Gwen and Jeff Bel Geddes are an attractive couple in their early forties who have loved each other since college—too bad they’re getting a divorce…Jeff’s unexpressed desires have led him to Noblesword Vineyards, an exclusive sexual boutique that caters to sophisticated tastes. Gwen is desperately curious to know what has attracted Jeff to Noblesword. She goes to the vineyard undercover, willingly signs a contract stating she is the sexual property of Noblesword, and turns herself over body and soul to be transformed into an erotic plaything for dominant men.Noblesword is a lush “free play zone” where adults can express their deepest fantasies and test their personal boundaries. Erotic games of every description play out behind its walls. Gwen must determine for herself if the risqué Noblesword is as dangerous as it looks or simply an erotic circus of the mind.Reader Advisory: Noblesword Vineyard is a sexual dream come true, where boundaries are almost limitless and sexual expression is encouraged. In that spirit, the novel contains some sensual f/f interaction along with a detailed m/m/f ménage.
While the outcome is a bit on this side of predictable, and of course Jeff was trying to save their marriage, this book packs a lot of heat into its 414 kilobytes. Gwen/Shiraz is a bit confused about her own sexuality and her husband is not at all confused about his. The two have been so emotionally and sexually estranged she cannot recognize him while wearing a blindfold.
One aspect of BDSM I find troubling is humiliation, and the act of people being gratified sexually not through submission but through allowing apparent psychosis to blossom. I am straight but not small minded and if someone wants to submit as a dog, well, that person might be okay, but lets get him or her a psych evaluation first. The story does allow that if something is not wanted, not fun then it's not done. But if this couple were as uptight with each other as described and then as open sexually and attitudinally as written then a fairly strange and rapid metamorphosis, especially on Gwen's part.
On the plus side of the story is the very, very hot sex offered for our reading pleasure. If a weekend of hot sex can save a marriage in a book then reading it sure can't hurt a relationship in which the reader is involved (as long as the kids aren't screaming and you mother-in-law isn't sticking her nose in).
There is a lot of emphasis on youth and still maintaining one's beauty, firm breasts, etc., even at the ripe old age of forty (can you imagine). There are several scenes where women of ordinary strength are hosted into the air by their shackled wrists (Is there an orthopedic surgeon in the house?!).
So, in the end, my feelings are mixed: nicely written sex interspersed with public sexual humiliation which the submissive mentally rationalizes or which she gets through via a form of of disassociation. Disassociation is nit healthy. Oh, and there is a penis with the circumference of a wine bottle (ouch!); I hope it was a split of champagne and not a jeroboam!
A hired gunslinger, William Jessup Brady lived his life with one foot in the grave. He believed that every life had a price. Until the day when he finally found a reason to live. In one single act of brutal betrayal, he lost everything, including his life. Brought back by a Greek goddess to be one of her Dark-Hunters, he gave his immortal soul for vengeance and swore he’d spend eternity protecting the humans he’d once considered prey.
Orphaned as a toddler, Abigail Yager was taken in by a family of vampires and raised on one belief—Dark-Hunters are the evil who prey on both their people and mankind, and they must all be destroyed. While protecting her adoptive race, she has spent her life eliminating the Dark-Hunters and training for the day when she meeting the man who killed her family: Jess Brady.
A gun in the hand is worth two in the holster…
Jess has been charged with finding and terminating the creature who’s assassinating Dark-Hunters. The last thing he expects to find is a human face behind the killings, but when that face bears a striking resemblance to the one who murdered him centuries ago, he knows something evil is going on. He also knows he’s not the one who killed her parents. But Abigail refuses to believe the truth and is determined to see him dead once and for all.
Brought together by an angry god and chased by ancient enemies out to kill them both, they must find a way to overcome their mutual hatred or watch as one of the darkest of powers rises and kills both the races they’ve sworn to protect.
Even if Sherilynn hadn't been in the NY Times NUMBER ONE spot 12 times in 2 years this woman's stories would be remarkable. That she didn't give up after years of unhappy manuscript rejection is a testament to all writers out there who think, "I don't know how to write, I'll never be published."
