Dead to the World (book 4)

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

Reviewed by greenlemons

I haven’t read Dead to the World in about a year. But I think I have the important parts memorized, plus the book is handy by the keyboard. So, let’s start this sucker off with the setting – for most readers of the Southern Vampire Mysteries, book four, is like THE BIBLE. It takes place like any other New Years in Bon Temps. Sookie is a sad burgeoning spinster with no plans but to work at the ONLY bar within a hundred-mile radius. She’s probably been doing the same thing every New Year since she got the job at Merlotte’s. You know what they say, Sook, the way you spend your New Years is the way you spend the rest of the year...

The “prologue” reminds the readers that her and Bill are no longer together after that small thing that happened in Jackson. Sookie is free and has no attachment to ANYBODY and therefore can have a ROCKING NEW YEARS AS A FIRST TIME NEWLY SINGLE GIRL.

MIDNIGHT COMES ALONG

Sookie is closing up after the crazy drunks with her smitten boss who didn’t even bother to kiss her because he was too busy moping and pining behind the bar to actually MAKE A MOVE. So, as usual the two friends buddy up close as they reminisce about the good times had scraping off the puke from the floor. THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A BEAUTIFUL ROMANCE. (Pst, Sam, this could have been your chance to make a move now that she and Bill are over and you suddenly sort-of-kind-of-when-the-mood-strikes-you have tried to lock her in your trailer and make her have your babies since she began dating a vampire.)

So anyway, after that enlightening night with Sam, Sookie is understandably exhausted by all the hardcore loving he gave her and drives home. What she wasn’t expecting was to come across a half-naked Thor running in front of her car. Instead of being a lame cat and hitting the mattress, Sookie finds herself babying a really old guy who looks like an Adonis.

APPARENTLY. Eric Northman has lost his memory. He is cold, alone and reminiscent of Patrick from Spongebob with his dazed looks and confused questions. So Puppy!Eric follows Sookie around after she cleans his feet like Mary Magdalene. Since Eric is so God-like I wouldn’t’ve held it against her if she used her hair as an appropriate cleaning material for usage. BUT WAIT HOW CUTE. Eric is scared and crawls into bed with Momma!Sookie and they cuddle and fall asleep holding hands. WTF.

WTF.

WHERE IS ERIC!? WHAT IS THIS FUCKERY!? SOOKIE HAS TO BABYSIT HIM? BE A MAN, PUPPY, WIPE YOUR OWN ASS.

Okay. I’m saying it here. I, to this day, after I’ve read book four a thousand times, still don’t know how I feel about Eric with amnesia. To me, it is NOT Eric. It is not the vampire I fell in love with. I read most of this book feeling uncomfortable and after the initial thrill of WOO THEY HAD SEX wore off, I got a little more awkward with it all.

“Because he sounded so lost – the Eric I knew had never been one to do anything other than assume others should serve him – I patted around under the covers for his hand” (26).

Sookie is a bit confused about the situation and stupidly, turns to her brother for advice. Jason, or as his alias tells us, Dear Abby, knows just how to deal with a pesky vampire problem: money. Even the all-knowing-Jason wasn’t prepared to find out his new girlfriend Crystal ain’t exactly human.

I realize I’m only mentioning Crystal because it’s a review on the whole book and that becomes vital when Jason gets kidnapped. Which will be noted once Jason manipulates Sookie’s babysitting job into a lot of money that will also benefit him, because he is such a good brother.

So anyway, Jason and Eric meet for the first time and Jason’s mind immediately goes to the gutter and talks about how big Eric’s feet are and Eric babbles about how Jason should have Sookie in his household to support her since he’s her brother – I’m really not sure what this scene is about but it ends with Eric asking Sookie if they were ever lovers and Sookie gets all blushy and thinks about how her and Bill broke up like TWO WEEKS AGO or something like that. Anyway it’s all awkward and shit.

