The gloves came off with this book. No more pretense that this is anything other than a salacious read. Outside of the sex, which there was actually a little less of than in other books, this one was mainly what I would describe as character development. It's not a spoiler to say that the pregnancy issue took up a good part, and other discoveries were made as well.

Although I was glued from page one until the last, this reminded me a little of Days of Our Lives. The conversations which go on for days on end, with nothing being resolved. The fixing of one problem only to come across another. That was a bit tedious, and sometimes I found myself wanting to scream.

But I really did enjoy it.

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Not her best work but still a good read. Missing the butt kicking Anita Blake, hope she finds her way back soon.

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I didn't finish reading this one. It was all arguing and sex. I really like some of the characters, but not enough to keep me reading.
I wish that Hamilton would write them like she did in the beginning of this series.

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So many great possible story lines are explored in the first 50 pages, it's sad when the best ones (usually those without possible sex) are ignored. I dislike the way the author goes through and tries to tie up lose ends when she gets to the point where she thinks the story is done. My only hope is that she might bring one of these lose ends into the next book. I guess I just have to wait and see.

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Too much graphic sex without a decent plot to redeem it. You really need to be a big Anita Blake fan to get through this one.The older books in the series were much better.

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First I want to say, that if you're not looking for something erotic and sensual, then you should move on. I won't compare these books with soft-core porn, because the writing style is simply too good, but they are definitely explicit. I'm with the lovers of this series, and not the haters (although I do understand the need to keep reading a series that I roll my eyes at) and really just love the story, regardless of where it's come so far.

Well, even though I REALLY enjoyed reading this book, it may have been my least favorite in the series. I could've used a little more action and guns and violence and all that. LOL But, the story was still GREAT. I had a hard time tearing myself away from it none-the-less. Darn the need to sleep! But a couple of hours did and I was back to finish the book. I don't know how she does it, but Hamilton knows how to write an intoxicating story. Even though it was a bit soap opera, which normally drives me nuts, I couldn't pull myself away!

I loved that there were mermaids in this one! Although I wish there were more of them. Hopefully, there will be more in future books. I really do love how the author keeps introducing a mix of mythological (or Dungeons & Dragonsish--yes, I am a gamer nerd ;P) creatures into her stories. The RPGer in me says "Yay!"

I also found it hilarious when Anita called herself the "Pornographic Snow White" when she was counting off that she had 7 lovers. Although, I do think it's annoying that people around her like to refer to her as a slut. It's the present people, and women would like to have full equal rights. For centuries it has been perfectly acceptable for a man to have a harem. So why not a woman? I say "Go Anita!"

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I have read all of the Anita Blake books and although I have enjoyed them, I'm disappointed that Hamilton has changed them so drastically. This book still has some of the traditional elements, however its getting heavier on the sex and lighter on mystery and plot; too bad.

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These books have become less about monsters and horror and basically soft porn books. The series was very promising and rapidly went downhill after the 5th or 6th book.

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This book is it. This series is completely ruint.

I am so tired of her "morals". It's just silly now. And I no longer care even remotely who she sleeps with. This character in the beginning was so alive to me. Now she just seems 2 dimensional.

Boring boring boring!

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I have read alot of not so good reviews on the later Anita Blake books, but I liked this one as well as the others. I like to see the progression of the characters, and the relationships. I can't wait to read the next one to see where it all goes. I really LOVE this series!

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It's like watching a train wreck...you know what's going to keep happening but you can't look away.
I will keep reading the series just to see what happens...but this series has gone from a little sex and lots of plot to a little bit of plot thrown in with lots of sex. It jumps ard alot and I found I had to read the book 3 times to really gte a grip on what happened.

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this book was good its tells a lot more thats going on and and a lot of twists and turns but still ends with a bang and then agian always leaves you craving and wanting more classic k. hamilton!

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Enjoyed the book although more sex then usual kind
of wish she would mellow out on some of it.

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This book lives up the Anita Blake series. I love the twist of her pregnancy. At times it seems she's just go too many men in and out, but I'm hooked on Anita. We get to learn more about the "Mother of All Darkness" and what other master vampires think of Jean Claude's triumvant.