Think how all those rejecting publishers feel now. In the words of Charlaine Harris at BEA on having had similar experiences,
NEENER NEENER NEENER!
Thanks to the nice folks at MacMillan I have a COPY for one super lucky winner! TO ENTER TO WIN SHERILYN'S LATEST BEST SELLER GO HERE!
Or Go to my Giveaways Page Above
Retribution by Sherilyn Kenyon
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (August 2, 2011)
Language: English
Sherrilyn Kennyon's website about 'Retribution' containing excerpts:
Kindle Edition: 447 KB Print Length: 320 pages Publisher: BelleBooks (January 13, 2011) Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Paperback:320 pages
Publisher: BelleBooks (January 2002)
Kindle Freebie March 2011, not currently free.
Excerpt: http://www.deborah-smith.com/books/AliceatHeart.html
Shy, charming, peculiar, and web-toed, Alice Riley has suffered for years at the hands of her dead mother's self-righteous family, while she hides a bevy of secret abilities. When Alice rescues a drowning child, her amazing talents are exposed. Alice can remain underwater for extraordinary periods of time, and she can locate submerged objects through some type of natural sonar ability.
Her new fame/notoriety puts Alice in the national news, amidst allegations that she has somehow faked or manipulated the rescue for her own glory. Alice is trapped and desperate until three amazing older women arrive in her hometown. They are the regal and flamboyant Bonavendier sisters--dignified Lilith, acerbic Mara, and whimsical Pearl--of Sainte's Point Island, their ancestral home off the coast of Georgia. They've read Alice's story in the news and are convinced that she is their long-lost (and much younger) half sister, conceived in a reckless seduction their elderly father confessed to before he died.
Like Alice, the Bonavendier sisters have webbed toes and certain amazing abilities, though none of them have Alice's marked talent for finding things underwater. Alice is no oddity to them. They explain that--like them--she is descended from a mermaid.
Lured to a beautiful island off the Georgia coast by her newly discovered sisters, Alice transforms into a glamorous new person and finds love with an adventuring treasure hunter who has his own mer heritage.
Poetic and as different from Smith's Crossroads Cafe as opera is from Grand Ol' Opry, This is a fable of personal transformation and discovery, of unlearning what you "know" is true. There are entwined love stories and losses, For some more loss than love. At the same time the writing is rythmic and soothing like the waves lapping the shore. Land and water are both necessary to living. The meet each other without fighting.
I don't get the mermaid singing thing, In Splash with Daryll Hannah the mermaids voice sounds like Flipper with a sore throat. I don't get whether there are words or just sounds.
An attractive story of life and love and how we can punish ourselves for what we could have don. Recommended!
So, what would you say about Jason's little fantasy about Jessica? And, of course, the assistance Jess rendered him at the full-moon? Has anyone told him about the sexual effects of having Jessica's blood? Do you think it's just human nature to feel "guilty" about fantasy and heart-to-hearts even if they don't end up skin-on-skin?
Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme that features Third Sentences.
1) Take the book you are reading now and post the third sentence
2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)
3) Post a link to your sentence here at Sniffly Kitty (in the comments) or if you don't have a blog, just post your third sentence and review in her comments section.
Today I am looking at the third sentence from Alice At Heart (Waterlilies Series) by Deborah Smith
By nature, you see, we are very hard to believe in, but very easy to love.
All mythological or supernatural beings are hard to believe in. Are all easy to love? Don't think so, although is is author's world that makes the decision to make them loveable or scary. Generally fae, mermaids, witches, vamps and were could go i]either way as a species or as an individual. Usually ogres and trolls are just that —ogreish and troll-like.
Image by leshoward via FlickrThe uncontested expert site on all things True Blood mentions Fang Wands and Fairy Dust (near the end, right before the spoilers). I subscribe to this site because they know all things True Blood.
Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Touchstone (June 7, 2011) Kindle Edition: 812 KB Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc. Book Expo America sample
Image via WikipediaVibrant, fresh, and intelligent, The Little Women Letters explores the imagined lives of Jo March’s descendants—three sisters who are both thoroughly modern and thoroughly March. As uplifting and essential as Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Gabrielle Donnelly’s novel will speak to anyone who’s ever fought with a sister, fallen in love with a fabulous pair of shoes, or wondered what on earth life had in store for her.
