Yesterday night I was chatting with my beloved tweetnerds – love those long saturday night chatting sessions, they are really good fun and the girls are all awesome! We usually talk about all sorts and everything – and by that I mean everything! – and I think I might really have upset one of them..

At one point we even started talking about books – imagine that! And so it came that 2 weeks ago Tricia was raving on about Ilona Andrews’ ‘Kate Daniels’ – series and how it is the greatest and a must-read and all! She gave me a rough intro to the story (which reminded me a lot of Jim Butcher’s ‘Dresden Files’ – guess I shouldn’t have said that now either, ey? – which I find quite entertaining) so yes, I decided to put ‘Kate Daniels – Magic Bites’ on my TBR list.

Well, I didn’t count Tricia’s non-existing patience in the equation and already got told off for not starting it straight away So I did – being a good #tweetnerd and all Knowing that Tricia also loves Kelley Armstrong and Nalini Singh – whose series are waiting patiently on my TBR to be finished (by the Author) so I can finally start reading the (then complete) series! – I was sure I would love Ilone Andrews’ series..

But it did not quite aspire like that: I don’t dislike it – but I just don’t love it either.. Maybe I am too old, maybe I am too laid back – but I am not a big fan of Kate. And when I told Tricia, she was devastated! I didn’t meant to upset her, but she really took it to heart! I never, EVER known anyone, who would get so seriously upset about a different opinion on a book/ film. And when I tried to explain myself and said that the books reminded me of Charlaine Harris’ ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ – series, she shunned me Just left the chat – which is my pet-hate => not letting me explain myself and just shutting me out! The one thing that really can make me angry! But Tricia wouldn’t know that, so I won’t hold it against her – much.. Tricia was so upset, she even ‘abjured’ me

She will hate me (AGAIN) for saying this, but I have to say that this sounded so familiar – and after a second I realised why: I read that in one of the Sookie – Books

So, as she didn’t give me a chance to explain it yesterday – guess she was just too emotional – but mentioned it in her blog this morning, I felt the need to explain myself. And as it would be way too long for a comment, here it is! :) And lately I seem to be less able to explain myself properly in German, so I am writing this in English, which I know Tricia will understand just fine (as her blog is completely English anyway) and it is easier for me. Here it comes:

First of all I have to say that I finished Harris’ series (as far as she has written it yet) including the short stories. AND I love watching True Blood (Eric is just such a brilliant character, love to find the big softie behind his hard-ass facade – not to mention that Alexander Skarsgård is just such a brilliant cast for Eric :droool: ) – though the storyline is so different to the books. But so far I have only read the first book (and half of the second) of Andrews’ – so of course I won’t be able to give a complete thorough view on it, or even be on the same page as Tricia, who has read all of Andrews’ books, the accompanying short stories AND the Author’s blog – (but if I understood her correctly, she only read the first two of Harris’) – so OF COURSE we see both series differently.

Now what DID I mean when I said that while reading Kate Daniels, I was reminded of Sookie Stackhouse? Well, first of all I meant that the series ‘Kate Daniels’ reminded me of the reading experience I had when I was reading the series ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ – I did NOT compare the character Kate with the character Sookie!

So what were the similarities? Well, both Kate and Sookie are in their mid-twenties, have both not had much experience with relationships so far and are quite happy to live life on their own and are fairly self-sufficient. As far as I can tell from those first 1,5 books, Kate has always kept herself (at least emotionally) from anyone because she has a secret she cannot tell, so she is better off on her own. While Sookie also could not be close to anyone (pre-vampires) as she too has a secret/ gift which made it harder for her to be with anyone. Both are special (with their gifts) compared to the other ppl in their worlds, and they are trying to hide it as best as possible. They both are being called attractive while they themselves do not see it. And so far both are being hit on by quite a few male characters in the book, which sometimes is just not really helping the reading experience (though I have to admit that so far with Kate it was mainly part of the plot (in hindsight) so that made it not quite as bad – but the recurrence of it is just too similar to completely miss out here). Both have vampires and other magical being in the plot (though they play different roles so this is fairly neglectable – but the pack-structure of the weres is just so similar – AND the fact that the protagonist is ‘friendly’ (to whichever degree and however they are getting there) with the Alpha!

Of course Sookie’s personality/ background/ history etc is compeltely different to Kate’s – I DO get that – so no, I am not saying that they are the same or similar or even remotely interchangable – but those things just built a connection. Also the fact that the books are written from the protagonist’s point of view adds towards that and that we read a lot of their thoughts while they are saying something opposing those thoughts (for whatever reason). I know that these points all come up in several other series, that just lies in the nature of those series/ genre or whatever you may call it..

And: I enjoyed reading the Sookie series! I did not think the story or writing style was amazing, nor were the characters all brilliant and there are a couple of things that I just don’t agree with, but I read them back to back and was really captivated in the story! I did not write reviews at that time, but judging by my current rating system all Sookie books would be somewhere between 3-4. They just were not challenging/stimulating enough to give a lasting impression and did not make me think differently or wonder about things. It was plain pure enjoyable escapism and I liked it a lot for that. But I didn’t love it. Not even after reading all the stories and the accompanying shorties. Which is down to the things that did annoy me while reading. And THIS is EXACLTY what I meant, when I compared the two series.

So all in all, I do not feel as negative about Sookies’ series as Tricia does – so Tricia, not only did you missunderstood me, but you also interpreted your dislike for Harris’ series as affront on my behalf towards Andrews’ series. Which does NOT reflect my feelings! And yes, I will indeed keep reading Kate Daniels and I have high(ish) hopes for book 3 and 4 (which, according to you Tricia, ‘rock big time’). So I will come back to this after I’ve read some more to see how I feel then – but so far I doubt that I will end up loving the series as you do. I think I need something else from a book to say that I loved it!

I am usually not spending much time on the PC on the weekend (at least not during the day) as my weekends are kept free to socialise in my ‘real’ life! So Tricia, seeing as I am writing this on my precious Sunday morning just for you, I hope you see how important it is for me to get things straight again! And yes, I still love you, too!* Even though I already know you will dismiss this post and write either a huge comment or a separate post explaining why this all does not make it any better for you whatsoever – that doesn’t make much difference to me: you’re still awesome and I am glad we ‘met’. I don’t think that our different view on books reflects back onto how we get along personally. This is only books and a way to enjoy our sparetime, even some kind of escapism but it really IS ok if we have different opinions on them! :kiss:
* though I am glad that you and your ‘bespoke’ get on so well – don’t really think it would work out with the two of us, age gap and all that

Other reasons why I don’t LOVE the ‘Kate Daniels’ Series (but also what I liked about it) are here in my review – which is compelety Sookie-free

And while I was busy writing this, my beloved built this snowman, when I said I would be helping him

He is the best! And now I am off to spend some time with him