Sookie Stackhouse Dead in the Family Review

Well I know that I decided to make my blog about my life and old memories but I wanted to submit a review of an advanced book I just read and seeing as how it's not out in the stores and I have no where to bitch about it, I thought I'd take to my dying blog to make me feel better, LOL.
So I bought an advanced copy of the newest Sookie Stackhouse book 10 Dead in the Family. I couldn't wait to read it and in fact read it in one day. I stayed up till 3am reading it. I just discovered the series of books a few months ago and yes I've seen the True Blood tv show. I actually had watched it way before I even realized there was a book series. So once I got on the book bandwagon, so to speak, I was hooked. I finished book 9 a few weeks ago and then realized my timing was perfect because book 10 was set to be released in May 2010, what luck!!! Well, as everyone does now adays, I took to the internet to read up on book 10. It sounded so good!!!
Ok wait one minute, let me step back a second. Just for anyone who doesn't know, book 9 was very epic. It left you with all these new questions and possibilites. I was so excited after reading book 9 that I was just dying to find out what happened next. So you can tell that by knowing there was a book 10 with my answers, I spared no expense to have those answers, thus my advanced copy (wink).
Anywho, back to the present. So there I am, with book 10 in my hot little hands and all my answers.....well shit!!!! Not only did I not get my answers but I was actually left with a hole in my heart and more questions. I was actually totally depressed, baffled and dismayed.
So now I'm going to vent here with no compunction about spoiling anything because no one reads my blog anyways. So if you want a spoiler alert, I guess this is it.
In book 9, just to sum it up and get my thoughts flowing. Sookie is captured, tortured, people who she loves have died and at the very end, she's told by her great grandfather that one of the two vampires she's involved with actually deeply loves her and is a good man but she forgets to ask which one. So depending on which team you're on (team Bill or team Erik), you're left wondering which vampire is the one she should end up with. Also at this point Bill is poisoned and Erik has some other connection to her or so Pam hints at it. Don't ask, this has been food for fotter among us who have nothing else to do but tear words apart, LOL. Oh and she decides to ask Amilia to look into severing the bond between Erik and her.
Anywho, so if you're a fan of the books, this is a lot of questions to leave open at the end of the book and there in lies book 10.
So book 10 starts off with Sookie recovering from the torture. She's bitter, she's got an edge to her and she's miserable. All understandable of course. Sookie is still dating Erik, although it doesn't seem to be a very happy relationship at this point. She is just going through the motions with Erik although the bond thing is very pervasive. Erik reveals why he wasn't able to rescue her in book 9 but there after the fact. We then see that Sookie is really only holding on by a thread. Unfortunately the book does become a bit political with the Were's coming out and the backlash from that but because she's so engrossed in her own issues, she doesn't see the situation around her. She then meets Erik's family who kinda pop in on her and it's not a pretty family, in fact it's down right ugly and nasty. We are also introduced back into the Long Tooth pack business and Alcide wants more from Sookie, even though he knows what she's gone through, he could care less. And all the while, Sookie is dealing with her own Fae family crap and Bill, who rescued her from the torture is the last person on her mind.
I found through the reading, that I didn't care about Erik at all anymore and maybe that was the point? I found that he was still him and he was doing what he could but that he was so full of his own baggage that I couldn't see anymore why she chose him above all her other suitors. I found myself not caring at all about him.
I found myself actually caring what happend to Bill then and like all the other books, he's more of an after-thought. It's almost the middle of the book before Sam suggests that she go see him (I guess she hadn't seen him since the end of the 9th book) and it's not till she sees him that she takes pitty on him. I found this profoundly appauling. After the end of book 9 when she decides that she loved him again and he had risked his own life time and time again for her, that he becomes a footnote in the next book, while Erik and his sick family take center stage. Then she basically fixes Bill's medical issue by finding his "sister" and then in a more twisted fashion, it turns out that Lorena turned this girl because she looked like Bill's old wife, so that Bill would have a mate who reminded him of his old wife and Bill then rides off into the sunset with her.....freeing up Sookie to be with Erik......EWWWWW! I felt like the author just put a bandaid on the whole Bill thing as a footnote. I was upset at this because of the grand gestures and her feeling toward him in the 9th book. I felt he deserved better. Not to just be shoved aside and passified.
As for Erik, well hell! He is reduced to muck in this book. He's so under the influence of his maker and his "brother" that he's totally helpless. It takes Sookie telling the viking to freakin' buck up! She's the one towing the line. He leaves her for days on end because she really wants to kill his maker and he ends up in worse trouble. It's a really stupid turn of events and really is more about his "brother". I almost felt as though the author thought it would be cool to introduce someone from history and how she could work it in rather then stay true to the story and characters. Of course, Erik leaves after all is fixed to check on Pam and you almost want to say, good!
Then there's the wolves again, Alcide is blinded by his pack. He's the head hauncho and asks to borrow Sookie's land for the monthly run where mayhem ensues. It seemed really stupid he'd ask her but whatever. They do tie it up with a nice ribbon at the end of the book but not after Alcide drags her into more Were shit, even gets her to do some drugs, professes his love or hope they would have been mated and then never even says thanks. Whatever!
There is a fun side to the book when Hunter, Sookie's 5 year old cousin comes to spend the night. You get to see a maternal Sookie and how much she really would like to be a mom one day. Her cousin Claude is also staying with her. She's very bitter still about the Fae and her Fae cousin. She is very abrupt with him but he's no picnic. She also finally meets Dermott who's her unstable great uncle. Well through a series of events, you find out he's not crazy and he's under a spell that is making him crazy. He also is trying to protect her I guess and does suggest that one of the vamps loves her more then the other but it's glossed over. We also meet the villan in this book who is Claudine's baby daddy. Again, more choas and at the end of all this chaos, I ended up totally grossed out in a family way. Yuck!!!!
So where am I going with all of this.......
Well let's see and again this is just my summary of my feelings (hell it's my blog). I am no closer to knowing who she'll end up with. Bill is off making whoopie with his "sister" after again professing his love for Sookie. Sam is dating a blood thirsty Were. Erik is free from his master and again, all about him. Sookie is back with Fae family and the FBI is spying on her even though they were told to back off from the powers that be. Pam is on the mend. Jason is in a good relationship and on the mend. Alcide, who knows? Probably celebrating again in that Were way. All in all, nothing was answered. No bond was broken. No Bill/Erik answer. No nothing that was left open in book 9 was really ever answered except why Erik wasn't there to rescue her. Bill get's a footnote of her time, Sam is pretty absent in the book and Jason is in a responsible relationship and on his way to manhood.
All I can hope is that with 3 more books coming because the author is contracted to 13 for now, that this book will become a footnote in the series and just considered one of those backstory books that once read, you sort of gloss over when you're considering the series.
Totally frustrating~~~~