With her older sister, Emma, planning a wedding and her younger sister, Sophie, preparing to launch a career on the London stage, Lulu can’t help but feel like the failure of the Atwater family. Lulu loves her sisters dearly and wants nothing but the best for them, but she finds herself stuck in a rut, working dead-end jobs with no romantic prospects in sight. When her mother asks her to find a cache of old family recipes in the attic of her childhood home, Lulu stumbles across a collection of letters written by her great-great-grandmother Josephine March. In her letters, Jo writes in detail about every aspect of her life: her older sister, Meg’s, new home and family; her younger sister Amy’s many admirers; Beth’s illness and the family’s shared grief over losing her too soon; and the butterflies she feels when she meets a handsome young German. As Lulu delves deeper into the lives and secrets of the March sisters, she finds solace and guidance, but can the words of her great-great-grandmother help Lulu find a place for herself in a world so different from the one Jo knew?
Some things, of course, remain unchanged: the stories and jokes that form a family’s history, the laughter over tea in the afternoon, the desire to do the right thing in spite of obstacles. And above all, of course, the fierce, undying, and often infuriating bond of sisterhood that links the Atwater women every bit as firmly as it did the March sisters all those years ago. Both a loving tribute to Little Women and a wonderful contemporary family story, The Little Women Letters is a heartwarming, funny, and wise novel for today.
Amazon.com
Cover of Little WomenThis book is, in a word, beautiful—beautifully written, beautifully characterized; and a beautiful homage to a story that means so much to so many of us. While some of Louisa May Alcott’s writing is a bit sentimental for my taste (A Long Fatal Love Chase), I loved Little Women as a girl and recall it fondly now, I must have cried an ocean with each reading as Beth dies. Donnelly has written a wonderfully and lushly emotional book that touched my heart.
Like Jane Austen, Alcott wrote characters who are archetypes rather than stereotypes. Obviously, both have stood the test of time. Gabrielle’s characters: Fee, Emma, Lulu, Sophie and David all remind me of one of the young women Alcott gave life to; but they all also remind me of people I know. In The Little Women Letters even incidental characters are given a personality. Everyone leaps from the printed page to become a three-dimensional person living their lives in my mind.
And, what a fabulous concept for a story! I can’t say that I have ever read anything like this: imagining the descendants of a fictional family discovering their fictional family history. I loved it.
My highest praise for a story is that I miss it when it is over.
As soon as I finished this book I began missing everyone in it, and I want to know how they get on in the future.
The Little Women Letters will make you nostalgic for the March family, and for my own. We don’t always get along, sometimes we hurt each other, and my mom, sisters and I are very, very different. I don’t agree with all their choices, but if they needed my kidney they would have it. Although I also wanted to become a member of The Little Women Letters' Atwater family.
You will need an occasional tissue for this one but The Little Women Letters is a MUST READ for anyone, and especially anyone with sisters!
HEARTLESS An Alexia Tarabotti Novel by Gail Carriger
Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Orbit; 1 edition (July 1, 2011)
Kindle Edition: 573 KB
Print Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Orbit; Original edition (July 1, 2011)
Sold by: Hachette Book Group
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The Parasol Protectorate books are comedies of manners set in Victorian London: full of vampires, dirigibles, and tea. They are Jane Austen doing urban fantasy meets PG Wodehouse doing steampunk. http://gailcarriger.com/presskit.php
Heartless Blurb (SPOILER ALERT for Soulless & Changeless & Blameless)
Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault. When a mad ghost threatens the queen, Alexia is on the case, following a trail that leads her deep into her husband's past. Top that off with a sister who has joined the suffragette movement (shocking!), Madame Lefoux's latest mechanical invention, and a plague of zombie porcupines and Alexia barely has time to remember she just happens to be eight months pregnant. Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf's clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldama's second best closet? http://gailcarriger.com/shop.phpImage via Wikipedia
As I read a Gail Carriger book my posture becomes straighter, my grammar more precise, my sense of propriety more, well, proper. I drink coffee and wine, so tea does not become my drink of choice. In Heartless we are faced with a hugely pregnant, and therefore wholly inappropriate Alexia Tarabotti is the only person at the full moon standing between the Queen and danger. As usual Alexia has to get to bottom of it before the worst happens. On the way she learns a lot about the past of her and Connal's pack, too much about them actually. Then her hat and parasol maker, well, you have to read it to find out.
