Vamipire Lite(tm)

What I read last week: Molly Harper's Jane Jameson trilogy, Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs, Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men, and Nice Girls Don't Live Forever.

Tired of overly-emo vampires and too-sculpted werewolves, but still fond of the little critters of the night? This is the series for you.

Srsly! These books are fun - as in giggling-out-loud fun. When was the last time a book made you giggle? (Please comment with title/author. I'm always looking for new books.)

Jane, the main character, is like that friend everyone has who always has the perfect snarky-but-not-mean thing to say that makes everyone laugh, and has no idea she does it. And she adjusts to her sudden onset of vampirism about as well as that friend of yours would - with plenty of flailing around and, of course, snarky-but-not-mean things to say. (Well, maybe one or two mean things. She'd be entitled, right?) There's always an element of mystery to each story - they could be classified as mysteries, but the "comic mystery" genre is really just starting to find its legs. So, "funny mystery with lots of romance" or "funny romance with lots of mystery" - either works as a label. There are some great reviews out there, and you can judge for yourself via the links under "Recommend", below. But I recommend these, I really do!

The Back of the Jacket (from the second book):

Once a devoted children's librarian, Jane Jameson now works at a run-down occult bookstore. Once a regular gal, she's now a vampire. And instead of a bride, she's an eternal bridesmade - which leads her to question where exactly her relationsihp with her irresistably sexy sire, Gabriel, is headed. mercurial, enigmatic, apparently commitment-phobic vampires are nothing if not hard to read. While Jane is trying to master undead dating, she is also donning the ungliest bridesmand's dressin history at her best friend Zeb's Titanic-themed wedding.

Between a freaked-out groom-to-be, his hostile werewolf in-laws and Zeb's mother, hell-bent on seeing Jane walk the aisle with Zeb, Janes got the feeling she's just rearranging the proverbial deck chairs.

Meanwhile, Half Moon Hollow's own Black Widow, Jane's Gradma Ruthie, has met her match in her latest fiance. he smells like bad cheese and has a suspicious history of dead spouses. But Jane's biting her tounge. After all, would a nice girl really think she has a future with a vampire?

This set of books works nicely as a trilogy - but I'm really hoping there will be more Jane Jameson books in the future. It's such a fun take on the whole vampire/werewolf thing, and refuses to take itself too seriously.

Genre(s):Romance, Comedy, Mystery, Vampires/Werewolves
Audience: Adult, Young Adult (some sex scenes)
Online Extras: Mollly Harper's Author Page at her publisher - My life in 8 words: "One woman, too much snark for one soul." And the companion blog, SingleUndeadFemale.blogspot.com, and, of course, her author site, MollyHarper.com.
Reading Time: About a day each, they're fun & quick!
Recommend: Checked out the first two from the library, then hunted down all three & bought them. The Molly Harper Site, lets you read an excerpt from each of the three books, which will give you a good idea of Ms. Harper's style.

I read a lot. Given how much I knit, I really shouldn't have time for eating - but I tend to eat at least two meals a day at work (by myself), and I don't want food on my knitting, so - I read. I'm not reading as much as I usually do, since the Monster Yarn Pattern Project thing is taking over chunks of my evenings (it's going to be a while before there's little enough yarn left for it to be a "portable project"), so I'll share what I've been reading. It's pretty eclectic, and I'm not a critic. Pretty much anything I pick up, I read; I don't tend to pick up things I don't think I'll finish. Don't expect anything in-depth, but you may find something you hadn't heard of that you might want to track down to read yourself.