Guilty Pleasures: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel

I really wanted to like this book. I love series and especially series involving the supernatural. It was mentioned in reviews of Charlaine Harris's books (which I love) and I wrongly assumed (you know what they say about assuming...) that the Anita Blake books would be similar. Hamilton introduced an interesting universe but it went down hill from there. I didn't particularly like the heroine and the book was just so inconsistent. A group of vampires hire Blake to do a job for them and instead of actually letting her do the job, they keep trying to kill her. Doesn't quite make sense huh? Honestly this book just annoyed me to no end. When I was finished with it, I threw it away rather than inflict it on unsuspecting people at the library.

I read the Kindle version acquired from my local library.
I have read the first 10 books in this series.

I have ambivalent feelings towards this book as well as this series. This review will have some series spoilers/warnings.

I enjoyed the concept, that she was vampire slayer and a zombie raiser. I liked that the vampires were bad and that the shifter/weres were aggressive,(not so happy that they seemed a bit wimpy and subservient). Initially the monsters were really monsters, a normal part of the universe, nothing was "secret" except for some identities, i.e. monsters passing for human so that they could keep their jobs.

Initially Anita's jobs, zombie raiser, official vampire slayer, and police consultant made the stories most like a hard boiled detective novel. It was this noir feeling that made the books intriguing. We got the greedy boss, the fun loving detective and the protective father like detective. We also ended up with a vampire slayer protege. Unfortunately, these characters which had become integral to the story telling disappeared. In their place we got more monsters and not even interesting ones.

Once key players started disappearing we also began losing the hard boiled detective stories. The mystery became a leftover,

With voids left with no mystery and key players disappearing led to the biggest problem I had with the series progression. One of the reviews I had read had said that they had enjoyed the series until all the sex scenes appeared. I normally appreciate a well written sex scene, and while if you enjoy rape fantasy and bdsm you will enjoy the sex scenes. For me the sex scenes left me feeling hollow. Whereas the sex scenes should have been the icing on the cake it actually became the entire meal. While icing can enhance a meal, it becomes nauseating as a whole meal, leaving one hungry for a proper meal, or in this case hungry for the mystery and suspense we were promised.

I have tried to figure out why I feel so betrayed by this author. I think it comes down to this. In the initial books Anita is projected as a celibate. She had had only one previous lover, who had gone to extreme of asking her to marry him so that she would have sex with him and then he dumped her. Which caused her to have major trust issues. So while she was attracted to both a vampire and werewolf she kept them at arms length, not only because she believed that they were monsters, but because she didn't want to be used again. So we build up for 6 books the sexual tension, will she, won't she, will she with the vampire she thinks is gorgeous but she doesn't trust or with the werewolf whom she loves when he is human and disgusted when she thinks of his other form. I wait for a decision and end up with a mess.

Anita is 26 years old. She is not a child or even a teenager. I was expecting an adult and adult decisions. I could have even accepted a menage a trois. That each of the men attracted and repulsed her for different reasons. The fact that she believed they were monsters and still fantasized about them could just be a kink. The problem is at the crucial time she turns from a mature knowledgeable woman into a screaming heemy. i.e. she runs from one potential lover because she comes face to face with his monster side and runs to the other potential lover and does the deed, not because she chooses the 2nd as a better partner but because she knows that the 1st guy won't share. Instead of this being a one time passion fest, she decides to continue sleeping with the guy not out of love, but because to Anita sex equals committment and therefore since she had sex, she can't change her mind.

Let me reiterate as to what I am having trouble with. The heroine sticks with her first lover, not because she comes to see him as her soul mate and can give him her trust. NO, she sticks with the guy because he got to the goodies first and she doesn't want to feel like a slut. If the relationship had gone forward with love and trust building between the two, perhaps I could have gotten behind the relationship. The problem was that she never came to accept the monster side of her lover, she never trusted him, basically she became a teenager girl in the throes of lust who convinces herself that it is love.

