Dead in the Family (Southern Vampire Mysteries #10) by Charlaine Harris

Book Summery:
*Contains mild spoilers. Do not read the summery if you haven't read the rest of the series!*

Sookie Stackhouse has finally settled into a relationship with the Viking vampire Eric, and her errant brother Jason seems to have his life in order, too. But all the other people in Sookie’s life – Eric himself, her former lover Bill, her friend and boss Sam – are having family problems. Eric’s maker shows up with Eric’s ‘brother’ in tow, the ailing Bill can only be healed by a blood sibling, and Sam’s brother’s marriage is about to take place... or will it? The furor raised by the coming out of the two-natured has yet to settle; some people are just not ready to sit down to dinner with a man who turns into a dog. And Sookie herself is still recovering from her last ordeal. She’s definitely improving, physically and mentally, but she’s always going to have some dark moments now. The werewolves tell her that there have been strange and ominous passers-by in the Stackhouse woods; now Sookie is about to come face-to-face with one of her more distant relatives...-goodreads.com

Book Review:
I am a fan of the series for sure. However, this series can read like a roller coaster at times. There are books that I enjoy more than others. This one was not among my favorites, but definitely fitting with the rest of the series. There was very little action, which compared to the last book, Dead and Gone, was a huge change. This is definitely a more somber book filled with Sookie's thoughts and insights, which made for slower pacing. I also felt that Harris was trying to incorporate the TV series True Blood into the book, which honestly annoyed me a bit. For instance, in previous books, Eric's character is definitely colder and less friendly than Bill, but he definitely had some humerus moments. In this book, Eric was cool and standoffish with zero light moments, much like the series. Now, as I said, I am long standing fan of the series, so there is an excellent chance that I am being way too critical. Either way, I am glad I read the book, and it is fitting with the series, just make sure to take it with a grain of salt (these are essentially fun reads for me). I still look forward to more of Harris' works, she is one of my favorite authors after all. :)

Favorite Quote:

"I went into the house, sank to my knees right inside the door, and cried. My hands were skaing. My wrists ached. The whole time we'd been talking, I'd been waiting for him to make his move. I realized I wanted to live." (p. 9)

Cover Art Commentary:
I am a fan of the cover art of this series. It's one of the components that initially drew me to the series. Though this isn't my favorite cover, I still find it whimsical and fitting with the rest of the series.

Overall Rating: