Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

30 reviews

saffeh's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

5.0

Southern small town and its supernatural inhabitants serving silly sexiness and early 2000's nostalgia through outdated tropes such as "I'm not like other girls" and "I can fix him". This is pure camp and I unapologetically love it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

mializa_mk's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia, Incest, Racism, and Torture

wandering_seal's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Righto I last read this series... twenty years ago? and in memory the books are sexy, a little transgressions and filled with that rot glossed over with southern charm that's so yummy to read. Clearly my palate has evolved, because this was barely sexy, not at all transgressive, and a little uncomfortable - our main man here is super casual about the whole slave holding business and while it's good that is referenced, I'd have liked it better handled.

Bill is so, so, so boring. Sookie can do better. Sookie is weirdly naive for someone working in a bar that can hear in people's heads. The story is fast food fine - super easy to consume and not going to fill you up for long. A younger me was very impressed with this series - today me is willing to keep going because I remember thinking Eric was worth it and I'm curious as to how wrong I could have been.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse and Death of parent

latashman's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was enjoyable. It felt like a "guilty pleasure" while reading it. Sookie was not a very likable character due to her self consciousness, but I liked seeing her growth throughout the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death and Death of parent

Minor: Fatphobia

seriouslynerdy's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I started the show “True Blood” on HBO and gave up around season 3 (let me know if I should give it another chance) instead of trying the show again I decided to tackle this series (which I should have started first) When I started reading this book it was very similar to the tv show they did a good adaptation for the first book. If you have watched the show and enjoyed the characters Lafayette and Tara, the book will be a bit shocking as they do not have big roles in the book as they do in the show. 

I did enjoy that this book was fast paced and an easy read, if it had truly grabbed my attention I could have read it in a day.  The book follows Sookie Stackhouse a waitress in Louisiana who has a special ability to read minds and nobody knows why and anyone who does in Bon Temps thinks she strange and a “freak”, vampires are known in this world not accepted fully but people know of their presences and they don’t need to hide anymore. She has built a wall up in her mind to protect herself and not hear other people's thoughts when she doesn’t want to hear them but sometimes her wall crumbles. She is waitressing one night when a man walks into her section, one she doesn’t recognize and one she can’t read , leading her to believe that this man is a vampire. Once she lays eye on him her world changes in one second and doesn’t go back to normal. The whole first book is Sookie and Bill (the vampire) trying to have a normal relationship but people in town are dying and placing the blame on vampires and they decide to investigate and figure out who is murdering the people of Bond Temp. 

This book does not have excellent writing, it’s not a masterpiece but I enjoyed it and if you enjoy cheesy, trashy vampire stories that are a step up from twilight this book is the perfect book for you. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

lilianmathilda's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

aqueezy's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia and Alcohol

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Dead Until Dark is the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. The Sookie Stackhouse series is also the inspiration for the HBO show, True Blood. Dead Until Dark was a good introduction and first book in the series, I really enjoyed the journey. 

Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress in a small town in Louisiana and she's always wanted to meet a vampire because in this world vampires have been exposed and humans and vampires have been trying to co habituate together.  Sookie meets her first vampire in Bill, a (confederate) civil war era vampire. Bill is quite taken with Sookie and she is equally taken with him.

I don't like that Sookie's grandma was so excited

to have a confederate speak to her descendants club. Ya'll know they were fighting to keep slavery a thing, right?

I think this was one of the only things I really disliked about the novel.  

There's a murder mystery mingled in with some paranormal romance and I really enjoyed this book. It was gory, sexy, mysterious, and entertaining. I'm giving this 4.5 stars out of 5 because I had a lot of fun with this read. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5/5 Stars

I read this for free on Libbyapp.com

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

khaleesiofthegreatwhitenorth's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is a rating I give with love. I’ve been reading a lot of this genre lately and I’m coming to realize that 3-star-related ratings aren’t ALL bad. Sometimes what you need is something basic, something light and easy to follow. 3.75 means it was good enough to enjoy the ride, enough so that you can see yourself reading more of the series, but not so much you’d ever feel compelled to reread anything. Or talk about your reading experience of it in depth. It’s surface level fun with a splash of blood and murder.

Honestly I probably would have DNFed this had I not listened to the audiobook so take what I say with a grain of salt. The narrator is the one who kept me coming back for more. LOVED her Bill. Frankly more than Stephen Moyer😅

If you want an easy vampire popcorn read/listen, this is your book. Great for turning your brain off to lol 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Hate crime, Medical content, and Death of parent

braveprincess11's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

at first, I thought maybe I’d watch True Blood. then I got halfway through the book & went… “no, think it’s best if I don’t”

the same goes with reading the rest of the series. think it’s best if I don’t. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Incest and Death of parent

Brief mention of necrophilia