A new thrill in my life -

Okay, it has been a long time since I have written a blog post.  What can I say? Fall has come and with it the usual colds that go around, meaning I've been home with the kids or I've been working double shift because some of my co-workers have been at home with their kids.  Thank goodness I work at a fabulous workplace and we take care of each other as much as we can.

On top of that, my soap sales have really taken off, including two inquiries about making 150+ soaps as wedding favors for weddings over the New Year.  All of this has been good, but also means I've been balancing my life on a knife's edge.  I've been taking lots of extra vitamins and cod liver oil, been watching even less TV than I normally do, and forcing myself to stop what I'm doing (no matter what it is I'm doing) and going to bed at reasonable times.  It's paid off so far.  I myself have only had one really good cold, but I managed to keep working thanks to my great co-workers.  I have it in the back of my head: when I get fever, I can call in sick with a good conscience. 

But this is not at all what I wanted to talk about.  What I wanted to talk about was the new thrill in my life. Anita Blake 

I was lucky enough to come across a written interview with the author Laurell K. Hamilton. 

Official photo from Twitter - lkhamiton

What caught my attention was this: she writes about a strong woman, Anita Blake, who's profession it is to legally do away with vampires, zombies and the like.  She has practical knowledge of a wide variety of weapons, and she knows there is a time and a place for each weapon, depending upon where she'll be, what she's wearing, etc.

If this was not interesting enough, what really caught my eye was the fact that Hamilton has received criticism due to the fact that as the series of novels progresses, Anita becomes involved in a number of sexual liaisons that are unbecoming of a woman. Needless to say that this type of criticism seems to come primarily from the USA.  Apparently if a male character is involved with 2 or more women, this is quite acceptable.  But should this be the reverse then it is not appropriate for the general reading audience. 

Mind you, I have not progressed that far in the series. 

(Photo nicked from Amazon.co.uk)

The first novel was a very good read, though not a fabulous read.  It took me a while to wrap my head around the fact that in Anita's world vampires and zombies live alongside humans and there are various laws governing both.  Though towards the end of the book it I did naturally accept this reality.

What I did really like about this book was that I was able to get a good insight into Anita.  And let me tell you, she rocks.  She's cocky, yet has high morals. She doesn't take crap from others, especially male police officers, though she doesn't put them down either.  They have a mutual understanding of each other.  Her job is an official executioner sanctioned by the state and she sleeps with stuffed penguins.  Basically she's the kind of person I wish I could hang out with once in a while. 

(Also nicked from Amazon.co.uk)

I just finished reading the second book last night, and I really thought it leaped forward from the first book in great bounds.  She encounters a number of really gruesome characters, and takes them on in a way that leaves you thinking: Yeah, that could really happen.  She shows both her tough side to us as readers, as well as to her close friends as to how far she is really willing to go when faced with decision making between right and wrong, both to stick it to the bad guys, and to outwit them to save those who are clearly worth saving.

I'm 37 now, and this if the first time in 3 years that I've read something that has really drawn me in and has been a lot of fun to read.  Ask my husband - the last couple of years I've read book after book and have thought again and again: Well that was a complete waste of brain cells.  This is true even to the point where I stopped purchasing books because I could not trust that it would be money well spent.

I've heard comments from some who have read her books that they have hopped off half way through the series because Anita begins to change too much.  I'm really interested to see how I respond to this when I get to this point.  I know for myself that I've had intimate conversations with close friends where we admit to each other that we are clearly NOT the same person we were 15 years ago.  We have totally different values, what we think are more open minds and a completely different way of looking at life.  What will I think? We'll just have to stay tuned to find out.

But for now, I think Anita was one of the best things to happen to me right now. James Bond and Indiana Jones have nothing on her.