Then as characters and plot lines started disappearing so did Anita's fear of being a slut. But again, it is not an adult decision to take another lover, she is forced to and since they have already done the deed why not continue. Once again she doesn't become lovers becasuse of love and trust, but out of a necessity. Soon they are in a trio. Jealousy, mistrust abound. While I didn't like the relationship I enjoyed that the bad guys were really bad guys. Then she starts getting more powers she also starts lusting after more men. By the time I finished the 10th book, she was taking lovers and not equal partners and out of love, but because she "had" to. Many of the scenes left me feeling dirty as they bordered on rape. Consent was barely there on either side. Violence oozed everywhere, not just witht he bad guys. The shifters/weres were not strong, the were subservient, No one seemed to have good mental health. I kept thinking that the series would get back on track, back to the vampire slaying, zombie raising, the mystery, suspense, the humor that were found in the initial books instead I got more and more sexual violence, stunted depressing characters, and disappearing plot lines.

Obviously, there is a large audience for this series. However, I wish someone had been explicit in their reviews explaining that while the series started as one thing it quickly developed into another. I was expecting a strong female lead character. What I got was an indecisive girl who let events carry her hither thither. She never became the woman who took her life in her own hands. She was always the feather never the wind.

Personally, I like my H/h to be equals, even it it is H/H/h, I like them to come together and make a life together. They can fight, they don't have to always agree, but they should always trust that each wants the other to be the best they can be. Here I get a heroine who is just a pawn in a supernatural power grab.

So, if you enjoy rape fantasy, bdsm, you will enjoy this. If you are looking for a strong female lead and a romance among equals. give this a miss.

I did not fall in love with Anita Blake and BTW, Anita Blake does not fall in love with anyone either. I kept feeling like I have missed an entire backstory (I looked! Did I??).
The story felt contrived, the wererats were odd and and felt placed there. I will read the next book to see what happens but I would rather read about Mercy Thompson. It's like Mercy Thompson, but missing the heart. I really did not care about the characters and would not have cared if Anita died. I really did not care that anyone died.

I finished this read last night when the power was off and my kindle was the only saviour! Somehow, I believe, I have truly lost my touch on vampire and paranormal reads after the mind blowing Ward's books! That being said I will still rate the book three stars and will mark as passable.

Anita Blake and the group of vampires are ruling the premises of the book with lot's of lycanthropes and human in the mixture. Maybe a cult book in it's time, but "Guilty Pleasures" fall flat on many expectations. the stereotypical vampire myths are just scattered in the pages and I do not know what the fuss is all about.
I felt sad for Philip dying in the end but, apart from that, I think, the story could have had been constructed into something much more worthwhile.

The best I can say about this book was that it had it's moments. At some points I thought...hmm, this may be interesting but a chapter or two later and I was nearly bored. It was A-typical for this genre, sexy leading lady meets crisis and triumphs although gets a little bloody along the way...etc. Perhaps this series gets better as you go, but I just found that I wasn't really looking forward to the next book and jumped to a different series without a second thought. Light reading for when you don't have much lined up in your queue.

I've been reading Anita Blake novels since my teenage years when I stumbled upon Guilty Pleasures in one of the hushed aisles of my local library. I'm a forever fan and restarting the series has been fun. Anita is witty, says what everyone's thinking and is just an all out good person. If you love vamps, werewolves, things that otherwise go bump in the night and romance then this series is for you.

One of my favorite books to this day! Still a huge fan of the series but this book in particular. I love Anita’s grit and willingness to act to protect those she cares about.

The book is well written, but many of the characters lacked the depth I prefer. I'm looking forward to seeing if they get a little more"flesh" on them as the series continues.

Book wasn't very detailed and leaves you wandering what the hell just happened in quite a few scenes. The final fight was a bit to simple as well.

I was finally coerced and guilted into reading "Guilty Pleasures", book one in the Anita Blake series. I won't be reading any more. The series protagonist, Anita Blake, comes across as a flat, one-dimensional character and the stereotypical human-vampire-lycanthrope trope offers nothing new or original. Sure the vampires are "out" and known to humans but even that failed to bring this story to life or elicit much emotion from me. This over-hyped, mediocre book offered nothing new or exciting as far as urban fantasy world-building or storytelling. In fact, I'd like to slap the person who foisted this boring book onto me. But at least the chore is done. If you are interested in real, well-written urban fantasy, then do yourself a favor and read Gaiman's "Neverwhere," Hearne's "Iron Druid Chronicles," Butcher's "Dresden Files," Simon Green's "Nightside," or Mike Carey's "Felix Castor" novels and leave this faux-UF grease spot in your rearview mirror.