Ever start a series and just want to keep reading it even when parts of it make you want to abandon ship and never look back? Anita Blake is like that for me. It's very love-hate right now when earlier it was all love-love. There have been times when I was so disappointed in how the story was progressing that all I wanted to do was dump the books off my keeper shelf and lock them away forever in a silver chain wrapped coffin. Other times I was so giddy with glee over what was happening that I could hardly stand how much time it took to read a page and turn it!
I surprised myself by picking Skin Trade up in the library recently. I’m glad I did because the last few books bummed me out a lot. I have very definite opinions on this series and how exactly I want Hamilton to handle Anita Blake’s ardeur. She’s got lust and anger versions of it and I am still anxiously waiting for it to turn solidly into love because as Anita says she’s got too many men on her plate! (Of course I love 90% of them and would hate to see them go but the large cast makes it hard I feel to truly develop them into full fleshed out characters.)
Skin Trade starts with a head mailed to Anita at her Animators Inc. desk. The message in St. Louis and Las Vegas is clear: “Come and Get Me.” Vittorio is a serial killing master vampire with extraordinary powers and a penchant for strippers. Joining Anita are Marshals Otto Jefferies (Olaf), Ted Forrester (Edward), and Bernardo Spotted Horse giving Skin Trade a feel of Obsidian Butterfly
.
Jean-Claude is upset to find Anita has run off again to solve crime without notifying him. He sends her a team of bodyguards that double as food: notably Wicked and Truth, the bad boy vampire brothers. They get to star in very yum scenes later in the novel.
If a serial killing vampire on the loose with an unheard of weapon wasn’t bad enough Marmee Noir makes a reappearance giving Anita all kind of trouble (and I suspect that though she seems to be taken care of that in fact won’t be the case.)
Beyond vampires, Anita is having trouble controlling her gifts such as keeping shields in place and is dealing with local cops attacking her sex and personal life every chance they get. It got to be very frustrating because every time you thought the trust and dislike issues were solved they cropped up again.
Overall it wasn’t a favorite of mine, but it wasn’t half bad. I can’t wait to get back to St. Louis and Jean-Claude.
Rating: 3 Stars
Buy: Skin Trade (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 17)
PS On one note as I was checking out the upcoming ABVH novels on LKH's site, I was surprised and as creeped out as LKH that a lot of readers like Olaf romantically. Say what?! He's not Edward. The man's an absolute crazy sociopath/serial killer! No. Bad reader. No cookie for you!
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by Kathryne Kennedy, guest blogger and author of My Unfair Lady
It’s a pleasure to be here today on Love Romance Passion! Thanks so much for having me. Since my upcoming book was inspired by Shaw’s Pygmalion (and the movie, My Fair Lady), I’ve decided to compare my heroine, Summer Wine Lee, to Eliza Doolittle.
First, a little bit about My Unfair Lady. Raised in a Wild West mining town, Summer knows she’s an unacceptable bride for her fiancé’s knickerbocker family. So she goes to London to hire a sponsor to turn her into a lady. The Duke of Monchester reluctantly takes on the task, and Summer’s penchant for carrying a knife in her boot, picking up stray animals, and not knowing the least thing about acceptable polite society, makes his job difficult. When the duke starts to fall in love with her just the way she is, it becomes nearly impossible. But they are both determined—even when things get more complicated when it becomes clear that someone is trying to kill the duke.
There are a few similarities between Summer and Eliza. They are both products of their environment, their speech and mannerisms determined by where they were raised. Eliza in the East end of London, with her cockney speech and crude behavior. Summer in the untamed west, with her uncultured speech and masculine pursuits. They both have indifferent fathers, men who are more concerned with their own happiness and pursuits than they are with their daughters’. But in Summer’s case, she wants to become a lady, and Eliza was pretty much bullied into it. Summer couldn’t be bullied into anything. But I think this aspect of their character is also a product of their environment. Eliza is a product of the Victorian attitude that men are superior persons. That their needs are more important than a woman’s. Whereas, Summer pretty much raised herself. She made her own rules, and although her father’s opinion is important to her—perhaps too much so—in her every day life she’s used to making up and following her own rules. Because of this, I have a tendency to think of Summer as more similar to Annie Oakley. A girl who can compete in a man’s world. Who can ride and shoot and fight with the best of them.
Although Eliza has compassion, I think this is one of Summer’s strongest traits. Especially her compassion for injured animals. She picks up quite a menagerie, which provides for some humorous moments in My Unfair Lady, and also allows us to glimpse Summer’s fears and insecurities.
The way Summer interacts with men is different from the way Eliza does, as well. Summer trusts her instincts, knows a good man when she sees one, despite what persona he chooses to reveal to the rest of the world, and acts accordingly. She doesn’t fear men, doesn’t see them in the role as her protector, or her superior. She considers herself an equal and treats them accordingly. I think this allows her to see beyond the surface of a man, and in many ways, get closer to him on a more equal footing. Eliza never views herself as an equal to Henry Higgins, even after she is successfully transformed into a lady. Perhaps this is why there is no happily-ever-after for the two of them. And why the author left it open as to whether she goes off with Freddie, or stays with Higgins.
This is why I love writing romance.
In My Fair Lady, Eliza does come to respect and stand up for herself. Summer has always done so. But in many ways, I think Eliza is more accepting of her true nature. Summer has a long journey before she even begins to understand herself. And her hero is going to help her toward that realization, not bully her into it.
I hope you enjoy the journey that Summer must make in order to finally become the person she truly wants to be. I’ll be checking back in throughout the day for comments, so please take a moment to say hello.
Wishing you happy reading,
Kathryne
My Unfair Lady by Kathryne Kennedy—in stores December 2009!
He created the perfect woman…
The impoverished Duke of Monchester despises the rich Americans who flock to London, seeking to buy their way into the ranks of the British peerage. So when railroad heiress Summer Wine Lee offers him a king’s ransom if he’ll teach her to become a proper lady, he’s prepared to rebuff her. But when he meets the petite beauty with the knife in her boot, it’s not her fortune he finds impossible to resist…
For the arms of another man
Frontier-bred Summer Wine Lee has no interest in winning over London society—it’s the New York bluebloods and her future mother-in-law she’s determined to impress. She knows the cost of smoothing her rough-and-tumble frontier edges will be high. But she never imagined it might cost her heart…
Buy: My Unfair Lady
About the Author
Kathryne Kennedy is the author of the Relics of Merlin series, acclaimed for her world-building and best known for her historical paranormal romances. She has also written a fantasy romance and this Victorian historical romance. She has also published nearly a dozen short stories in the SFF/Romance genre, receiving Honorable Mention twice in the “Writers of the Future” contest. She has traveled a great deal and has lived in Guam, Okinawa, and several states in the U.S. She is a business owner and currently lives in Arizona with her husband and two sons. For more information, please visit http://www.kathrynekennedy.com/
Giveaway: 1 copy of My Unfair Lady for 1 random commenter. Open to US and Canada readers only. To enter please share why you love the Eliza Doolittle plot, why you love when American heiresses and English lords fall in love, and/or what most excites you about this novel. Multiple comments allowed! Ends November 27th, 2009. Good luck!
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