Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I don't give flaming reviews. I find them tacky and classless. If you don't like a book, don't read it. That's always been my motto. If there are technical issues or things you don't agree with from a reader's standpoint, feel free to point them out but understand that the power is always going to lie with the writer. Respect that, and respect them. If you don't like it, write your own book. This has been what I've said to countless angry readers for well over 20 years. Now, I say screw that. If it were possible to give "Dead Ever After" negative stars, I would certainly do so. Not only does it bring an implausible and ridiculous end to a 13-book saga, but it manages to eviscerate and bastardize not only everything we have ever adored about this series, but also one of the most beloved heroes in literature this side of Mr. Darcy. Harris' handiwork, not only in this novel, but in the series as a whole, has been as sloppy and shoddy as a used car salesman attaching a bumper with crazy glue. She blatantly thumbs her nose at important concepts such as consistency, plotting, foreshadowing, realism, and pacing. But this novel ... it's just plain crap. If I were her publisher, I would have given it back and said, "Nope. Try again." I am not just angry as a former fan of the series, I am angry at her as a writer. What is this? Is it some kind of joke? It must be. You've broken every rule in literature and your only reason is because that's how you wanted it to be? Really? What are you, a fourteen-year-old writing your first fanfiction? Because that's how this book reads. (On second thought, I take that back. I wouldn't want to offend the fourteen-year-old fanfiction writers. They could do infinitely better than this.) There is no way one can slog through the first 12 books and get to the 13th and actually think any of what happens in "Dead Ever After" could really happen. What was the point of all this except to make money? What were you smoking, Charlaine? Can I have some so I can maybe enjoy the story, too? Like Harris' main character, Sookie Stackhouse, I, as a reader, feel raped, abused, and betrayed. Not only am I never reading this novel again, it is going to take everything I have not to douse it in lighter fluid, set it on fire, and dance around it naked in effigy. THAT is how angry I am. No, not angry. Livid, irate, murderous ... Seriously. Don't just stay away from this book and this series ... stay away from Charlaine Harris. I know I will be.