Chloe Neill

Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires, #1)

Some Girls Bite

Annabella

3.5  
 This  is what I think when I think vampire book. And it can only get better from here.

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 . . . one who decided the best way to save my life was to take it. Turns out my saviour was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now I've traded sweating over my thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan 'Lord o' the Manor' Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four hundred year old vampire, he has centuries' worth of charm, but unfortunately he also seems to expect my eternal gratitude - and servitude. Right . . . But my burgeoning powers (all of a sudden, I'm surprisingly handy with some serious weaponry), an inconvenient sunlight allergy, and Ethan's attitude are the least of my concerns. Someone's out to get me. Is it the rogue vampire who bit me? A vamp from a rival House? An angry mob bearing torches? My initiation into Chicago's nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war - and there's going to be blood . . .

Janna Niemi

This book is definitely more action packed than any other vampire book I've read. It wasn't about love or sex or anything like that. It was actually more about actually being vampire than anything else and it was a very pleasant change in scenery. I'm very much looking forward to the next book in the series.

Dawn Keiser

I don't know why it took me so long to start this series. Can't wait to get my hands on the next one.

Sarah Escorsa

Okay, so I’ve never been a vampire kind of girl. Frankly, the whole vampire thing has always pretty much bored me to death. I only bought Some Girls Bite because so many of my friends had loved it that I thought I should give it a try. I didn’t expect much from it. Worse, I expected some Twilight nonsense. Then Merit happened. 

I loved Merit from the very beginning and she grew on me a bit more with every turn of page. What was really interesting here is the way Neill portrayed the struggles Merit goes through after being turned into a vampire against her will. Adjusting from student life to vampiredom overnight is no small feat and fantasy as this may be, I felt the description of Merit’s reaction to her transformation really rang true. Her world is turned upside down, she doesn’t know who or what she is anymore and doesn’t know how to deal with the new life that has been forced on her. She is sarcastic, tough, determined and trustworthy (despite what some annoyingly handsome master vampire might think). As little as I expected it when I first started reading this book, Merit quickly made it to the top 3 in my favourite kick-butt heroines list, right after Kate Daniels and Elise Kavanagh. She might even make it to the top 2 if she keeps it up in instalments to come. 

Now for Ethan Sullivan, “I still live in the 18th century” master vampire extraordinaire. He bugs me to no end but I guess that’s what Chloe Neill intended. He looks good enough to eat. Well his having blond shoulder-length hair definitely does nothing for me but hey, I managed to warm up to a blond Curran Lenhart so I guess miracles do happen. But I digress. So he is deliciously good-looking but he is, first and foremost, a huge pain. Smug, full of himself, condescending, uptight, with antiquated views and trust issues… No wonder tension builds up between Merit and Ethan from the very beginning. This is one infuriating vampire and Merit just can’t help challenging him, his power and authority at every chance she gets. I mean what girl would want to wake up after being turned into a vampire, only to find out she was to blindly obey some exasperating, domineering alpha male for as long as she lives (which kind of sucks when you’re immortal)? Sparks definitely fly between these two but it doesn’t get very far in this instalment . Which is great really. I’d rather have the sexual tension build up slowly, it’s much more fun this way! (view spoiler)[Ooooh, I have to say the "first hunger" scene is deliciously schmexy but it doesn't go very far... (hide spoiler)] For the moment, Merit and Ethan love to hate each other which makes for some very entertaining confrontations. Can’t wait to find out what happens between the two of them in the next instalments.

The other characters in the book are just great. Strangely enough, I’d say Mallory was my least favourite of them. She’s a fantastic friend to Merit but I don’t know, I can’t get myself to like her as much as I do the rest of the cast. Lindsey I do love and I see great potential there for instalments to come. Now, for the male characters… Well, this is pretty much Hunks R Us, with an over-abundance of hot and sexy men prowling around: Catcher, Morgan, Jeff… Take your pick! Catcher and Jeff are probably my favourite.