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This was a little hard to get through compared to the previous books. I love this author and series but found it hard to dig into the book and read for hours as I usually do/. I found that the story line started very vampiry and all Anita vampire hunter/human slave with a promising and thrilling ride. Then went into a porn session of words that was way too graphic for the story line. Then finally the end of the book finished the thrilling story line with a kind of fizzle. While some of the sex had to do with the story it was a bit much at times. I love this series and won't give up. No matter how many cold showers I may need. Anita is my hero and I love tht she is all woman in a "man's" world. When she gets down to business you know she is control. The Chapter that puts her face to face with Merlin in the best chapter of the entire book. As usual LKH keeps you intrigued in the series by giving you only enough answers to keep you wanting more. I am going to hit the ground running reading the next installment "The Harlequin"

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Not a good place to start. I haven't read any of the Anita Blake series. So as a reader beginning a series already in progress, I expect to be slightly confused (kinda like joining a movie in progress). I have done this before and either have been so intriged I went back and started from the beginning so as to follow the characters growth or felt I knew a enough and continued forward. Sadly, neither were the case here. A dull read (even the over written sex).

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Remember when these books had actual plots? Oh how I miss the old Anita.

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Alot about the ardeur and sex, not alot about the regular stuff like Edward and catching the bad guys.

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first one in the series i was totally disappointed in. sex,sex, and more sex, rehashing same old issues.....

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I love this series but had to force myself to finish this book. Egads! This book was all sex and absolutely no action to speak of. There were so many characters all randomly thrown in that I practically needed a flow chart diagram to remember where everyone was in the scene and exactly who was feeling angst and why.

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Great Laurell K Hamilton Book. If you love Anita, you'll love this book!

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My favorite paranormal romance novel writer.

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This was the last of the Anita books with any substance. I am a fan of LKH and like my books to lean toward erotica but, I also like some plot thrown in too. I feel like many of the "old" characters that I have grown to know and love are thrown aside for more and more new characters that LKH doesn't even take the time to develope. I don't mind the orgies and sex that leans heavily on metaphysical crap as much as I do that I don't feel like I know half the characters anymore.

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Ardeur or not. The Anita Blake series is awesome. As a writer myself, I really enjoyed Hamilton's writing. Someone recommended this series to me and I'm am so glad I read it. As the series goes along it does get more sexually graphic but Hamilton makes it work. This series is highly recommended and I can't wait to read her Meredith Gentry series.

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I loved the Anita Blake series up until the ardeur was introduced. Sadly all they have turned into is Anita's parade of lovers with a very flimsy plot line. The older books were hot without all the funky and very very descriptive sex scenes. They actually had a plot. Sadly at the rate Ms. Hamilton is going she is going to lose me as a reader. Unless there is a redeeming quality about the next couple of books (like a plot)

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I agree with so many others that I have been let down with the Anita Blake series. I am a fan of LKH and this series, but this book has the same caliber as the previous three - too much sex and not enough plot. I'm hoping for more in the next 2 books.

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I couldn't finish it ... I started it with great hope that everything I loved about Anita Blake would be back in this novel. It's not. I'm certain this style will appeal to a lot of people, all depends on what you loved about this books to begin with. I won't be buying another.

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I really enjoy all of Laurell Hamilton's books. She has such wonderful imagination and creativity in how she spins her tales making exiting and sensual characters endure the most seemingly impossible situations. This book excells in that respect. I hope this series continues for a while. I never tire of Anita Blake's struggle with her real life and her moral life. Her men are not too shabby either.

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I didn't like it as much as the books before. This book just seems to deal with the same issues without resolving anything. It was still a good book but it left me knowing nothing I didn't know before.

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For Anita Blake fansthe latest in the series. Laurell Hamilton knows how to crank up the erotic tension.

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As always this read was amazing. I love Anita Blake and all the characters. Lots of suprises.

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I enjoyed this book lots more erotic then the last
i wish she would mellow out a bit on it.

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Simply awful! I have read every single Anita Blake so far and this one isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Absolute crap! I trudged along like a true fan hoping for the book to get better but it never did. This book was painful to get through and I found myself not even caring what happened to the characters anymore. Anita Blake has become a complete whore, which would by okay if the sex scenes were good.

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Not one of the best in the series but she does open up a whole new can of worms in regards to Anita and her powers. Still worth the read if you're a fan!

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Couldn't put it down. I was pulled away every night so I would sleep. I love Laurell's work.

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Loved it!

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Awesome! Highly recommended!

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This one is not as good as the previous in the series. It goes more in to details about the characters.

