Friday Night Bites: Chicagoland Vampires, Book 2

I should not have listened to another reviewer that said not to be fooled by the cover. The cover is a good allegory for the book.

The writing is juvenile and the story is amateurish. It's like Anita Blake "light." If you like the Anita Blake series, you might like this. If you don't like Anita Blake, you probably won't like this.

The writing is akin to a Harlequin romance novel from 20 years ago. (Guilty of reading many of them.) The author overused her thesaurus and it's terribly distracting. We don't need every little nuance described -- "furrow" for a frown, "padding" to walk, etc. -- in flowery language. If the plot is strong enough then you don't need to fill up your pages with descriptive words that make the actions of the characters seem unnatural.

The main character is selfish -- just like Anita Blake. It's ALL about HER. Why should the readers care about some selfish person who whines and complains and is only concerned with what she can get out of a situation? She has no redeeming qualities and I don't care to waste my time with stories about people I can't feel sympathy for, or relate to in some fashion.

The narration doesn't help the weak writing. She makes everything overly dramatic -- just eating a meal (done often and adds no value to the story) is made to sound like a MONUMENTAL event. I caught on by about the fifth meal (yes, slow learner), when I realized that despite the narrator's exaggerated tone and inflection an alien was not going to come clawing out of someone's stomach.

I'm through with trying new (to me) vampire series based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews. I'll stick with the ones I know at least have decent writing even if I don't always like the direction the story takes -- Sookie Stackhouse and Kresley Cole's series.

So I was lukewarm on the first, but curious to see where it was going to take me. Intrigued by the Ethan/Merit/Morgan connection as well as Merit's relationships with her friends and her growing relationship with the other vampires in the house. I was okay with it up until about 50% of the way through the book and then it just started falling apart for me. Mostly I figured out that I really didn't like Merit. She keeps stringing Morgan along even though it's clear he's practically in love with her and she's not that into him at all. She's got the hots for her boss but doesn't want to go for him either for various conflicting reasons, and frankly, I never really warmed to Ethan in either book so it was hard to see what she saw in him that was worth fawning over. And then there are Merit's various hangups - her latent vampire troubles that she won't talk to anyone about, won't see the truth in the advice from her friends, won't just shut the f--k up and be the bad ass that she can be. Suffice it to say, I think I'm done with the Chicagoland vampires

Great little read but the narrator Cynthia Holloway does not distinguish between the character speaking aloud and the character thinking. I do not recommend her for future titles in this series.

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.

This book is very exciting with a new twist to a vampire story. I really enjoyed it. The narrator is really good.

I wouldn't say it was the most enjoyable listening experience, the narrator did an okay job but occasionally I got a little annoyed with her voice.

I didn't have a most memorable moment.

I wouldn't rule out a book because she was the narrator.

I can't see the first book making enough of a splash in theaters to make certain round two would be done so there is no need for a tag line. And honestly, I'm not fond of this question.

The book isn't bad. It isn't great either. I finished it and it was a decent story. I even went on to listen to the next story. I will probably even listen to book 4 because I don't expect a great story by now, I just expect an entertaining one.

I have read and listened to a lot of different vampire series and this series is definitely in my top five. The story line is wonderful, the narrator is excellent, and the characters are fun. I love this series and can’t wait for the next book to come out in August. I have already listened to this series a few times and will continue to do so. 5 stars.

Loved the previous book, and couldn't stop listening to this book or the third book in the series. Narrator did a great job.

Chloe does wonderful job of tying the books together and keeping the reader interested. moves pretty fast also and just enough descriptions to form a mental image without causing the reader to skip to the next dialog.
Cynthia Holloway is an excellent narrator and the way she switches easily between characters is fantastic:)
totally worth the read or listen:)

This second book was a bit slow to me what a few stupid parts. It is still okay and better than some. Hoping the book 3 is better. Will start it after I read Kim Harrison's A Perfect Blood Book 10 of the Hollows, narrated by Margarite Gavin who is my favorite narrator.