Kiss the Dead by Laurell K. Hamilton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

minor spoilers are mentioned

Once again, yes, I read an Anita Blake book. I can’t help myself; this was the first vampire series I fell in love with, & I really, really, really miss the “original” Anita Blake. I keep hoping she’ll show up.

As with the last book, this one is another improvement in the series. The first sex scene doesn’t take place for almost 200 pages, & there are only a few scenes in the whole book, rather tame & boring.

The plot – well, I’m not sure what to say on this subject. If you read what the book is supposed to be about, it sounds great — but, the plot in reality falls really short of that. It’s an interesting premise – another reviewer called them the Vampire Tea Party, & I like the phrase enough to use it. But it wasn’t very well thought out, written well, & other than the barest mentions here & there throughout the book, the plot never really happened.

You don’t see very much of Jean Claude in this one, which makes me happy as I’m rather sick of the guy. Anita sounds pretty sick of him, too, throughout the books, as she does talking about all the men in her life. They finally kick Asher to the curb, though only for a month or two. I was rather hoping Hamilton would kill of a few of the lovers or at least make them go away, so I was happy to see Asher go to the rather vague location of “new city”.

All in all, I did like the book, I did finish it in only a few days, & I did like it enough that I’ll read the next one, but I am left wondering once again why I am still bothering.

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Mademoiselle Boleyn by Robin Maxwell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was published in 2007 & I am rather surprised that it took me this long to read it. I guess I’m rather late to the game.

This book is a rather decent historically accurate (and the biggest things that Maxwell takes liberties with, she tells you about in the back of the book) book about Anne Boleyn before she becomes infamous, told from her point of view. It’s rather different than other Tudor stuff I’ve read, & I rather enjoy how different the tale is. Anne is seen first as a young, confused child, who later grows into a strong, beautiful, powerful individual, who has learned to take control of her own destiny.

The book has a few adult scenes in it, which I wasn’t expecting, but considering the court & the times, I guess I should have seen them coming. Most of it “fit” and wasn’t an explicit scene just to have an explicit scene.

All in all, I liked the book – why only 4 stars? I love Anne Boleyn; she’s my favorite of the 6 wives, and she’s the one I enjoy reading about the most. But the Anne of this book, as much as I enjoyed reading it, I couldn’t really fall in love with.

I got this book from the library.

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