Ramblings of a Daydreamer: Review: Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill

Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill

Series: Chicagoland Vampires, Book #2

Published: September 2nd, 2009

Publisher: NAL Trade

357 pages (paperback)

Genre: Adult paranormal/urban fantasy

Acquired this book: From the library

Warning: May contain spoilers

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{Read my review of Some Girls Bite}

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.

But 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, putting mere mortals at ease with their policy of asking a person’s consent before taking a big gulp of the red stuff. However, 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.

I loved Some Girls Bite, the first book in the Chicagoland Vampires series. I thought it was original, funny, and action-packed, and I was eager to see where the series went. I never thought this would be a series that would suffer from second book syndrome, but it was. Friday Night Bites was…meh. It was slow (it took me almost two weeks to read) and lacked so many of the things that made Some Girls Bite so fantastic. I wanted to love this book so badly, but it really fell short.

There wasn’t a whole lot of development in Friday Night Bites. There were some issues with Merit and Mallory’s friendship, and Merit learned a little bit about her vampire side, but it all felt kind of superficial. It could have been fleshed out more and added to the plot, but it felt like it was thrown in halfheartedly, and as a result I was bored and found it hard to get invested in the characters. The romances were also really disappointing. Merit got nowhere with Ethan (who I felt we could have learned a bit more about), and I was beginning to like where things were going with Morgan until he turned into a possessive, jealous, untrusting jerk...mind you, I guess Merit was leading him on, but still. The way he started treating her just didn't sit right with me. At this point I don’t know who Merit should end up with, nor do I particularly care because nothing made me care in this book.

I found Merit hard to like at times, when I absolutely adored her in Some Girls Bite and thought she was this strong, kickass heroine who was easy to admire and respect. Where did that girl go? I only saw very small glimpses of her in Friday Night Bites.

The plot - what there was of it - was fairly interesting, although similar to the first book. I’m curious to learn more about the Breckinridges, and see how Merit fits back into her family now that she’s a vampire.

Overall, I found Friday Night Bites to be a big disappointment. It lacked in action, romance, and character development, and left me unable to connect with the characters or the story. However, I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to Merit and the gang just yet. Because I loved Some Girls Bite so much, I’m hopeful that Friday Night Bites was just a bump in the road and that the series will pick up. I feel like this series has a lot of potential, and I’m looking forward to reading the third book and hopefully falling back in love with the Chicagoland Vampires.