I really enjoyed this book. I think Gail Carriger has hit the nail on the head (i sincerely attempted to find a British idiom for this, but it turns out this is English in origin as early as 1438) with Heartless and regained the zing I thought missing from Changeless and Blameless.
Once again, Alexia flouts convention by actually going about her business and that of the Crown while immense with child and even during the full moon while the were and the vamps are otherwise occupied. You have to love someone who is practical: there's something that must be done and she's the only one for it. To hell with convention, Alixia's on the job!
The Vampires seem to be hell bent on the destruction of not only Alexia but her child. No werewolf Alpha is going to le t that happen but the enemies are many and inventive and Alexia has a habit of getting in trouble. The pack, and the military cannot watch her 24/7 so a solution must be negotiated. It is, of course because if she passed away the book would end suddenly. Of course, as always she is searching to learn more about her mysterious father, to find out more about her husband, and in general getting into trouble as only a person with no soul can.
Here is a little issue for me. Alexia has soul like Aretha Franklin playing the Apollo. Like the words, Sense and Sensibility with which the meaning is reversed so perhaps the Victorian's Soul had a different meaning. In her case it seems she doesn't pray to someone else when she is in trouble but depends on her wits. She would not be able to attend AA unless by Higher Power you mean Crown and Country.
What I feel returns the zing, is that there is less dependence on steampunk contrivances to move either Alexia or the story along than the last two novels. Of course, there are some but they do npt take over. Machines do not make good characters, Alexia does. Again the story depends on Alexia's intelligence and not, with a few exceptions involving personal dirigibles, Deus Ex Machina. Madame Lefoux is a source of problems and not a source of terribly helpful inventions. And Felicity, Alexia's maternal half-sister is being led not so much by her mother's stupidity but by a more Machiavellian sort.
Oh right, the baby. Well the baby comes as babies do. And is quite messy and unappealing at first. But for certain, just like the parents, this child has some special attributes.
Mayhem, as always follows Alexia through Victorian England, and that creates a rollicking hilarious frolic hrough Alexia's life and London. This is a MUST READ story for lovers of Steampunk, Victorian Vampires, or Werewolves, and maybe even lovers of Bridget Jones Diary and Jane Austen. For others it is probably Highly Recommended.
A hired gunslinger, William Jessup Brady lived his life with one foot in the grave. He believed that every life had a price. Until the day when he finally found a reason to live. In one single act of brutal betrayal, he lost everything, including his life. Brought back by a Greek goddess to be one of her Dark-Hunters, he gave his immortal soul for vengeance and swore he’d spend eternity protecting the humans he’d once considered prey.
Orphaned as a toddler, Abigail Yager was taken in by a family of vampires and raised on one belief- Dark-Hunters are the evil who prey on both their people and mankind, and they must all be destroyed. While protecting her adoptive race, she has spent her life eliminating the Dark-Hunters..."
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At the end of the last episode during a meeting of his remaining Sheriffs, Bill Compton has learned that Pam lied to him regarding what happened to Eric at Moon Goddess and where he was. Even worse Sookie lied to Bill to prevent a search of her house; drawing upon the currency of never having given him a reason not to trust her.
Pam is still rotting and has now endangered herself and her maker with a slip of the tongue. There is an edict against killing humans with the punishment being the True Death.
Eric and Sookie are kissing their way into her house as he undresses her. They go into the Living room, He tells her she is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen and she replies that is only because he can’t remember any thing else.
Just as Eric is kissing his way down Sookie’s body, Bill slams open the door to Sookie’s house, He and Eric start fighting. Eric is about is about to stake Bill when Sookie tells him to stop. Eric asks who is Bill to her she says he is your king. All the fight goes out of Eric and he immediately yields to Bill, “My Liege,” he says, “Please forgive me.”
