Finlay Donovan is Killing It

 

I loved this book. It was hysterical. It reminded me a lot of the early Stephanie Plum books, where Stephanie would just get into these crazy mix-ups. Finlay is very similar. 

Finlay is a single mom of two whose soon to be ex-husband is engaged to Theresa, a real estate agent. Theresa and Steven are not making it easy on Finn. She's up to her eyeballs in bills and trying to take care of two little kids while working on her book. She's way, way past her deadline, as her agent keeps reminding her. Finlay goes to a local Panera to meet her agent to discuss pushing back the deadline or perhaps getting a little more advance money, and the answer to both is a hard "no". When Finlay gets home she discovers a note in her diaper bag with a phone number on it. Curious, she calls and talks to Patricia, who was sitting next to her at Panera and overheard her conversation with her agent. Patricia would like to hire Finlay to murder her husband, Harris. 

Finlay is shocked and tries to explain to Patricia that she misunderstood the conversation: she didn't mean *that* kind of contract. But Patricia is stubborn and insists Finlay can do it, and what's more is she'll pay: $50,000. 

Curious as to why Patricia would want her husband dead, Finlay goes out to a bar in disguise and sees Harris in action. When he slips a roofie in his date's drink, Finlay waylays her in the restroom, "accidentally" spills a drink on her, then joins Harris and manages to switch cocktails, getting him to drink the drugged one. She gets him out of the bar and into the back of her van before he passes out, but now what? Not sure what else to do, she takes him home. She leaves him in the back of the van while she goes upstairs to change and when she returns, he's dead: choked on the exhaust fumes because she left the van running and the garage door is closed. Only...she didn't close it. Someone else killed Harris. 

I don't want to recap the whole thing, but as you can imagine, it spirals from there. Finlay gets deeper and deeper into the mess she created and can't figure a way out. It doesn't help that when she writes about what happened (using fake names, of course) and sends it to her agent, she loves it and is able to sell it for a $150,000 advance. A hot cop plus a hot bartender/law student and a terrific nanny/accountant sidekick round out the cast of characters. I'm excited there's a sequel. Too much fun. 

Revolutionary Summer

 

I realized a few things while I was reading Outlander book 9. One is that while I love certain parts of history (King Richard III immediately leaps to mind) there are other aspects I know very little about, like the Revolution. I learned the basics in school (a very long time ago) but I really don't know more than that. 

"Revolutionary Summer" by Joseph Ellis is a good introduction to the Revolution and the following war with Great Britain for our independence. He covered a very narrow window of time: part of 1776, without getting too deep into the weeds about how the whole thing came about. It was interesting. Someday I'll get around to reading more about American history, I promise :) 

Bourdain: the Definitive Oral Biography

 

I remember reading "Kitchen Confidential" when it first came out and being blown away by Bourdain's depiction of what it was really like in the kitchens of high-end restaurants. His writing style was so engaging: clever and witty and sarcastically funny. I didn't watch all of his TV shows, off and on over the years, if I caught it, great, but I didn't go out of my way to see them. They were always interesting and fun, though, and I learned a lot.

Like everyone else I was stunned when I heard that he'd killed himself in 2018. It seemed completely unlike him, but of course it's not like I really knew him. This book is told by the people who did really know him. He had his ups and downs, he was an addict who was always chasing the next big high. It's a damn shame he left us when he did, I could tell he had a lot of people in his life who loved him and wanted to help him. It was an interesting tale, like the man himself, with an all too sudden and abrupt ending. 

Authentic

 

When I first started working and got my very first credit card (I think I had a limit of all of $500, which seemed like a fortune at the time) the very first thing I bought with it was a pair of Vans. I think they were $40. I love Vans. Growing up, all the guys in my neighborhood were skaters, and they all wore Vans. There was a store just down the street from us. I honestly don't think I've ever not had a pair of Vans, they last forever. 

Paul Van Doren started House of Vans after working for a shoe manufacturer on the east coast for 15+ years. He was super savvy when it came to business and helped them fix issues they had in manufacturing and warehousing, but he was unappreciated so he left to go start his own shoe business in California. He tapped into an unserved market when he went after skateboarders. These were kids who were being chased out of parking lots by adults, and here was this business who not only listened to them, they also supported their sport. Vans quickly became the shoe for skaters. Fast Times at Ridgemont High helped cement Vans as the shoe all the cool kids wore when Sean Penn's character wore his checkerboard pair in the film. Paul raised his kids with a strong work ethic. At one point, they were opening up Vans retail stores so quickly they didn't have a manager trained to go to one, so his 11 year old son, Stevie, ran the store for a few days until the new manager was up to speed. Paul had a lot of great stories and a lot of good advice. Sadly, he passed away earlier this year at the age of 90, just a few days after this book came out. He left behind a legacy hard work, staying focused, and achieving your dreams.  

Made in California

 

I love books like these, they're so much fun. I had no idea how many food places got their start in California. It's sad how many of them are gone now, but quite a few have become popular not just in the U.S. but all over the world. 

I have to admit to not really understanding the whole In N Out thing. My Dad loved them, so we went all the time when I was growing up. I never really thought the burgers and fries were that good, but I know I'm in the minority. I wasn't a big hamburger person before I stopped eating meat. I've never had a Big Mac, when I was a kid after McDonald's introduced the chicken McNuggets, I used to get those all the time instead of burgers in my Happy Meals. Once I got to be an adult the only things I would get were French fries occasionally, although I do like their coffee. It's one of those things I'll get if I'm driving by one but I won't make a special trip to go get it. 

Carl's Jr. was the first fast food place that put in self-service soda machines, I remember when that happened how excited we were. We used to fill our cups with every kind of soda, mixing them all up. It brought back a lot of good memories. 

Written In My Own Heart's Blood

 

I was trying to reread this one before book 9 came out a few weeks ago, but I didn't quite make it. I had a wild thought of finishing this one before starting book 9, but of course *that* wasn't going to happen. But I was so close to being done with this one that I still wanted to finish it, even though I already read the next one. So I finished it. 

William is wrestling with the knowledge that he's Jamie's natural son. Poor Lord John is wounded after his fight with Jamie and he's darn lucky he didn't lose his eye. Ian marries Rachel and Dottie marries Denzell, both ladies become pregnant in due time. Roger travels back through the stones with his ancestor, Buck, thinking Jem went back, and they land in 1739. Brianna, in 1980, decides she needs to go back to get Roger, since he'll never come back if he thinks Jem is still missing in the past. Like all the Outlander books, it had moments of pure happiness and heartbreak. 

Any chance book 10 is coming out soon? 😂

Woke Up This Morning

 

I love the Sopranos. Hands down one of the best, if not the best, show ever (it depends on my mood when you ask: I also might respond that the X-Files was the best show ever 😄). It blows my mind that it's been off the air for almost 20 years. I started subscribing to HBO so I could watch it and never stopped. I remember when the series finale aired, when it abruptly cut to black and I thought (like everyone else in the world) that my goddamned cable went out at the worst possible moment. Then the final credits started to roll and I had my breath knocked out of me at the sheer brilliance of the ending. I actually started applauding. I know the ending divides a lot of people, I've argued with them over the years about how amazing and perfect it was. And of course Tony died. The whole show was about him and his experiences and then his life was cut short without warning, just like that, black. That's how it must be when someone dies unexpectedly. 

