Dead Until Dark

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

This is the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series.

Sookie is a psychic waitress living in the south with her grandmother. Vampires have come "out of the coffin" so to speak and are living amongst the living. The propaganda is that vampires are not actually dead but have a virus that makes them appear to be dead. Synthetic blood is available at many bars and restaurants. Vampire blood is available on the black market and helps with healing and enhances sexual performance among other things.

Sookie meets her first vampire and within a few hours has saved his life and really angered the people who were trying to steal his blood. Sookie begins a romance with this vampire who is in the process of trying to "mainstream" and has moved into his families house just down the road.

Murder and intrigue follow and Sookies brother appears to be the cause of the murders. Sookie desperately tries to find out the truth before she becomes the next victim.

This is a murder mystery, romance soap opera with vampires. It was a fun book and a fast read. I recommend the book to anyone that this genre might appeal to.

Darcy's Story

Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer

This is Pride and Prejudice retold from Mr Darcy's perspective. If you are a fan of Jane Austen, I'd say this is a must read.

I would have to vote Pride and Prejudice in the top 5 chick-flick books ever. This is just a new rendition which is just as enjoyable. Aylmer has stuck with the original story and really worked hard to determine what Darcy would and wouldn't have known and when. She works to develop his character more fully so we are not as shocked as Elizabeth Bennet when he proposes during their mutual visits to Kent. She also directly quotes dialog from Austen which allows the reader to match this book with the events of the original quite easily. I know I was replaying the A&E/BBC mini-series in my head as I was reading the book.

This is a light and entertaining read.

Star Trek - Inception

Star Trek - Inception by S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison

This book is a supposition of what may have happened in the early life of James T. Kirk and Spock. The book was written just before the movie, Star Trek, was released. They were projects independent of each other so the publishers held the book until well after the movie release so that the one did not affect the other.

I watched the movie again after finishing the book and thought it interesting that both projects aimed to give Spock a love life but in the book, he does not respond as he does in the movie.

The book is more about Carol Marcus, lover of Jim Kirk, as opposed to Jim Kirk himself. She becomes the mother of Jim's son. She is a scientist and has discovered a way, she believes, to turn non-viable dirt into a viable growing medium. Her goal is to enable each planet to grow their own food so hunger is eradicated. Environmental terrorists tamper with her experiments and almost cause a catastrophic disaster. Through the efforts and ideas of Star Fleet's, Spock and Jim Kirk as well as Carol and her team of scientists, are able to stop the process from taking over and, ultimately, destroying the planet Mars.

The story itself is interesting as is the "science" behind the plot. The book gives us a peek into the early lives of Spock and Jim but no other members of the original Star Trek cast. That is one thing that the movie did in fine Hollywood fashion. They gave us the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise and tied it up with a bow. They also gave us an alternate reality line that can be followed in a series of movies or television shows if they so desire. As far as I can tell, the book's reality was right in line with what we know from the original series.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was a great book from the two creepy books I had just read. It was light, fun and fast. I would recommend the book to anyone who is a lover of Star Trek or science fiction.