Sookie and Eric are taken to Bill’s. They put silver cuffs on Eric. She says he is not resisting, why hurt him and Eric says that she did enough to help him already. Bill snarks, “Yes you certainly have.” Sookie says that’s what this is about? That he’s been having sex with everyone but as soon as she moves on,… If you ever loved me you won’t hurt him and he says it is business, vampire business and she should stay out of it. She says she is not leaving without Eric Bill kicks her out and says to arrest her for trespassing if she comes back. As she leaves she says that what he is doing is wrong and he knows it. I think from the look on his face he does.
The guards put Eric into a cell with Pam. He says it smells of death. She apologizes or screwing up. A blanket covered lump says it is me. She is rotting, angry, she tells him he hates Bill who loathes himself. tells him to snap out of it He is Viking vampire bows to noone. She tells him to snap out of it. He doesn’t want to remember himself; what he did. He is not the vampire she thinks he is. He is not that vampire anymore.
Bill is in his office and video calls Nan Flannagan from the AVL. He says they have witch and Eric in custody. “Really? Alive?” Nan asks. Bill responds of course that they are holding her to asses the threat but that Eric has been infected (or affected). He lies to Nan saying Eric is an unstable and that the witch will try to use Eric against them and asks for a True Death Warrant. Nan says she bets he is torn up about it, and will put it through proper channels, that he did a good job.
[I see Bill as conflicted here, I never thought he was power hungry. He is doing this to protect Sookie. As he said in Season Three He will kill everyone who knows what she is. But, I believe he also knows he is jealous and that the sex he has had since Sookie is quite empty.]
Arlene and Terry are asleep, she mumbles that he knows he can’t smoke in the bedroom. He wakes up and sees the fire. Tells her to get Mikey and get out he’ll get Cody and Lisa. Mikey is not in his crib. She is looking everywhere as the smoke and fire worsens (I actually forgot to be typing during this scene it was so gripping and scared me to death.) Terry makes her leave sets her outside and turns to go back when the house just explodes. Of course, she starts screaming when Lisa calls outs momma he’s over here, he was there when they got out but he is in the yard playing with the ugly old doll. Arlene is holding him when the baby and the TV audience see a beautiful black woman dressed and coiffed from the thirties or forties. She smiles and waves (and seems utterly benevolent). Arlene turns to see what the baby is laughing at but there is nothing there but a wisp of mist or smoke.
In the morning Sam is trying to figure out how the fire started and console Terry and Arlene. Arlene says there is nothing wrong but that her serial killing ex is after them but they’re just peachy. Sheriff Andy comes out and is verbally threatening Sam about code violations. Sam says he replaced the electrical and that Andy better get off his case. Holly calls out and asks for help with heavy chair that he picks up over his head. Asks if the boys are okay and she says they were with their father. She says she owes him a cheeseburger. He thinks she is flirting and says, “You mean like a date? She says not thinking that way because her house is nearly burned down but, seeing the embarrassment and disappointment on his face says sure it’s a date. Andy expresses his surprised pleasure.
Phone ringing at Sam’s trailer. Tommy picks up and Sam tells him about the fire and that he needs Tommy to open the Bar. Tommy says sure but sounds so dejected. Sam says it is the full moon and he’l be back so they can run together.
Tommy is really groggy and depressed. [now remember what Luna said about skin walkers having to kill a family member to be able to turn into people – Tommy just killed his mother] He is telling himself off in the mirror and starts to hit head. Turns into Sam.
Jesus and Lafayette at Jesus’ Brujo Abuelo’s place in Mexico. The woman brings him goat tongue for breakfast wow that smells well done, barely covering his disdain. Jesus is more politick and in Spanish thanks his grandfather for his hospitality. He knows it’s been a long time but we have problems and need help. Abuelo berates him saying you ran for twenty years and now crawl back on your knees, where is your pride? Jesus tells him some things are more important than pride. His grandfather tells them to bring him a sacrifice and then we’ll see.
