Friday Night Bites

Chicagoland Vampires, Book 2

By: Chloe Neill

Narrated by: Cynthia Holloway

Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

"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, 10 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."

Bite into another Chicagoland Vampires novel.

©2009 Chloe Neill (P)2010 Tantor

Love this series!!!

Now that it’s over I am re-listening to it so I can hear it re told from beginning to end!!!

Wait for it...

I always enjoy Cynthia Holloway as a narrator. She generally does very well adding enough change of voice to help you recognize the character changes in the dialogue. Once or twice in this story, I felt lost as to which person said what in a conversation. However, they were very small bobbles that did not make listening difficult at all. Her voice is one that is smooth enough for an enjoyable listen and doesn't sound silly when other characters are voiced.

Unfortunately, the story made me feel like I waited half of the book for any significant suspense or plot. The events happening in the beginning of the novel were not uninteresting at all and were certainly Important to the story, but it felt more like a first novel in a series than an established series. Once the plot begins to pick up at about halfway, it is definitely worth the read. I am glad I didn't give up on it. Since this is only the second book in the series, it is definitely a forgivable story structure. I might borrow the third book in the series from the library first instead of immediately buying it in case the structure of the next book is similar.

Book 2

A good vampire series that blends mystery, suspense, and romance into an interesting story that keeps the audience actively listening.

Yay

So far love the story and the characters I can't wait to see what will happen next with Merit and Ethan.

invested

omg!!! I was waiting for her to connect. the build up in book 1 was worth the wait. I have to say this isnt a fast pace read, but more like a memorable, life changing evolution story that has a string of love entangled in the mix. ive read 1000s of books, but this one isnt like any ive read. slow but worth my time

You must listen to the books in order.

I was looking for something to listen to that would satisfy my whodunnit with romance-comedy mood when I got this book. Synopsis grabbed my attention and I was ready for an adventure. Boy did I get an adventure. This book has intrigue, nemesis, angsts both romance and friendship. The book was good but would have been better if I had listened to the series in order. There were times where I was thinking “huh?” Or how/what the...? This is a really good series but I STRONGLY Recommend that you listen to the series in order so you won’t be lost in the action.

Getting Better

I actually enjoyed the first book in the series but I think this one was better. It built upon the building blocks of the first book to make this one more in depth. We get to see more about Merit's family and the way she grew up as well as advancing her relationships with Morgan, Ethan, Catcher and others in the house. She makes some more friends and seems to make peace with her unexpected change into a vampire. I like that Merit is snarky and doesn't take herself too seriously. I like Cynthia Holloway as a narrator but I do think she could differentiate between the voices a little more.

Performance

Narrator seems unable to do a very good difference between the male voices. she moves seamlessly between the women. overall she reads the book well.

A bit obtuse and a cliffhanger?

I don't mind if a book is a book with a cliffhanger as long as the next book has been written and I won't have to wait :)
I do mind if the book has gone from an entry into a good solid series about a strong woman who suddenly seems like she's suffering from dementia at perpetual 28, and knows nothing about the history she would have had to be fairly expert in, and instead of acting like a potential Ph.d in Medieval History, who'd have been taking all kinds of history classes since freshmen year in college , Google's the Renaissance to 'get an idea of how that character thinks', well please. Ridiculous. Not a best book of the series. I will try one more but if it too is like this, forget-about-it!

Getting Better

I thought this book was better than the first one. I enjoyed getting to know the characters a little more, and some of the turns in the story-line. Some stuff about Merritt gets explained more in this book.