(I continue to refrain from naming the series because it has enough publicity.  If you don’t know what 4 book vampire series for young adults I’m speaking of, you seriously live under a rock.  Email me if you really don’t know.)

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Holly made the comment to me that I was “biased” against a certain exceptionally popular vampire series because I refused to read it based on its obnoxious popularity (I did the same thing w/ HP).  I hate being challenged like that, but it gets me motivated.  I picked up book one of this 4 book series within the week.

I read book one pretty quick, I have to give it to the author – her books are very fast reads.

I hated it.  Yes, all of you can collectively pick your jaws up off the floor, I speak the truth.  I really did hate it.  It was all back story forced into interview style conversations.  The main characters annoyed me, and the writing was not good.

But – on my very own I committed to finishing the series.  For the mere fact that book one was nothing but backstory, I had to hope that the rest would be better.  I refused to pay for any other books, so I sought to borrow them.

For three days I immersed myself in the remaining books.  My housework suffered, I spent all day with the text staring back at me.  I spent the next week in what I call the “honeymoon period”.  I thought about the books and characters.  I mulled them over.  I actually thought I might have liked the series – and that why I’ve waited so long to post.

Looking back now that I’ve had time to fully digest the series I can honestly say that I did not hate it.  I can see why so many people are so obsessed with it, I can truly see where it comes from – but I do NOT feel it.

There were characters I liked (and one or two I LOVED)…and characters that truly deeply annoyed me (seriously, there’s only been one other novel that I’ve disliked a MC as much as I dislike the lead female here).  The plot lines were pretty darn predictable – but the author DID manage to throw in a few surprises for me. 

Overall I’m glad I read the books just so that I can say I can.  When I saw my neighbor at the store and she mentioned she was reading them, I could carry on a decent conversation with her.  I did not let my bias prevent me from reading them.

But I won’t re-read them.  If I see the movie, I see the movie…I’m not going to be racing to the store to get it, nor participating in any ‘parties’ in honor of it.  I read them it’s done with…and I can move back to the other vamp series that I DO love, and that I AM rereading…

Over this series, there are two other vampire series that I recommend:

The House of Night Series – P.C. and Kristin Cast.  If you prefer YA fiction with a little bit of an edge – this is it.  Within ten chapters there’s mention of a BJ…well, actually it’s witnessed, but I digress.  Zoey is the MC and while she’s got a lot on her shoulders as a very special vampire – she’s still 17 and fallible.  She makes mistakes, but tries to atone for them.  One of the things I love about the series is the lore behind these particular vamps. It’s not your typical blood sucker story.  It’s going to be a 9 book series, books 1-4 are published, but you can preorder book 5 for its release date of March 10.

And, of course – I would be totally remiss to not mention Sookie Stackhouse novels (Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries). My BFF tried to get me to read these a while back (she says) but I don’t remember that. Last year she finally got through to me and I bought the first book. Within a week I’d bought the rest of the series and read it up. I’m counting down the days to the May 5th release of book 9! They are fun, and as my BFF says…Vampire porn for women. Love Bill, Eric, or Quinn…you’ll love debating their merits for days!!