Michael Imperioli, who played Christopher (you know you read that with Adrianna's accent) and Steve Schirripa, who played Bobby, started a podcast right before COVID in 2020, where they talked to various cast and crew from the show and gathered up their fond memories. Lots of fun stuff, like how they shot the entire first season before it aired, so they were basically anonymous, running around New Jersey, no one knew who they were yet. Everyone had wonderful things to say about James Gandolfini (RIP, sir). How generous he was and how he looked out for everyone. It made me very nostalgic for all those great shows that were on cable a decade or so ago. One of the things that really stuck with me was how different HBO was (at least back then) from network television. The book I read a few weeks ago about Buffy the Vampire Slayer talked a bit about how the network would butt in and wants changes to scripts. HBO didn't do that with the Sopranos. They stayed out of it. Very smart decision, I think. 

Dexter is Delicious

 

I have a ton of new books that just came in at work, so this is probably it for the Dexter rereads for now. It was fun, though!

There are a group of cannibals at work in Miami. Debs is saddled with a new partner named Deke, who is gorgeous but dumb (at least according to Deb. I didn't think he was that bad). Dexter is delighted to be a new dad to little Lilly Anne and wants to quit killing. Cody, Astor, his brother Brian, and his Dark Passenger are all very dismayed at this development. 

Debs is determined to find one of the girls that went missing, Samantha, after her friend turns up a victim of the cannibal party. Dexter does manage to find her and discovers that she *wants* to be eaten, it's a big time fantasy of hers.

Okay. Sure. 

Miami sounds like an interesting place.

In the end Brian rescues Dexter, Deb, and her boyfriend Chutsky when they are kidnapped by the cannibals, but unfortunately Samantha doesn't make it. Chutsky is so dismayed that he let Deborah get kidnapped and almost eaten that he vanishes. Super bad timing: Deb is pregnant. 

Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone

 

I sincerely hope I don't have to wait another 8 years before book 10. 

Spoilers ahead. Beware!

The 9th book of the Outlander series was terrific. Not nearly enough Lord John 🦊, but then she could write thousands of pages of just Lord John and I'd be okay with that (whenever I type "Lord John" on my phone, it automatically inserts the fox emoji now, because I've done it so often. David Berry is gorgeous, what can I say?). 

Brianna, Roger, Jem, and Mandy are back from 1980, fleeing Rob Cameron and his goons who were after the gold. Jamie and Claire are of course thrilled to have them back. Brianna brings books for everyone: the Merck Manual for Claire, the Lord of the Rings trilogy for Jamie, and one of Frank Randall's books for herself, about the Scottish contribution to the Revolutionary War. Jamie reads it and discovers the exact date he'll die.

Oh. That sucks.

Meanwhile, in Savannah, Lord John and his brother, Hal, are living with Hal's oldest son's Ben's widow and her son, Trevor, when William shows up with a man who claims Lord John is his natural father (he's not). There were some hysterical scenes with Lord John and baby Trevor. Good thing he's a soldier and not a nanny 😃 William is still trying to come to terms with the fact that he's Jamie Fraser's son while also trying to get to the bottom of Ben's death. He's also undeniably attracted to Ben's widow, Amaranthus. Brianna and William get to spend some quality brother/sister bonding time together when Brianna goes to Savannah to paint a portrait (Lord John and Jamie hatched the plan to get the two of them together. While their friendship still hasn't been completely mended after Lord John married and bedded Claire, I think it's on the road to recovery). We actually got a lot of William in this book, and it was nice. I like him. 

Ian finds out his first Mohawk wife, Emily, has been left a widow with three children and the oldest one might be his, so he sets out to see if she needs his help. His current wife, Rachel, their baby son, Oggy, and Ian's mother Jenny all go along for the ride (God, I love Jenny). Along the way they rescue the Quaker family that helped Jamie in book 8, the Hardmans, and when they return to Fraser's Ridge they have Mrs. Hardman and her three daughters, plus Ian's son with Emily in tow, as well as a Mohawk who has taken a shine to Jenny. I kind of really love the idea of Jenny having a Mohawk suitor. 

Brianna has another baby, a boy they name David (instead of John, like I suggested). Jamie nearly dies in a battle, on the date Frank mentioned, but Claire is able to miraculously save him. Mrs. Hardman, Silvia, marries Bobby Higgins, a widower on the Ridge who has a couple of little boys. Everyone is celebrating the wedding when a rider comes tearing up. It's William. Lord John has been kidnapped and is being held captive, and William needs Jamie's help to rescue him. 

And that's how the damn book ended and I was awake all night, scared to death for Lord John. I hope nothing bad happens to him, otherwise I'm going to light something on fire.

Dexter By Design

I know, I reread the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay all the time. I started at the beginning a while back and got through book three and then moved on. The Showtime reboot of the series started a few weeks ago, and while the first episode left me a little cold, the second one this past Sunday was better, so I'm cautiously optimistic. 

Of course what it *really* did was make me decide to re-watch the original series, so that's what I've done the last 10 days. Which led to wanting to read the books. Again. 

I picked up book four, "Dexter By Design". Dexter and Rita are back from their Paris honeymoon and Dexter is learning how to be a husband, step-father, and still keep up his nighttime activities when a killer targeting tourists pops up. As one might imagine, this does not go over well in Miami and Dexter has a personal stake in catching the killer after Debs gets stabbed. The killer is turning murder into performance art and wants to make a piece starring Dashing Dexter (I mentioned Ellroy's alliteration skills the other day, but man, Lindsay is amazing, too!). In the end it's Rita who saves the day and Dexter finds out he's going to be a daddy. Awwwwww :)
 

Man Who Ran Washington

 

James A. Baker III was, at one time, one of the most powerful men in Washington. He helped get Gerald Ford the Presidential nomination in 1976 (although Ford lost to Carter), then helped the Reagan campaign in 1980. He worked for Reagan and George H. W. Bush as Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, and White House Chief of Staff. 

Baker was born into an influential family in Houston, Texas and grew up obeying his father's every command, even after he was married with children his father still dictated what type of car he should buy. "Never get into politics" his father lectured him, and Baker obeyed until his dad died. One of Baker's best friends, George Bush, asked for his help with his Senate campaign in 1970. Baker was known in Washington as a "fixer". He knew everyone and knew how to make things happen. He considered running for President himself after Bush lost in 1992. While it was interesting and I enjoyed it, I was a little disappointed we didn't get to see more of Baker as just a husband and a father. I know he's intensely careful about his public image, it was just unfortunate that he wasn't willing to open up more and share a personal side. 