So the night can’t get any odder, it seems. When Eric realizes the robe he’s somehow squeezed into isn’t Sookie’s brother’s he immediately gets all curious. It’s Bill’s robe, buddy. Your dongs are practically touching by material association. Then Eric asks the adorable question, “He is my friend?” (33). No. You’ve been trying to sabotage his relationship with the blond waitress for about three books now. No, you are not friends because Bill is probably crying in Peru about how he can feel Sookie’s tingly lady parts and surely that must mean she has finally given in to ERIC.

While they’re waiting for Pam and Chow to come over, Eric brushes his hair. Because, he’s worth it. Meanwhile, Sookie is all starey at his chest and I’m just envisioning this awful short brown fluffy robe that belonged to Bill all hiked up and the image is bloody hilarious and also kinda hot because it’s Eric.

Blah, blah, blah Sookie gets flustered, Bill cries over the loss of his robe and telepath, blah blah blah, Pam shows up and is all like MASTER I MISSED YOU and Eric is all like MY HAIR IS FANTASTIC, WERE YOU MY HAIR STYLIST? And Pam is all like NO I’M YOUR CHILD and Eric is all like I’M TOO PRETTY TO HAVE A KID. Something like that.

Jason returns with clothes for Eric and Pam man handles him and there goes another Stackhouse who needs a cold shower.

Anyway, the story goes, Eric turned down this witch Hallow’s desperate plea for him to have sex with her. Girls with low self-esteem do some crazy shit – some take their tops off in South Beach Miami during Spring Break, others curse former Viking vampires into losing their memory and sniffing around the planet for their heart’s desire. LAME. But she is apparently powerful and bat-shit crazy and has a price on Eric’s head and putting posters up everywhere with his sexy mug.

So Jason manipulates the situation and Sookie is left with babysitting duty. Jason should say, “What a fun sexy time for you.” And that’s exactly what it is with a dash of heartbreak and a sprinkle of jealousy and some cringe-worthy “hot” lines. The night of arrangements ends with Eric feeling cold and crawling into bed with Sookie. It’s cute.

She wakes up the next day and, OMG, JASON IS MISSING. HE DIDN’T COME INTO WORK AND APPARENTLY THAT IS VERY RARE. Sookie goes with the detective Mr. Stick-up-his-butt and they search his house where it looks like he could have fallen into the water because there’s blood or something. Naturally, Sookie goes on the mission to find her brother.

For some reason Tara has access to the police scanner. I don’t know what that means and maybe it’s not uncommon, but I just find it really weird. She knows about Jason and Sookie is introduced to a really tall beautiful ethereal lady who stares at Sookie weirdly. Sookie is all like WHAT? And Tara is clueless and is all like I’M SUCH A GOOD FRIEND. She turns out to be semi-useful and tells Sookie about Holly being a witch. Sookie goes over and questions her about Hallow the witch with a thirst for sexy Viking blood. Holly is a coward and is all like NO LEAVE ME ALONE. I WANT TO BE A WITCH IN PEACE. GOD SOOKIE YOU’RE SO SELFISH. Sookie is never affronted by bitches and moves onto Shreveport where Jason’s ex-GURLFREN was last seen. She talks to her and this bitch is like WAT? JASON MEAN. So Sookie moves on and decides to visit Fangtasia.

When she enters it’s like torn apart and GINGER IS DEAD and BELINDA IS ALL BLEEDY and Sookie is like OMG. She calls the cops and smartly gets the fuck out of there.

By this point I didn’t give a shit about this. I was all like ERIC? ERIC? ERIC? Maybe that makes me a single-minded reader, but whatever. Sookie being Nancy!Buffy can get old and boring very quickly and I want to see this fake!Eric guy because I just can’t fucking believe it.

