Gigi's Company discussion

Please post comments and discussion here for the January '11 Book of the Month:


Nightlife (Cal Leandros, Book 1) by Rob Thurman

(Selected by Kathleen, Audrey, Julia, Kami)

I really like the relationship between the brothers Cal and Niko in this novel. This is a genre that in general has little in the way of family, so this is remarkable in that way.

Thanks, Julia. This book is next up on my to-be-read pile. Hope to start it tonight.

You never read so many people who are only children, or raised in foster care, or raised by others as the protagonists in most UF!

Try the Shifters series by Rachel Vincent. The heroine has four brothers, living parents, and all play a role in the series.

Yeah Kathleen, I just remembered that Kitty has siblings and parents in Carrie Vaughn's series.

Harry Dresden is an orphan, or that's how he was raised and what he believes. Jim Butcher

Mercy is fostered by the Alpha of a werewolf pack.Patricia Briggs

Connor Gray's got nobody but his cop friend in
Unshapely Things.

Remy Chandler starts the book with someone, but A Kiss Before the Apocalypse...

It's been a long time since I've read Anita Blake, but doesn't she just have her boss at the beginning?Laurell K. Hamilton.

Sookie Stackhouse's parents died long before the series begins under still mysterious circumstances.
Charlaine Harris

Julia wrote: "Yeah Kathleen, . . . Connor Gray's got nobody but his cop friend in
Unshapely Things . . . "

Connor's brother pops up in the later books in the series, although their relationship is dysfunctional.

That's good to know Kathleen, I've only read the first book in the series. I own at least the next two, I just haven't gotten around to them yet.

Cal and Niko's mother is awful.

Completed Nightlife and I probably will not be continuing with this series. My biggest problem with this book is that I did not like the hero. I found Cal surly, sarcastic, sullen, and not someone with whom I would want to spend any time. Yes, Cal and Niko had a great relationship that is often missing from fiction. Yes, their mother was awful and Cal had to deal with those two missing years and his other half. Still, a little civility would have made him a little more sympathetic. I am giving this book three stars.

The story took a bit to get going. But once it did it was difficult to put down. I would probably rate this one 3.5, but that's not an option. I will read the next one as I'm hopeful that now that the main characters are relatively established, I will enjoy them more and feel as though I understand them.