Not sure how many of you are Charlaine Harris fans or saw the articles in the papers, but Charlaine Harris is the wonderful author of the Sookie Stackhouse series, the books that led to the creation of the television show True Blood.

May 2013 was the release of the final Sookie book, Dead Ever After. In it, Ms Harris ties up the loose ends for Sookie and her friends. Throughout the series I figured there were FIVE ways for it to end. There is no real spoiler here as I list my five, but it was one of the following (so skip to next paragraph if you don’t want to see my list): 1. Sookie’s death – I mean really, she survived a lot of bad shit. 2. Sookie deciding she didn’t need the paranormal world, period. And then 3 thru 5, in alphabetic order: Bill, Eric or Sam. Yes there could have been others (Alcide, anyone? mmmmmm) but I figured it would be one of the five.

Was the ending the one that I hoped for? NO. Was it one of the five that I expected? YES. Am I smarter than the average reader? I would have thought not….not until I started reading the reviews for Ms Harris’ book anyway. There were people threatening to kill themselves if the series didn’t end the way they wanted. There were people who threatened to harm Ms Harris because of the way it ended. I’ve read reviews on Goodreads and Amazon where people have given 1 star ratings with reviews that state “I’m not even going to read the book”. Seriously?

I want my readers to relate to my characters; to feel for them and be drawn in by them. But they are characters only!!! Ms Harris ended up cancelling her promotion tour because of all the negative publicity. That’s sad, because the end of a series like that is probably tough enough on an author. Like a good Irish wake, she should be able to celebrate it’s passing.

If you have enjoyed Charlaine’s other books, then you owe it to yourself to read the final episode…even if you don’t like the ending.