A Review for Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires #1) by Chloe Neill

Posted by Donna
Published Date: April 7th, 2009
Finished Date: March 8th, 2012
Publishers: Gollancz
Source: Swapped - TBR Reading challenge 2012
Format: Paperback
Pages: 341 
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The Blurb from Goodreads: First in a brand new series about a Chicago graduate student’s introduction into a society of vampires.

 Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was Merit’s. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker—and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead. Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she’s traded sweating over her 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 her gratitude—and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan’s attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone’s still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war—and there will be blood.

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The Review: The Chicagoland Vampire series is a series I had wanted to start for a while, mainly because I needed a new vampire series to sink my teeth into and I have book 5 for review. But now after reading it – I’m one of those people that definitely has mixed feeling about this book – and here’s why;

Some Girls Bite follows the life of Merit – a 27-year-old girl who is studying at university. One night she is attacked by a vampire and left for dead, until someone comes to her rescue – however Merit was to far gone and the only way to keep her alive is to turn her into a vampire. As Merit tries to come to terms with her new vampire life, she thrown into a world where vampires are separated by houses and she’s recruited by the person who saved her life; a Master vampire named Ethan Sullivan. As she fights her undeniable attraction for Ethan, bigger things are being played out and that leaves Merit in even more danger than she thought.

This is a hard one to review because there were so many things I liked but also so many things I didn’t like. 

I’ll start with what I did like; 

-  I loved Merit! She was snarky, funny and witty. She’s not one to hold her tongue and even if that means putting herself in even more trouble she’s willing to do it for what she believes. She’s such a lovable character that you really feel the connection with her and one of her best traits is how loyal is she. Kickass heroine! 

      - Ethan – wow, a hot blonde vampire – one that could give Bones a run for his money. He's everything you want from a master vampire; strong, broody and he definitely means business. I was told that the author pictured David Beckham as Ethan….I like Beckham but I kind of picture Ethan as Eric from True Blood…but either way both of them are pretty hot. So an epic win all round! 

       - I loved the secondary characters like Mallory and Catcher etc…. They all bought some level of excitement to the book, along with loads of laughs. I also loved the relationship between Mallory and Merit….they were more like sisters than friends. 

         

      - The relationship between Merit and Ethan was just full of intense, hot and sexy scenes. Although we don’t get much of there relationship in this book, it will still great addition to the story fired up.

What I didn’t like; 

-  The vampire politics – I felt as though the politics over took the story too much. I found myself getting bored in parts that I assumed were key moments. I did like finding out how the different houses worked but other than that…it bored me. 

- Merit and her Grandfather’s relationship….bored me! I really only skimmed these parts because half of it I felt was irrelevant. 

- I felt everything was over told. There were huge paragraphs describing things and some repetitive thoughts that were not needed. I felt if they weren't included in the story, it would have been chopped down a lot more and maybe at a faster pace.

Overall, I really loved the characters and relationships in this book but that was about it. I actually picked up the second book straight away and ended up reading about 27% and I put it down. I was more interested in knowing what happens between Merit and Ethan and honestly, if you’ve read the book you know that there scenes are few and far between. So….maybe I’ll try again with book two but for now…this series isn’t for me.