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Book Cover Gwen’s review of Flirt (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter, Book 18) by Laurell K. Hamilton
Urban fantasy hardcover released by Berkley 2 Feb 10

Fans of Hamilton’s Anita Blake novels will love this short side entry.  This is a novel-length short story in the very sexy, very violent world of Anita Blake.  If you’re following this series and are getting (have gotten) tired of the crazily complicated storyline, you’ll enjoy this story.  It has almost none of the “bigger” picture and just tells us a good yarn.

The action in Flirt is almost solely centered on Anita’s necromancer ability. There is quite a bit of overlap in the plot to her newly developed shifter abilities.  This adds quite a bit of spice and is not complicated to follow if you just roll with it.  A new character or two is introduced who may become players in a later novel.

I liked Flirt because it had a beginning, middle, and end.  It’s a short novel, or a novel-length short story that deals with loss and love.  There is some redemption in the story, though it’s a darker redemption as is appropriate for the setting.

In Flirt Anita is kidnapped by a grieving spouse and forced to use her necromancer abilities.  This all has Anita in a decided snit and has separated mentally and physically her from her “sweeties”.  However, in true Anita fashion, she gets herself out of her pickle with the help of a lion shifter that Anita has bound to herself.

I love it when Hamilton focuses on a story and the storytelling is excellent in Flirt. I sucked it down in a day.  I highly recommend this book to anyone following the series and to anyone new to it who wants to see if they’d like it.  This entry stands alone well enough and would actually serve to tell a new reader if they like the author or story.

Gwens IconGrade: A

Read more reviews and information on this series here.

Summary:

When Anita Blake meets with prospective client Tony Bennington, who is desperate to have her reanimate his recently deceased wife, she is full of sympathy for his loss. Anita knows something about love, and she knows everything there is to know about loss. But what she also knows, though Tony Bennington seems unwilling to be convinced, is that the thing she can do as a necromancer isn’t the miracle he thinks he needs. The creature that Anita could coerce to step out of the late Mrs. Bennington’s grave would not be the lovely Mrs. Bennington. Not really. And not for long.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series:

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