I loved this quote, and think it applies today more than ever: "We in this country have been going through a long, dark night of self-criticism. We have been telling ourselves that America has tried to run the world, that it is corrupt, that many of our institutions have failed us and need to be “dismantled” under the guise of “reform”. Confession may be good for the soul, but there comes a time when too much confession makes us weaker rather than stronger. Sure we make mistakes, but who in this world doesn’t?". 

Slayers & Vampires

 

I saw a review for this book in a recent journal and thought it was new but it was actually published in 2017 (why was the journal just now reviewing it? I have no clue). Still, fairly new. The authors interviewed a ton of people involved with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel", mostly writers and producers, but some cast and crew. There was, of course, a lot of navel gazing (Hollywood...or as James Ellroy calls it: "Hollyweird"), but I expected that. Everything they do is IMPORTANT, you guys. :)

There wasn't much gossip or anything like that. It was mostly about the struggles of trying to produce two high quality shows on small budgets. One of the writers/producers sounded like a real tool. He blamed Charisma Carpenter for getting pregnant at an inopportune time and apparently she also had the audacity to go and get a cross tattoo on her wrist that the makeup department had to cover up every day. How dare she! He brought it up twice, too, like it was some super egregious thing. He also had something snarky to say about Sarah Michelle Gellar daring to cut her hair. He literally said it was inconsiderate not to take the writers' hard work into account when they made these decisions. Okay, man. Get a grip? I mean, jeez, nearly 20 years later and he's still griping about it. I bet he's a ton of fun at parties.

Other than that guy, everyone else's memories were fun to read. Since I've never been on a TV show set it was interesting to hear about how they make it all happen. While it wasn't quite what I was expecting it was still entertaining. 

The Storyteller; Widespread Panic

 

I am, of course, a big Nirvana fan, and a moderate Foo Fighters fan, but I've always been a big Dave Grohl fan. He literally has the best life ever, and the nice thing is that he realizes it, appreciates it, and doesn't take anything for granted. This was a rock n' roll biography done right. I loved it.

He didn't spend a ton of time on Nirvana and Kurt, because that was only a few years out of his 50+ on this earth, but what he had to say was just wild to contemplate. The overnight fame. Going from living on a futon in a room to buying a (haunted) house. Watching the video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" debut on MTV while in a motel room with Kurt, their elation and enthusiasm. How quickly it all fell apart. 

Dave grew up in Virginia, raised by his mother, who always encouraged him to follow his passion for music, even when it meant dropping out of high school when he was 17 to go on tour with the band he was in at the time, Scream. Dave was hard on his dad, who was against him leaving school and predicted a dire future of homelessness. Of course in hindsight Dad was 100% wrong, but I also thought that he really was just trying to give his wayward son the best advice he had. Dave didn't have a great relationship with his father, but they did reconcile and become friends before his Dad passed away. 

Scream took Dave all over the world, and when the band ended up broke and at a dead end in L.A., Dave got a call from a guy he'd met in Seattle, asking if he wanted to drum in his band, Nirvana. Dave considered it, then decided to go for it and moved up to the Pacific Northwest. The rest, as they say, is history. 

It was a lovely book, well told, full of fascinating stories and the amazing experiences he's had. His love for his family comes through loud and clear. I'm sure they realize how lucky they are to have him. I think we all are. 

I had another rock bio I'm in the middle of (John Mellencamp's), but after reading Dave's I couldn't do any more nonfiction (he's a tough act to follow), so I turned to James Ellroy's latest. It was published earlier this year, but because I was in such a slump I didn't pick it up and dive in. I'm glad I finally got around to it, it was brilliant. 

Freddy Otash is an LAPD officer on the take who gets kicked off the force and lands as the number 1 rat for an up and coming gossip rag called "Confidential". Freddy knows how to dig up ALL the dirt and he feeds it to the magazine while boozing and dropping bennies. I wish I could imitate Ellroy's amazing alliterative style, it's so much fun. And the cool 50s slang! Everyone who was around in Hollywood makes an appearance, from Senator John F. Kennedy to Marilyn Monroe to Liz Taylor and James Dean.  

Game On

 

Janet Evanovich's 28th (TWENTY-EIGTH?!) Stephanie Plum book, "Game On", was pretty good. Not her best but definitely not her worst, either. 

Diesel shows up one night, on the hunt for a hacker named Oswald Wednesday. Stephanie's also after him for skipping on his bail, and soon Morelli is after him for murder. Seems a group of amateur hackers who call themselves the Baked Potatoes managed to hack into Oswald's network and he's out for payback. He kills most of them, and Stephanie is able to get to the last two and hide them out at Ranger's place while she and Diesel try to track Oswald down. All the usual things happened: Stephanie manages to blow up a couple of cars and gets food all over herself while trying to keep a fugitive from escaping, Grandma Mazur disrupts a wake, etc. Vinnie made a short but memorable appearance (I like Vinnie, I wish he was in more of the stories). All in all it was pretty fun. 

A Line to Kill; Katharine Parr, the Sixth Wife

I actually finished a couple of books over the weekend! Yay for me!

I love Anthony Horowitz's books. "A Line to Kill" is one of his books where he's a character, along with the Detective Daniel Hawthorne. Tony and Hawthorne agree to go to a literary festival on the island of Alderney, which is part of the Channel islands, to promote the upcoming first book, "The Word is Murder". The festival is being hosted by Charles le Mesurier, who owns a profitable online gambling site. The rest of the authors are all a little shady, and Tony is suspicious of Hawthorne's motives for coming to the festival when he finds out a suspect he was accusing of pushing down a flight of stairs lives on the island. When le Mesurier is stabbed to death, the local police ask Hawthorne for help, since there has never been a murder on the island. With plenty of red herrings, the ending was a great twist and totally plausible. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait for the next one. 

I originally started reading Weir's sixth book about Katharine Parr when it was first published earlier this year but I just could not get into it (which tells you how bad my reading block was at the time, normally I can tear through these books in no time flat). Since it had holds I gave up and returned it, and finally came back around to it. It wasn't too bad, but honestly just felt so repetitive. I've read too many books (didn't know it was possible, but hey, there you go) on Henry VIII and his wives that I'm so burnt out. I'm glad I finished it, but it was very bland and not memorable. 

Ed Kemper

 

I'm still not reading as much as I would like to, so I made a trip to the bookstore a week ago, thinking if I bought some new books that would help. Because the 2,000 books I already own that I haven't read aren't inspiring me. It actually worked though, so money well spent!

I first heard of Big Ed Kemper on Netflix's show Mindhunter (are we going to get a season 3? I really hope so). Kemper was known as the Co-ed Killer, he used to pick up hitchhiking school aged girls in the Santa Cruz area, murder them, and then have sex with their corpses, including their severed heads. Ed murdered his grandparents, who he was living with, when he was 15 and was sent to Atascadero State Mental Hospital. Kemper has a high IQ and was basically able to game the system. The doctors pronounced him cured and let him go, later on further compounding their grievous error by expunging his juvenile records which allowed him to buy guns. Hey, cool. Ed had severe Mommy issues: he ended up killing his mom (and having sex with her corpse, ew) and her friend one night and then ran. For some bizarre reason, he got halfway across the country and then stopped, called the cops back home, confessed to his crimes, and waited for someone to come and get him. No one had even discovered his mom and her friend yet. If only all serial killers were as obliging, am I right? 

