Sunglasses After Dark

Hey there, book lovers! It’s your old pal, Ninetoes, coming to you from Ninetoes Loves Books Headquarters. Today, I have my review of Nancy A. Collins’ Sunglasses After Dark (Sonya Blue Book 1) I have coffee in my system and my thinking cap on, so let’s get to it! I am always on the lookout for my next read. A friend of mine is a huge Nancy A. Collins fan, and he recommended her book Sunglasses After Dark and told me I would love it. Now, I will be the first to admit that my alarm bells go off when someone hypes something, but it was already in my To-Be-Read pile, so I decided to give it a shot. Sonya Blue is a vampire who hunts vampires. Her ultimate goal is to get the man who made her a vampire, which is a difficult task, so she decides to take on other vampires and go up the food chain. Along the way, she encounters more otherworldly creatures than just vampires. As she fights psychics and ogres and other vampires, she will also uncover her true identity and a villain that makes everything else look like junior scouts. This was an enjoyable read. The writing was consistent, as was the pace. The characters were engaging: I got a heroine I pulled for and a villain I really wanted to see die in horrible, horrible ways. What I really enjoyed, and where Ms. Collins shone, was her inventiveness in creating her own vampire lore. Forget garlic, holy water, and sunshine. Yeah, bright lights hurt, which is why she wears mirrored sunglasses at all times, but the way she was made was beyond anything I have read. No, I am not going to tell you because I want you to discover it for yourself. I want you to discover Sonya Blue for yourself. This is not a book you merely read. It is a book you experience as the movie rolls in your head. This book is hailed as one of the first urban fantasy novels. After encountering the ogre, I can see why. I thought it was a vampire book. Then the ogre came. I had to go back a few paragraphs to make sure I read it correctly. I did. She used an ogre! This book is perfect for urban fantasy fans, vampire fans, and anyone who wants a damned good read! I give this one 5 very enthusiastic bookmarks out of 5! Read more

I bought the Kindle editions of the first three Sonja Blue novels after I went to look for my compilation and it just fell apart. I hadn't read them in years, and while the story still holds up, the editing of the Kindle edition is just awful. It's like they just took some old Word files and didn't notice they were the version originally submitted and not proof read. Worth getting, but the constant errors kept jarring me out of the story Read more

So this is the first book of the series. One thing I hate about this series is that they are not really numbered so go online and look them up. Now the premise of this series is that you have supernatural's living among humans and the main character is a vampire...sort of. Been done right? Yeah not like this they haven't. This book has been around a long time way before the market exploded like it has. If you want to see some of the concepts we take for granted done in a new way this is the book for you. Good 1: You will find no whiny hero's here. This hero is badass and more than willing to do what has to be done. She is the definition of hard core without acting like a robot. Their is no angst or drama in her game. She knows what she is and what she wants to do but without that weird driven thing that some authors do. You know the hero who is so driven he can light children on fire and just say well I have to kill my archenemy and this will draw him? Well she's not like that. This hero is tough but very human. 2: The books are written at a frantic pace you hope from turning point to turning point. Some of these are fights others are conversations but you never feel bogged down or bored. Really if you don't like all that boring stuff then you will like this book it moves like a roller coaster full speed ahead. 3: The side characters are just as interesting as the main. Someone once said don't put a character in you story unless you know that character. That there are no throw away characters. You see it in this authors story. To this day I remember one of the gang bangers in this story and he was just a vehicle just a person to get the hero to point B. If you like memorable characters then you will like this. Bad 1: Okay the no book order thing is my big hate. 2: I believe a book has to be like a fine blade. Slim, tight and sharp. I don't want to know what they had for breakfast. Don't care what kind of gel they put in their hair or their favorite color. And you won't find that in this but sometimes I wish she would of taken the time to let me get to know them a little better the main character is so cool that spending time with her just intrigues you more. Overall Well this is a dark tale. People die in this some of them you like. It ends really well and realistically but not that kind of hateful realism that makes you think your watching the news. Instead you get a good ending that you can walk away with a smile but wiser too. I would recommend this book to people who like action oriented books, this is not a romance. Don't read these is you need that. If you like the genre and don't mind a story without steamy sex or longing glances then go for this. Also some of the fight scenes are graphic I like that but some people are not into it. Thanks Read more

This was somewhere between urban fantasy, and horror. It was grittier than most of the UF stories I've read so far. The beginning is somewhat convoluted and had to follow. About a 3rd of the way in, things start to fall into place little by little. Sonja Blue is a complex character at odds with herself, but always fighting forward. The world building strong, and interesting. A different twist to the supernatural world than I've experienced, making it fresh. I was disappointed in the many typos, some sentence made little sense until you realized there was a word missing or to many of the same word, something that occurred a bit to often. When all is said and done it did not deter my reading it. I intend on continuing the series hoping that the editing improves. Read more

Arrived in amazing condition and in a free plastic sleeve! Read more

It is dark and definetly not your typical vampire novel. I was confused a little here and there but overall I understood everything....I think. It's what you would think a vampire would be like if they were real. Not all pretty and sociable. A good read. Will read the next Sonja Blue book. By the way this author was on Charlaine Harris's web page of author she likes. That's why I tried it to begin with. Read more