Everything Paranormal discussion

For all those who love /loathe the series and all it's changes come discuss it with the group.

One of my very favorite series for several years, and now? No, thanks! I read SKIN TRADE this year hoping it would be a return to the series heyday. I was wrong!

yeah, I loved the first 7 (or was it 8) books, then after that, when she decided to go to writing porn, she lost me. Sigh, and LKH can really WRITE when she wants to.

I'm one of the few who so far still like this series! A couple of the books I could have done without and Anita does sometime frustrate the crap out of me but ultimately I still like the series... to each their own I guess!:) I also really like her Merry Gentry series too.....

I still love Anita and Merry. The last two books in the Anita Blake series were not my favs, because I need Jean Claude, Asher, Micah, Nataniel, and Jason around alot more. I crave those guys. So in the first 17 pages of Flirt I got three of them right of the bat. I sure hope they play a huge roll in Flirt.

Yeah I have to say the last book was a little... odd I guess?? maybe off the mark is better. I will say that from the preview of chapter 1 of the bonus book we are getting, Flirt, it looks like it is a good old Anita book so there is hope.

She is writing the new Anita book for this year right now so anxious to see what she says in her tweets and blogs as she writes it.

I'm still a fan but I agree Skin Trade was lacking a little bit.

I still love the books. Yes, sometimes I want to smack Anita upside the head with her second guessing EVERYTHING, but still love the books.

My gripe with the series is that all the men seem weak. I love that Anita is a strong female character but does her being strong eliminate her having a strong male who doesn't whine and act like a p***y.

Cookie seems strong but according to the last book, he's got a wife.

Oh man I forgot about Haven. lol when did he get a wife. I know the last book said he did but wasn't he single in the previous books?

I don't think all her men are weak, more like some of them are very controlling without appearing to be. Jean Claude, Asher, Micha.

Asher is the definite epitome of weak in my book. He is always crying. OMG makes me want to scratch my eyes out. I can see that JC and Micah try to be controlling and when Anita doesn't bend I think that's when the whining comes in. JC and Micah are Anitas strongest men in her little harem cause the rest of them just grate on my nerves! lol Even Edward got a little whiny in ST. SMH .

I am still a big fan of Anita and Merry. I have my least favorite books in the Anita series but overall I like the stories involved. Micah is amazing with her. He tries to be there for her without taking over. Nathanial is the same way. I can't wait to see how the lions come into the picture!
And there was a point in one of the books when I really thought Asher was leaving and was so happy...then he stayed. grrr

LOL I agree Elvia. I wish Asher would just go! He is up there with Richard. those two just get my blood boiling. Whine! Whine! Whine! lol

See I loved these books, then she seemed to move focus and have it all about Anita dealing with the aduer(sp?) etc and it was more to do with which man was going to join her little collection. In those books the "plot" was squeezed into the last chapter. I lost intrest. Then The Harlequin came and I thought, woo ho she is back on track here. Edward is still kick A$$ and there is a good does of plot and her private life. Then SKin Trade and Blood Noir came along. *shakes head* I didn't even finish these books. Its a shame cos I did love them. I kept hoping that something would be done about Richard, but every time there was one step forward with him, there was 800 step sback.

I've given up now

Jael, in the last book there were a bunch of story lines that were making me say, "What the heck!?" including the Haven one where he has a Regina (I thought that was Anita but I must have been wrong) who hates Anita but will let her get nasty with Haven. I liked Anita and Haven together but there were too many cooks in the kitchen already.

I think Asher is manipulating or at least trying to be. It's his way of getting what he wants from Jean Claude and Anita.

I love the anita series even with all the sex. there are only a couple of books that were eh for me. She does drive me nuts arguing with everyone and dragging things out but other then that I really like them.

@CarolynF I thought I saw on another board that there is a short story before ST that explains all that happened, I can't remembering where to find it. I really hate when authors do short stories and than continue from it in the next book of their series.

There was Strange Candy in between - which has no tie-ins at all. When I mentioned this on another thread, someone wrote the Laurell said the characters lives are moving forward between books and some things will happen without our reading about them. That's fine for what they had for dinner, but when it's main characters and something pretty important, then that doesn't make sense. Another person said that she had to edit a lot of the book down and maybe forgot to clean it up after the editing was done. That makes more sense to me.

Yeah the editing part seems a better excuse because i would hate to think she is just having us miss out on such important things like Haven getting married! I love the Cookie Monster. I so need to read some Anita and Cookie action lol. I wonder if Olaf dies in the upcoming book. I found his scenes with Anita in ST to be hilarious. he is so creepy.

I have only read the first 4 books so far and love this series. I love Jean Claude and I can understand people getting irritated by Anita sometimes, because she irritates me too at times. I can't wait to get the next book to continue with this series.

I'm glad you like the first 4 and hope that you keep an open mind after book 9 because the plot changes with Anita and crew are drastic.

I used to love the series until I read Danse Macabre and gave up for a while after reading The Harlequin. It wasn't until I heard that Skin Trade was better that I borrowed both it and Blood Noir to catch up. Skin Trade was a bit better but I lost some respect for Edward in it, it just wasn't him -he lost some bad*ss points. There was a bit in Blood Noir that gave me some hope (Richard should be less whiney now as a result) so I will continue reading but not buying the rest of the series.

I can't not buy the series. i like to have a completeion but Ames you are correct Edward was not himself in S.T. Too many whiney men for my taste.

Laurell K. Hamilton used to be my favorite author but I have found that the last few books i've read of the series has been become very repetitive and dare i say boring. I've only gotten as far as book 13 Micah and after that just couldn't seem to get into the rest of them anymore. My favorite book from the series has to be Obsidian Butterfly it was full of action and little bit of romance which really appealed to me, now the books seem to be all about the sex and not about the story or the characters, it's so bad but maybe some day soon i'll finish the series and see what I think then.

Wow everyone seems to love OB but i found that book to be the most boring of the series. You are right in one thing the later books do become very repetitive and it seems like LKH losing her train of thought through most of them because they just don't seems to flow as well as the others. I'm holding out for a book with only JC and Anita. I think that one has been a long time coming.

Yes that would be awesome I love JC, but I do think Laurell needs to get Anita back to her roots like in the earlier books when there was a crime to solve and only some sex to be had!

I love the sex but i do miss the crime solving. the last book seemed to be moving in that direction than it was a WTF when it was time to catch the bad guy. I'm still a fan and still buy the books so I'm waiting for Flirt to hit so i can add to the collection.

The sex is great in these books and I too am still buying the books as they come out because I want to have the whole collection, I probably will get around to finishing the series one of these days, you can always count on this series if your looking for a really sexually charged read!

I used to love these books! But I really struggled through ST, and MADE myself read it... and re-read because it was so boring that my attention would wander and I'd have to try again. It was bor-ing. I cried on Circus of the Damned... what she does to JC?!?! So why can't it be the same as then... why does her writing become so redundant now, with little to no character developement? And not enough action outside the bedroom/van/hotel/orgy... I don't mind, but balance is always good!

lol I agree

ive read all the books up to ST (waiting for paperback) and have enjoyed them. thats not to say im not disappointed in the writing. i wonder if there had been more sex in the beginning that there wouldnt have been so much later...?? idk...

i like it i mean heir vampire line is all about love and sex and she is part of the wereanimal family they touch alot so thats to be expected