Book Review: Some Girls Bite

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.
Book Review: Some Girls BiteSome Girls Bite by Chloe Neill
Series: Chicagoland Vampires #1
on April 7, 2009
Genres: Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 341
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Synopsis:

They killed me. They healed me. They changed me.

Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but I was doing fine until Chicago’s vampires announced their existence to the world. When a rogue vampire attacked me, I was lucky he only got a sip. Another bloodsucker scared him off and decided the best way to save my life was to make me the walking undead.

Now I’ve traded sweating over my thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park 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 someone’s 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.

 

This book is filling the category “Author New to You” in my Full House Reading Challenge.

Some Girls Bite is a whirlwind of fun. It’s got a witty heroine, sexy and infuriating vampires, the awesome best friend, and sword fighting.

Characters:

Merit is wonderful. She’s clever, stubborn, and she knows what she wants. What she doesn’t want is to be a vampire. She doesn’t want to blindly submit to the hot vamp that turned her. Sure, there’s chemistry there, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to suddenly throw her life away for him. Merit really struggles with being a new vampire, but watching her adjust is really fun. She comes out on top, of course, and the transformation is splendid.

Mallory Carmichael: Merit’s awesome magic wielding best friend who buys her lots of new clothes when she suddenly needs a wardrobe upgrade now that’s she’s undead. Mallory is gorgeous, always supportive, and funny, and exceptionally perceptive of her best friends feelings.

Ethan Sullivan: the hot vamp that turned Merit. He is a Master Vampire, head of Cadogan House (sort of his clan of vamps) and expects obedience from his house, which he doesn’t get easily from Merit. This irks him. I like Ethan. He’s not your typical lustful vampire who just wants to sleep with the heroine every five seconds. Or maybe he is, and Merit just doesn’t let him behave like that. Ethan seems far more level headed than that. He’s a little more concerned about keeping his House safe, and there are a lot of politics that go into that.

Other great characters are Catcher Bell and Jeff, loveable supernaturals that work in an office that’s primary reason for existence is to be a liason between human government and supernaturals. Both are charming in their respective ways (Catcher is more gruff and awesome than charming).

Plot:

The entire reason Merit gets turned into a vampire is because a vamp is on the loose, trying to frame the houses for killing innocent girls. Merit is lucky enough to be saved in time by Ethan, but that doesn’t stop the murders from continuing from happening. At the same time, Merit has to adjust to being a baby vamp, something she is NOT interested in doing. But she starts training with Catcher Bell, learning what she has to to survive. Things get really crazy when the murder investigation and Merit’s official induction into Cadogan House come to a climax in the same evening.

Romance:

There’s more sexual tension here than romance. Merit and Ethan have oodles of chemistry, but they annoy the crap out of each other. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long road for them, and their relationship will be hard won. There is the adorable side romance of Catcher and Mallory, who are a very passionate pair, always fighting and always making up. The story is more important here than the romance, and especially Merit’s character development. I assume there will be more in future books.

Conclusion:

If you love Urban Fantasy, this is a no brainer. You must pick up this book. It’s got great characters with great development, an engaging mystery, excellent setting/world building, and enough romance to keep things interesting. Absolutely perfect for fans of Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series.

4 Stars

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