At Lafayette’s, Tara asleep on the sofa. Someone begins knocking. Tara grabs a gun but then hears girlfriend, Naomi’s voice. It’s not purely a social call. They are in the Living room talking
And Tara tells her what it was like growing up and that last year she was filled with self pity and hatred. Naomi says so you ran. Tara goes on about how great it was to reinvent herself. Naomi says sarcastically how she is happy she was her vacation. She gets up and stalks to the door. Tara says come on you didn’t come here just to tell me to go eff myself. She says your right and takes Tara down one handed. [We had lots of speculation about this and what was going to transpire] Instead of fighting though they start to make out instead.
Sookie on her way into Merlotte’s calling Jason for help with Bill having gone too far. She needs help and he is the only one she can ask so please call her back. Sookie goes into Sam’s office. Tommy as Sam is there and she says can’t read shifters so doesn’t know. She says she has a life or death situation and will make it up, but Tommy as Sam says not to bother she is trouble when she’s there which isn’t too often and he fires her. She runs out. Tommy is letting the power go to his head, yells at the wait staff and flirts with some girls. He sees Mrs. Fortenberry who thinks he is really Sam. She says Tommy left. How she cared for him as if her were one of his own. She tried to teach him to read but he was as dumber than a bucket of spit and to tell Tommy he is dead to her and she wants her bible back.
Sookie is at Jason’s there’s no answer so she goes in. He pretends he isn’t there and she says she could hear him thinking in there. He tells her to go away. She says she is going in. He is handcuffed to the bed. She says this is a sex thing isn’t it. He says no and he is dangerous. She coaxes him to tell her the truth about the likelihood of his having been turned into a were panther. Once she believes him she reminds him that when he shifts the cuffs will just fall off.
Alcide is home early with lunch and finds Debbie sitting with the Shreveport Pack leader, Bozeman. Alcide gets mad at Debbie saying so much for rigorous honesty. Bozeman says that he is sorry they had not gotten off on the right foot. He says he can understand with what happened with his last pack but the Shreveport pack needs a wolf like Alcide and Debbie deserves to be in a pack. Alcide tells him to get out of his house. Bozeman confirms that he’ll see Debbie at the meeting. When they are alone Alcide says that she is the same old Debbie, she says how before he had been her whole world and she doesn’t know anyone and was waiting to tell him at a good time. She says that the isolation is bad for her sobriety. In the end they start kissing and he agrees to go with her to the Pack group shifting.
Moon out at Bill’s then into the dungeon.
Marnie is cutting herself she begs the spirit for help. Please help she is so afraid. “I have seen your suffering we cant let them win. Save me, use me, avenge yourself!” Wind blows and Marnie has a vision:
Antonia the medieval witch in a cell with the Priest vampires basically eating her neck.
She tells him that God is watching them. He replies with thou shall not suffer a witch to live.
The other priest says that she isn’t afraid enough so he rapes her. They just laugh when she says they will burn in the fires of hell.
Scene change to the pyre she is burning, the other witches are chanting in the cell as she curses the vampires to rise in the sun. The priest that the urged Luis to rape Antonia rises from his coffin and goes to the square where Antonia is being killed and now where he and other vampire clergy (but not the rapist) come into the sun and burn to death.
Marnie comes to and hears and sees the witch’s spirit in her cell.
Marnie she calls then enters Marnie through her open mouth. She possesses her and examines Marnie’s, her, body.
Lafayette and Jesus are in a field waiting for a sacrifice to come to them. Lafayette is pissed. Jesus says they are waiting for a animal to come to them which Lafayette finds ridiculous. He says that Abeuelo is inside warm and laughing at them. Jesus agrees, anad has spent twenty years trying not to be like his grandfather but if that is what it takes to protect Lafayette he will do it. Suddenly a snake comes to them and Jesus picks it up.
Sookie and Jason are out on his lawn under that full shifter moon. He asks her to kill him when he turns. Of course she refuses. He tells her he doesn’t want to be a freak of nature. Sookie says like me? He says he didn’t mean it that way. Sookie says most of her life she wished she were normal but now knows there is no normal. It’s what we do with what’s inside and it might be a blessing. She will help him any other way besides shooting him. He asks her to get him a beer.
She goes off for them cheerfully.
