Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

Title: Guilty Pleasures
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Rating: ★★★

Anita Blake may be small and young, but vampires call her the Executioner. Anita is a necromancer and vampire hunter in a time when vampires are protected by law--as long as they don't get too nasty. Now someone's killing innocent vampires and Anita agrees--with a bit of vampiric arm-twisting--to help figure out who and why.

Trust is a luxury Anita can't afford when her allies aren't human. The city's most powerful vampire, Nikolaos, is 1,000 years old and looks like a 10-year-old girl. The second most powerful vampire, Jean-Claude, is interested in more than just Anita's professional talents, but the feisty necromancer isn't playing along--yet. This popular series has a wild energy and humor, and some very appealing characters--both dead and alive.

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Guilty Pleasures is the first book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. This is my first foray into the adult paranormal romance genre. In the beginning of the book, I found myself losing track of all the characters. Who is and isn't a vampire. All of a sudden, names would pop up and I wasn't sure where they came from. I kept having to reread sections to make sure I knew what was going on. This is a very short book, yet somehow, I often felt bored. At the same time, the story was elaborate and went too quickly. But once I got to the second half of the book, things really picked up. I found myself rooting for Anita, the kick-ass and witty heroine, and desperately wanting to know more about Jean-Claude. (Sexy, mysterious night club owner. Where have I seen this guy before? go team eric).

To be honest, I kind of expected some romance or maybe even *gasp!* sex in this book. I was left disappointed because I'm not even sure who was supposedly Anita's love interest (Isn't this supposed to be a romance?) I was a also a little confused about Phillip. Even though Anita is a very tough chick, she became smitten/drawn to this vampire junkie? Come on, I get the feeling if Anita was dead set against falling for his charms she would have resisted a bit harder. Even though it went no where, I felt that relationship made Anita seem a tad weak.

Luckily, Anita is such an intriguing character, I find myself wan't to find out what other trouble is going to land on her doorstep.

Rating: 3/5