ISBN: 9780425227725
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Rating: A
There will never be another series for me that can make me laugh, make me cry or make me hurt for the heroine other than Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake series. From the beginning of this long running series starting with Guilty Pleasures I wasn’t sure if Iwould like Anita because she was a little too cold for me. As my journey’s to St Louis became more frequent, I learned to see beyond the mask of “The Executioner” into the heart of the character, and I knew Anita would be a character I carried with me always.
There are fans of the Anita Blake series who lost faith in the character and in the author and that saddens me beyond measure because they truly do not know what they are missing. Skin Trade is almost the perfect blend of “old Anita” and “new Anita”. Anita was back to her hunting days and dealing more with who she is on her own level and learning to be one with the ardeur rather than fighting it.
As a fan in this series, I feel incredibly vindicated to see that how I felt about Anita and why she needed to grow as a character was the point in having the ardeur affect our heroine so distinctly. Sure she is 5 foot nothin’, 100 and nothin’ and can kick some series ass, she still needed to learn that affection isn’t a negative and caring and loving aren’t weaknesses. She had to learn that giving and receiving love are strengths.
It’s awesome to see Anita kicking bad guy butt again and not only dealing with vampire politics, but I missed Jean Claude and Nathaniel more than I could express, but I cried for Requiem and I felt for the Wicked Truth.
I can not wait for the next installment and I wish I had the pleasure of knowing in advance what is going to happen to my favorite heroine.
