as "young flesh" (which, also gross). And this girl's ghostly "guardians" just encourage the relationship with barely a quibble.

The more I reread this series, the more problems I find. I love the concept, but the execution is leaving me very cold this time around.

I bought a bunch of For Better or For Worse books at a garage sale when I was a kid and just fell into the story of the Pattersons. It's just a comic about a normal Canadian family doing normal family stuff, but I loved it.

I didn't realize until later how revolutionary it was that the characers got older, grew as people and sometimes died. Unfortunately the later stories are much more obvious author inserts and Ms. Johnson takes them in routes that are often contrived and dull.

This title specifically is about Elly's surprise pregnancy at 40. She has left the baby stages of her kids behind and was really looking forward to the changes this freedom would bring to her life and career. I cannot empathize with her (no kids ever for me!), but it is a series about children that does not gloss over how much you sacrifice for them even if you do want them in your life. I can appreciate that.

While this has the traditional humorous hallmarks of the usual Deadpool fare, it also has quite a few depressing moments of realization for Wade. He just wants to die. He's spent his whole existence since coming out of the Weapon X program waiting for someone to kill him for good.