"Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris

Sookie Stackhouse lives in small-town Northern Louisiana where she works as a waitress. Vampires have recently been recognized as the new “oppressed race du jour”, and to Sookie’s amazement, a vampire named Bill has moved into her very own town! When Sookie saves Bill’s “life” one day, they start out a friendship that starts to turn into more. But then a string of murders pops up into town, the targets being vampire-lovin’ young ladies, and Sookie wonders if it’s such a good idea to be involved with one.

I started out not liking this one. The writing is very clunky and unnatural and makes Stephenie Meyer look like Tolstoy. But the story quickly grabbed me, and I kinda want to keep reading this series! This is very much a "first novel", and I am willing to forgive the author for the 9th grade diary-esque writing. So if the first few chapters seem horrible, keep going. It gets better. Oh, and while this seems like a good recommendation to lovers of “Twilight”, keep in mind that there is A LOT more sex in this book, so be aware who you give this to.