Anita Blake is Back (Kinda)

Ever since Anita Blake went from being a super awesome kick-ass heroine to a...how should I put this nicely...person rather dependent on certain types of male attention to function, I've seriously considered putting the books down and never picking one back up.  This book did a lot to renew my hope that maybe Anita can stop being the ultimate-anti-feminist (as I've started to see her, since she draws her powers from the arduer, which basically makes her a slave to sex and since she's completely hetero, that makes her dependent on men) and start kicking some monster butt again,.  She definitely did kick some monster butt in this book too!

The writing in Hit List wasn't as good as the early books, which kind of makes me think that maybe Hamilton has gotten so used to writing vampire smut that she struggles to remember how to write an actual story, but it is a step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned and I hope the future Anita Blake novels keep heading this way!

(If you leave a comment that has spoilers in it about this book, please start it off with a "spoiler alert")

New Releases Yesterday

Oops.  With all the chaos of summer started, I didn't notice that yesterday was a book release day, until I went to the library and was handed a copy of Hit List!  Surprise!

So here are the book releases I missed yesterday:

Hit List (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 20):  A serial killer is hunting the Pacific Northwest, murdering victims in a gruesome and spectacular way. The local police suspect "monsters" are involved, and have called in Anita Blake and Edward, U.S. Marshals who really know their monsters, to catch the killer.

Hexed: Four of the bestselling names in romance and fantasy come together in this collection of thrilling novellas featuring powerful women who know how to handle a hex or two... 


New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews spins "Magic Dreams." Shapeshifting tigress Dali Harimau finds herself in deep waters when she must challenge a dark being to a battle of wits or risk losing the man for whom she secretly longs.

In "Ice Shards," New York Times bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn returns to the Otherworld as Iris Kuusi, a Finnish house sprite, journeys to the frozen Northlands to confront the crazed shadow of her former lover and break the curse that is keeping her from marrying the man she loves.

National bestselling author Allyson James takes you to Magellan, Arizona, where Stormwalker Janet Begay and her friends are trapped by a powerful curse. It will take every bit of magic simmering beneath her skin for the Stormwalker to survive being "Double Hexed."
 
From national bestselling author Jeanne C. Stein comes "Blood Debt," in which bounty-hunter-turned-vampire Anna Strong is visited by three witches who ask her to right an old magical wrong. Anna will have to live up to her last name to make it through alive.

See What I Got in the Mail Today?

Pay no attention to the copy of the new Sookie Stackhouse book next to it, since that's not what we're promoting right now, but is what I'm reading right now!  Don't pay attention to the purple dinosaur in the background either; that's my kids' sandbox.

I got a can-cozy from author Gerry Bartlett for being on her "street team" by passing out brochures about her fantastic Real Vampires series!  I popped it out of the envelope and slipped it right on my Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi I was drinking.  An hour later, I handed out my first brochure, to my mom, who seemed interested...although she commented that it didn't look like very deep reading.  Well, duh!  That's part of the appeal!