Audio Review: Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill

This is the second book in the Chicagoland Vampire Series and continues Merit's journey as a newly turned vampire.  I jumped right into the second audiobook after listening to the first and I continue to enjoy Cynthia Holloway's performance of Merit and the other characters.

It has been a few weeks following the end of book one and Merit is becoming more accepting of who and what she has become. Merit is also growing into her position as Sentinel for Cadogan House.  She is still training with Catcher Bell. And partially due to Catcher's growing relationship with her best friend Mallory and partially because being 20 minutes away from Cadogan House was just unacceptable, Merit moves into the mansion. Merit is still dating Morgan who is now the head of Gray house since Celina has been remanded to the Greenwich Presidio following the end of book one.

Life gets even more complicated for Merit when Sullivan has her reconnect with her estranged family in order to gain the connections necessary to help with an investigation into Raves. But working closely with Ethan doesn't do anything to help with the very ambivalent feelings she has for Morgan or the way Ethan continues to run hot and cold toward her.

I spent a lot of this book wanting to smack Merit and tell her to tell Ethan to get over himself. I understand that she has committed to the House, but the way Ethan jerks her emotions around, and she lets him, just pisses me off. While there was a mystery to be solved, there was less action until the end of the story. This felt more like a transitional story. Merit transitioning from student to a warrior. Merit transitioning from thinking about herself to thinking about others first. Merit transitioning from young adult to full grown adult. That didn't make it a bad story, just not one where we see a lot of forward momentum. I gave it 3stars.

Vampires in Chicago!

You'd think headlines like that would have provoked the fine citizens of the Windy City to take up arms against us bloodsucking fiends. Instead, ten months later, we're enjoying a celebrity status reserved for the Hollywood elite—fending off paparazzi only slightly less dangerous than cross- and stake-wielding slayers. Don't get me wrong. Joe Public isn't exactly thrilled to be living side-by-side with the undead, but at least they haven't stormed the castle...yet.

All that will change once they learn about the Raves—mass feeding parties where vampires round up humans like cattle and drink themselves silly. Most civilized vampires frown on this behavior—but that doesn't make good copy for a first-time reporter looking to impress his high-society family.

So now my "master"—the centuries-old yet gorgeously well-preserved Ethan Sullivan—wants me to reconnect with my own upper-class family and act as liaison between humans and vampires...and keep the more unsavory aspects of our existence out of the media. But someone doesn't want people and vamps to play nicey-nice—someone with an ancient grudge.

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