Review- Friday Night Bites

Chloe Neill
Urban Fantasy
357 pages
Chicagoland Vampires #2
Chapter 1
NAL/Penguin Usa


Back Cover:
You'd think headlines like that would have provoked the fine citizens of the Windy City to take up arms against us blood-sucking fiends.  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 behavior--but that doesn't make good copy for the 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 more unsavory aspects of our existence out of the media.  But someone doesn't want people and vamps to play nicey-nice--someone with an ancient grudge.

Review:
Friday Night Bites continues in much the same fashion as Some Girls Bite.  Even though Merit has embraced her new position as Sentinel of Cadogan House, and her new life as a vampire, the root of the story is of a girl who has had a dramatic shift in her life and who's learning to cope with those changes.  I think that's what makes this series and especially its heroine so captivating to it's audience, well at least this audience.  Even though the supernatural problems will never be dealt with by the likes of us humans, the internal struggles Merit face are easily relatable.  What do you do when your new life doesn't include your old life?  For most its getting married, or having a baby or moving away... for Merit it's becoming a vampire.


Merit is great.  There's really no other adjective appropriate.  And I'm happy that Neill has created a gradual transition for Merit. I don't mean to say that there aren't massive changes taking place, but her progression is natural and without any major adjustments to her true self.  It was really interesting to see how Merit interacts with her family in this book, and to catch a glimpse of a completely different side of her...no matter how buried that side may be.  Merit continues to be a heroine to root for.


Again, I enjoyed the plot, the pace and the new characters that were introduced. Readers really will find it hard to put the book down.  And I appreciate that at book's end everything isn't solved and figured out. Nothing is an easy fix, again subtly mimicking the real life struggles we all face.  My attachment to the series has only grown with this second installment and I'm anxious for more. 


4 stars