Review: Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill

Some Girls Bite, Chloe Neill

Release date: 1st May 2010 (AUS)

Publisher: Gollancz

Genre: Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy

Pages: 341

Series: Chicagoland Vampires

1. Some Girls Bite

2. Friday Night Bites

3. Twice Bitten

4. Hard Bitten

5. Drink Deep (November 2011)

Author's website  

Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn't exactly glamorous, but it was mine. I was doing fine until Chicago's vampires announced their existence to the world - and then a rogue vampire attacked me. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker . . . one who decided the best way to save my life was to take it.

Turns out my saviour was the master vampire of Cadogan House. 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 also seems to expect my eternal gratitude - and servitude. Right . . .

But my burgeoning powers (all of a sudden, I'm surprisingly handy with some serious weaponry), an inconvenient sunlight allergy, and Ethan's attitude are the least of my concerns. 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's going to be blood . . .

So this is the first in the Chicagoland Vampires series and totally rocks. Merit (whose real name we don't find out until the third book and goes by her last name) is attacked on her university campus and turned into a vampire. She was unconsenting, as she likes to point out often, and can't believe that the Master of her House is such a conceited bastard. Ethan, her Master, wants her respect, loyalty, Grateful Condescension (you'll get the reference soon enough), that sorta stuff.

Merit's father is causing her trouble because he's up himself. See, the Merit family is new money and her father has worked super hard to get it and keep it. Merit and her sibling, Charlotte and Robert, grew up in a huge mansion, with waiters, and got whatever they wanted, as well as publicity. Merit's realised that she doesn't want any of that and basically told her father go to hell when she left for university in New York. And now her father wants her to use her new vampireness to get him connections and all that.

So yeah, Merit's having a hard time adjusting to being a vampire, and she's just found out her grandfather, a retired cop, isn't so retired, but working as a liaison between the supernaturals of Chicago (and trust me, there are many) and the mayor, Seth Tate. Oh, and her best friend has a supernatural surprise of her own...

I loved this book so much. I fell in love within the first twenty pages, and could not put it down. Ethan is sexy, blonde, tall, and uptight. In my mind he looks kind of like Alexander Skaarsgard but more refined. Chloe Neill says David Beckham. Naaaaaah.

So this book is funny and full of surprises. I fell in love with Malik, Ethan's second. I would marry him-- seriously. Ms Neill has made vampires into cool and new things, unlike a lot of other books around with the same boring vampires. These vampires are modern, hip, and they know it. The House system is fascinating, as well as all the other supernaturals. There are shifters-- and they all fit into one pack, despite all their different shapes.  It's seriously cool.

My verdict: This is definitely a book you have to read, even if you're tired of vampires. It's funny, interesting and I guarantee that you won't be able to put it down.