Two for Tuesday MaryJanice Davidson & Charlaine Harris

I L.O.V.E. MaryJanice Davidson.  Se has done for Paranormal Chicklit what Sophie Kinsella did for compulsive shoppers.   We are out of the closets readers of PNCL! So, I went to the library this week, having told them the week before that they were sorely lacking in the Paranormal  Romance and Urban Fantasy, and event the Classical Fantasy genres, and lo! there were several new books for the asking.  Oooh, a MaryJanice Davidson book, Hello Gorgeous!
On the back:

They Want Her To Save The World. As If.
One minute I'm out with my sorority sisters; the next there's a terrible accident (beyond my friend Stacey's outfit) and I'm waking up in some weird clinic transformed into a human cyborg--with a mission: to stop evil and stuff. Uh, hello? I've got a beauty salon to run.
Granted, it is cool to run faster than a Ford Mustang when I need to, even if it's totally hard on my shoes. But then I have to bring in another human cyborg on the run? One who happens to be male, totally gorgeous, smart, funny--and, um, his "enhancements"?--as if!

Cyborg, hmmm kind of paranormal.  I took it home and read it.  It was fun, very MJD but not at all PNR.  Is Cyborg Spy Erotica a genre?  Well it is speculative fiction so I guess I can talk about it.

There were only a few characters in the book but even so, there were too many incongruous elements. An heiress who goes to s a state college, does hair and buys a salon where she does hair. Its not the college-and-does-hair that is incongruous, its the heiress-and-does-hair.  Even hairstylists I know who are young and happy would leave in a minute if they were heiresses. Granted, most of her money is in a trust but she didn't have to do that.  Hair styling is physically exhausting! Then there is the obligatory guy with a castle and private jet who may be a murderer but is well endowed.

It came with a bonus short story I did not read. Frankly, this is not the same caliber as the Queen Betsy series.  It is available in paperback and Kindle and large print (for $26).  If I had a rating system I would give 3 out of 5.



Another book that was available was Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse − The Complete Stories: A Touch of Dead. Ever self-effacing, Ms. Harris was not sure she could tell a short story about Sookie because of how complex her  history is.  I think continuity could have become an issue for her.  Charlaine tells where each story fits into the time line, but I can't recall what happened when in the books so it didn't matter to me. It would have been difficult, I believe, because as the stories have unfolded after ten books Sookie has done a lot of growing up and had a lot of experiences.  It would be difficult to reconstruct her character at a younger age.  For Sookie fans, we probably don't care all that much. Charlaine describes the book as being for anyone who wants every last sip of Sookie.

I believe in these stories the Sookie I see is the tougher Sookie we saw in the last couple of books. If has been kind of nice to watch her grow up.  Sookie may not received much in the way of formal education but it is apparent that, having survived ten novels and at least this one book of short stories, she is one Smart Cookie. I only wish there were more of these stories on the book - or at least enough to get me to the next True Blood! I would recommend this book to friends.

Thanks for reading!


Book covers used in the spirit of fair use in critique.