So Sookie thinks, hey, I’m in Shreveport, why not visit my fling, Alcide? They had sexy times in Jackson and pretty much that’s as far as their relationship goes and just nose-dives into the ground from this book onward. Alcide apologizes for being an ass and ditching her after she got staked at Club Dead and Sookie is all coy and giggly and it’s really making me go, YOU HAVE A HORNY VIKING AT HOME YOU WANDERING EYE, YOU. NEVER CHANGE SOOKIE.

She babbles to Alcide about Puppy!Eric and Alcide’s all like HE LIESSSSSSSSSSS and says, “I don’t like Eric being at your house. It puts you in danger” (98). Oh, yeah, cause Sookie never has random weres always waiting to jump out and attack, invade or shoot her. She moves on with asking Alcide what he knows about witches. They talk about that boring stuff for a while and the topic of BILL comes up. Alcide’s like WHERE IS YOUR STALKER and Sookie’s like PERU, FOR THE ANNUAL STALKERS CONVENTION and Alcide’s like HE LEFT YOU ALONE? *HUNGRY EYES* Sookie’s all like HAIR FLIP, YEAH, NOW I’VE MOVED ONTO BIGGER AND BETTER PLENTIES and Alcide’s like BUT DEBBIE SAID YOU INVITED THE STALKER BACK INTO YOUR HOME. Anyway they talk about how unreliable Debbie is and all that jazz. I’ve seen this tree before.

Here’s an interesting part out of this whole yawn-fest:

“[Alcide] had never viewed Eric with any sense of humour, as I did. I’d always been leery of Eric, but I’d appreciated his mischief, his single-mindedness, and his flair. If you could say a vampire had joie-de-vivre, Eric had it in spades” (101).

OH MY GOD. This is so boring. Maybe I found it more interesting when I was reading it but now, PLEASE STOP. They are going to see the packmaster, Colonel Flood, whose wife died recently, blah, blah, sob, blah. They’re looking for some girl for some reason, she’s a were I think, and she’s not answering her shop phone so the three of them trot down to her place of work where she is found DEAD. Alcide and Sookie pretend to be engaged for some pointless reason to a cop, I don’t know. Sookie goes home eventually and that’s the part most of us care about.

THE PART.

LIKE. GUYS. THE PART.

Now, I can go through this scene as a complete fan-girl and aww and jizz about how awesome it is that they’re finally having sex. OR. I could completely make fun of it.

What to do. What to do.

HERE, LADIES (AND GENTLEMEN) is my list of the 10 most cringe-worthy lines of Sookie Stackhouse when she’s having sex with the Gracious Plenty:

1. “If there were an international butt competition, Eric would win, hands down – or cheeks up” (119).
2. “I was right on a level with his hard nipples. They were the size of pencil erasers” (119). OMG, SOOKIE. NO. JUST NO.
3. “...down my side, never touching my breasts, which were practically quivering like puppies who wanted to be petted” (120). Please, stop. Sookie. STOP.
4. “Yikes. Yahoo. Yum” (121). Huh? Yahoo? OMG, Sookie.
5. “...but his manhood (as my romance novels called it...)” (121). Sookie. WHY are you thinking about this RIGHT NOW!? I don’t understand.
6. Then, our little Sookie Stackhouse likens herself to a car. What? “...a car its new prospective buyer was determined to take to the Daytona 500” (121).
7. “I kind of folded Mr. Happy up against Eric’s stomach...” (121). I won’t even comment on this one.
8. “I was so on fire for him I was surprised that flames didn’t flicker out of my fingertips” (122). To be fair, this line isn’t THAT bad, I just get a really funny visual along with it.
9. “I wish,” I said, “I could save orgasms in a jar for when I need them, because I think I had a few extra” (123). I think I’ve read this line over and over and I STILL don’t really get what the hell she’s rambling on about. I’ll let this one slide because she just got seriously fucked by the Viking, so it’s forgivable.
10. “Maybe I should have called it a gracious plenty?” (126). Good one, Sook. Seriously. I would NEVER have thought that up.

