Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill

Merit is a Chicago grad student with a wealthy family she tries her hardest to ignore. One night she’s attacked by a vampire and left for dead, then saved when another vampire, Ethan Sullivan, finds her and brings her over. Now Merit is a vampire whether she likes it or not — and embroiled in vampire politics, again whether she likes it or not. Chloe Neill’s vampires are divided into Houses, which are sort of a cross between corporations, mob families, and frats. Ethan is the head of Cadogan House, and now Merit belongs to it as well.

Merit’s attack is part of a larger pattern of murders, giving Some Girls Bite a mystery plotline, but that aspect of the story is not very prominent. The major focus here is Merit’s adjustment to life as a vampire. Her journey throughout the book is compelling; she starts out feeling sorry for herself and then decides... Read More

Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill

In Friday Night Bites (2009), the second in Chloe Neill’s Chicagoland Vampires series, Cadogan House is in trouble again. The villain of Some Girls Bite has gotten off with a slap on the wrist, and now there’s a journalist threatening to expose some of vampire-kind’s less savory secrets to the public. When the journalist turns out to be an old friend of Merit’s from her high-society upbringing, she is thrust back into the world she spent her human lifetime trying to escape. Then it turns out there’s a traitor in the House…

I love the way Neill approaches the mystery here. Merit may have unusual physical and psychic strengths and several men infatuated with her, but it’s her brain that’s most important in solving this puzzle. Merit’s research skill... Read More

Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill

Vampire troubles have been all over the news in the last few months. Now the shapeshifters, still in the closet, are debating whether to stay where they currently are and help defend the vamps against possible persecution, or retreat to their lands in Alaska. Gabriel, their leader, doesn’t expect this to be a battle of words alone, and so Merit and Ethan are working as his bodyguards.

Violence does erupt, and Merit learns of a planned hit on Gabriel. Now she must ferret out who is plotting against him and stop the assassination. Along the way, she has to deal with shifters’ prejudice against vamps and vice versa.

Meanwhile, Merit’s relationship with Ethan takes a few steps forward… and a few steps backward. The “downs” are made extra poignant by the fact that Merit is so normal. Her heartache is something almost all of us can relate to, and I love the way she held her... Read More

Hard Bitten by Chloe Neill

The Chicagoland Vampires series started out fairly light and has gradually become darker. The unpretentious, easily digestible writing style is still in effect, and humor is still present, but Merit’s troubles have increased in complexity and the emotional stakes have been steadily raised. Hard Bitten is the fourth in the series and the darkest so far. Chloe Neill brings together a number of previously introduced plot arcs, and all hell breaks loose.

Merit is touched by Ethan’s recent gestures but still wary of him after their breakup in Twice Bitten. She doesn’t have much time for romantic angst, though, because Cadogan House is in trouble. The events of the past few books have put Cadogan, Ethan, and Merit on the radar of both the human and vampire authorities. We�... Read More

Drink Deep by Chloe Neill

This review contains a big spoiler for the previous book, Hard Bitten. If you haven’t read Hard Bitten yet, hit “Page Up” now — and then get caught up on the CHICAGOLAND VAMPIRES as soon as possible, because these books are fun!

There’s a more somber tone this time around, though. It’s been a few months since Ethan Sullivan’s death. Merit and Cadogan House are recovering, but both heroine and house are still keenly aware of the Ethan-sized hole left behind. Merit is feeling a tentative attraction toward her friend and partner Jonah, but she’s not sure she’s ready to date again and is still haunted by disturbing dreams of Ethan. Malik has taken over Cadogan House, but a supercilious Greenwich Presidium bureaucrat is making everyone’s life miserable. Public opinion of vamp... Read More

Biting Cold by Chloe Neill

Biting Cold (2012) is the sixth book in Chloe Neill’s CHICAGOLAND VAMPIRES series. It’s impossible to even give the premise of this book, let alone a useful review, without mentioning major spoilers for books four and five, Hard Bitten and Drink Deep respectively, so if you haven’t read those books, stop reading this review now!

Is the coast clear? OK, here goes. Ethan has just come back from the dead, but he and Merit hardly have a chance to catch up; they must immediately embark on a road trip to stop Mallory before she can reach the Maleficium spellbook and unleash the evil bound therein. But not everything goes according to plan during this trip, and soon they’re back in Chicago with a dangerous new supernatural enemy to face.

The character arc of Mallory is the most compelling aspect of Biting Cold. The showdown be... Read More

House Rules by Chloe Neill

Chloe Neill’s CHICAGOLAND VAMPIRES novels have been brain-candy reading for me for a few years now. The books are quick reads that don’t require a lot of thinking but provide action, romance, humor, and occasional pathos. But, sad to say, I think I’m breaking up with this series.

I had high hopes at the beginning of this seventh book, House Rules. Neill introduces a mystery: two rogue vampires have gone missing, last seen at one of the vampire registration offices the new mayor has set up. In the other main plot, Cadogan House has voted to secede from the Greenwich Presidium, and that would surely shake things up a bit.

The series, however, has fallen into the same trap that Neill’s DARK ELITE series did for me. The plot often seems secondary to immature bickering among the characters. It’s not funny enough to work as comic relief; it’s just sniping. An example ... Read More

Firespell by Chloe Neill

There are YA books that translate well to an adult audience, and there are those that are best appreciated by their actual target audience. I suspect Firespell is one of the latter. I found it an average read, but I think I’d have really liked it at the age of thirteen or so.

Case in point: Here is how magic works in the Dark Elite series. If someone has magical talent, that talent manifests at puberty. From puberty to the age of twenty-five, the magic is a really cool enhancement. But after the age of twenty-five, the person must give up magic, or else it becomes a corrupting (and addictive) force. The people who don’t give up their magic, called Reapers, have to steal the life force of young people in order to keep exercising their powers.

I keep thinking about this as a metaphor, and about how w... Read More

Hexbound by Chloe Neill

The second in Chloe Neill’s DARK ELITE series, Hexbound follows the continued adventures of Lily and her friend Scout at St. Sophia’s School for Girls, as they face both teen drama and evil magicians.

I’ve had a bit of trouble getting into this series from the beginning, but couldn’t initially put my finger on why. I got a little over halfway through Hexbound and encountered a scene that made the issue clear to me — and sapped my interest in the book. Neill tells us that the conflict between the Adepts and the Reapers is a matter of life and death, but the way these scenes are written, they don’t feel any more tense than the scenes of ordinary teenage conflict between cliques or romantic rivals. There’s not a sense of high stakes.

This scene is a good example of the problem. A ward has been tri... Read More

The Bright and Breaking Sea by Chloe Neill

Kit Brightling, who grew up in a home for orphaned girls, is now the captain of her own ship. She’s a good leader, has a great crew, and her magical ability to influence water makes her especially formidable.

Kit works for Queen Charlotte, a benevolent monarch who doesn’t quite feel secure on her own throne. That’s because there are rumors that its previous occupant, the exiled emperor Gerard Rousseau, has been secretly corresponding with disgruntled nobles and may have plans to return with an army and/or a secret weapon.

Queen Charlotte asks Kit and her crew to investigate the rumors and some suspicious activities that may be associated with Gerard’s plans. The queen also assigns Kit a new partner — a nobleman named Rian Grant who, because he’s a veteran, has some expertise that may be helpful in Kit’s mission.

Kit hates Rian Grant immediately,... Read More