Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill
Publisher:  Penguin
4 Stars

There’s a fresh new voice in paranormal and that voice belongs to author Chloe Neill.  She’s penned the first of her Chicagoland Vampire Novels entitled Some Girls Bite.

I’d been in a reading ‘slump’ so I was very happy to pick up a book that made me want to turn the pages.  The author has created an interesting vampire mythology and a heroine who has spunk and daring, she’s kick ass without the hard edges.

Set in contemporary Chicago, vampires who have been around for a very long time have finally ‘come out’ presenting a face of wealth, sophistication, power and civility making a very vocal statement that they are here and plan to live side by side with humans.  Most of the human population is both fascinated and drawn to them.  Everyone except Merit, a graduate student who has no time for anything but getting her degree, until one night she is savagely attacked by a ‘rogue’ vampire. On the brink of meeting her maker she is saved by Ethan, a master vampire whose only way to save her is to make her one of them.  Merit wakes from her attack to discover she is now an immortal night creature and she’s pissed. She didn’t ask to be one of them and she’s not sure how she feels about it. Dealing with the obvious changes of drinking blood, sleeping during the day, and fangs she must also confront how she’ll become part of their world. Merit must follow the vampire ways which means submitting to the Master of her house Ethan, or live the life of a rouge and that of an outcast to both the vampires and the humans.  I really thought the author was going to have Merit submit, in which case I would have thrown the book across the room.  It really would have ticked me off.  However, the author masterfully creates a plot point I didn’t see coming allowing each of the main characters to retain their integrity and develop their individual desires to be themselves as well as being part of the group.

This book is much more than a paranormal story of good versus evil. It deals with issues such as power of choice, submission, and prejudices and questions what really defines family.  In addition, there is also a mystery, and that plot point nicely introduces all the characters and advances the mythology.

The author writes wonderful dialogue with great wit and a reality that defines each character.  The story moves along at a lively pace and she’s created secondary characters you want to know more about. I will warn you, this book does not have your traditional HEA, and I’m not sure that the author intends for the next in the series to have a HEA.  HOWEVER, it is well worth the read, I recommend it.