Okay so I wouldn't say that I am a BIG book snob.
But being a bookseller has definitely made me aware of the fact that I don't have to read every manuscript that comes my way, in fact I probably shouldn't. There is jut not enough time in my day for me to read every book that crosses the shop's threshold.
Simply put when someone presses a volume of pages into my hot little hands it had better be damn good in order for me to read it from cover to cover. So when a friend brought to my attention a series by Patricia Briggs featuring Mercy Thompson, I thought "nice covers, but definitely not on the top of my book reading list." What are they about? I asked getting an idea from the cover art. "Vampires and Werewolves" I was told sheepishly. When you look at them they fondly remind me of the bodice rippers I devoured in high school. Fast forward to this morning after having been up all night reading book 1 Moon Called and me scrambling to read as much of book 2 Blood Bound before I have to go to work, and you have a convert.
Patricia Briggs writes urban fantasy and she writes it damn well. What is Urban Fantasy you may be asking... it is an amalgamation of fantasy/paranormal, contemporary thriller and romance.
Imagine Catherine Coulter, Nora Roberts, Stephen King, some staff writers for the
TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and some Fanfiction writers all got together at a party, got really really drunk, had a bacchanalian style orgy, woke up the next morning very hung over, made a pact never to speak of said night ever again... But then nine months later a love child resulted from that one night of debauchery, and went on to write their own style of books. That would be urban fantasy.I'll admit I was one of the last people on staff to get on the Vampire Book bandwagon but this series is so good! The characters are nicely fleshed out and bring new meaning to what it means to be a vampire, werewolf, or any magical creature in the modern age. Over all in a judge a book by it's cover age, these books are all that and a bag of chips.
Pretty funny! I feel like I'm constantly having to defend my fanfiction reading choices, especially from my mother: "You're such a book snob--how can you possible sit there and read Harry Potter smut?" is a line I get from time to time.
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