Undead and Unemployed, by MaryJanice Davidson. Somewhat to my chagrin, I'll admit that this is the first book I've ever bought from the romance section of the bookstore. Ai. Anyway. First off, the main character is.....vapid. And is also the narrator. I had to say that first. That notwithstanding, the writing is pretty amusing, like Evanovich-lite, maybe? It certainly is a take on the whole vampire thing I haven't seen before - dark chick lit? Obviously, I'm not sure what to make of it, but it was pretty funny at some points, and is very light reading.
      'And why was that tickling my brain? There was something there, and I just couldn't get to it. Damnit! Why was I great looking instead of a genius? Usually I didn't mind, but nights like this..."
-
      "I'm so sick of this! Something completely weird happens to me, and you guys are all, 'Oh, yeah, that's in the book of the dead, too, did we forget to mention it?' Well, no more! We're sitting down right now and reading the the whole nasty thing from beginning to end. Where is it? Is it at the hotel? Let's go find it right now."
      "We can't," Sinclair said.
      "Why not?"
      "Because to read it too long in one sitting is to go insane."
      "Oh, that's your excuse for everything."

Condemnation, by Richard Baker. And now for something completely different. If you like intrigue, you'll be intrigued by this book. I haven't been restrained yet, so I shall continue to be a punning machine. And that wasn't even really a pun at all, so it's a completely new low. Neener. This continuation of the 'War of the Spider Queen' shared setting is chock full of political machinations and manoeuverings (wow that word is annoying to spell), yet still moves forward at quite a decent clip. I doubt any action in these novels will match up to the high standard set by the first in the series, but this held its own admirably, and best of all expanded the already unique setting in completely unpredictable ways, both in terms of physical and cultural landscape. Tally ho, and all that, to the rest of the series.

Word of the Day: cyanotic - the adjective for a bluish discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes resulting from inadequate oxygenation of the blood