Dead Sexy (Garnet Lacey, Book 2)

I just read DEAD SEXY, the second book in the Garnet Lacey series. I loved it! The writing is fun and upbeat, MaryJanice Davidson/Charlaine Harris style, which is exactly what I was looking for. I highly recommend it. I own #3, ROMANCING THE DEAD, and worry about what I will read when I finish that. Tate Hallaway, keep them coming!

Not to say the first book wasn't great also, but I accidentally read the two out of order and the second book made me go in search of the first. I had no idea that a third is coming out in May and am so darned excited I can hardly contain myself. Incredible and fun read!

Hallaway keeps us dancing along in this fast-paced tale of frat-boy zombies, an FBI-agent-lust-entaglement (think the ultimate uniform turn on, plus a well-placed gun), and a little fox in the hen-house tussle in the hay in the form of an old vampire/boyfriend sleeping days in Garnet's basement--unbeknownst to her current boy-toy, Sebastian. You don't just piss off a thousand year-old vampire. And live. Hallaway serves it up in style, though, from the return of blessed-be but damn-it-all William to the smokin' after-echoes of Sebastian's presence and an utterly unexpected spell gone wild when Garnet tries to defend herself on the sly. If you liked Tall, Dark & Dead (Garnet Lacey, Book 1), you've GOT to read Dead Sexy!

One year ago Garnet Lacey's inner Goddess, Lilith, murdered a group of Vatican witch hunters after discovering they had killed her entire coven. With the help of her vampire ex-boyfriend, Parrish, she had buried the bodies. Now, with some unforeseen weather issues, the bodies have surfaced. Garnet Lacey's past is catching up to her, leading the way is the good looking psychic FBI agent, Dominguez. He has come to Madison, Wisconsin to investigate the recently discovered dead bodies. Garnet has her hands full in this, the second book of the series. Along with dealing with the FBI and trying to beat a murder rap, she has some conflict and issues with her current vampire boyfriend, Sebastian; one of those issues includes her ex-boyfriend, Parrish. Garnet has also discovered that the town is crawling with zombies carrying and using really old money. I wasn't that crazy about the zombie portion of this story, it seemed a little far fetched to me and I had a really hard time believing or buying into it. I think Ms. Hallaway really wrote a tale with a lot of feeling this time around. There is so much going on between Garnet, Sebastian, Parrish and Dominguez, emotionally, and she writes it beautifully on each page. Garnet must come to terms with and say good-bye to her past and there are several heartfelt moments that made this reader weepy. This was an excellent follow up to the first book, I really enjoyed Dead Sexy, and it was a hard book to set down. The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, leaving this reader hoping Ms. Hallaway is a fast writer and will be coming out with the third book, soon. Enjoy!

Mercury Crossing bookstore manager and witch Garnet Lacey muses about how many dead essences live in Madison, Wisconsin. However, she also ponders fate that by being late she missed a sure date with death as a Vatican paramilitary assassination squad killed the other eleven members of her coven (see TALL, DARK & DEADLY). Of course conjuring up Lilith to dispatch the Vatican killers helped. Garnet and her boyfriend at that time, Parrish the vampire disposed of the bodies and other related evidence. Meanwhile to her chagrin, a zombie student paid for a copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Voodoo" with counterfeit money. That is followed up by FBI Special Agent Gabriel Domingues investigating the homicides of six priests whose corpses have returned with all evidence pointing towards Garnet. She informs her current boyfriend, Sebastian the vampire that she needs Parrish's help. Sebastian is outraged by this while the zombie populace is growing geometrically with some of them not even students at U of W. Garnet and the new Voodoo queen have a high noon showdown as this college city is only big enough for one practitioner. The second Garnet gem is a delightful whodunit fantasy starring a likable protagonist who keeps the tale together as she relates what is going on, mostly wrong, in her life in a sort of offbeat chick lit style. The story line is fast-paced and can stand alone though references to the previous novel abound. The supernatural species like vampires, zombies, and FBI agents seem genuine even though the plot is tongue in cheek. Tate Hallaway combines romance, paranormal and mystery into a fun read. Harriet Klausner