Grady Hendrix's The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

 

This book…. Wow. It was so alive. This is my first Grady Hendrix novel, and I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but I am happy to have read the book, although, it was definitely a like/dislike affair. I will gush that Grady Hendrix is a true wordsmith. I found myself almost sick to my stomach with how real he painted simple actions, like describing an elderly person chewing crumbly food and then drinking water and the crumbs that would be submerged and, ugh, my stomach still gets queasy, or scenes he throws us into. So real! I also found myself reacting emotionally to the book, usually in anger or annoyance, and had to take mini breaks and then come back to dive in for more.  I had to remind myself that this is classified as horror genre and outside of my usual reading genres.  

The story was structured around a book club of women who love reading true crime novels. This plays into our main gal, Patricia, deducing what is happening in her town as her true crime riddled mind turns to classic vampire lore, what to pay attention to, and how to catch a killer? A vampire?! Gotta love book clubs. I also felt there was an undercurrent of the Salem Witch Trials theme in the book with how the husbands treated and reacted to the wives and the trickle out affect of that with other characters and plot. It is an interesting novel and a wild ride deducing what is happening to these people and this town. It’s also gruesome. Can Patricia prove there is a vampire in their suburban community? In the end, I think I like my sexy romance vampires over the more horror genre of this one. 

Jaysea Lynn's For Whom the Belle Tolls

 For Whom the Belle Tolls is a delightful, enchanting, sassy book as we follow Lily into the Afterlife upon her death. She always worked customer service type jobs in her mortal life, so when she sees that even in her afterlife people are awful to the front desk staff, she decides to help. Lily creates the Hellp desk in the hell portal and creates a fulfilling and beautiful afterlife for herself, reclaiming her sarcastic self and releasing built up anger she had bottled up not being able to tell people in her mortal life- the coveted honest answers to go with their attitude to the help. If you dish it just remember you can rejuvenate after Lily is done with you. Lily finds joy and purpose with her new demon friends and a life unexpected blossoms as she forgives her past life and lives her afterlife to its fullest potential.

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire mapped out universe of Afterlife the author created as well as the souls and denizens of it. The author throws in demons and deities we have heard of throughout myth and history as well as your everyday characters. The support characters truly make this book the snarky, therapeutic, love story that it is, and we needed it to be. It also refilled my customer service cup (yup- I get to deal with people on a daily basis as well and have to bite my tongue often with the answers I can give vs would LOVE to give) reading about Lily putting souls in their place when they tried to play their usual shrewd games or threw fits for having to go to whatever level of hell they earned. Not on Lily’s watch people! She transforms the front area of Hell.  Bel & Lily’s love story was beautiful and the family and life they built was satisfying. I think my Paradise would be almost the exact same as Lily’s with a sentient hobbit house built for cozy reading, watching movies with my kitty, and not having to clean any dishes. For Whom the Belle Tolls is truly a sexy, funny, romance novel with some darkness sprinkled throughout, but only to create a deeper story we can sink our teeth, our blades & hearts into.

Thank you, S, for the wonderful recommendation. I found myself bringing it up in conversation often as I was reading it, especially to my co-workers. Most aren’t ready for a demon romance, but at least I expanded their options.

Elsie Silver's Wild Love

 I love Wild Love! It kept me wanting and obsessing over finding time to read it. It pulled me in and I had to know what Rosie might say to Ford next or what funny thing would occur. Mixed in with that are tender and sweet moments between parents and their children, lovers, and siblings. My reading bucket was filled to the brim with Wild Love.  I adore Rosie, Ford, Cora, Ford’s parents, West, Willa, Marylin…. Everyone! The characters are just so wonderfully lovely, flawed, and honest. I found myself so drawn into the banter and conversations I was hanging on every interaction as they filled me with joy, love and laughter. I love when the author gave us what wild love is, I love the actions behind the words, I love the smart-ass exchanges so much. This book is absolutely going on my favorites shelf to reread in the future when I need a pick me up. Now I am off to dive into more novels by Elsie Silver to see if she too will be on my Rom-Com favorites shelf with authors like Jill Shalvis and Susan Elizabeth Phillips.