Friday Night Bites
by Chloe Neill
Series: Chicagoland Vampires, Book #2
Published: September 2nd, 2009
Publisher: NAL Trade
357 pages (paperback)
Genre: Adult paranormal/urban fantasy
Acquired this book: From the library
Warning: May contain spoilers
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{Read my review of Some
Girls Bite}
You’d think
headlines like that would have provoked the fine citizens of the Windy City to
take up arms against us bloodsucking fiends. Instead, ten months later, we’re
enjoying a celebrity status reserved for the Hollywood elite—fending off
paparazzi 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.
But 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, putting mere mortals at ease with their policy of asking a person’s consent before taking a big gulp of the red stuff. However, that doesn’t make good copy for a first time reporter looking to impress his high society family.
So now my “master,” the 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 keep the 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.
I loved Some
Girls Bite, the first book in the Chicagoland Vampires series. I
thought it was original, funny, and action-packed, and I was eager to see where
the series went. I never thought this would be a series that would suffer from
second book syndrome, but it was. Friday Night Bites was…meh. It was
slow (it took me almost two weeks to read) and lacked so many of the things
that made Some Girls Bite so fantastic. I wanted to love this book so
badly, but it really fell short.
There wasn’t a
whole lot of development in Friday Night Bites. There were some issues with Merit and
Mallory’s friendship, and Merit learned a little bit about her vampire side,
but it all felt kind of superficial. It could have been fleshed out more and
added to the plot, but it felt like it was thrown in halfheartedly, and as a
result I was bored and found it hard to get invested in the characters. The
romances were also really disappointing. Merit got nowhere with Ethan (who I
felt we could have learned a bit more about), and I was beginning to like where
things were going with Morgan until he turned into a possessive, jealous,
untrusting jerk...mind you, I guess Merit was leading him on, but still. The way he started treating her just didn't sit right with me. At this point I don’t know who Merit should end up with, nor
do I particularly care because nothing made me care in this book.
I found Merit hard to like at times, when I absolutely
adored her in Some Girls Bite and thought she was this strong, kickass heroine
who was easy to admire and respect. Where did that girl go? I only saw very
small glimpses of her in Friday Night Bites.
The plot - what
there was of it - was fairly interesting, although similar to the first book.
I’m curious to learn more about the Breckinridges, and see how Merit fits
back into her family now that she’s a vampire.
Overall, I found Friday
Night Bites to be a big disappointment. It lacked in action, romance, and
character development, and left me unable to connect with the characters or the
story. However, I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to Merit and the gang just
yet. Because I loved Some Girls Bite so much, I’m hopeful that Friday
Night Bites was just a bump in the road and that the series will pick up. I
feel like this series has a lot of potential, and I’m looking forward to
reading the third book and hopefully falling back in love with the Chicagoland
Vampires.
2.5 stars
Have you read Friday Night Bites or any of the other Chicagoland Vampires series? What did you think?
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