Kemper is still in prison, where he's been since 1973. Great use of taxpayer money, California. Seriously. This guy is a complete and utter nutbar. He's sick. Necrophilia and cannibalism and God only knows what else. Just ick. I enjoyed the book though, Matera has a really great writing style and I felt guilty for laughing out loud, since the subject matter was so disgusting and sad and dark. 

Dancing with Myself

 

I'm obsessed with Billy Idol.

I have no idea why, really. I mean, yeah, he's totally cool and makes awesome music. But for the last several months, he's pretty much all I've listened to. I spend hours every day watching his videos on YouTube (and not reading, so there you go). Oh well. Eventually, it will pass :)

Billy started out a punk rocker with the band Generation X and moved on to a solo career. Billy really epitomized the decade of the 80s: more, more, more. Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll nearly killed him a dozen times. He lost the love of his life because he couldn't stop himself from stepping out on her. He spent days, weeks, months, years, high as a kite. At one point his father came over from England, determined to get him off drugs. He was in a horrific motorcycle accident in 1990 and nearly lost his leg (and his life). 

Billy's a survivor, though, with an interesting perspective on life. He's still making great music (his latest single, "Bitter Taste" dropped a few months ago, and it's fabulous). Still trying to be a good dad and granddad (Billy Idol as a grandfather kind of blows my mind). It was a very interesting look at a life of excess but also the knowledge gleaned from learning from your mistakes. 

Now do yourself a favor and go listen to "Rebel Yell" :)

Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn't Help It

 

I have never seen a Jayne Mansfield film (and unlikely to at this point, since none of the 9,000,000 streaming services I pay for every month have one that I can watch without paying even more money). But after reading "Hollywood Babylon", I was intrigued about Jayne's tragically short life. I saw this book by Eve Golden was brand new and decided to give it a go. It was pretty good, she had a lovely, snarky, sarcastic sense of humor that I love (for instance, one of the pictures showed Jayne and then boyfriend Mickey Hargitay showing up a at Hollywood party in skimpy matching bathing suits, and her caption read: "Jayne and boyfriend Mickey Hargitay make a quiet and tasteful appearance at the press agents' Ballyhoo Ball"). 

Golden really tried to cut through the rumors that have surrounded Jayne's life for decades, most of those rumors started by Jayne herself. She never turned down a chance to appear in public, going to any grocery store opening or ribbon cutting ceremony she could. Rarely a day went by without some mention of Jayne in the newspapers. She was, of course, often compared to Marilyn Monroe, but unlike Monroe, she was extremely professional. Everyone who worked with her agreed she was punctual, knew her lines, worked very hard, and was generally a joy to be around. She had three husbands and five kids when she died at the age of 33 in a tragic car accident in Louisiana. Her boyfriend, Sam Brody, and a young man who had been hired to drive them to Jayne's next appearance (Sam had recently broken his foot and couldn't drive) named Ronnie Harrison were killed instantly when their car smashed into the back of a truck on a dangerous stretch of highway. Three of Jayne's kids were in the backseat (Mickey Jr., Zoltan, and Mariska). All three were injured, and two of Jayne's Chihuahuas were also killed. Rumors that Jayne was decapitated were false, but her death was extremely gruesome (don't look up the pictures online. Seriously, just don't). It was a tragic end to a fun-loving, kind woman who didn't always make the smartest decisions.  

Ordinary Heroes

I cried a lot while reading this one. For the last twenty years, I really haven't watched or read anything about 9/11. I think all of us who were old enough to remember that day will never forget the sheer horror of what we were watching on TV. For me it was the people leaping to their deaths, clinging to the side of the buildings. It was surreal and awful and enraging and terrifying. I was working at B&N at the time, and a few days later a couple of us were discussing it, and one of my colleagues said he thought America deserved it because of how we interfered with other countries. I've never come so close to attacking anyone in all my life. I went off on him verbally (ironically enough, he was arrested for stealing money from the bookstore not long afterwards, so that tells you what kind of fine, upstanding citizen he was). I have never, and will never, understand that sort of hatred and disdain for this country. It is the greatest in the world. Are we perfect? No. But we are full of ordinary heroes, like Joseph Pfeifer, the first FDNY Chief at the disaster that morning. 

By happenstance, two brothers, Jules and Gedeon Nauder were filming a new recruit, Tony, who was assigned to Pfeifer's firehouse. The summer of '01 was quiet, fire wise, and everyone felt bad for Tony and the documentary filmmakers, who really wanted to capture what it was like for the first responders. On Tuesday, September 11, Chief Pfeifer, with Jules in tow, responded to a call about a possible gas leak. They heard the first plane and Jules instinctively turned to look, capturing the only footage of the first plane hitting the North Tower. As the closest chief to the scene, Pfeifer and his crew hurried over to the World Trade Center and took command. I watched Jules' footage for the first time a few weekends ago during the 20th anniversary and it was horrifying to realize they were in the North Tower, just minutes before it collapsed, barely escaping with their lives. The looks on the firefighters faces as they heard the bodies hitting the ground outside the lobby where they were stationed, helpless to stop the jumpers (the first firefighter who died that day was hit by a someone who jumped as he was trying to run into the building). They went up while everyone working in the building hurried down. Joseph sent his younger brother, Kevin, to the South Tower and never saw him again. Kevin's body was eventually recovered in February of 2002. 

It was a heartbreaking account of what happened on that day our world changed, told by one of the extraordinary heroes. He was hopeful, though, and talked about the good that had come out of the tragedy, the things they learned and how to handle disasters like this in the future.  About the importance of not focusing on our differences, but rather coming together and realizing that first and foremost, we are Americans. 
 

My Best Friend's Exorcism

 

I actually read the hardcover version of Grady Hendrix's "My Best Friend's Exorcism", which has a completely different cover than the paperback, but I loved this cover so much I had to use it. 

I somehow missed reading this book when it came out a few years ago, and when I finished "The Final Girl Support Group" I decided to read this one. It was really good, I liked it a lot. God, he's big on the gross out scenes. Not quiet as bad as Bentley Little, but he's definitely right up there.

It takes place in Charleston in the late 1980s. Margaret, Glee, Gretchen, and Abby are high schoolers and best friends. One night they drop acid and Gretchen disappears into the woods. The other girls aren't able to find her, and the next morning just as Abby is starting to really panic, Gretchen comes stumbling out rather worse for wear. She says she got lost and she's okay, but over the next few weeks Abby notices a marked change in her friend's behavior. She stops changing her clothes or bathing, stops eating, basically becomes a wreck. Abby is desperately trying to get all the adults in her life to help (for once, a teenager doesn't try to solve it on her own, she actually does get an adult and they all let her down). 

Then Gretchen does a 180 and seems fine again. Better than fine, actually. Everyone else is eager to move on and forget what happened, but Abby knows that there's something seriously wrong with Gretchen and she's determined to save her from the demon possessing her. It had a lot of fun 80s cultural references. 