Jason sits back and looks at the moon. Sookie comes out with beer offers to make dinner but he is gone. She calls after him then grabs the rifle and goes off looking for him.
Tara and Naomi are at Merlotte’s—the last stop in the tour of Bon Temps. They sit in a booth.
Jessica comes to the table and exclaims happily over seeing Tara. She asks what she could get them and Tara, now vamp-phobic asks isn’t this Arlene’s section. Of course Holly and Arlene are not there. Asks for two coronas and who made the chili. Suddenly Jess looks up snaps her fangs out and lights out at vamp speed.
Back at Sam’s trailer. Tommy opens the door to find Luna she says she
has made stupid mistakes but she doesn’t want to wait. She takes off her dress and is naked underneath. “How am I supposed to say no to that?” Tommy/Sam says. Luna says you’re not.
Jason is running in the woods and enters a clearing. He hears something and yells that he is a police officer and a were-panther, back off. He screams as Jessica appears saying she sensed his fear because she gave him her blood. She will always be able to find him; Jason is taken aback by this. She tells him him it isn’t safe for him to be out. He says it isn’t safe for him to be anywhere. She asks if it is because of the were-panther thing?
She says when he screamed it out she heard. He doesn’t know if he was turned but something is happening. He starts to have a panic attack. She calms him as she learned to do with her mom who had panic attacks because of her father beating on them. She says how being turned was the scariest night of her life and won’t let him be alone for it.
Sookie is in the woods looking for Jason. She hears something and it’s Debbie Pelt and Alcide on the way to the new pack.[Man these woods are busy.]Debbie says she shouldn’t be out. She asks them how one becomes were? How does it happen? She learns through them that it is hereditary and not a virus. What’s going on? They are sure there is no way to turn someone? At least one parent has to be full-blooded were. She thanks them and sends them on their way. She’s got this. Debbie says that she thinks what Sookie is telling them is that she can handle her own business. They go on to the pack meeting.
Luna and Sam/Tommy post coitus. She says it was different as if they were strangers who had just met. It was exciting must and that it must be the full moon they need to get out and shift. Suddenly Tommy/Sam gets up to get dressed. He tells Luna to go, she got what she came for so go, rudely kicks her out. He is shifting back to self and vomits.
Full moon in the field Jess and Jason. He says, “It ain’t going to happen.”
Jessica wonders out loud if he’s disappointed.
Jason says they are so dumb in Hotshot they cant even make a were-panther. He asks if she could would she want to go back to being human. While it isn’t easy, she relates how she never sees the sun and she is always hungry, and has all kinds of urges she doesn’t know how to handle but now
she is fast and strong, smells and tastes in a way she never thought possible. Her old world was tiny and now endless. It’s exciting. Jason says he wonders why Sookie is special and not him. She tells him why he is special and an awkward silence is felt. Jason jumps up and thanks her but he is okay now. He is just Jason Stackhouse her boyfriend’s best buddy. They agree not to tell Hoyt. He goes off.
Outside Bill’s
He is on the lawn looking at the moon and Eric is led out to him very peacefully and calmly. Bill looks conflicted. He asks Eric if he knows why he is there. Eric says he has been told he is under the spell of necromancer and he consorted with Bill’s human. Bill says Sookie is not his. Eric says but you love her. Bill dismisses that and says “You are here Sheriff Northman because I have been given orders to sentence you to the True Death.” Eric nods, “According to my progeny, I was, I am, a barbarian thug who never respected your authority. I don’t expect you to show me any mercy.”
“Surely you do not wish to die?” Eric says no but he doesn’t want to live this way either.
His former self is a stranger. He has nothing to say in his defense. He accepts his sentence but he has a request.
“Naturally,” Bill replies, with just a touch of snark. Eric asks that Bill release Pam as she is decomposing quickly and cannot be much of a threat for long.
And he asks, “Sookie, tell her he was born the night she found me and because of her I went to my True Death knowing what it is to love. Tell her thank you.”
Bill is shocked but takes out the stake.
Eric says Sookie still cares and saw it last night and that he hopes they will find a way back to each because other she deserves happiness with whoever can give it to her.