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More erotic sex and vampire politics. What's not to like? Anita's power increases as well as her animals.

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Part of the Anita Blake Series
1. Guilty Pleasures
2. The Laughing Corpse
3. Circus Of The Damned
4. Lunatic Cafe
5. Bloody Bones
6. The Killing Dance
7. Burnt Offerings
8. Blue Moon
9. Obsidian Butterfly
10. Narcissus In Chains
11. Cerulean Sins
12. Incubus Dreams
13. Micah
14. Danse Macabre
15. The Harlequin (2007)

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Another great book from Laurell K. Hamilton. This book, unlike many of her others does not center around her raising the dead as her primary job or working a case for the police. This book is centered around about 2 or 3 days after which she confesses to Roney that she may be pregnant.

This book is filled with more sex then many of her other books and it centered around the increase in Anita's powers and what it's doing to Jean Claude, Richard, Nathaniel, Damien and the aftermath of those around her.

I enjoy Hamilton's writing style, but this book had a little too much sex for my taste. I enjoy her other books and how her cases with the police and killers. Still I enjoyed how her abilities are growing and becoming a force to be recon with.

The only part I was a bit disappointed with was how the book ended. It read as if Hamilton tried to condense the end to make the book not as large. The book seemed a bit rushed at the end. I was left feeling as if the book was missing a lot.

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The problem, for me, wasn't that DANSE MACABRE was 300 pages of sex. The Anita Blake Series has become increasingly more sex- based, due to the ardeur that Anita carries and needs to feed. The sex in the book is nothing great, although there are a few attempts to put the people involved in situations and positions that I find would be hard to accomplish for any mortal human. But since everyone in the book is some type of supernatural being, it didn't seem to be a physical impossibility. So, if you can understand the fact that sex is an integral part of this book, you won't have a problem.

What makes the book not that great is the fact that, underneath the sex, there's just no real plot. Jean-Claude has invited a number of various Masters of the City to St. Louis for the showing of an all-vampire ballet/dance troupe. As such, the same Masters have all brought various candidates to become Anita's pomme de sang (read blood & sex dinner). That's the general plot. Unfortunately, the entire book only covers forty-eight hours, and although we know the gist of the storyline, nothing ever really happens. Besides, of course, the sex.

There are lots of hurt feelings in the book. There's a pregnancy scare. There's the typical characters (Richard, Jean-Claude, Asher, Nathaniel, Micah, Jason, Claudia, assorted vampires and werewolves and wereleopards and wererats). There are new characters (the succubus mermaid and her family, the werelions, the Masters of the City). There's crazy sex, ardeur sex, powerful sex, painful sex.

When you strip away the sex, there's not a whole lot else there. Although I will say that DANSE MACABRE could have used a good editor, just to get rid of the repeated phrases that are prominent throughout the book.

Yes, I finished the story, and no, I didn't hate it. But it wasn't all that satisfying (the sex, although large in number, isn't anything to write home about) or fulfilling (almost nothing is resolved at the end of the book that was brought up at the start).

Would I recommend buying a copy? No. Should you borrow it from a friend or the library? If you're an Anita Blake fan, then yes, to see how the storyline (what there is of it) continues. Let's hope the next book has a little more meat to it, and less screaming sexual gratification.

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Love this book

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A little better than Incubus. Glad I got this book through PB Swap and glad to pass it on. Thanks

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I found myself not as interested in this Anita Blake novel. Maybe you will love it!

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Really kept my attention. I read in 2 days.

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LOVE the Anita Blake series...

Anita Blake needs to be concentrating on a dangerous situation: the ardeur -- the sexual power that flows between Anita and Jean-Claude, Master Vampire of the City; and Richard, the volatile werewolf who loves her passionately -- is reaching new levels. The unexpected effect of this is that Jean-Claude's own power as a master vampire has grown -- and Richard, never predictable, is changing, too.

But as the days pass, Anita's less interested in vampire politics than in an ancient, ordinary dread she shares with women down the ages: she may be pregnant. And, if she is, whether the father is a vampire, a werewolf, or someone else entirely, she knows perfectly well that being a federal marshal known for raising the dead and executing vampires is not way to bring up a baby...

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Huge Laurell K Hamilton fan!

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An Anita Blake book

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Train wreck of a book. Book is also missing its dust jacket.

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haven't read this but my friend loved it.

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