War of the Roses: Stormbird

 

I've had this series on my to read list for a while now, I was just concerned with how he would treat Richard III. Obviously if he was going to malign him I wasn't interested in reading it, but I went online and looked and it seemed like he would be fair, so I read it. It was okay, not the best I've ever read. He changed some things unnecessarily, I thought, like having Richard born years before he actually was and I'm not sure why. 

The book starts out with King Henry VI wanting a truce with France as well as a bride. His spymaster, Derry Brewer, and Somerset arrange for Margaret of Anjou to marry Henry and they give a lot of English territory back to France, which makes the English people living on those lands none too pleased. Rebellions arise, Henry starts getting ill and fading, leaving his young bride to try to run the kingdom and keep Richard, Duke of York (Richard III's father) from running away with it. The book ended with Richard being named Protector of the Realm during the king's illness, and Margaret about to give birth to her son, Edward. 

Final Girl Support Group

 

Grady Hendrix's latest was really good. Set in 2010, it focuses on a group of "final girls", the last girl left standing after a massacre. Apparently all the slasher films of the 1980s were based on real life events (think "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" and "Nightmare on Elm Street".). Lynette is one of those girls, and she's paranoid to the millionth degree. She only leaves her apartment to go to the support group and when she goes home it takes her hours because she makes endless, random loops to make sure no one is following her. Andrienne, the final girl from Camp Red Lake, is murdered and it sends Lynette into hyper-paranoid overdrive, convinced someone is out to murder the whole group.

She's actually not wrong. One by one the final girls are targeted and Lynette is desperately trying to keep herself safe while trying to figure out who is after them. There were a lot of really good twists and turns, it was good fun. 

Spike: After the Fall

This is going to be the last Buffy related graphic novel for a while, I swear. Mostly because I don't own any more :)

"Spike: After the Fall" is the story of what happens to Spike immediately after L.A. falls into Hell after the end of season 5 of "Angel". He and Illyria end up together, and he has to keep provoking her so she'll stay Illyria because Fred keeps popping out, and he's afraid Fred will get killed. They move around a lot and as they hide out, find humans who are trying to avoid getting killed. So picture Spike like the Pied Piper, leading along a group of helpless humans (seemed like they were mostly teenagers, too) and being responsible for their safety. Spike is captured by the powerful demon and Lord of Beverly Hills, Non, and tortured. He and Illyria (with help from Connor, who makes a timely appearance) manage to defeat Non and he and Illyria become co-Lords of Beverly Hills and move into Hugh Hefner's mansion. It was fun, although the artwork was a little sketchy. 
 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 Volume 2: I Wish; Mike Nichols: A Life; Hollywood Babylon; Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 12

 

All right, I skipped "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 Volume 2: I Wish" but it finally came in for me so I was able to read it. Dawn no longer wants to live with Xander and Buffy no longer wants to live with her roommates, so the gang gets rid of a ghost in order to score reduced rent in an apartment building. Xander and Spike room together, and Willow, Dawn, and Buffy room together. Giles, the fifty year old former Watcher/Librarian trapped in a teenager's body, somehow gets an apartment all on his own. Didn't he leave Faith all his money? How can he pay for it? 

At any rate. Xander and Spike go out to a bar together to bond over their girl troubles. Xander's still bummed about Dawn not being in love with him anymore (yet?) but Spike is happy with the direction he and Buffy's relationship has taken. They are getting along well and becoming real friends ("You'll never be friends. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other until it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends"...). At the bar a couple of ladies pick them up. Turns out they're sirens, and they cast a spell over the boys and take them back to their lair. Luckily they're able to break out of their trap but while they were gone the Vampyr book (the blank book to rewrite the rules of magic) disappears from their apartment. D'uh! The gang heads to the ruins of Sunnydale, where Andrew has taken the book. He wants to try to resurrect Tara for Willow, which is sweet but not terribly bright. Buffy and Spike have a lovely and moving heart to heart while trying to keep Andrew from making a terrible mistake. 

Behold! An actual book! For the first time since May, I finished a non-Buffy related graphic novel! A real book! Why this is the book that broke my book funk I have no idea (I mean, it was well written and interesting, but still). I tried *everything* over the last few months. True crime, mysteries, rereading old favorites. Even Faulkner couldn't break me out of it, and I was starting to get really worried. But here you have it. The life of legendary director Mike Nichols.

The funny thing is that I put this book on hold on a whim. I didn't know much about Nichols, other than the fact that he directed one of my all time favorite movies, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (turns out that was the first movie he directed. He picked a good one to start with!). He had a very interesting life and seems like everyone he worked with really liked him. He won Tony awards for the plays he directed on Broadway, Oscars for his films, Grammys for his albums with Elaine May (look the two of them up on YouTube--hysterical), and Emmys for his TV work. A multi-talented individual to be sure. It was nicely done, I enjoyed it. 

Another real book! Although I use the term "real" loosely (well, and "book"). It was, quite honestly, the worst kind of garbage, but it was entertaining and a quick read. Kenneth Anger dishes all the dirt in Hollywood from the 1920s through the 1960s. Most of it has been disproven by now, but at the time it was all very scandalous. There were a lot of tasteless photos I could have done without. 

And finally, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 12", which is the last one. They honestly should have stopped at 11, the ending on that one was good. They just phoned this one in. It was disappointing.

The first half was all about what Giles was doing while Buffy, Willow, and Spike were locked up in the safe zone in season 11. Giles, aged about 16, was at a boarding school, hiding out so he wouldn't get shipped off due to his magic skills. There's a demon in the basement of the school who is sucking out the students' brains -- they're high schoolers, how can you tell? :) 

That was mean. But still. 

Giles ends up falling for a vampire named Roux (cue me screaming at him to go and APOLOGIZE TO BUFFY right this minute for all the grief he gave her over being with Spike in season 7 of the show. Hypocrite). In the end Roux died while helping him kill the demon. 

The second part is a little while later. Giles is magically back to his own age (late forties? early fifties?). And for some reason that was never explained, Buffy and Spike have broken up. 

Fuck you, Joss Whedon. I guess my happiness means NOTHING to you.

Seriously, though, there was no explanation. Just, oh, we aren't together anymore. Why?! Everything was perfect at the end of season 11 and you were so happy and...sigh.

Xander and Dawn have moved to the suburbs and have a little girl they named Joyce after Buffy and Dawn's mom. Buffy is once again upset about how everyone else seems to be moving on with their lives but she's 30 and stuck doing the same old thing she's done since she was 15. I tried to feel sorry for her, because I've been there and I know the feeling, but since I 100% blame her for the Spike breakup it was hard to be too sympathetic. On the plus side, she was very nice to him, and they were sweet to each other when they were around each other. I think that's what made the whole thing that much worse. Well, and Angel's smugness when he found out. Can someone please punch Angel in the face for me? Thanks.

