Title: Drink Deep
Author: Chloe Neill
Series: Chicagoland Vampires #5
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Paranormal fantasy, Vampires
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: New American Library
Year: 2011
5th sentence, 74th page: Are they holding weapons?

Clouds are brewing over Cadogan House, and recently turned vampire Merit can’t tell if this is the darkness before the dawn or the calm before the storm. With the city in turmoil over paranormals and the state threatening to pass a paranormal registration act, times ahven’t been this precarious for vampires since they came out of the closet. If only they could lie low for a bit and let the mortals calm down.

That’s when the waters of Lake Michigan suddenly turn pitch-black – and things really start getting ugly.

Chicago’s mayor insists it’s nothing to worry about, but Merit knows only the darkest magic could have woven a spell powerful enough to change the very fabric of nature. She’ll have to turn to friends old and new to find out who’s behind this, and stop them before it’s too late for vampires and humans alike.

Neill has been brilliantly unfolding her supernatural Chicago throughout the Chicagoland Vampires series. As Merit slowly unfolds her new supernatural reality, we too are able to find out more about the world of things that go bump in the night. And in Drink Deep, Merit’s (and our) awareness of this world is expanded tenfold. This slow filtering of information and unfurling of their world slowly, but surely draws me into the reality of the world of Cadogan.

Drink Deep is very much about reaching deep – Merit is forced to reach deep inside herself to move past grief and loss. She is forced to transform herself and her very being to begin to exist in a world without Ethan, and without his unerring support. A race to save the city from certain destruction only puts extra pressure on her to come to terms with her loss and new place in a new world.

Neill has a fantastic grasp of relationships – although they can be solid and seemingly unshakeable at one moment, drifting between friends seems to be fairly common. As we grow older, and follow our own pursuits, people drift, just like Merit and Mallory. It is painful and difficult though, and Neill captures their drifting and Merit’s confusion at it beautifully. A poignant reminder that relationships don’t last forever, and should never be taken for granted.

Image source: Goodreads

Title: Hard Bitten
Author: Chloe Neill
Series: Chicagoland Vampires #4
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Paranormal fantasy, Vampires
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: New American Library
Year: 2011
5th sentence, 74th page: What kind of black magic are we talking?

Times are hard for newly minted vampire Merit. Ever since shapeshifters announced their presence to the world, humans have been rallying against supernaturals – and they’re camping outside Cadogan House with protest signs they could exchange for pitchforks at any moment. Inside, things between Merit and her Master, green-eyed heartbreaker Ethan Sullivan, are… tense. Then the mayor of Chicago calls Merit and Ethan to a clandestine meeting and tells them about a violent vamp attack that has left three women missing. His message is simple: Get your House in order. Or else.

Merit needs to get to the bottom of this crime, but it doesn’t help that she can’t tell who’s on her side. So she secretly calls in a favor from someone who’s tall, dark, and part of an underground vamp group that may have some inside intel on the attack. Merit soon finds herself in the dark, heady heart of Chicago’s supernatural society – a world of vampires who seem ready to fulfill the protesting humans’ worst fears, and a place where she’ll learn that you can’t be a vampire without getting a little blood on your hands…

The ending of Hard Bitten shocked me in a way that no other book has – Neill did something to her main character that I have always wanted to do in my own work. The amazingly unpredictable finish to this story made me grab for the next book immediately – I just couldn’t believe that Neill would actually do that in her story. But, I digress, you’ll just have to read this book yourself to gain a true understanding of how amazingly potent and powerful a finale Hard Bitten had.

The first three books in this series focused mainly on Merit and Ethan’s relationship and their work together. The constant push and pull of their attraction and their fight for their people. However, throughout Hard Bitten, Merit is primarily acting on her own and autonomously of Ethan. Revisiting her independence and ability to hold her own throughout her actions was refreshing, and helped to further endear this uniquely loveable vampire to me.

It is in Hard Bitten that Merit truly embraces her place as Sentinel for Cadogan house and her place amongst the fellow vampires. She finally finds the place in which she truly belongs and becomes comfortable in her new body. Something that we all ultimately strive to achieve – a sense of belonging in a chaotic world.

Image source: Goodreads

Title: Twice Bitten
Author: Chloe Neill
Series: Chicagoland Vampires #3
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Paranormal fantasy, Vampires
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: New American Library
Year: 2010
5th sentence, 74th page: Maybe I was getting used to the sensation.

Merit, Chicago’s newest vampire, is learning how to play well with others. Other supernaturals, that is. Shapeshifters from across the country are convening in the Windy City, and as a gesture of peace, Master vampire Ethan Sullivan has offered their leader a very special bodyguard: Merit. Merit is supposed to protect the Alpha, Gabriel Keene – and to spy for the vamps while she’s at it. Oh, and luckily Ethan’s offering some steamy one-on-one combat training sessions to help her prepare for the mission.

Merit must accept the assignment even though she knows that she’ll probably regret it. And she’s not wrong. Someone is gunning for Gabriel Keene, and Merit soon finds herself in the line of fire. She’ll need all the help she can get to track down the would-be assassin, but everywhere she turns, there are rising tensions between supernaturals – not least between her and a certain centuries-old green-eyed Master vampire.