Between all that, I fan-girled but then was like YO THIS ISN’T ERIC. But it was totally adorable how Eric wanted to know how he and Sookie met. So, I was all right with it, I guess. Whatever, they finally had sex. (My favourite Eric/Sookie sex scene is in book nine and maybe most of the reason is it’s the REAL-TIME Eric and I was giddy and swoony over it because in my mind, it was waiting NINE books for them to finally admit their feelings and relax around one another). MOVING ON!

Next morning, Sookie’s still basking in bliss and mentions how Bill bit her on the neck all the time probably to declare that SOOKEH IS MAHNE where as Eric bites the inside of her thigh all sexily like: no one should see it anyway but you know and I know and that’s all we need.

Boring Sam calls and reminds the readers that OH YEAH JASON IS MISSING because I’m sure everyone had a cold shower after that and left the book alone for a bit and just relived the awesomeness that was Eric and Sookie finally PETTING QUIVERING PUPPIES WITH A JAR OF ORGASMS AND PLENTY OF GRACIOUSNESS AND BITES AND PENCIL ERASERS AND BEAUTIFUL BUTT’S AND THE WORD ‘GORGEOUS’ ABOUT 8 BILLION TIMES.

Sookie goes to Hotshot. I like Hotshot. I like Calvin Norris. Just saying this now. Crystal, on the other hand can DIAF. Sookie interrogates the slut and right away our telepathic waitress knows she is a LYING HO-BAG. Calvin, being the awesome dude he is, orders Crystal to tell Sookie what she knows; a lot of dull recounting of what she saw of Jason and all that crap. Basically, she doesn’t know any more than Andy Bellefleur.

Calvin is creepy and nice all at once and offers his protection to Sookie while waggling his eyebrows suggestively. It’s really sweet.

Sookie goes to work and I go HOW CAN YOU GO TO WORK AT A TIME LIKE THIS. HOW CAN YOU LEAVE THAT MAN IN YOUR HOUSE AND WORK FOR UGH-SAM? But it works with the plot because Hallow walks into Merlotte’s looking for Eric. Hallow is all like WHERE IS THIS BILL COMPTON and Sookie’s like EEP RIGHT ACROSS THE CEMETARY FROM ME and Hallow’s like LET’S GO YO MAYBE THIS MISSING SEXY BEAST IS HIDING THERE. Then Sam’s like SIGH YOU HAVE TO SAVE THE WORLD DON’T YOU? And Sookie’s like IT’S MY BURDEN and races home to Eric.

THEN THE CUTEST THING.

She runs up the stairs to her house and she doesn’t even make it before Eric bounds outside and embraces her. OMG OMG FLAIL. FLAIL. And she’s all like WE’RE GOING TO BE DEAD TO THE WORLD IF WE DON’T HIDE and Eric’s like LET’S HAVE SEX FIRST. And I’m like YIKES. YAHOO. YUM. And Sookie’s like OKAY, MAYBE QUICK – NO ERIC WE HAVE TO HIDE!

She has a lot more self control then me because I was all like, “Seriously, Sookie, let’s squeeze in some sexy times before you run.”

Eric gets really excited about someone coming after him and takes off toward Bill’s house and Sookie’s swearing up and down and having a panic attack. Eric pins her against a tree and I’m thinking about sex but Eric’s all into NINJA mode and Sookie’s all shitting her pants and I’m like, have sex you two, because I am a dirty perv.

Hallow and wolves are mingling outside Bill’s and Eric leaves Sookie alone and I’m like PHWOAR sexy guy is being sexy elsewhere and then a wolf sniffs Sookie or something and then Eric is back to pinning her. Hallow leaves when she realizes nobody is at Bill’s and then the werewolves appear and Sookie is like BEST NIGHT EVER because Eric’s like YAY DOGGIES TO PLAY WITH.

They all decide to convene at Merlotte’s to discuss the situation properly and Sookie calls Pam and Chow too. But first Sookie must take a werewolf to the hospital and she is so exhausted from annoying people all day and sexy times with the Viking all night that she falls asleep behind the wheel and then POOF Claudine appears to her rescue.

