Dead until Dark by Charlaine Harris

I'll be honest...I didn't expect to like Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris.

I don't really like vampires or books about vampires.

I don't get all high and mighty, literarily speaking, about books about vampires. There's nothing wrong them or with people who read them. They're just not my thing.

We have HBO, though, and I saw some previews for True Blood--the show based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels. It looked okay, which is saying a lot for scripted television these days, and I wanted to watch them.

Unfortunately, I am the victim of 'have to read the book before watching the movie' syndrome. Even more unfortunately, this extends to television, too. Take pity on The Dude, would you?

When I picked up Dead Until Dark, I had fairly low expectations since it was a book about vampires.

I have to say, I like Sookie Stackhouse.

Sookie lives in a small Louisiana town and works at a bar. Seems fairly normal, right?

Given that this is a book about vampires, it can't be that normal.

Sookie meets Bill, a vampire who lived in her town during the Civil War who has come home to try to live a normal life. He quickly learns that with Sookie in his life, it will be anything but normal.

The novel is part romance, part fantasy, and part mystery.

And I loved it. Even if it was a book about vampires. :-)