As far as first instalments in a series go, Some Girls Bite is definitely a winner and one of the best I have ever read. First instalments are not usually as good as the rest in the series as the author has to set the story arc in motion, define the main characters and the world they live in. Here Chloe Neill has done a fantastic job as we are born to Merit’s new world at the same time as she is. We learn, adapt and evolve with her, which is both very cool and highly entertaining.

Great character development, awesome world-building and an entertaining plot make Some Girls Bite very hard to put down. A definite page-turner. Can’t wait to get my hands on the next instalment!

Madelynn snobl

Surprised

I was pleasantly surprised. Very good and addicting read to read during this quarantine,highly recommend. Won't be disappointed. . .

Nickie Mohler

This book follows Merit, a college student turned vampire.

Merit was walking across campus at night and was attacked by a vampire. He only had time to tear her neck open before he was scared away. Scared away by another vampire. Her "savior" saved her life by turning her into a vampire. 

She wasn't turned by just any vampire, she was turned by Ethan, the master of Cadogan House. 

As if being turned, and kicked out of school isn't enough, now she has to decide if she will give up her independence and swear loyalty to Cadogan House, or be an outcast.

This book started pretty slow for me. It picked up in the middle though. I guessed the outcome, so because of the predictability, I gave it only 3 stars. The characters were likable enough that I will probably continue on in the series.

Amanda J 

I really like this book. The snark of the main character and everyone else was perfect! It could be something to do with me being a grad student usually hiding in books and hoping I would end up like Merit a badA vamp in the end. It had just the right amount of humor and kept with some traditional vampire themes (sunlight = bad) that I enjoyed. Oh yea, plus there's the romance hint going on.

Megan Cooper

A good start to the series - not a whole lot happening in this book, but it sets up a likable character and supporting cast and gets the Chicagoland Vampire Universe is pretty well established. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Southern Today Gone Tomorrow

Written by Chloe Neill, Some Girls Bite is the first in her Chicagoland Vampire series. This is the series where the other book I read by her is its sequel. And I REALLY wish I hadn't read the sequel first as I just want to push through this to the ending that I know is coming.

This novel is written well and is honestly a great introduction to how Urban Fantasy SHOULD be written. Neill did a fantastic job of building her world and catching her readers up to what is going on in this series. We get to meet Ethan Sullivan and a whole cast of characters for Merit to interact with, and they are all either flushed out well or only mentioned in passing. If you want a two-dimensional character without having a character that your readers will complain about, mention them only in passing. Don't let them become a big part of anything. Give them enough character so they are slightly interesting, but keep it vague and to a minimum. A character that is the perfect example of this is Merit's roommates boyfriend at the beginning.

With that said, it did feel like this novel had some odd pacing. Moving slow in some areas and fast in others, in instances that it felt that those timing methods should have been reversed.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel and will continue to work my way through the series.

If you like Paranormal, Urban Fantasy novels, this is a good fit. There is action, mystery, love interests, the whole nine yards. And it is written in such a way that you can move through this book at a good pace. JUST DON'T READ THE NEXT SERIES FIRST, it will ruin everything for you.

Jo H

Have read books 1 & 2 of the series so far and haven't got much to say yet, just that I don't hate it but I don't love it either but it really annoyed me throughout was the constant description of men and women as boys and girls which I find incredibly juvenile from a protag (and her BFF) who is 28 years old. I've been waiting forever to start this series as I like to binge read series' so I hope that doesn't continue throughout all the volumes. 

Also, an issue I am becoming more aware of recently, they are in Chicago, a city that I understand is very racially diverse. How come so far the only person described as not being pale of skin is Malik? 

Am a bit confused that so many 'young' vampires seem to have such power and status already, and have loads of questions about the 'sup world' (ie 12 vamp houses in the whole of North America, and a quarter of them in one city???) but I suppose I'll find out more as I get further into the books. Merit (how many books do I have to go through to find out her first name) is just ok, Ethan I dislike immensely and so far, I much prefer the secondary couple, Mallory and Catcher (and also Jeff). Am I alone in that? I wonder how long into the series they last separately and/or together? I will find out... onto book 3 now.

Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires, #1)

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