Who is this beautiful woman? What is this? OH, she’s a fairy. She walks into the bar and everyone is all gaping and crap. Pam is like jizzing her pants over Claudine and Eric SEEMS to be all cool-like until he loses his head and starts to drool over yummy fairy. Sookie gets jealous. I SAW THAT MISS STACKHOUSE. “Well, hel-lo, tall, blond, and dead” (175). Claudine agrees with Hallow and Sookie, Eric is DAMN good-looking; as if the reader didn’t have to be reminded of this a billion times a book. So when Claudine leaves, Eric is reminded that he has the mega horn for the waitress: “Eric’s arms went around me, and I could feel one kind of hunger being morphed into another” (183). SEXY. Alcide is all OMGWTF SOOKIE WHAT ABOUT ME. Shut up Alcide. Eric’s too pimpin’ compared to you. “Since we had our backs to the wall, Eric had felt free to let his hand roam over my bottom” (183).PHWOAR.

Of course, this night gets lovelier when Debbie calls Sookie a bitch and EVERYONE goes into an uproar because like, everyone loves our girl. Alcide’s all like GOSH DEBBIE WHY WOULD YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT IT’S SO UNLIKE YOU. Eric’s about ready to make heads roll and Sookie gets surprisingly teary. Pam and some random vamp Gerald are holding Eric back because he’s sexy like that. Sookie gets overwhelmed with her low-self-esteem and Eric’s Sookie senses tingle that she is not happy and says this:

“You are beautiful.” No one had ever looked me in the eyes and said that. I found I had to lower my head. “You are smart, and you are loyal,” he said relentlessly, though I waved a hand to ask him to quit. “You have a sense of fun and adventure.”

“Cut it out,” I said.

“Make me,” he said. “You have the most beautiful breasts I’ve ever seen. You’re brave.” I put my finger across his mouth, and his tongue darted out to give them a quick lick. I relaxed against him, feeling the tingle down to my toes. “You’re responsible and hardworking,” he continued. Before he could tell me that I was good about replacing the garbage can liner when I took the garbage out, I replaced my fingers with my lips.

“There,” he said softly, after a long moment. “You’re creative too.”

For the next hour, he showed me that he, too, was creative. (188)

UM.

Eric doesn’t stop there.

“Thank you,” I said, my face pressed against his silent chest.

He put a finger under my chin so I would raise my eyes to his. “No,” he said quietly. “You took me in off the road and kept me safe. You’re ready to fight for me. I can tell this about you. I can’t believe my luck. When this witch is defeated, I would bring you to my side. I will share everything I have with you. Every vampire who owes me fealty will honour you.” (189)

Sookie is receiving a declaration of love that someone only probably ever receives once in their life and it’s with a man she has NO future with. She knows this. This isn’t the man she knows. This isn’t Eric. “You’ve made me very happy,” I said, which was certainly the truth (189).

The next day the town of Bon Temps gathers to go searching the woods for Jason Stackhouse. Some weres help, like Crystal and Calvin, and Sam continues to linger like a linger-thing.

So Sookie goes home after a failtastic day and wakes up to Eric pretending he cares about Jason. Sookie doesn’t buy it and presses him to confess this gem: “I know I should be [sorry]. I should be concerned about your brother, because I love having sex with you, and I should want you to think well of me so you’ll want sex, too” (211). SMOOOOOOTH. Sookie mentions it’s the closest to the real Eric she’s seen in days and I agree. I like it. I MISS REAL ERIC!

“But you’ll listen to me, right? If I need to talk? For the same reason?”

“Of course, my lover.”

“Because you want to have sex with me.”

