Review of Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill

SOME GIRLS BITE (CHICAGOLAND VAMPIRES #1) BY CHLOE NEILL

Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: NAL Trade (April 7, 2009)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 9780451226259

ISBN-13: 978-0451226259

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION (from Amazon.com):

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.

MY FAVORITE EXCERPT:

"I left him with a smile, glad that, whatever the supernatural drama, I'd found friends to help me through it. A new family, for all the genetic differences…

Have you ever had a moment where you knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you were in the right place? That you were on the right journey? Maybe the sense that you'd crossed a boundary jumped a hurdle, and somehow, after facing some unconquerable mountain, found yourself suddenly on the other side of it? When the night was warm, and the wind was cool, and a song carried through the quiet streets around you. When you felt the entire world around you, and you were part of it - of the hum of it - and everything was good.

Contentment, I suppose, is the simple explanation for it. But it seems more than that, thicker than that, some unity of purpose, some sense of being truly, honestly, for that moment, at home.

Those moments never seem to last long enough. The song ends, the breeze stills, the worries and fears creep in again and you're left trying to move forward, but glancing back at the mountain behind you, wondering how you managed to cross it, afraid you really didn't = that the bulk and shadow over your shoulder might evaporate and re-form before you, and you'd be faced with the burden of crossing it again.

The song ends, and you stare at the quiet, dark house in front of you, and you grasp the doorknob, and walk back into your life."

MY REVIEW:

Some Girls Bite, the first book in Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampires series, is one of my new favorite books. I instantly connected with the protagonist, Merit, who is very much like myself. She's a strong, stubborn, and determined graduate student who always remains true to herself, even after being Changed into a vampire by one of the strongest Masters in the country. Although this book is full of sexy, urban vampires, it is not the typical chic-lit that you may expect it to be - it is a story of growth, of Merit's journey of being comfortable in her own skin and developing into the person she is destined to be.

Throughout the book Merit is torn between who she used to be and who she has become and attempts to find balance between her old and new lives. Vampiredom brings many changes to her world: first and foremost, she must leave her graduate school life in the past, which, as we all can relate to, is an extremely difficult change. She feels that everything she was familiar with, everything she worked so hard to achieve, is lost because of her new existence, an existence she did not choose.

Secondly, she finds herself amid her "murder" investigation, and quickly learns that the only family member she has always trusted is not who he had seemed to be and that the world she thought she knew is actually inhabited by vampires, but also by shape-shifters, nymphs, and many other types of paranormal beings.

Lastly, Merit has to deal with the unwanted desires she feels for the vampire responsible for her Change, her Master and Liege, Ethan Sullivan. Although she wants to hate him for what she has become, she is drawn to him, and surprisingly, the feeling is mutual. Neither of them wants to have such a deep need for the other, and they are both left conflicted with duty and desire.

For those of you (much like myself) who enjoy a truly Urban Fantasy tale full of excitement and heat, this book is a must read. It was nice to take a step away from YA and indulge myself in a much more intense read. Some Girls Bite was exactly what I was looking for and left me craving more of the Chicagoland Vampires.

MY RATING:

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