He thinks we’re what we look like on the outside: nice Southern ladies. Let me tell you something…there’s nothing nice about Southern ladies.” The Author Resource Round Table on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/116489?group_id=26989 Fabulous dialogue. “Between us we’ve been cleaning houses for eighty years,” says one woman to another as they contemplate cleaning up an extravagant bloody crime scene. “I think we’re up to the challenge.”

Pixieltd on Reading The Wheel of Time: Taim Tells Lies and Rand Shares His Plan in Winter’s Heart (Part 3) 2 hours ago I think a large part of why the satire didn't quite work for me was because the humor in this book fell so flat. And then there were some absurd, gory horror moments that felt cheesy and silly and ridiculous. It just didn't work for me. The novel ends with an epilogue in which a newsletter from Marjorie Fretwell sums up the 1999 book club’s year and tells them she is looking forward to the new millennium. When a man moves in next door, she is intrigued but her interest is soon turned to mistrust, and she soon discovers that he is not as he seems. After a gruesome and sinister discovery, she knows what he is, but will anyone believe her? Does she suffer from an overactive imagination? Is her choice in books affecting her judgement? (I know the answer to that must be NO, otherwise I am in a whole lot of trouble myself!) Is she mentally ill? Or is she right?Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this New York Times best-selling horror novel about a women’s book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town. Southern Gothic literature set out to expose the myth of old antebellum South, and its narrative of an idyllic past hidden by social, familial, and racial denials and suppressions.-the Wikipedia entry that I googled to make sure I didnt misremember my lit education. It describes this book to a T. Child Eater: James Harris feeds off children by using a tentacle appendage to drain their blood. Harris requires this to rejuvenate himself and cares nothing about what it does to his victims, who are driven to kill themselves due to the effects it has on their minds. It's implied near the end of the book that Harris doesn't need to feed off children exclusively to survive, he just likes doing it because he's a sadist. The title is misleading. They got the Southern Book Club part right, but if you go into this book thinking that multiple vampires will be slain by said book club, you will be disappointed. Not only do most of the book club members not even believe there is a vampire in town for at least 80% of the book, but notice that I said “vampire” and not “vampires”. Also, in no way is this book a “guide” to anything, so I feel the title was chosen to be literary and cool and catchy. There’s a reason southern woman are called steel magnolias. Their outer gentility belies their inner strength and fortitude. Underestimate them at your peril.

There are so many things I loved about this story! I loved the characters! All of them! Yes, even James! The author's writing style was superb and that includes the ugly, gruesome and bloody stuff. With his descriptive writing, I had no trouble visualizing every single delightful gory detail! Patricia Campbell’s life has never felt smaller. Her husband is a workaholic, her teenage kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she’s always a step behind on her endless to-do list. The only thing keeping her sane is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. At these meetings they’re as likely to talk about the Manson family as they are about their own families.Yeah, that rings a bell. I did the stay-at-home mom thing for a couple of decades, so there's another thing we have in common.

Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires" by Grady Hendrix is a creative mix of Horror and Southern Fiction! Patricia's live-in mother-in-law seems to take an instant dislike to him; seeming to confuse James with someone from her past. It's possibly simply a symptom of her dementia, but there are other things too. Patricia Campbell's life has never felt smaller. Her ambitious husband is too busy to kiss her good-bye in the morning, her kids are wrapped up in their own lives, and she's always a step behind on thank-you notes and endless chores. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime and suspenseful fiction. This group is dedicated to an appreciation of important works of literature, both classic and contemporary... that happen to fall into the category of This group is dedicated to an appreciation of important works of literature, both classic and contemporary... that happen to fall into the category of Dark Fiction.