This was one of the best Sookie Stackhouse books in recent years. In it, Bill and Sookie are recovering from the brief but deadly war between the fairies and the vampires. Claude, one of the last fairies left on our side of the divide, is healing from loneliness…by moving in with her cousin Sookie. In fact, this book has a very apt title; it’s about families. Sookie spends time with Ella’s cousin Hadley’s young son, who shares her ability to read her mind. She also, much to her chagrin, spends time with Eric’s family of vampires.

In the TV series ‘True Blood’, Eric’s creator was the beautiful and benevolent Godric (played to perfection by Danish actor Allan Hyde). In the book, Eric’s creator is a terrifying ancient Roman named Appius Flavius ​​Ocella. It is impossible to love Appius Flavius ​​the way we love Godric. Why? His relationship with Eric’s vampire “brother” Alexei Romanov (yes, the murdered Russian prince), turned at the age of 13, is totally inappropriate. Eric justifies this by telling Sookie that such relationships were considered normal during the time of ancient Rome, but Sookie doesn’t think so, and the whole thing still drips with creepiness. However, the scene where the vampire family shows up and fry Sookie’s psychic circuitry with her blood bond is hilarious.

However, Eric is not the only one reunited with the “family”: Bill’s “sister”, who resembles his late wife, shows up to add a new facet to the love triangle between Bill, Sookie and Eric. Will Appius Flavius’s prediction that Sookie won’t keep Eric come true, or will they stay together? Is there any hope that Bill and Sookie will get back together, or will he prefer the vampire who looks like his wife? Will Sookie start wishing Eric would turn her? The next book in the series can’t come soon enough.