Everyone makes an appearance for this one: Angel and Illyria come back (guess they're a couple now? Okay), Faith, Andrew. The slayer that Buffy went into the future for back in season 8, Maleka, her twin brother absorbed her slayer memories and as a vampire is able to figure out a way to come back in time and kill Buffy and everyone else (honestly, it was all a little confusing and I was so pissed about Spike and Buffy I wasn't really paying close attention). The resolution was super lame. The artwork was lame. The whole damn thing was lame. 

Ironically enough, the best seasons were 10 and 11, and those were the two I didn't buy since they were so expensive. So there's that. 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 11 Volume 2: One Girl in All the World

 

So Season 11 of "Buffy" is only two volumes. The second volume picks up where the first one left off: Buffy, Spike, and Willow are still in the safe zone. The government is offering everyone a deal: if they'll allow their supernatural powers to be drained they can leave. Spike of course can't do that, since it would kill him, but after much discussion Willow and Buffy decide to take the deal. They figure if they can get out they can hopefully think of a way to expose what the government is doing and rescue Spike. Faith (Faith!!) comes back from her posh life in England to help out. She still has her slayer powers, of course, even though Buffy is now just an ordinary girl. Buffy realizes as much as being the Slayer sometimes weighed on her, it's what she was meant to do and misses having her powers (no word on if she misses, you know, actually KILLING VAMPIRES).  

They are able to break into the safe zone facility and shut down the force field keeping all the vampires and demons in, freeing all of them. Buffy and Spike are reunited (Faith to Willow when she sees them kissing: "Still?" Willow: "We're all pleasantly surprised"). Well, as you can imagine, a bunch of half-starved vampires suddenly being freed isn't terrific and they go on a killing spree, basically vindicating everyone who was afraid of them and advocating that they should be locked up. Buffy & Co. figure out the government is using the magic they sucked out of everyone to make hybrid creatures that are part animal (or human) and part magic (think Adam from "Buffy" season 4). The machine the government is secretly building is a satellite that will be able to suck the magic out of everyone on earth, effectively killing all the vampires at once. Again, I see why Buffy wouldn't want this because of Spike, but the rest of them? Not really such a bad thing, right? They find out who the ringleader in the government is and fight her. Willow and Buffy were able to get their own magic back, and Willow does a reverse spell on the scythe to take the Slayer power away from all the other girls in the world and give it all to Buffy, effectively making her the one and only Chosen One again. They defeat the Big Bad, destroy the magic sucking machine, expose the evil plan to the world, and go home. Some of the former slayers show up at Buffy's apartment and ask her to give them their power back, and she does.

I wouldn't have, but clearly Buffy is more forgiving than I am. 

The Scoobies have a lovely barbeque and celebrate and Buffy and Spike are happy together and all's right in my little corner of the world and I have a really bad feeling I should quit reading these comics now before something bad happens.

Because something bad always happens. 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 11 Volume 1: The Spread of Their Evil

 

Season 11 of Buffy! Almost done. I'm actually kind of sad about that. Not that there aren't hundreds of comics out there in the Buffyverse, but I've (for the most part) really enjoyed these. 

The artwork was definitely better in this one than some of the previous ones. Or my standards have slipped.

Things are good in Buffy's world. Xander and Dawn are in a good place, Willow is teaching a coven, Giles is getting used to being an adolescent, and Spike and Buffy are happy (I'm not crying, it's just dusty in here). Then one night a Chinese water dragon demon causes a tsunami to hit San Francisco and lots of people are killed. The government pins the blame on supernaturals of all types and regular folks are scared of their powers. At first the government just wants to "register" all the supernatural beings, then they decide to round them up and put them into "safe zones" (basically internment camps). Now here's where things got a bit sticky for me. Buffy is completely against the idea, even though she's technically a VAMPIRE SLAYER. I know Spike isn't evil anymore because he has a soul, but wouldn't she be happy to see the rest of them rounded up and contained so they aren't out killing innocent folks? She makes a speech about how she realizes the world isn't completely black and white, and good for her for finally realizing that (couldn't have figured that out in season 6, hun?), but it still felt super weird to me for her to be arguing for vampires and demons to be allowed to roam wild and free. 

At any rate, Willow as a witch and Spike as a vampire are forced into a safe zone and Buffy insists on going with them, even though Slayers are exempt. As you can imagine, things in the safe zone are not great. They're basically starving the vampires by handing out puny rations. Buffy insists Spike feed off her to keep from starving, and he does, very reluctantly. He doesn't want to weaken her, since she's the Slayer she has a target pinned to her back and obviously he can't be at her side all day long to help protect her (although there are several times where he goes out in the day wearing a hoodie and I'm not going to lie, it's a good look. I'm sorry they never put him in a hoodie on the show). She ends up becoming a guard in order to procure extra rations for him. 

Can I just say how much I love Buffy doing anything and everything to help Spike? It's literally the sweetest thing. There were a lot of sweet moments between them in this volume. 

At any rate, work crews are building something big and Buffy is trying to figure out what, as well as a way to get them all out of the safe zone. 

Angel After the Fall Volumes 3-6

 

"Angel After the Fall Volume 3": everyone is still kung fu fighting (seriously, everyone). Angel has challenged the Lords of Los Angeles, and they all sent champions to fight him. Since he's human, it makes things kind of tricky. I mean, I hate to say "I told you so" (actually, I really don't, it's one of my favorite things to do, but it sounds tacky to say so) but Angel, hun, you *wanted* to be human, remember? I guess you forgot humans are fragile and easily hurt. 

At any rate, Illyria is unstable as all get out, keeps morphing into Fred. Vampire Gunn has been having visions he's convinced are from the Senior Partners, telling him that *he's* actually the vampire from the Shanshu Prophecy, destined to save the world in the Apocalypse and in return earn his humanity back (silly Gunn. We all know the Shanshu is about Spike). Gunn thinks he still has a soul and that he's doing good by murdering humans, it's all part of the master plan. 

"Angel After the Fall Volume 4" is really the conclusion of the storyline. Gunn kills Connor which doesn't go over too well with anyone. Psychic fish Betta George is able to use Wesley and Spike's memories of Fred to bring Illyria down after she becomes her true demon self (I really had no idea Spike liked Fred that much. Not sure how I feel about that). Even though Angel was supposed to battle the champions himself, of course all the Team Angel gang pitched in to help (we know he couldn't have done it without Spike). In the end though Angel realizes he has to die in order to save Los Angeles, and he does. Cordelia appears as an angel to help him let go. Wolfram and Hart are having none of that, so they reset the timeline to just before L.A. went to hell in the alley at the end of "Angel" season five. Angel is able to save Gunn before he turns into a vampire. They win the battle and save L.A., but the L.A. offices of Wolfram and Hart no longer exist. Everyone remembers what happened, though, so now Angel is famous. 

. 

"Angel: Aftermath" was...not great. Or good even. It was very, very stupid. 

First of all, Spike isn't in it, so whatever. 

A shape shifting Jaguar named Dez and an angel trapped on Earth round out the motely crew of misfits. Angel and Kate try to start up Angel Investigations again from scratch but because Angel is famous now it's hard to weed out all the crazies. 

