Christine H. (solarawynn) reviewed Hard Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires, Bk 4) on + 724 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book. I cried and I laughed,It was amazing.
Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed Hard Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires, Bk 4) on + 2527 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is a hard book to rate. Those whove read it know why and it is going to be a whopper to review without giving away spoilers but I will try. Definitely not my favorite book in the series, in fact after some things that happen in the end I almost decided to completely give up the series. That being said, I guess the fact that it still elicited strong emotions says something.
I listened to this as an audio book and the audiobook was exceedingly well done. This is a series I highly recommend listening to; the narrator does an absolutely stellar job reading it.
Merit is still serving as Sentinel of Cadogan House. Vampires are being picketed against and are in a very precarious political position within in the city. Mayor Tate has reports of rising vampire violence against humans. Tate issues an ultimatum; Merit and Ethan will get to the bottom of the violence and stop it or else. Merit is left to unravel the mystery while Ethan deals with unwelcome visitors from the European Vampire Council. As more violent vampire situations arise and Merit learns of an illegal drug on the streets, things start to spin out of control.
This was a very well done book. It was also a very emotionally wrenching book. As with all of these books all the little things that have happened in previous books are starting to come together. Secrets from Merit fathers past, from Ethans past, and from Mayor Tates past all come to light and they are not pleasant.
We get to spend a lot more time with the Red Guard Jonas; he is an interesting character and was entertaining to read about. We also spend a lot of quality time with Ethan and Merit and their banter continues to be highly entertaining.
This is one of the darker books in this series, that being said there is still a lot of humor here. Merit is as snarky as ever. Mallory is finally back in the story some, if not a ton, and it was nice to have her back. We also meet some interesting new characters.
This book is definitely more of an investigative urban fantasy. Merit spends large amounts of time running investigations and dealing with politics. There are plenty of twists and turns that are unexpected but tie in well with the overall storyline. Lots of great action scenes like the previous books and I continue to enjoy those a lot.
The bad thing thing that happens late in the book bothered me not only because it was bad, but because it was so sudden and seemed so out of the blue. I know there must be more behind it and it is killing me to not know why that happened and how it will be dealt with.
Overall a great book in this series. Highly entertaining with lots of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. Lots of fun banter between the characters like usual. The ending will rip your heart out and stomp on it though so beware. The fact that this series gets me so emotionally involved really says good things about the writing. I highly recommend this series to all the vampire urban fantasy fans out there. This series reminds of the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost; so if you like that series I think you will enjoy this one as well.
I listened to this as an audio book and the audiobook was exceedingly well done. This is a series I highly recommend listening to; the narrator does an absolutely stellar job reading it.
Merit is still serving as Sentinel of Cadogan House. Vampires are being picketed against and are in a very precarious political position within in the city. Mayor Tate has reports of rising vampire violence against humans. Tate issues an ultimatum; Merit and Ethan will get to the bottom of the violence and stop it or else. Merit is left to unravel the mystery while Ethan deals with unwelcome visitors from the European Vampire Council. As more violent vampire situations arise and Merit learns of an illegal drug on the streets, things start to spin out of control.
This was a very well done book. It was also a very emotionally wrenching book. As with all of these books all the little things that have happened in previous books are starting to come together. Secrets from Merit fathers past, from Ethans past, and from Mayor Tates past all come to light and they are not pleasant.
We get to spend a lot more time with the Red Guard Jonas; he is an interesting character and was entertaining to read about. We also spend a lot of quality time with Ethan and Merit and their banter continues to be highly entertaining.
This is one of the darker books in this series, that being said there is still a lot of humor here. Merit is as snarky as ever. Mallory is finally back in the story some, if not a ton, and it was nice to have her back. We also meet some interesting new characters.
This book is definitely more of an investigative urban fantasy. Merit spends large amounts of time running investigations and dealing with politics. There are plenty of twists and turns that are unexpected but tie in well with the overall storyline. Lots of great action scenes like the previous books and I continue to enjoy those a lot.
The bad thing thing that happens late in the book bothered me not only because it was bad, but because it was so sudden and seemed so out of the blue. I know there must be more behind it and it is killing me to not know why that happened and how it will be dealt with.
Overall a great book in this series. Highly entertaining with lots of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. Lots of fun banter between the characters like usual. The ending will rip your heart out and stomp on it though so beware. The fact that this series gets me so emotionally involved really says good things about the writing. I highly recommend this series to all the vampire urban fantasy fans out there. This series reminds of the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost; so if you like that series I think you will enjoy this one as well.
Helpful Score: 1
Hard Bitten is the fourth book in the Chicagoland Vampires series. This has been one of the better, more consistent, vampire series out there and this book is no exception.
Chicago vampires have been accused of killing humans at 'raves' and the slick Mayor Tate is threatening Ethan Sullivan, Master of Cadogan House, with arrest if he doesn't do something about it. While Ethan is furious at what's happening, and with Tate's threat, he knows something must be done. The former Head of House Navarre, the treacherous Celina, is loose in the city and Merit, Sentinel of Cadogan, has a personal interest in getting her recaptured.
Compounding the vamps problems is human backlash against the vampires. They went from the latest trend to top of the scary things list when open warfare broke out at Cadogan between the two factions werewolves. Tate instituted a 'no humans' rule for all houses, so the vamps have been slowly rebuilding on the their own. So with their property entrance surrounded by picketing humans, out of control vamps killing, and some would be para-military hate group threatening vamps, Ethan and Merit have a lot to deal with, and that gets worse when Darius West, head of the vampire ruling Presidium, shows up with just a few hours notice.
Merit gets a tip on a rave and goes with another vamp that wants to recruit her for the secretive Red Guard (an ancient order of vamps that keeps that keeps all of them in line). What seems like a run of the mill rave turns ugly when the vamps gets uncontrollably aggressive and leak magic all over. They barely get out alive and the human girl they rescue gives them the next clue, pills marked with a 'V'.
As Merit works to unravel what's going down, Darius West seems to be going out of his way to threaten Ethan. The ending of this story was full of surprises, a few that readers won't like at all (and frankly shocked even me), and they send plot line into some darker territory. It was the ending that will cause dissension among readers and leave many unhappy. It will be interesting to see where the next installment, due in November, takes it.
This whole series is above average and each book has built on the last, but never dull or boring. Ms Neill keeps the pace moving and creates some excellent characters along the way. Written with verve and feeling, this book earns a rare A- from me. But readers be warned, this story does NOT go where you expect it to.
Chicago vampires have been accused of killing humans at 'raves' and the slick Mayor Tate is threatening Ethan Sullivan, Master of Cadogan House, with arrest if he doesn't do something about it. While Ethan is furious at what's happening, and with Tate's threat, he knows something must be done. The former Head of House Navarre, the treacherous Celina, is loose in the city and Merit, Sentinel of Cadogan, has a personal interest in getting her recaptured.
Compounding the vamps problems is human backlash against the vampires. They went from the latest trend to top of the scary things list when open warfare broke out at Cadogan between the two factions werewolves. Tate instituted a 'no humans' rule for all houses, so the vamps have been slowly rebuilding on the their own. So with their property entrance surrounded by picketing humans, out of control vamps killing, and some would be para-military hate group threatening vamps, Ethan and Merit have a lot to deal with, and that gets worse when Darius West, head of the vampire ruling Presidium, shows up with just a few hours notice.
Merit gets a tip on a rave and goes with another vamp that wants to recruit her for the secretive Red Guard (an ancient order of vamps that keeps that keeps all of them in line). What seems like a run of the mill rave turns ugly when the vamps gets uncontrollably aggressive and leak magic all over. They barely get out alive and the human girl they rescue gives them the next clue, pills marked with a 'V'.
As Merit works to unravel what's going down, Darius West seems to be going out of his way to threaten Ethan. The ending of this story was full of surprises, a few that readers won't like at all (and frankly shocked even me), and they send plot line into some darker territory. It was the ending that will cause dissension among readers and leave many unhappy. It will be interesting to see where the next installment, due in November, takes it.
This whole series is above average and each book has built on the last, but never dull or boring. Ms Neill keeps the pace moving and creates some excellent characters along the way. Written with verve and feeling, this book earns a rare A- from me. But readers be warned, this story does NOT go where you expect it to.
Jamie S. (2lilmonkees) -
Helpful Score: 1
Ok first things first, I did read the reviews on Amazon before starting this book, bc i *heard* about the ending. 2ndly, i ran over to Ms. Neills blog and read her "TRUST ME" comment & Her BIGHUGS to us all. Then finally, I sat down to read the next installment.
All I have to say is, that it was a little slower til 2/3 of book, not fave of series, & the ending I cried, cried some more & then cried again, and went 2 bed thinking about our new dilemma and how it will be fixed.
Im not DYING for the next book bc I think since I had time to have it sink in & read her blog that I do completely 'Trust Her' on our next adventure together. & Im just anxiously awaiting the next book. Great last 1/3 of book. & Def. read in order :)
4*s bc WOW the end just exploded!
All I have to say is, that it was a little slower til 2/3 of book, not fave of series, & the ending I cried, cried some more & then cried again, and went 2 bed thinking about our new dilemma and how it will be fixed.
Im not DYING for the next book bc I think since I had time to have it sink in & read her blog that I do completely 'Trust Her' on our next adventure together. & Im just anxiously awaiting the next book. Great last 1/3 of book. & Def. read in order :)
4*s bc WOW the end just exploded!
