EARLY Review--Dark Debt by Chloe Neill

A vampire never gets old. But neither do his enemies. When a figure from Ethan's dark past makes a splashy debut in Chicago, Merit and her Master don't know whether he's friend or foe. But they'll have to figure out soon, because trouble is brewing in the Windy City.

At an exclusive society soiree attended by the upper echelons of the human and supernatural worlds, Merit and Ethan barely stop the assassination of a guest. When the target turns out to be a shady businessman with a criminal edge, Merit suspects a human vendetta. But the assassins have fangs....

The connections to Chicago's Houses go deeper than Merit knows, and even one wrong move could be her last....

I received this early copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


Chloe Neill returns to Chicago and our favorite cast of vampires who call the city home with Dark Debt! Merit is rounding up to her first year as a vampire and it's been one eventual year, to say the least and it's about to get even more crazier with the return of Ethan's maker, the one he thought long past dead.

Balthasar makes his appearance early and known to Ethan and his vampires right away, and the tension is high. Ethan was sure Balthasar was dead years ago after he killed Persephone, the girl Ethan loved all those long years ago. Balthasar is back and ready to take what is his, which essentially, is everything that belongs to Ethan...including Merit.

Other problems hindering Chicago, is fellow vampire house Navarre getting mixed up with debts to the Circle, a sort of mafia to the supernaturals. Celina had racked up a lot of debt and now, the Circle is coming to collect and is demanding blood instead of money.

Caught between both problems, Merit is in over her head. Even more so when strife occurs between her and Jonah when he asks her to do something that goes against everything she holds dear to her.

Needless to say, this was one wickedly intense read! And I ate up those pages!! I love how Merit has stayed true to herself over the almost past year, she's a vampire, yes. She has grown into her role as Sentinel, yes, but she has never lost sight of her true self. The one that we saw in the beginning with Some Girls Bite when she was a newbie vamp, that Merit is still apart of her. But she's also grown. She has accept her role as Sentinel, she has accepted her relationship with Ethan, which took quite awhile to fully form, and then we had Hard Bitten, please never again Chloe!

So yes, Merit is a heroine who has grown, and she keeps growing. There are still problems that occur in her new life, and she deals with them, but she's not alone. And that's the greatest part! She has Ethan, and we'll get to the romance in a bit, but she also has her friends, Mallory, Catch, Jeff, Lindsey, Luc...the list goes on and on. Merit truly has remarkable friends and their bonds with one another is truly endearing! I love seeing such incredible friendships!

And Ethan! Ethan still makes me swoon! True, I found him pompous and an ass in the beginning. While I felt the stirrings of chemistry between him and Merit, I never felt anything genuine between them. Until some books later on! And wow! The chemistry between them is still sizzling! Ethan is definitely an alpha male vampire, but I also like how he never comes off as being overly possessive. He still lets Merit be Merit and doesn't conform her into what he desires. The two are basically perfect for one another, because Merit still continues to challenge him whenever she so desires! Their banter is still delightful as well! The jokes...and I am DYING to know his nickname for Merit that he had called her way back when, when he would discuss her with himself or another character. For he learns Mallory and Merit's old nickname of Darth Sullivan and he mentions he had a nickname for Merit, but we have yet to hear it! 

The pacing to this one was pretty fast paced, in the good way! It wasn't at all rushed, and there's never a dull moment! There are plenty of laughs, a few heated moments between Merit and Ethan, and well dispersed moments of kickass action!! I loved it! Truly, this is one of my most favorite Urban Fantasy series! It's just amazing and has everything a reader could want!

If you haven't yet read the Chicagoland Vampire series, now is the time! Don't let the 11 books to date overwhelm you. True, it's a good number, but that means you get to binge read up to this one and oh my goodness, that's a blessing itself, because Hard Bitten!!! I won't tell you what that means, but other readers of the series will know and agree, that was a tough ending to handle and wait for the next one!
  
The Chicagoland Vampires is the perfect series for Urban Fantasy readers because of its paranormal element, the action, the humor, romance, suspense and of course the snark, which is its own blend of humor entirely!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars


Dark Debt releases March 3, 2015