Christmas Tree Oops

Sometime when I was in High school, my mom decided we needed to buy a real tree for Christmas. We had always had fake trees but for some reason she thought it was necessary that while I was in High school that it was very important to have a live tree. I remember we went down to the local Target and bought the tree. We had a AMC Concord and had to put the tree in the trunk which of course didn't fit properly, so it was tied down with the trunk lid just barely covering it. We made it almost all the way home. We had just taken a corner onto our home street when the trunk lid went flying open. I was in the back seat when my mom shouted for me to make sure the tree was still in the trunk. She hadn't stopped the car yet but slowed down to a crawl seeing we were feet away from the drive way.
I wasn't paying too much attention seeing I was diverted by the chaos going on behind me. I think she meant to just look out the back window and peer through the gap between the trunk lid and the car body but me being me, I flew open the back door and stepped out not even thinking that the car was still rolling. The tree was still there but as I looked, the rear tire clipped my heal and proceeded to roll right over my foot. In the same instant my mom slammed on the breaks and the tire stopped on top of heal. I wasn't screaming but I asked in a calm voice for her to move the car, that it was on top of my foot. My mom, not comprehending what was happening just said "Oh". She threw the car in reverse and my foot was free. Once back inside the car, we dropped the tree off and raced to urgent care. I don't remember much about this part but I do remember when the doctor said that I would have to have my jeans cut to get them off, that I was mortified. I remember my mom saying, well if you want to spare your jeans then we'll have to leave before they fix you (she was teasing of course) but me being a teen I was like, ok. She she grabbed the end of the gurny and started to wheel me and that make me freak even more. She just laughed. She had no intenstion of taking me out but just wanted to lighten the mood.
After all these years, I still have a peperoni size scar on the side of my heel where the tire squished me. I never did break anything but the skin got compressed and formed a perfectly round wound. Weird huh?
Toot

Meeting my hubby

Well I thought I'd skip way ahead and talk about my hubby for a bit. I met him when he and I were setting up a sporting goods store. We both worked there part time. I was in the camping/climbing department. He was in the general athletics area. The store hadn't opened yet and we were still setting up our respective departments. I had finished my tasks early and we told to go help our the athletics department. They were working on setting up home gym equipment. I went over to the department and asked what I could do to help. There was this muscular man with a really bad hair cut, who handed me a can of hairspray and said I could start putting the foam protection on the parts that needed it. I guess hairspray gives the foam some slickness when you slid it on and then dries quickly to help adhere it? Anywho, I did this for a few hours and chatted him up. I don't remember much more of that day but my best friend in the world says that she remembers me coming home and calling her to tell her about my day. She says I told her I met a guy at work and that I could totally see myself marrying him. Which shocked her because for all intensive purposes, I was dead set on moving to Canada to become a hermit, LOL. Not that I'm not that attractive, I just had a clear idea of where my life was headed and the path I was on. I did not want anything to do with marriage. I came from a broken home and marriage was not my idea of a great future.
So as time went on, the guy in the athletics department became fast friends with another guy in the camping department. He was always hanging around our area, which was a big no no. I think we set up the store and were ready for business in August or September. By that Christmas, things with my regular boyfriend were starting to cool, in fact on this particular day, I think we even had a fight. The athletics man came over to me in my department and asked if I knew of any good places to find Christmas gifts. When I was younger, I had worked at a music box store and there was one in the mall. Not knowing who he needed gifts for, I suggested the music box store, figuring it would at least be a reasonable offer as a solution. He nodded and said thanks. A few hours later, I saw the athletics guy again in the store. He had tons of bags in his hand and all from the music box store. He had bought his entire family music boxes based only on my suggestion. I was in utter shock! He then said to me "Thanks so much for the suggestion. I got all my shopping done." I think I was still in amazement. I don't remember saying anything back but I know I turned and was straightening some clips when he said "So wanna go out to a movie or something, just as a thank you." and my classic reply was "Sure, I don't have anything better to do."
That is a true story and we still joke about it to this day!
Well we did go on that date which was funny in itself. We dated for the next two years and eventually got married. We've now been married for 13 years this May. Wow time flies!!!!
Toot