“That, of course. But also because I find I really do...” He paused as if he were about to say something outrageous. “I find I really have feelings for you.”
[...]
“Eric,” I said, after a long pause, “I almost hate to say this, but I have feelings for you, too.” (211)

Their relationship is SO different from the one with Bill. We never saw this kind of relaxing and talking with her and Bill. Eric was real and deep. And then it goes away and Sookie declared her feelings to a man who wasn’t ‘real’ and who didn’t remember. That’s a pretty low-blow and the combination between this amnesia situation and Bill’s betrayal really fucks Sookie over relationship-wise for the next five books. She has trust issues and they don’t go away with Quinn.

After they do sexy sex that I WISH we could see (grumbling), Sookie tells Eric they have to go to Shreveport. A deep sense of foreboding is running through Sookie as she feels the end of her and Eric’s time together closing in on them. Hallow has to die and with her goes the spell and with that goes Puppy!Eric and welcomes back SHERRIFF!ERIC. Sherrific!

Eric sorta realizes what this means for Sookie and says: “We could go back. We could go back to your house. I can stay with you always. We can know each other’s bodies in every way, night after night. I could love you” (213). Well if that doesn’t melt you, I don’t know what will. Sookie is being very firm and adult on the outside and is all cool as a cucumber even though her heart is breaking.

They meet with the defence against Hallow and Pam is being the head bitch in charge and ordering people around. Bubba is there being his usual dim-in-the-way self. Anyway, he’s annoying and I can’t stand him. BUT THE BEST THING HAPPENS NEXT –

BILL IS THERE AND BACK FROM PERU.

OMG YES YES YES! WOOO! ALPHA-MALE POSTURING! LOLS AHEAD EVERYONE, BRACE YOURSELVES. TEEHEHEHEHE.

Oh but first we have to be reminded that Debbie is a jerk and she watched Bill get hurt in Mississippi and all that jazz – Alcide abjures her or something and it’s awful and he ignores her and she runs away crying and I’m like HA HA WHORE CRY TO YOUR PIMP NO ONE CARES.

Pam’s like, lame-sauce, let’s kill stuff.

So after their strategy plan Bill slinks over to Sookie and her massive blond shadow. Bill’s all like “I made notes in my notebook.” And Eric’s like “I’m bigger than you.” And Sookie’s all like, “FML.” Already Bill is SO boring. It’s kinda hilarious how he mentions the most mundane things like, “I had a really good time doodling on lined paper.” And Sookie’s only response could be, “I had a really good time fucking Eric Northman.” But she would never say that because she’s a better person than me. Bill talks about Machu Picchu which reminds me of this chubby boy named Matthew in the grade older than me in elementary school and everyone called him that, so when Bill talks about how he was on top of a mountain and how awesome it was, I imagine good ol’ Matthew. So, of course, Bill brings the lawls.

I love Bill. Don’t ever do anything drastic like become interesting, otherwise you would become the opposite to me and be SO UNINTERESTING. Like when you talked about your Jacuzzi? That was gold. Don’t ever change <3

“Eric placed both his hands on my shoulders and moved in close to me. I had no doubt he was staring over the top of my head at Bill, who was staring right back. Eric might as well have stuck a SHE’S MINE sign on top of my head” (226).

Let’s fast-forward a bit. Eric and Sookie have a tender moment before the battle and it’s cute and all that smushiness. Sookie is all badass and gets everyone into the warehouse that is holding Hallow and her peeps. Things go awry, just as planned and battle commences.

Result: Chow is dead.

A moment of silence.

I can’t remember if any other unimportant people died. Sookie gets all sad panda that this is the end of her and Eric and leaves without a word to anyone. Eric, being the needy puppy he is, notices his owner is missing and trails after her with his tail tucked between his legs and big-ass eyes and a pathetic whimper. They go back to Bon Temps.

But before anyone thinks this is the end, DEBBIE IS IN HER KITCHEN. OMG. She shoots Eric who jumps in front of the bullet intended for Sookie. But this is SOOKIE’S HOUSE DAMMIT AND SHE WILL NOT HAVE ANY OF THESES SHENANIGANS and she reaches behind the water heater and BLASTS AWAY DEBBIE PELT FOR GOOD.