Ethan honestly irritated me – a lot in this story. I understand the tension between the characters, and his damage does make the tantalising love story in the background all the more spine-tingling and breath-taking. But, he was kind of an ass throughout. Partly that very frustration kept me turning the pages of the book, but it also made it easier to put down and walk away from. Being so frustrated with a literary character that you kind of want to hurl the book across the room might indicate that I get a little too attached, but it is also a great indication of how crappy they are being.

Ethan’s irritating quirks aside, this book was just as wonderful and pleasurable as the first two books in Neill’s Chicagoland Vampires series. Merit continues to be an astonishingly relatable and vulnerable heroine with a sassy attitude to boot. Although there is a lot of supernatural drama constantly threatening her way of life, her worries and concerns are still so damn mortal. We’ve all had an unobtainable crush, a ridiculous fight with our best friend and feelings of incredible insecurity in our lives. Merit too undergoes these trials – just with a side of bloodsucking.

When you’re talking about vampires, the idea of werewolves, or shapeshifters will undoubtedly raise its head. It is just so ingrained within the mythos of these creatures. As with her revival of the vampiric tale, Neill manages to include shapeshifters within her urban fantasy in a way that is still refreshing. Yes, they are at odds with the vampires, but the details of this are all Neill’s own. A fact that I greatly appreciated – it was hard to predict how these two peoples would come together and relate to one another, and embarking on the journey of discovery with Merit was all the sweeter for the unpredictability.

Image source: Goodreads

Title: Friday Night Bites
Author: Chloe Neill
Series: Chicagoland Vampires #2
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Paranormal fantasy, Vampires
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: New American Library
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: I know.

You’d think headlines like that would have provoked the fine citizens of the Windy City to take up arms against blood-sucking friends. Instead, ten months later, we’re enjoying a celebrity status reserved for the Hollywood elite – fending off paparazzi, who are only slightly less dangerous than cross- and stake-wielding slayers. Don’t get me wrong. Joe Public isn’t exactly thrilled to be living side by side with the undead, but at least they haven’t stormed the castle… yet.

All that will change once they learn about the Raves, mass feeding parties where vampires round up humans like cattle and drink themselves silly. Most civilized vampires frown on this behaviour – but that doesn’t make good copy for a first-time reporter looking to impress his high-society family.

So now my “master” – centuries-old yet gorgeously well-preserved Ethan Sullivan – wants me to reconnect with my own upper-class family and act as liaison between humans and vampires… and to keep the more unsavory aspects of our existence out of the media. But someone doesn’t want people and vampes to play nicey-nice – someone with an ancient grudge.

Some Girls Bite left Merit in a bit of an uncomfortable position. She had a lot of power, and a new place in the world – but it wasn’t one of her choosing and this very circumstance left her unhappy and in an emotionally compromised position. Friday Night Bites may primarily be about flinging her back into a world of political intrigue, but it is also about Merit coming to terms with this new turn in her life.

Friday Night Bites brings home the venom and power that gossip can have within one’s life – a simple rumour mill is able to set up Merit and her new family up in the worst way possible, it has the ability to ruin their lives, and the lives of those around them. Gossip may seem harmless, but it can be used as a weapon against one’s enemies and in the right hands, proves to be incredibly dangerous.

The saga of the Ethan and Merit attraction continues in this story, I do enjoy a little sexual tension, but I found Ethan’s pomp and Merit’s mistrust to be a little tedious in this book. They are so obviously going to end up together and their flirtations gained traction in this story, but to no avail, they still remain purely platonic. Points go to Merit for not succumbing to her impulses, but the tension still beggars the question – when is enough enough?

Image source: Goodreads

Title: Some Girls Bite
Author: Chloe Neill
Series: Chicagoland Vampires #1
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Paranormal fantasy, Vampires
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: New American Library
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: And it scared me that my normally chatty roommate was avoiding the discussion.

Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was mine. I was doing fine until Chicago’s vampires announced their existence to the world – and then a rogue vampire attacked me. But he got only a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker… and this one decided the best way to save my life was to make me the walking undead.

Turns out my savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now I’ve traded sweating over my dissertation for learning to fit in at a Kenwood mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan “Lord o’ the Manor” Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred-year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects my gratitude – and servitude. Right…

But my burgeoning powers (all of a sudden, I’m surprisingly handy with some serious weaponry), an inconvenient sunlight allergy, and Ethan’s attitude are the least of my concerns. Someone’s still out to get me. Is it the rogue vampire who bit me? A vamp from a rival house? An angry mob bearing torches?

My initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war… and there will be blood.

I read this book in one night, which is always a great sign of its ability to hold my attention and fascination. This story has a good, easy pace with just the right amount of intrigue within the story. It is also based around a university student who is working towards her postgrad – the realm of study and no money one that I am all too familiar with.

I love that this isn’t a sappy teenage vampire fantasy. I have steered clear of any and all vampire stories since the Twilight saga, so it was really refreshing to read one such tale that doesn’t ridiculously idolise vampirism. Although vampirism isn’t as dark in this book (or series) as some of the other fantasy books that I delve into.

Merit’s inability to conform to social conventions made her one of my favourite protagonists. She is forced into a new scenario (and she is a little whiny to begin with), but no matter what happens, she chooses to do it in her own way. Her independence and willingness to forge her own path in a life that she never chose made me admire her characterisation.

Image source: Goodreads