Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men by Molly Harper

Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men by Molly Harper is the second installment of the book series. I'm relieved that I was able to see past the stupid book titles and give the series a try, because I have been rage quitting a lot of books lately. The combination of a voice actor and book can either really make or break a book. At least when you read, you have the ability to skim past certain lengthy paragraphs or just mindlessly read past certain parts of the book. With an audiobook, you are trapped! You have to listen to every agonizing word!

With this series, I love the combination of the southern twang of the voice actor and the fluffiness of the series. I really liked the first book of the series, Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs, and was looking to get more into it.

So the verdict? It was good, but it wasn't quite as good as the first book. There is some of the outrageous humor, sexiness and circumstances that made the first book so great,  but the "mystery" of the book is super silly and easy to figure out, and some of the Mama Ginger mother-in-law interactions were so over the top that, if one could read it without rolling their eyes, it was hardly believable.

Yeah, yeah... believable for a vampire book series. I wish there was more to the story than the protagonist's best friend's mother dealing with control issues by hiring a witch to stop the wedding and instead of marrying the woman that loves him, marry the protagonist. In the first book, Misty at least wanted her property and they had a gruesome vampire fight at the climax of the book.

The author tried and failed to deliver the humor on terrible weddings. Even though Jane is called out on it quite a few times in the book, it got old after a while to repeatedly describe the awful, trashy wedding that Jolene planned with her hick family.

However, I still identify, laugh and love all the crazy family stuff that Jane has to go through. A lot of times stories deal with the importance of family, and how family will always be there for you... but it's refreshing to see the flipped coin of that, and look at the idea of, 'well, your family is nuts and takes advantage of you at every turn, manipulates you and makes you feel like crap all the time. Are you still obligated to be there for your family when you don't necessary like them and your friends do way more for you than they ever did?'

There are two more books in the series that I can't wait to read, and there are other spin off series of the Nice Girls. I like the cheeky fluffiness that comes with the title, and they are an easy listen at work.

Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper

The title is awful. Yes, yes it is. At first, I didn't want to buy this book, but alas, it was on sale, and when one reviewer on goodreads commented that it was like YA authors had a checklist of vampire fantasy (brooding vampire lover caught in a love triangle, living in the south, werewolves, etc.). Well, that's not telling me something I don't like, so I figured I would give it a try.

It did not disappoint. After the awful choice of Discovery of Witches, this was a delight. I found that I need a specific kind of book when I'm at work. I realize that I can't listen to books where I have to pay rapt attention too--I actually have to concentrate every so often, and it stinks if I have to replay what I heard because I was busy trying to figure out a problem.

However, this book, fluffy and silly, fits the profile. It's about a librarian, or well, an ex librarian by the name of Jane Jameson. She was let go from the public library, and decides to drown her sorrow at the local bar, where she meets Gabriel.

It's fantastic, because unlike Discovery of Witches, where Diana slowly turns into a drooling toddler with tits who has be led by the hand by M'estat, Jane openly makes fun of Gabriel but also digging him too. He tries to be the brooding mysterious vampire, but she gets more and more drunk, effectively making an ass out of herself. Though at this time, Jane doesn't know he's a brooding vampire, which makes it all the more charming.

She leaves her car and decides to walk home when she is mistaken for a deer and is shot. Gabriel saves her, effectively turning her into a vampire. And that's when the hilarity begins.

Women in prominent heroine roles with romantic interests in media, sometimes, well, most of the time, don't really make new female friends. Or really, make many friends at all. It might be just that sort of action adventure role where it impacts men as well, but with female empowerment, ditching the patriarchy and calling for more representation of diverse females in media, I really notice it when women don't have other female friends, make new female friends, or just talk about the men in their lives to their female friends.

Which is why Nice Girls is really refreshing. She's multifaceted--she underwent many life changes, snared a new beau but also, made several new friends with varying success. She's presented with a problem, messed a lot up but ultimately solved everything on her own. Jane also befriends both female and male alike, and though she's had a rough love life, she doesn't alienate her new friends for her vampire boyfriend, Gabriel.

Sure, is it eerily like the Sookie Stackhouse series? Yes, it is almost parallel to those books, except Jane Jameson isn't someone who is completely helpless. She makes a lot of mistakes, she makes fun of herself but she keeps on trying and learning. She's smart and wants to solve problems but like a person, she doesn't do it right the first time and doesn't get a guy to help her fix it. Sookie Stackhouse wasn't completely helpless either, but whereas Sookie was a waitress with no aspirations to be anything else (and that's fine), I identify with Jane because she went to school (two advanced degrees, get it girl) but her life veered off in a way that was unexpected, and she has to cobble together something after her transformation. Jane does so, after a few failed attempts at other jobs.

Boy do I relate.

The audiobook is a great listen and by definition the accent should be annoying, it really lends itself to the story. Give it a try, despite the terrible (but kind of growing on me) title.