Badass. Sookie. Badass.

Eric comes back to life and helps get rid of pesky evidence like the body. Sookie goes to sleep with Eric, traumatized in so many ways.

Sookie wakes up feeling awful. It is just not her week.

And as sad as Sookie is. I jizzed my pants.

ERIC IS BACK. OMG THANK GOD, I WAS FEELING SO UNEASY. AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PUPPY!ERIC AND SHERRIFIC ERIC IS SO MAJOR. OMG.

The world is whole once again. Sigh of relief.

Eric’s all like: what.the.fuck. He’s lost his memory of the past few days and woke up in Sookie Stackhouse’s house. LYK WO. Eric looks down at his wardrobe and is all like THIS IS WAL-MART. “Did you dress me, too?” he asked, running his hand down his chest and lower. He gave me a very Eric smile. He didn’t remember. Anything (265).

WELCOME BACK. Thank you. Eric did a suggestive crotch grab and hit-on Sookie inappropriately. OLD TIMES YO. So Sookie makes small-talk through her pain like a good hostess and Eric says he loves snow and Sookie’s like: ho hum pig’s bum, I am supes sad. Eric doesn’t realize Sookie is so depressed and is like “Maybe we’ll get snowed in together.” And waggles his eyebrows.

Everything is right again.

Oh, in case you forgot...

JASON IS FOUND. BUT OH NO HE’S GONNA BE A WERE-PANTHER. Crystal’s weird-o boyfriend bit him in a jealous rage.

The book wraps up with Eric reappearing on her porch a few days later (I think, can’t be bothered by a time-line). Eric’s got his knickers in a twist. Eric wants to know if they had sex. Sookie’s protecting herself by answering his question with a question and Eric’s really aggravated. Eric mentions the money problem instead and Sookie doesn’t want to talk about it. Instead Eric’s like, why was there blood and guts on my clothes? Eric tells her she can’t keep secrets from him for forever and the readers are like PHWOAR and Sookie’s like OH SHIT. He gets all quiet and gentle and tries to coax the truth out of her and for a second the readers and Sookie are like OKAY JUST TELL HIM and then Sookie puts up her walls for good around Eric. And then they don’t break down until book ten, so strap on in for a long ride.

Sookie counters this with how she liked him better when he didn’t know he was and Eric’s actually wounded by her “harsh words”.

Some were comes over and asks about Debbie and Sookie’s like LA LA LA WHAT? WHO IS DEBBIE!? Meanwhile, Eric is sniffing the house. The were leaves and Eric corners Sookie and slyly tells her to never wear that jacket he found covered in Debbie’s guts ever again and to burn it. He’s speaking from experience.

The next day he sends her an awesome, beautiful coat and my heart stops.

THE COVER

Sookie is riding Eric. It is night. There are weres. And a graveyard. Good job. I like.

FINAL THOUGHTS

After this, long, long, long review of THE BIBLE, my final thoughts on Dead to the World will be brief. I like this book. It’s not my favourite, but I do enjoy it. There are times when I warmly embrace Eric with amnesia and then there is the moment when Eric is back to himself when I realize just how much I love Eric for exactly who he is. I missed him so much and when he’s his usual self, I feel better and safer. I felt uneasy through this entire book. I don’t know what that’s about.

I know Eric with amnesia is the same as real Eric except he’s not as hardened like a crab-apple. He doesn’t have the burdens of his past and is just carefree and true. He’s in love and is giddy and likes to jump in the air and click his heels. It’s a new Eric and we see more of this Eric as the series goes on and as he tries to come to terms with his left-over and increasing feelings for Sookie.

I give it four bloods. This is a staple for a fan of the Southern Vampire Mysteries and it shows the Eric we’ll know better in later books and Sherrific Eric. It has adventure, action, HBIC Pam, not a lot of Sam – it’s a good book and I like it.

~greenlemons