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Book Review of Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Bk 1)

Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Bk 1)
Kayll avatar reviewed on + 16 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


I saw this author's name attached to a recommendation on the back of a Kelley Armstrong book. When I finally looked her up and saw the dozens of books she's written, I was truly delighted. It's great finding a new author who is on book 7 or book 17 as it may be for Hamilton.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy Guilty Pleasures one bit and had to force myself to finish reading it. Anita Blake was a difficult character to like or even have any empathy for. She was constantly terrified of the vampires she was around. It completely turned me off. Then Hamilton would describe random things that didn't make any sense.

It seemed as though there wasn't enough description for the things that mattered, and too much random description for stupid things. For example, since Anita was some how bonded to that vampire (can't remember his name), Anita finds herself eating pizza with toppings on it she normally wouldn't eat. Like, she normally likes veggie pizza. Yet she strangely found herself wanting pepperoni and sausage on it. Wow. Very deep. Apparently, the vampire was taking power from her and she needed more strength. Who cares?

Or then Anita ran into her neighbor and Hamilton had to talk about the neighbor's dog a bit. These details ripped me out of the story when I stopped to question why they were there in the first place.

Also, on the cover of the book (got it from the library thank goodness), someone quoted the book to be part thriller, part horror, part erotica or romance (I forget the exact wording). I didn't have many thrills and the only thing erotica or romantic was the unnecessary description of the wererat's genitalia and interest in Anita Blake. Yuck, no thanks.

Am I happy that Hamilton has a following an an audience? Sure. But I have read much better: Kelley Armstrong, Charlaine Harris, Carrie Vaughn to name a few.

At first, I thought maybe the writing would improve in the second book (the library had about the first 5 or 6). No dice. I couldn't muster up any feeling for Anita in the second book either. I do not recommend.