Friday Night Bites (Chicagoland Vampires, #2) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

May 26, 2010 Lauren⁷ 💜 rated it really liked it

Shelves: library-has-a-copy, fantasy-sci-fi-romance-romantasy, romance, hot-hunky-hero

I had heard a lot of good things about this series and I am happy to say that it lived up to the hype. And I really enjoyed this, but I didn't love it. I did get more than a few Sookie Stackhouse vibes while I was reading this. The whole vamps exist revelation? Vamps mainstreaming? It did echo more than slightly of SS. But this deviates a lot, Merit is as much like Sookie as a breeze is like a hurricane and Chicago is a far cry from backwoods Louisiana. And speaking of Merit. I really enjoyed he I had heard a lot of good things about this series and I am happy to say that it lived up to the hype. And I really enjoyed this, but I didn't love it. I did get more than a few Sookie Stackhouse vibes while I was reading this. The whole vamps exist revelation? Vamps mainstreaming? It did echo more than slightly of SS. But this deviates a lot, Merit is as much like Sookie as a breeze is like a hurricane and Chicago is a far cry from backwoods Louisiana. And speaking of Merit. I really enjoyed her character. She's a hoot, the snark and humor and sarcasm where very enjoyable and I chuckled or sniggered a fair amount while reading this. And she's confident and not afraid to kick serious butt. But Merit is also very real. She has her doubts and insecurities and worries same as the rest of us and that was nice to see. A heroine that isn't all full of herself. And the rest of the characters where great too. I especially like Ethan, more on him later though. I also appreciated the fact that you don't have to read book one in order to get what's going on here. It does get off to a rather slow start, but thankfully things do pick up quite a bit, I did feel though that the ending was a little anti-climatic, and I could have done with a little more action. But overall though the plot is very good and certainly keeps you guessing. And there is plenty of romance here for romance fans, certainly enough to satisfy me. I absolutely loved watching Ethan and Merit interact and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more of those two and their relationship in subsequent books. And they sizzle too, if the sexual tension between those two gets any hotter, whew! I can't wait to see what's going to happen between those two. It looks like Morgan is out of the picture, which is good as I'm not a huge fan of long drawn-out love-triangles. All in all, this a good story and I'll definitely be reading the rest of the books in this series. The cover is pretty good too except for two things. The katana is glaringly inaccurate. Firstly a katana is never held with one hand, it's held with two. And also it's too short, a katana is between 25' and 30' inches long and the one on the cover is maybe 18 inches. Also katana's are not made of brass or gold as the one on the cover looks to be, they are made of steel. And also it's pretty much a carbon copy of the cover of the first book. The covers for books three and four are way better. ...more

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Apr 27, 2010 The Flooze rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned, vanquished_2010, urban-fantasy-paranormal

**3.75**

::blink::

Wait a second! You can’t just leave off there! Mid mysterious message! That’s not fair!

Harrumph…

Friday Night Bites began on rocky ground. At first, it lacked the flow that made Some Girls Bite stand apart from the crowd. Neill seemed to be trying too hard to recap the events of the first book. She also put way too much focus on staging the scene, giving so many minute details that the movie in my head kept grinding to a halt.

Gradually, I stopped noticing the overabundance of de **3.75**

::blink::

Wait a second! You can’t just leave off there! Mid mysterious message! That’s not fair!

Harrumph…

Friday Night Bites began on rocky ground. At first, it lacked the flow that made Some Girls Bite stand apart from the crowd. Neill seemed to be trying too hard to recap the events of the first book. She also put way too much focus on staging the scene, giving so many minute details that the movie in my head kept grinding to a halt.

Gradually, I stopped noticing the overabundance of details and became engrossed in the story. This installment focuses on connections. Merit’s ties to her family, her House, her friends, and to society at large are all tested; she’s only been a vampire for two months and she’s still adjusting to her new place in the world. Although there is a mystery to solve, the central theme is change--and with it, character development.

Merit was frustrating at times. She harbored some concerns throughout the story and I don’t understand why she didn’t voice them to someone, anyone. Well, no, I do understand. However, her worries were important enough that her newfound sense of duty as Sentinel should’ve driven her to bring her concerns to Ethan, since they could’ve impacted her ability to do her job. Her moments of little-girl trepidation were irksome. I wanted her to suck it up and ask someone more knowledgeable what the heck was going on.

That irritation aside, Merit’s political maneuvering was fun to watch. Ethan takes advantage of his Merit-family acquisition, using her as an entrée to the upper echelon of Chicago society. She proves quite adept at ingratiating herself with the hoi polloi--for all her hatred of societal trappings, she’s shaping up to be a public figure for Cadogan House and a great asset to Ethan.

Ah, Ethan. The wily Master vampire should be careful what he asks for. This book incorporates a lot more development for Ethan Sullivan; I’m finally seeing the appeal. His cool and collected façade is beginning to suffer some cracks. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the true personality lying beneath.

The supporting characters bring an added layer of drama to the story--in certain ways the drama was necessary and inevitable, but I couldn’t help wishing Merit had been more honest with herself from early on. She keeps complaining that others don’t place enough faith in her. The real problem is she lacks faith in herself. Hopefully, the changes wrought in this book will inspire her to be more confident and decisive in how she runs her life. Otherwise, immortality is going to be a bitch to handle. ...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Charlotte (Buried in Books) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, vampires

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 16, 2011 Samantha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook-own, 2011

Frustration, thy name is Ethan and Merit! Neill really knows how to push all the right buttons, dramawise, in regard to practically every relationship in Merit's life. I want to make sure I'm there to find out what happens. Upward and onward to the next in the series! Total fun. ...more

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Aug 07, 2010 Kimberly rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012

Once I got over the fact that what bothered me about this book was that it reminded me of Melrose Place, the book got really good.
I was bored with the first 100 pages of the book, but once I powered through, thanks to will power and Starbucks, and started to get into the mystery of who was trying to set everything up, I started to enjoy myself.
I like how everything that has happened up to the end of the book is building upon itself and making the overall storyline come together.
With the way this ...more

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