The artwork in this one was truly bad. Everyone looks like they're on steroids. 

"Angel: Last Angel in Hell" was at least amusing, which is more than I can say for "Aftermath". 

Illyria and Gunn take off early in a car on a road trip that is apparently documented in a different series (which I'm not buying). We find out Drusilla is locked in a mental hospital, having visions of the fall of L.A. but no one will listen to her since they think she's delusional. She kills a whole bunch of folks and...escapes? Not really clear on what happened. Maybe she was just dreaming? It was all over the place.

The best bits were when Angel and Spike run into each other at a convention. Hollywood made a movie about Angel (played by someone who greatly resembles Nicholas Cage) and Spike, who is now a hot blonde female and Angel's love interest (it was kind of hysterical). Shades of "Buffy" season two "Halloween" episode when everyone at the convention is turned into their costume. Spike is wearing an Angel costume (long story) and thinks he's Angel, so he starts acting like how Spike thinks Angel would act, which, again, hysterical. The last bit of the book was the actual movie, which was kind of dumb, but realistic in how Hollywood changes everything (not for the better).  

Angel After the Fall Volume 1

 

So volume one finally came and I was able to read it last night. It takes place a few months after the final battle at the end of "Angel" season 5. Angel is human again, but Wesley's ghost is keeping up the vampire charade with the use of charms and glamours. Spike is living large as Hugh Hefner, complete with a mansion and a bunch of gorgeous women. He's keeping an eye on Illyria, who is mentally unstable and causing all kinds of time jumps and havoc. Angel finds out Spike is actually helping Connor run a kind of rescue operation, hiding out people in the mansion until Connor can get them to safety. L.A. has been divided up into sections, each with its own Lord (Spike is co-Lord of Beverly Hills, along with Illyria). Angel kills the son of a Lord, and the Lords all get together to challenge him to a fight against champions of their choice. Angel is supposed to fight them alone, but of course the gang all rallies around him. I'm curious how long he'll be able to keep up pretending to be a vampire. Oh, and he somehow talked the Dragon into fighting on his side, which is cool. Not as cool as Spike walking around in a floor length robe with a bunch of hot women trailing after him, but still cool. 

Angel After the Fall Volume 2: First Night

I ordered the first six volumes of the "Angel: After the Fall" graphic novel series (the six volumes might be all of the series, actually, I'm having a really hard time figuring out all these graphic novels series in the Buffyverse). Of course volumes 2, 4, 5, and 6 came but not 1 or 3. 

I figured I could read volume 2 "First Night" without ruining volume 1 too much. So after the season 5 finale of "Angel", which had Illyria, Gunn, Spike, and Angel in an alley about to face a horde of beasts, including a dragon, apparently the whole thing falls apart and L.A. ends up in Hell. Okay. (Side note: the timeline on these books is kind of all over the place. Technically while season 8 of "Buffy" is going on, "Angel" season 5 is happening. But Spike and Angel both show up in season 8 of "Buffy", around the same time they should be taking on the Circle of the Black Thorn in L.A. I know, it's just fiction and it really doesn't matter, I'm just saying I noticed. Moving on!). "First Night" tells everyone's individual stories about their first night in Hell. Spike is happy to have survived another massive fight and vows to retire from helping anyone ever again, and two seconds later finds himself playing the hero because he can't help it. Wolfram & Hart make Wesley an enticing offer (anyone else surprised Wesley ended up in Hell after he died? I know I was). Connor meets a woman named Kate (from seasons 1 and 2 of "Angel"). Lorne ends up becoming mayor of Silverlake and turning it into a little oasis of paradise in the middle of Hell like the champ he is. Gunn has been turned into a vampire (oh no!!). Angel wasn't even in it, but that's okay. 
 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 Volume 6: Own It

 

So glad I was able to get this one through an interlibrary loan, because the cheapest I saw it going for used online was about $650. Although after reading (most) of Season 10, I'm kind of disappointed I don't own them. So far I've enjoyed it.

D'Hoffyrn has turned the Anya ghost into a copy of Anya and is grooming her to be a vengeance demon. Xander and Dawn are actually having fun, jumping from dimension to dimension in search of a way back home. It was good for them to help rebuild their relationship. D'Hoffyrn is using Jonathan's ghost to plant seeds of doubt in Andrew's mind, and Buffy is fighting with everyone, including Spike :( He suggests they break up and I lost my tenuous grip on sanity (although some would argue I lost that a long time ago, and I would be hard pressed to disagree with them). Buffy says something super mature about how they both have a history of bailing on relationships when they get tough and now is not the time to bail but to fight to stay together. Willow gets kicked out of the military due to her close relationship with Buffy, since the military blames Buffy for the demon chaos. Spike and Buffy talk about their relationship in between visiting former members of D'Hoffyrn's council and enlisting their help to bring him down. They make up nicely (aw, I'm okay, I'm just getting a cold, I swear). Dawn and Xander make it back. D'Hoffyrn attacks the gang and Buffy has a brilliant way of bringing him down--she makes a wish that must be granted :) Buffy decides to form a new council, made up of beings of all kinds (including Riley, WTF, Buffy?!) to help rewrite the rules. There was a funny little bit in the end where Harmony follows Buffy around, trying to interview her for some documentary she's doing. 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 Volume 3: Guarded; Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 Volume 5: Pieces on the Ground

 

Okay, I got Volume 3 of Season 9 yesterday, and I'm glad I skipped ahead, this wasn't too essential to the overall plot. Kennedy has started a sort of bodyguard business for the ex-slayers and Buffy joins up. She immediately fails the first test because she goes after a demon instead of protecting the client, thinking the demon was an assassin (he was just a bellhop). Kennedy decides to give her another chance and has her help her guard a social media founder named Theo. Theo created a site (think Facebook) called TinCan that has an open portal to a hell dimension that an evil law firm named Wolfram and Hart are using to their advantage. Theo is willing to sacrifice everything he worked for to shut TinCan's servers down and sever the connection, which they managed to do.

The last half of the volume was about a young gay boy named Billy who really wants to be a slayer but he's not a girl. He has a crush on another boy named Devon, who has aspirations to be a watcher. Devon tells Billy he has feelings for him too (it was super sweet) and the two of them team up to train together and work on taking down the zompires that are overrunning their town. Buffy shows up in the nick of time to help. 

Season 10 Volume 5 "Pieces on the Ground" starts out with the world being overrun by demons, since they have the portal generator. Satsu shows up and asks Buffy to help the Army, which is trying to forge as many supernatural alliances as they can to help them fight. Buffy and Spike go to Vegas to meet with Harmony and Vicki (who is one of the new vampire breed) and agree to a trial by combat. If Buffy and Spike win, the vampires will work with the military. They do win and head home where Spike goes to a bar and meets an old friend, a pretty female named Dylan. Without telling Buffy.

What the giddy god hell are you doing, man?! Why are you deliberately trying to screw things up with Buffy? I can't even right now.

