Review--Biting Bad by Chloe Neill

Merit has been a vampire for only a short while, but she’s already seen a lifetime’s worth of trouble. She and her Master, centuries-old Ethan Sullivan, have risked their lives time and again to save the city they love. But not all of Chicago is loving them back.

Anti-vampire riots are erupting all over town, striking vampires where it hurts the most. A splinter group armed with Molotov cocktails and deep-seated hate is intent on clearing the fanged from the Windy City come hell or high water.

Merit and her allies rush to figure out who’s behind the attacks, who will be targeted next, and whether there’s any way to stop the wanton destruction. The battle for Chicago is just beginning, and Merit is running out of time.

Chloe Neill has done it again!! Her Chicagoland Vampires series is definitely one of my favorites! Merit has come such a loooog way since her beginning days as a vampire and I love watching her grow more and more into her role as Sentinel! Biting Bad continues her story and things are definitely not getting any easier for her. Sometimes she misses the days of being human and all the seemingly simplistic problems she used to have.

Chicago is being overrun with vampire-haters groups. Worse yet, they are causing riots and setting fire to places related to vampires. Starting with their blood supply, The building that creates and bottles the blood vampires drink in lieu of the old-fashion way, was burned. It's nearly destroyed, yet still standing and doing its best to operate. Merit and Ethan are on the case, as well as a few other Cadogan vampires. But then Grey House is attacked and burned down as well, making their house unlivable for vampires. So Ethan offers up his house for temporary lodging. That itself creates a few minor issues as well.

The big issue is though, finding out who's behind all the riots. No vampire related building is safe. Including Cadogan house. But there is something to these attacks that are puzzling. Why not attack Cadogan house? With their defection from the GP, it seems logical to burn their house. Also the attacks are happening at night. Why? Why not burn the buildings down during the daytime while vampires are asleep and vulnerable? There are too many questions and not nearly enough answers.

McKetrick is still around as well, as he's Public Enemy Number One. At least in the vampire community. We get a little insight as to what motivates him, but it's nothing major. The guy's still a douche!

One thing I truly love about this series is watching Merit and Ethan's relationship grow. I'll admit, in the first few books, I wasn't a fan of Darth Sullivan! I thought he was prickly, minus the ly! But over the course of the series, I've grown quite fond of him. To think that I used to like Morgan for Merit, but that was really only in the first book and possibly the second. He himself is turning into a douche. He was absent in this book, even when Cadogan turned to his house for a little assistance in the lodging of Grey House, he gave some excuse as to why he couldn't help out.

Ethan is definitely a newly made vampire! Or else we're just seeing this new side to him now that he and Merit have cemented their relationship. He's not the somewhat egotistical vamp we met in the beginning. He's caring now. And positively hilarious with his snarky side! Merit's snark has definitely rubbed off on him, as you might have noticed from my teasers! He is quite swoon-worthy now! 

Mallory is getting a little more page time as well in this one, and I like seeing her come to grips with what she's done and trying to make amends. It is hard trying to start over from where she was at, but I love her courage and bravery for it. She's got to rebuild relationships and earn back trust, things that are hard to do, but she's trying. I like also that Merit seems more open now to trying to build back their friendship. It's a tough position to be in, when your best friend almost destroyed the city, and now she's back to normal. But the whole thing is that they are working on it and I like that. I miss the Mallory of old and I can't wait til she comes back!

Biting Bad was quite the thrilling read! Maybe not as epic as a few of the past novels have been, but still utterly fantastic!! What seems like a minor event at the time that occurs during the chaos of the plot, is going to the be the fodder for the next novel. The ending gives you this hint, quite literally in the last few pages, like 2-3! Merit and Ethan just can't ever seem to get out of hot water. It's going to be interesting to see where this series ends. New problems always continue to arise, you almost wonder if they will ever get their happy ending! I'm all for the waiting to that moment!

Merit is without a doubt one of my favorite heroines. She's got snark! You gotta love the heroine who can kick ass and yet still find the time to bask in the humor that surrounds her and acknowledge it. Hence the snark! She'll say what she's thinking on the matter and the results are usually laugh worthy!

I really cannot think of one thing that I disliked about this read. It was purely fantastical!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars