Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires, #1) in My Vampire Book Obsession

Jun 08, 2011 Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* rated it really liked it

Shelves: part-of-series, shapeshifters, 4-star, magic-powers, serial-killer, witches, urban-fantasy, vampires, reviewed, a-own-book-form

“My first few weeks as a vampire had been inordinately busy. Like The Young and the Restless, but with slightly dead people.”

Color me surprised - this was much better than I figured. I'm not sure why I was hesitant for so long to pick this up from my dusty shelves; it's sat there a few years. You'd think I'd be burned out by Urban Fantasy by now, but it's always a joy to find books that still inject that special magic into my reading veins.

Characters carry it more than the plotline (which is ra
“My first few weeks as a vampire had been inordinately busy. Like The Young and the Restless, but with slightly dead people.”

Color me surprised - this was much better than I figured. I'm not sure why I was hesitant for so long to pick this up from my dusty shelves; it's sat there a few years. You'd think I'd be burned out by Urban Fantasy by now, but it's always a joy to find books that still inject that special magic into my reading veins.

Characters carry it more than the plotline (which is rather basic). The MC is sassy and funny but also good-natured and with heart. She doesn't put on attitude just to prove something and she's not so jaded that she's unapproachable. She's pretty but not physically perfect either - big plus. There IS that something special about her that makes her stand out power wise, as a common trope used in supernatural books, but it happens to be a trope I still like and follow rabidly.

I liked both of the guys in the book that were potential dating partners (kind-of anyway), but there is no competition such as to actually having real feelings just yet. It's not a cloying triangle right now but that possibility may be in sight. There's supe political maneuvering involved, but it's not aggressively obnoxious. The way the houses are set up works well enough - nothing too deep with the world building yet - they came out in the open recently - but maybe more depth will be added in future books.

Humor works without feeling forced - especially when it comes to the friend Mallory. Without the humor, the book wouldn't have worked nearly as well, but it held its own against needing to get down to the serious nitty-gritty sometimes. It was fun seeing banter between Ethan and

Plot-wise it's kind of basic - Merit's turned when she's unconscious, saved from a vicious attack, and has to adapt to her new life. Where the author adds a little ingenuity is having the houses differ from each other in that they have their own snobbery against different ways of vamp's life. Some of the houses feed on humans and each other, some only feed through bags - and not because they want to be politically correct. It's because they want to APPEAR politically correct, but they actually despise humanity so much they want to distant themselves from interacting with them, even to feed.

Merit is learning combat training and all that jazz - another decently common staple in UF. This doesn't excite me about the books and I kind of skimmed over that. It's fun that she bonds in a sense with a loner sorcerer, although the more amusing area is his bonding with the roommate Mallorie.

Issues I had was it was inconsistent on the treatment with Ethan, the 'liege' of the house. While it may be fine he doesn't get as much respect from Merit and accepts that for now, he doesn't get much respect from Cannon either. Who does he get respect from? And it was unrealistic how easily Merit accepted moving into the house. I would have thought their would be more of a fight/inner struggle, but apparently not. The author explained it because Mallorie and Cannon needed their mating privacy, but with how Merit stated Mallorie goes through men quickly, how she'd know right away this would last doesn't make much sense.

I'm not sure where the books can go from here on terms of staying as good, but I'm willing to check out the next few and see. It wasn't 100% perfect but it was almost a five star read for me in terms of how little I wanted to put it down. It was easy to fly through, the writing worked well with my chemistry, and the fun characters kept me entertained. On to the next! ...more

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Oct 19, 2009 Cindyg rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

I like this, it kept my interest. I appreciate the fact that Merit is strong and capable. I also like Ethan. I just wish they would stop fighting their obvious attraction to one another.

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Feb 21, 2012 Marla rated it really liked it

Shelves: series, romance, adult, favorites, challenged, young-adult, recommend-frankie, paranormal, vampires, fantasy

This started so typically, and it's my 3rd new vampire series in as many weeks, so 25% into the book, I put it down. And I'm glad that I've picked it back up! Yes, she's a new vampire, clueless, but with remarkable abilities, and yes, she's fighting her attraction to a gorgeous, powerful vampire. But there are also some interesting and not typical aspects. I like her snarkiness.

Likes:
* Mallory Carmichael, cool roommate and friend who's an advertising star
* Mallory's useful supernatural informat ...more

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Aug 04, 2017 Shan ~A~ rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, series-trilogies-i-started, crime, 1st-in-series, paranormal, vampires, millionaire-billionaire

Reading this book was like opening present. There are so many layers to this world and these characters.

Merit is attacked by a vampire, but is saved from dying by Ethan (Master Vampire of Cadogen House). This change took place against her will, and Merit has to spend time getting used to that idea, all while learning the ways of vamps, and fighting her weird connection to Ethan.

I really enjoyed this book. Merit is smart and sassy, and could totally kick some ass. Mal, her friend, is badass in he ...more

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Feb 27, 2009 Barbara ★ rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal-shifters, read-2012, paranormal-fae-faerie, paranormal-vampires, paranormal-magic, paranormal-witches-wizards, urban-fantasy, x-set-in-usa-illinois

Though I did obviously enjoy this book, it did have one major drawback...Ethan! Yeah I know everyone loves Ethan but I thought he was an asshat. And a medieval asshat at that! What was with all that "servicing the lord" crap? It's no wonder Merit rebelled. Heck I would have told him to shove it where the sun don't shine. And I just can't see why Merit is so interested in him, heck he has a girl whom he flaunts; and even though he obviously doesn't like her, he asks Merit to be his consort (read Though I did obviously enjoy this book, it did have one major drawback...Ethan! Yeah I know everyone loves Ethan but I thought he was an asshat. And a medieval asshat at that! What was with all that "servicing the lord" crap? It's no wonder Merit rebelled. Heck I would have told him to shove it where the sun don't shine. And I just can't see why Merit is so interested in him, heck he has a girl whom he flaunts; and even though he obviously doesn't like her, he asks Merit to be his consort (read whore); his attitude is beyond annoying; and he really lacks the personality gene. I just don't get it...what exactly is the appeal? Oh I'm sure he'll come around and become human eventually, but until that point, why in the world would Merit waste her time and energy on him when there is another hot, sexy vamp waiting in the wings....Morgan! Now he is worth drooling over and he is obviously interested in Merit as a person and not an object for his personal gain and pleasure. Oh hell I guess Ethan really did piss me off so I'll get off my high-horse now.

With that said, I really did like this book. I loved Merit and her snark (heck all the characters had snark going on and it was fantastic). I love me some snark! It took Merit a while to come to terms with her new vampiric tendencies. After all she was turned without her consent but if the alternative was death, I would imagine being a vampire was preferable. Even though Merit is the heroine here, the secondary characters are also great. Her BFF would-be sorcerer Mallory Carmichael, her weapons/self-defense instructor sorcerer Catcher Bell, computer geek and shifter Jeff Christopher and Luc and Lindsey (Cadogan House guards).

This book concentrated on vampires but there are also shifters, fae and nymphs in Chicago and I'm thinking each species will get to be center stage at some point. The world building is interesting and these vampires actually eat (and a lot of food at that) in addition to drinking blood. I will definitely be reading Friday Night Bites and Ethan better get his act together or I might just kick his ass myself. What a jerk! ...more

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May 22, 2010 Archer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: urban-fantasy

“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… and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead.

I was really hoping to not like this series, even though I had bought all three books at the same time. But, damn I'm hooked.

Merit is one t ...more

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