*warning, spoilers up through book 4*

Ok, I read the first book and loved it immediately, so I ordered the next 7 right away. I read the 2nd one as soon as it arrived and was so stoked about the series. Took a break and read a few other books (since I usually can't read more than a couple in the same series before I get bored). I read Club Dead yesterday and then Dead to the World today and I'm pretty disappointed. I didn't care for Club Dead much at all. The whole distant, cheating Bill thing had me bummed out and it didn't end on a very positive spin. Plus, Bill and Eric were hardly in the book. I know the series is about Sookie and not specifically Bill/Eric, but I felt cheated just the same, lol. Then I read the next one today, hoping for something a little better. I liked it a lot more than Club Dead, but nowhere near how much I liked the first 2 books. Bill is still an ass it seems, and Sookie seems to be whoring around with whoever will throw attention her way. eta: Maybe I'm so aggravated because of the quick change with Bill's character from book 2 to 3 and now 4? He went from love of her life and wonderful to distant, cheating jerk that's never in town anymore...?

Anyway, I guess I'm just wondering if this series gets better (and soon)? Was anyone else disappointed with these couple of books? I want to love this series. I was so excited about it after reading the first couple. Maybe it's because I recently read the first few books of the BDB series and those are, to me, more interesting right now?

*Oh and please, don't give me spoilers to what happens in later books! I like the surprise. :)  *

While I like the Sookie series, I really prefer the Harper Connelly series, starting with Grave Sight.  The series feels much tighter in the story line.  This is rather surprising to me as the Harper series has much less paranormal.  But there is a smaller cast of main characters.   The plots just fit and flow together better.

Kelly, without spoiling anything...this is Sookie's story, about her life, her experiences, her coming to grips with her *gift,* etc. Boyfriends come and go, though "whoring around" is an gross exaggeration, surely, lol!  I'd suggest that these books are more Urban Fantasy than paranormal, because the romantic threads weave in and out & change as the series goes along. 

I actually liked the Club Dead installment, but I've always been more Team Eric than Team Bill (though I've never understood exactly why Sookie found it so impossible to forgive Bill).  If you're looking for THE ONE romance to be decided early on, then you might be disappointed in continuing the series. If you genuinely like the characters and are enthralled with Sookie's world, like I am, you'll probably enjoy reading each new installment.

I do love this series, so I'm not impartial at all, but I can't really comment in detail on what I've found flawed in the later books without Spoilers because they're generally plot points that were clunky.  An example that is not a spoiler for you is that Bill's transformation from doting boyfriend to distant workaholic did seem too abrupt and smacked of deus ex machina to reach some plot goal Harris had set for herself!

I hope that you'll continue to read the series, but I do know that they're not everyone's cuppa. :)

Thanks for the insight, ladies! I do love Sookie and all of the other characters. I think I was just hit with the too-sudden break up and change with the Bill thing from book to book to focus on much else maybe. I did like Dead to the World much better than Club Dead though, and I do look forward to reading the rest of them because there are so many fun, interesting characters now that I have to read more about. :)

And ok, 'whoring around' might have been harsh (lol)! I suppose I need to give up on the romance part of it and focus on the other stories and characters more. I think that'd help. :)

Thanks again!

The problems with the pacing on book 9, Dead and Gone, made me sit up and think about the series as a whole.  While I like the stories, there are flaws.  And jumps.  And it felt like CH was doing the same thing in book 10, Dead in the Family, which was kinda nice to feel as if the author was taking a deep breath and thinking of the series as a whole.

Was that spoiler free enough?

I enjoy the series. I've read all of them and I enjoyed them all about equally. I was happy to see Bill cast aside for Eric. He is much more my type. :) I know they are not perfect writing, but I am not looking for perfection, I am looking for enjoyment. 

I just read this series a few weeks ago, and Kelly, I was right there with you when I finished Club Dead. At first, I was disappointed in Bill and the way that storyline was headed. Actually, I was downright p*ssed, lol. But like Leslie, I had always been more Team Eric than Team Bill. And that storyline opened up a whole new vein (pardon the pun, lol) that was far more interesting than Sookie and Bill.

I also agree that these are more urban fantasy than romance. Though Sookie's relationships are intriguing, they're not the centerpiece of the series. Keep reading. You won't be disappointed! This series a very high place on my keeper shelf.

I adooorree Eric, he seems much more her pace and acts more like her age. She didn't need a daddy figure around like bill was acting. Everytime one of the Sookie books come out I run out and read it.! I love them even though at sometimes ithey seem more childish then the other books I read. Still up there on my favorites.

They are on my keeper shelf as well.  I agree it is more Urban Fantasy and less Romance.  I am also a Team Eric gal, and so I like the changes to the  story. It is about Sookie and how her life evolves.  If you look at most people, in real life, seldom do you find "the one" and never have a date or sex with anyone else for the rest of time. 

    Without spoilers I also felt book 9 was clunky -- like a bunch of short stories put together designed to tie up lots of loose ties.  Not bad, but just didn't seem to flow as well as others in the series.