Biting Bad Review

Biting Bad by Chloe Neill
Book 8 of The Chicagoland Vampires Series
Published August 6th by NAL Penguin
3.5 Bloody Fangs

"While I am still in love with The Chicagoland Vampires, I felt as though this installment was a little flat...."





Summary -

Merit has been a vampire for only a short while, but she’s already seen a lifetime’s worth of trouble. She and her Master, centuries-old Ethan Sullivan, have risked their lives time and again to save the city they love. But not all of Chicago is loving them back.

Anti-vampire riots are erupting all over town, striking vampires where it hurts the most. A splinter group armed with Molotov cocktails and deep-seated hate is intent on clearing the fanged from the Windy City come hell or high water.

Merit and her allies rush to figure out who’s behind the attacks, who will be targeted next, and whether there’s any way to stop the wanton destruction. The battle for Chicago is just beginning, and Merit is running out of time.  (Goodreads)


Review -

Usually when it comes to the Chicagoland Vampires, readers are sucked right into the story right from the very start.  A feeling of urgency to find out what is truly going on and to solve the mystery at hand.  Not so much this time around. 

In Biting Bad, Merit and the Cadogen House vampires are trying to figure out who is behind Clean Chicago, an anti-vampire hate group armed with Molotov cocktails.  The attacks seem to be well organized, but is there an underlying reason behind them.  And the last place they set fire to, was the last place anyone ever expected.

While the plot had great potential, there was so much more that could have been done with it.  Don't get me wrong, there were parts that were truly worth reading; Ethan goes to meet the family, a heart-wrenching scene between Merit and Chuck, a heart-melting scene to make readers fall in love with Ethan all over again, and a killer moment of bitter-sweet revenge.  The main problem was that the book seemed like a regular mystery than a vampire novel.  The magic was there, but only in the background.  There just wasn't enough umph for my tastes.  For readers who like a good mystery, or just need a dose of Ethan/Merit, you may enjoy.  For die hard vampire lovers, you may want to skip this one, or just skim through for the important parts, and hope for that flare to be back in the next installation (which sounds very promising), Wild Things, due to come out February 4, 2014.