Willow is settling in at her new job in the military but she and Buffy are arguing a lot. Buffy can't bring herself to trust them after they attacked the slayers at the end of Season 8. Buffy finds out about Dylan (she's an artist and she finds the invite to her new gallery) and she and Spike row about it but Buffy goes with him and meets Dylan and realizes she's worried about nothing, she can trust Spike (yes, yes you can). She's really upset about falling out with Willow, and so the two of them talk and make up. Andrew's having a rough go of things, seeing Jonathan's ghost and trying to figure out how he can be useful to the group. The Scoobies form an alliance with D'Hoffryn and his magical council, but Buffy doesn't want to let him help write the new magic rules. Giles points out that she doesn't want anyone else to do it, but won't do it herself and Buffy goes off the deep end. Xander is still seeing Anya's ghost. The gang heads out to fight a soul glutton (who gets bigger the more souls he eats) and when the restless door is destroyed a portal opens to a hell dimension. Dawn can close it, but she'd be trapped on the other side. No one wants that, but after much arguing Dawn insists she wants to do this to save her friends. Spike wants to stay with her, but Buffy wants him to help her fight, so Xander offers to stay with Dawn. It ends with Buffy heartbroken about having to leave her little sister and Spike unwilling to comfort her because he disagreed with her and oh my god why are the writers doing this to me?! Wasn't season 6 of the show bad enough? C'mon now! 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 Volumes 4 & 5; Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 Volume 1; Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 Volumes 3 & 4

 

Okay, I skipped ahead. I'm still waiting on Volume 3 to come (should be here this week), but in the meantime I was able to get most of Season 10 through Interlibrary Loan and was eager to get them read and back to their lending libraries, so I went ahead with what I had. I suspect I'll be able to keep up with the complicated plot :)

Volume 4 "Welcome to the Team": Severin, working with rogue slayer Simone, is siphoning any little bit of magic he can get his hands on, and there's not a whole lot of magic in the world. Vengeance demon D'Hoffryn and the rest of the magical council ask Buffy's help in fighting Severin before he drains everything left. 

The artwork on these is still a little hit or miss, but all in all it was pretty good. 

Volume 5 "The Core": Dawn is ill and the doctors can't figure out what's wrong with her. Turns out since the magic was drained out of the world when Buffy smashed the seed, since Dawn was made of magic she's disappearing. Xander, Buffy, and Willow must travel to the Deeper Well in England so Willow can get enough magic to restore Dawn. Spike (yay!!!!) comes back to stay with Dawn so she won't be frightened and alone. She doesn't remember him, but she appreciates that he knows her and cares enough about her to stay with her. Then Spike's memories of her start to fade, too, as do everyone else's.

In the Deeper Well, Buffy discovers Xander betrayed them: he told Simone and Severin how to get into the well from the other entrance in New Zealand because they promised to save Dawn. Oh Xander. You twit. How can you doubt Buffy? Buffy manages to defeat them, Willow gives birth to a new seed, a new source of magic for Earth, and the friends manage to escape and go home to a restored Dawn (and Spike). Buffy of course forgives Xander because she's too damn nice (I still haven't fully forgiven him for being Team Riley). 

Volume 1 "New Rules": New source of magic means new rules. The Vampyr book Giles left Buffy is blank and being rewritten with new rules as they go along. Which means a new breed of vampire that can go out in the sunlight (Spike is super pissed this doesn't apply to him, and I am too). Buffy and Spike are working on how to be friends (a wise man once said: "You'll never be friends. You'll be in love until it kills you both"). Xander and Dawn's relationship is on the rocks: Dawn admits that when she was restored her emotions basically rebooted to when she was 14 again, meaning while she likes Xander, she thinks of him as her old sister's friend, not her boyfriend. She hasn't fallen in love with him yet. Xander is pretty devastated but determined to make Dawn fall in love with him all over again. 

Dracula comes back and takes advantage of the new rules to steal the Vampyr book and write himself as the biggest, baddest vampire ever, which backfires spectacularly and shows everyone how dangerous it is to not have rules set down.  

The absolute best news is that Giles is back! Angel somehow found a way to restore him, and even though he's trapped in a teenager's body, he still has all of adult Giles' memories and knowledge, which is definitely going to come in handy as they figure out how to write the new rules of magic. 

And yes, I haven't gotten volume 2 yet, but seriously, did you think I was going to wait to read about Spike and Buffy getting back together? The answer, dear Reader, is Hell no. Times 10. 

Volume 3 "Love Dares You": Buffy realizes she never gave her relationship with Spike a fair shot and while she doesn't want to ruin the lovely friendship they have, she also finds she really wants to explore a more romantic relationship. She tells him that and he pulls away. After all, she's hurt him (a lot) and he's not sure he can go through it again. Buffy is disappointed but says she understands (I didn't. I was ready to smack him). After some soul searching and talking to Xander (really, Spike?) he realizes he's still in love with her and wants to pursue it, too. So they do. Vehemently. Physically. Awwww. All is right in the world again :)

For a little bit, anyway. Spike has a vivid dream of murdering a couple, and when he wakes up he discovers they really are dead. Did he kill them, or did he just see it happen in his dream? He asks Willow and Giles to help find out if something is controlling him, like the First did in season 7 of the show. He doesn't want Buffy to know, but of course she finds out and scolds him for trying to keep things from her. Willow uses Buffy to travel through Spike's memories to see if she can figure out what's causing his dreams. There were some really sweet scenes, like when she sees herself though his eyes and realizes how much he really does love her, and feels the pain he went through to get his soul back for her. She's able to find the source of the dreams: Archaeus, a demon that sired the Master and is therefore Spike's ancestor. Archaeus is using his descendants to do his dirty work, but he can't control Spike because Spike has a soul. The gang realizes they're going to need big time help to defeat Archaeus, and Spike reluctantly calls Angel. Way to be the bigger man, Spike. I'm proud of you. 

Volume 4 "Old Demons": Angel comes back (ugh) and is immediately rude to Spike because he didn't know he and Buffy were together (Spike wanted to tell him over the phone but Buffy wanted to wait and tell him in person). Buffy soon gets fed up with their jealous posturing but puts aside her irritation to get to Archaeus. He tries to control Spike and Spike is able to resist. He gets to Angel, though, and Spike has to snap him out of it (picture me sticking out my tongue and going "nah nah nah nah" at Angel). They're able to defeat him, but things are getting sticky with the new magic rules. 

Angel and Spike reach an uneasy truce and Angel leaves but not before telling Willow it won't last because Spike will screw it all up sooner rather than later. 

Fuck you, Angel. Go away. 

There were two other non-related side stories in this one: Willow is able to turn Giles into an adult for 24 hours, and then a really sad one where Buffy is trying to help women who are being taken advantage of sexually. It causes her to realize that she'll always have to live with the trauma of Spike trying to rape her in season 6 of the show, and while most of the time she's okay and realizes that the Spike who attacked her isn't the real Spike, the Spike with a soul, sometimes she's not okay and he's going to have to realize there's nothing he can do but give her time and space.