Meet Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, in the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series that “blends the genres of romance, horror and adventure with stunning panache”(Diana Gabaldon). Laurell K. Hamilton’s bestselling series has captured readers’ wildest imaginations and addicted them to a seductive world where supernatural hungers collide with the desires of the human heart, … desires of the human heart, starring a heroine like no other…
Anita Blake is small, dark, and dangerous. Her turf is the city of St. Louis. Her job: re-animating the dead and killing the undead who take things too far. But when the city’s most powerful vampire asks her to solve a series of vicious slayings, Anita must confront her greatest fear—her undeniable attraction to master vampire Jean-Claude, one of the creatures she is sworn to destroy…
“What The Da Vinci Code did for the religious thriller, the Anita Blake series has done for the vampire novel.”—USA Today
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I have read this book about 3 times. I still love it, It has kept me up until dawn because I couldn’t stop reading. I feel as tho I’m in the story, I love her books.
I read Guilty Pleasures back during my binge-reading days in the Navy in 2009 – 2011. Let’s say I had a hard time diving back into reality after reading the Anita Blake series. I loved every bit of this series and still do. I would listen to the books in audio this time around.
Anita Blake will always be a favorite female character of mine because she kicks butt, and I love kick-butt female characters. I also enjoy reading Urban Fantasy because it gets me out of reading funks all the time. UF and PNR are my go-to genres to get back into binge-reading like a man woman, even when working full-time again.
I was a little nervous about having someone narrate Guilty Pleasures to me and bring the characters to life, but Kimberly Alexis did a fantastic job of telling the story. She even did a tremendous job of giving certain characters accents, and she made Anita sound kick-butt too. Anxiety averted, and now I’m anxious to listen to the second book in audio. Thanks to Kimberly Alexis, I have found yet another female narrator that can bring my favorite characters to life and make me enjoy the story even more.
If you haven’t read this series, I do highly recommend it to UF readers, but if you don’t like reading long series, then maybe this series is not for you. Laurell K. Hamilton does change up the series often with a lot of sexually explicit scenes that can be uncomfortable to some readers, especially in later books. BUT…Laurell K. Hamilton has stated several times that she has no control over her characters at times, and she lets them take the reigns. She also writes from the heart, so if something happens in her life, it can affect the story a bit. This is why I LOVE Laurell K. Hamilton’s writing style and everything she writes.
The first time I read Guilty Pleasures, I knew I was addicted right away due to LKH’s world-building and introducing the characters in the series. Anita Blake is known as the famous Vampire Hunter, so every vampire out there knows what they are up to against when they go up against her. In Guilty Pleasures, we get introduced to Jean-Claude and several other characters. Jean-Claude has always been a favorite of mine, so I’m glad I’m re-visiting his character again. I’m discovering things I missed the first time.
I will say this, the bad guy in Guilty Pleasures is friggin’ scary. I still have nightmares over the bad guy from Guilty Pleasures because of how Laurell described her and what she did in this book. This book had me upset at the end, but I invested time in a specific character, and well, let’s say Laurell did not make it easy. Anita has a full life of crazy in front of her, thanks to Jean-Claude. She’s supposed to be helping solve the murders of vampires in Guilty Pleasures, but she also ends up being in between a Master Vampire and everyone else. It’s crazy how she gets thrown in with vampires when she’s a Vampire Hunter.
Overall, I loved this book due to how Laurell K. Hamilton introduces a little bit of Anita Blake’s crazy world already. These books are not for everyone, but I enjoyed these books the first time, and I’m enjoying listening to them a second time. I need more time in my day to listen to them in an audio version. Work is taking priority.
If you are a fan of UF, I highly recommend reading the Anita Blake series. This series is what got me addicted to reading UF. I look forward to re-reading the rest of the books whenever I can find free time. =)
Read:
First Time in 2009.
Second Time in 2014.
Third Time in 2020.
Fast, furious, and fun, Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series is one of my all-time favorites. Any book in the series is an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon (as long as you don’t intend to relax too much – these books are seriously action-packed) and GUILTY PLEASURES is the one that kicks it off.
Give it a shot. I bet you’ll want to read the next one … and the next after that …
every one of these are excellent.
Same old, same old
First book I’ve read, and I’m pleased this is a series. Binge reading all books in the series!
An awesome joyride from start to finish.
Love the whole series. Once hooked, impossible to stop reading Anita’s next adventures.
These books are at a crossroads. They waver between good horrific paranormal crime busting and stilted romance as our heroine attempts to juggle her wacky web of entanglements. I kinda like the mix but in the end there is too much relationship nuttiness and too little work on the trashing the paranormal bad guys.
This is the beginning of a very long series.
Love her books
If you are craving vampire…this book satisfies!
Hooked me from page 1
Glad to find a new urban fantasy series. This is an older one but new to me. I’ll definitely read the next in the series. The writing is a little choppy, and the relationships less developed than I like, but maybe she is just leaving that to build over the following books.
Anita Blake is one of my favorite series. Hands down, a must read!
This series was recommended to me by my local librarian many years ago and I couldn’t get enough of them. The books take you on a wild ride into the immortal underworld and pulls you into some very dark and unexpected places. Loved this series!
Ah yes… the beginning of the Anita Blake Vampire Slayer series, and the first book to combine genres. Before this book, and this amazing author, Laurell K Hamilton, you got romance, thriller, Mystery, Detective, Horror, Comedy… but they were never mixed. EVER. Until this. Romance, Detective, Horror, a Little Comedy and the Paranormal. I feasted on this wonderful book and so many of her other novels. Love her! — Alice Bello is the author of Better off Dead, Min’s Vampire and the Ferro Mountain Shifters series.
Laurels k hamilton never disappoints
Second reading of this book and it is still good. Supernatural, action, vampires,
weres and a dash of romance…all is here. First in the long series will keep you
reading.
First book in a steamy series.