"Dead in the Family" by Charlaine Harris: 3 1/2 stars

I started reading this series long before the TV series and the main reason I liked it was because it wasn't the dark and broody kind of vampire story. There was humor and a lot more lightness. The last couple books have become so dark, I don't think I would have kept reading if the first books had been like this.

"Dead in the Family" picks up shortly after the ending of "Dead and Gone." If you haven't read that one, you probably should wait to read this book because it will spoil the ending of the earlier book. Even though the ending of Dead and Gone was pretty traumatic, there isn't much emotional continuity with this book -- new events come into play and dominate the story.

I don't want to say too much about the plot because I don't want to spoil it but on both the vampire and Were sides, the stuff that happens is dark and unhappy. And on the vampire front, it is pretty far out there with another historic figure as vampire. I think the idea of Bubba is hilarious. This particular vampire is just weird and icky.

I want more lightness and humor back in the stories. The TV series seems darker than the books on which they were based and I hope that is not steering the author away from the humor that was present in the earlier books. Sookie needs a break from the drama and, as a longtime fan of the series, I do too.

I got this book from the library.  Support your local library!