Affliction (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #22) by Laurell K Hamilton

Some zombies are raised. Others must be put down. Just ask Anita Blake.
Before now, she would have considered them merely off-putting, never dangerous. Before now, she had never heard of any of them causing human beings to perish in agony. But that’s all changed.
Micah’s estranged father lies dying, rotting away inside from some strange ailment that has his doctors whispering about “zombie disease.”
Anita makes her living off of zombies—but these aren’t the kind she knows so well. These creatures hunt in daylight, and are as fast and strong as vampires. If they bite you, you become just like them. And round and round it goes…
Where will it stop?Even Anita Blake doesn’t know.

Hello, hello! Here I am jotting down a few notes since I just finished book 22 (!!!) in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton. I'm subscribed to view updates from Hamilton on Facebook and have noticed over the last week + since her book has been released that she's very amendment about people NOT posting spoilers... so as much as I'd like to abide by her wishes, it's slightly difficult to review a book w/o posting a facts that people wouldn't know without having read the books themselves. In that case, I'm not sure why I do book reviews? I know there is a fine art to reviewing and well, you know me, not too classy, not too cooth, sooo.... I will try NOT to post spoilers in this review, but I can't promise much, there was a lot about this book that I'd like to share... a lot of meh, okay things and some not so okay things... so, without further ado... my review!

I've been listening to the stories Hamilton writes about Anita Blake for a couple of years now. I was a little late to the dance, so I had kind of O.D'd on the books via audio all at one time, up until, I think, Bullet (#19), it was... then I had to wait the year or so it took for her to create another book and get it published. So I've been patiently doing just that and here we are with Affliction. I was pretty excited about the release of this one as I absolutely LOVE Anita Blake and honestly think a tv series should be created on like, FX or some non mainstream tv channel like that. There is THAT much about her that's just been had, sooo many stories and details and the series is just so involved and all encompassing. I would honestly tune in each week to watch a tv series, BUT it probably would never be as juicy as her books are by way of the furry lovin' and all the "polyamorous"...ness going on! LOL! That word is just so silly. Call her what she is- a slut! And that's okay by me! ;) I recall the book before the last one, Bullet was a real disappointment for me, it wasn't fulfilling for me at all, and I remember strongly disliking it, then she released Hit List and I fell back in love! LOL! Most of her books are hit or miss, with the majority of them being a serious HIT for me, but her most recent ones you can tell she's just in a different place in her personal life (Hamilton is) and therefore her writing really reflects that. Some of her older books are much darker and much more emotional, and "believable" in a way (not that the situations or characters are believable, it's paranormal... but the raw emotions...), and things are clearly just really different these days in her writing. As fluffy and lovey dovey as I thought Bullet was, Affliction tried to get there, referring in several different spots in the book to "God" and angels and believing in a holy power etc, I just was left with a sour taste in my mouth when she had little tangents like that. If you all don't know, I'm passionately atheist and don't choose many books that refer to God, or have topics of religion in them, so it was a little meh for me, in this book. I think that coupled with the extremely intense threesome scene where one of Anita's sweeties (who is a self professed "sociopath"- which also rubs me the wrong way the way he describes himself as such and how much attention they actually put on that whole topic... weird.) went into a startling and kind of all of a sudden choke-fest. I guess that's a little spoiler-ish, sorry, but it really irritated me. I'm very open minded, and I'm pretty much down with alternative lifestyles (you HAVE to be, to read Hamilton's books, quite honestly) but there is just ONE thing that really bothers me in relations to "sex"... choking. It's sort of a sexy sexy pet peeve, I guess you can say. I just don't understand it at all. AT ALL! It turns me pretty cold and turns me off quickly. Not sure why! I just see no attraction in it and don't recall a book that's had a choking scene in it, ever, that I've read, but this one DOES and it's by one of my very favorite characters, so it really bothered me. Not sure why, but it did. :/ Otherwise, I really loved this book... oh wait! The ending! Seriously anti-climactic! LOL! There was a lot of hunting hunting, looking, searching... a lot of insinuated action, and then BOOP! All done! I was like, huh! It took her 80 some chapters to come up with this hair brained idea to do what she always does in every single book- raise zombies... ?! IDK, just kinda goofy and almost like Hamilton wasn't quite sure how or when to wrap up the book. It was like she hit a certain word count and was like Oh, I'm where I need to be, no use in going any further on words, lets wrap this baby up! LOL! It WAS good though, I really did like it. I liked how it played out, the travel involved and how the more familiar main sweeties took a bit of a back seat for others to step up into the limelight! It was nice! Kinda a bummer it took nearly 40 out of 80 chapters to get any sexy sexy, but once it got there, it was worth it! Hello shower scene with Anita, Dev and Nicky! MEOW! Holy smokes! But I expect nothing less from Hamilton when it comes to the sex! I recall in one book she literally wrote like 4 chapters straight describing just one sex scene- it was very... vivid, to say the least! Can't recall which book that was, since there's TWENTY TWO of them now! ;) But for anyone with a VERY open mind, the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series by LKH are awesome books and I recommend them to anyone who will sit still long enough and who's got a love for the paranormal! :)

This deserves:  

... up next! No idea... you'll know when I know! :)

Kiss the Dead by Laurell K Hamilton

{YES, I've listened to this book on audio and YES this post contains spoilers, as I am reviewing a book!! LOL! may contain questionable language, discretion is advised! Excerpt below from Good Reads.}

Kiss the Dead (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #21)

by Laurell K. Hamilton

 3.50  ·   rating details  ·  1,608 ratings  ·  417 reviews

When a fifteen-year-old girl is abducted by vampires, it’s up to U.S. Marshal Anita Blake to find her. And when she does, she’s faced with something she’s never seen before: a terrifyingly ordinary group of people—kids, grandparents, soccer moms—all recently turned and willing to die to avoid serving a master. And where there’s one martyr, there will be more…

But even vampires have monsters that they’re afraid of. And Anita is one of them…

I have to admit, when I was done with Hit List (her book PRIOR to this one), I realllllly did not have that sense of WOW like I had with all the other Anita Blake books. I'm a HUGE LKH fan. I have to just come out and say it! About 2 yrs ago, an internet buddy of mine turned me onto the Anita Blake series and I devoured each audiobook one right after the other, then I had a lonnnnng wait for Hit List. I was very disappointed in Hit List (her book before Kiss the Dead). It was just meh for me. There just wasn't enough meat on the bones of that book and I finished it with an empty feeling and thought the last chapter was corny as hell! (sorry LKH!) So when I got Kiss the Dead, I was a little wary... kind of worried... kind of holding my breath, crossing my fingers hoping for the best. I was NOT let down. This book DID it for me! It felt a little rushed, but I think that is because I was used to day after day, month after month of constant Anita Blake in my ear for like seriously 6 months straight when I listened to every single book in the series. I know, I know, generally you aren't really supposed to "read" them that way, but how could I NOT!? And when the freaky orgy shit started happening around the middle of the whole series, I was just hooked (oh my, that makes me sound... of questionable morals doesn't it?! *wink*)!! I love her writing, love her pictures she paints and what I REALLY love is the narrator! Kimberly Alexis has read nearly all of the books in the series save a few towards the beginning (and there is NOTHING worse than plugging right along with your audiobook format series and getting used to the fact that someone's literally speaking TO YOUR EAR DRUMS lol then BAM! the company switches narrators! GAH! That is seriously, THE WORST!) and she is amazing! It almost felt like in the very start of the book she was almost told to "go hard" or to read it like forcefully or whatever, but it felt like it was a little overboard in the forcefulness of her just speaking the words, it was odd... but I got used to it and it all just blended together after she had a few softer scenario's to read. And another thing!!! That hasn't happened in very many other series / books that I really recall, and I'm not sure if it's the writer (don't think so), the publisher... what, but when there is ACTION in the book (and in this one there is TONS! I loved it!) there is music and "sound effects" that start up. I remember back when I listened to some of her older books, when there is gun shot that is being read about, there is ACTUAL gun shot sound in the book, and it echo's through the headphones and it scared the living shit out of me the first time, but wow, does it ever just MAKE the book. Almost like watching a movie, and SOOOOO much easier to imagine in your head. Such a difference than all of the other audiobooks out there. So I'm assuming it's the audiobook publishing company that is in charge of it, so kudo's to them or whomever is in charge of the sound effects and bits of music they put into really intense scene's... it's AH-MAZING! :) I completely loved everything about this book to be quite honest, there wasn't anything I really didn't like. The characters were all the familiar ones I had gotten to know over the course of the whole series (which is extremely long- 21 books) and everything just flowed really nicely. The plot was spot on and the end just had that extra special twist at the end that made me hold my breath!!! Great, great book and I recommend it to anyone who wants a little action, loves LKH & Anita Blake, wants a bit of sex (there was much more in this book than Hit List but not nearly as much as some of her other books, she did a fine job balancing it out in this book I think. I could have gone with a little more, but I'm a shameless hussy... *cough*)- it has the whole nine yards! Loved it!!!

I gave Kiss the Dead : ★★★★★ = Loved it! 

After Kiss the Dead finished up last night on my mp3 player, I popped over to my next one... I'm now a few chapters into and I can not wait to get more into the book, one of my top 5 favorite series EVER :

Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night (Immortals After Dark, #3)

Cole, Kresley