Another AM-PM story

Well this is just a small tidbit but I remember when I was young I was jealous of a neighborhood kid who had gotten a new plastic shiney bouncy ball. The kind that used to be housed in a huge bin in the front of the stores just begging to be played with. Anyways, I guess I was upset and decided to let all the air out of it. I went to hide afterwards at home but the kid knew it was me and marched right to my hideout and told on me. So guess what mom did, she made me go all the way down the the AM-PM and fill the ball back up with air. I did it but definately took my sweet time, LOL.

My Background

Well I figured I should list why I think I have an interesting life. My immediate family background is just my mother and me. My mother married my father at a fairly early age. My father had my mother move from our home to Texas where he ended up leaving her with a brand new baby and no family. She hopped on a plane with me as a baby and came home. My grandma being the wonderful mom she was, picked my mom up from the airport, drove around fairly good neighborhoods till she found an apartment that would take my mom right away with a baby, set her up with basic folding furniture and some food then left her daughter with her new baby and a typewriter. She told my mom, as long as you can type, you can make money and that was that.
So all growing up, it was me and mom. She put herself through college with me in tow. I never felt as though I was missing anything. You don't miss a father you had never known. You don't miss money, if you never had it.
If this wasn't enough of an adventure, you can add to the list of my accomplishments: Diabetes Type 1 (I got that around age 7), Epilepsy (Age 15), Mutant (long story), Klutz (probably should have listed that first, lol), Cancer, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Carpal Tunnel in both hands and in my thumb, Weak Lungs and so on and so on.
So if I haven't scared you off yet, I'll continue to post stuff as I dig into my childhood, teen life, adulthood and hopefully one day I'll be an adoptive parent?
Toot

Hold Up

Ok so I thought I'd share a memory about being held up in an AM-PM. I'm not sure how old I was but I was probably 8 or 9 years old. We lived in a very poor neighborhood that was filled with immigrants and college students. Although these were litterly like "The Projects" I look back with real fondness for our simple life. Things were tight but I never really knew that they were. I had tons of friends and life was an adventure.
At the end of our apartment row, about a mile away was an AM-PM mini market. We used to always go there for whatelse....candy! All the neighborhood rug rats would gather up what little coins we could and we'd all make the trek down. One afternoon, I was watching or hanging with a much younger child (John) who I sort of took under my wing. We decided to make the trek to the market and pick up a few pieces of candy for the afternoon to kill some time. Everything was totally normal and we chit chatted as we walked. We came upon the market and went inside as normal. The candy aisle was fairly close to the door. We knew exactly where to go. Without a second thought, we opened the door and made a "b" line to the candy. John was in front of me. As he darted in and down the aisle, I walked straight into a black shiny gun.
I don't remember much of the man himself but I do remember that gun. The man behind the counter distracted the shooter and he waved me with the gun to go stand next to the child I came in with. John was crouched down rifling through the candy on the lowest shelf. I crouched down in front of him. It was soon over and no one got hurt that I know of but I do remember I was supposed to pick up some milk also. I remember going across the street to a fruit stand and using the pay phone. I remember calling my mom to tell her I didn't get the milk. She asked why not and all I remember telling her is I couldn't get the milk because there were cops everywhere and a guy pointed a gun at me.
At this point, I don't remember much more but my mother sure loves to go into her expletives about this, LOL.
Hope you enjoyed this little ditty
Toot

My name

Well obviously Toot isn't my real name but it is a nickname given to me when I was a very young child and seeing I don't want anyone knowing that this blog is me, it seemed an appropriate name to use. Only person on earth who knows this nickname is my mother, probably my father and now my faceless blog readers although there aren't any of you yet but who knows in the future, LOL.
Ok so the story goes, when I was maybe a year or two old I was given a little plastic horn. Supposedly I was fascinated by it and walked around the house honking it. It make a sort of toot-toot sound as my mother puts it. Soon, my parents were calling me all kinds of weirdness associated with it like tooter-flooter, tooter and soon it was just shortened to toot. My mother to this day calls me toot but it's only between her and I. No one, not even my husband really pays attention to it.
So there you have it, my pen name is now Toot to protect the innocent.
Toot