Bill lifts arm to strike.
Lafayette and Jesus are back at Abuelo’s. Abuelo says it took you long enough I though you forgot everything I told you. He says Jesus says he wishes forgetting was that easy. Looking at Lafayette Abuelo says the Mayans worshipped the snake you know. Maria, the abuelo’s woman locks a door. Nervous, Lafayette says he didn’t know. The snake is a doorway to the spirit world.
According to Gramps, The magic Marnie uses is the same he is about to use. He cuts himself. Marnie wants to be possessed.
Jesus says that it isn’t Marnie or spirits they need help with, its vampires, Abuelo says they don’t know what they need. He calls them idiots as he drinks from a bottle. He blows it on the fire which then flames up. Taking the snake out of the bag, he makes it bite Jesus then throws it on the fire. He has a creepy face with bones sticking out. He tells Lafayette to protect Jesus who is convulsing. A spirit takes Lafayette over. He says, Don’t worrymy boy your uncle is here it will be alright, May Yemaya protect and heal you with the water of the ocean of life. May the waves of her healing energy wash over you [clean you]. Jesus is okay, “Uncle Luca” Jesus says as Tio leaves Lafayette who is confused when Jesus calls him that.
Jesus is cured.
Sam gets back to the trailer shouting out that he’s back is Tommy ready to run. There is no response inside the trailer and Sam finds Tommy lying next to what looks like bloodied vomit and cannot wake him up.
Tara/Toni and Naomi are outside Merlotte’s. Tara lights up but says it is more a Toni thing promises to quit. Naomi might like Tara better she been thru a lot, doing the best she can she is really beautiful, smart and good in bed She is looking forward to getting to know her better. They kiss. You are coming home to New Orleans? Tara says she wants to. Naomi is shocked—Tara had said there was nothing left here. We hear Pam’s voice, “Now that’s a rotten thing to say.” Pam comes into the light, “rotten, get it?” Her face is grotesquely misshapen, but she is wearing a gorgeous black gown. Tara says that she had no idea what Marnie was doing. Pam says that Tara can spare her the “dyke in the woods routine.” Tara urges Naomi to get in the car but Pam snaps her fangs out and attacks in revenge.
Vampire Sheriff Luis looks at Marnie/Antonia in the cell through the security camera.
Antonia looks at the lens as if she sees him.
He goes to the cell. Antonia greets him, “Father Luis what a surprise. Coincidence you think, or fate?”
Luis says,”Antonia.” She says she looks different but he had made such a mess of the last body that this one would have to do.
“You mad whore you burnt my maker, this time you will scream.” He starts to attack. Calmly she holds her hand up and chants something. Holding her fingers in a sign she directs him down to the floor onto his knees.
Puts him on me his knees and laughs as he looks up surprised, “You little fuck she says.”
Sookie is still looking for Jason."You aint gonna be a were panther." she yells. Her feet hurt and the mosquitoes are eating her and he isn’t going to be a were panther. She senses something and turn she sees Eric at a rise in the land silhouetted against a misty light.
She starts towards him. “How?”
“The King set me free.” Smiling they embrace and kiss.
Bill at home drinking from a snifter.
Thinking and looking at the moon. He looks sad.
Back to Eric and Sookie. They are making love in a clearing in the woods.
[Oh, my oh my. He is much better than Bill. Oh yeah. I don’t think he bit her yet. Do you? Do you think the scene between Eric and Bill was an act and that he is regaining his memory?]
A lot of tonight’s episode was about being taken over by forces outside of our control: possession, love, shifting. As Sookie says there is no normal.
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
There is a lot of emphasis on youth and still maintaining one's beauty, firm breasts, etc., even at the ripe old age of forty (can you imagine). There are several scenes where women of ordinary strength are hosted into the air by their shackled wrists (Is there an orthopedic surgeon in the house?!).
So, in the end, my feelings are mixed: nicely written sex interspersed with public sexual humiliation which the submissive mentally rationalizes or which she gets through via a form of of disassociation. Disassociation is nit healthy. Oh, and there is a penis with the circumference of a wine bottle (ouch!); I hope it was a split of champagne and not a jeroboam!
