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Showing posts with label Chloe Neill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chloe Neill. Show all posts

Review: Dark Debt (Chicagoland Vampires #11) 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 a copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I feel that I only read this book because I'm invested in the series. Reading the previous ten books, means I can't stop now. Each time though I expect something more exciting will happen. It's like watching the eighth season of one of your favourite tv-show, the creativity was high in the first few seasons but by now the quality has dropped. Now don't get me wrong, Dark Debt was still very well written, and the plot was well thought out, but to me it still feels repetitive.

Trouble is once again brewing in Chicago. Seriously how many problems can there be in one year of being a vampire. By now I actually wouldn't mind reading about the daily life of Merit, without someone trying to kill her or Ethan. Just to get an idea of what that would entail.

Someone shady from Ethan's past is drawing too much negative attention and needs to be dealt with. Meanwhile one of Chicago's elite is causing a whole lot of other trouble, that needs some further exploring. The usual team is on it of course and as always they are great detectives. This time there was no trouble between Merit and Ethan, so that was certainly refreshing.

As always I will continue following this series. I do still love the characters, the little bits of humor here and there, the solving of the mysteries and vampires on their own are pretty cool. Like I said in my previous review, I'm still waiting for something really big to happen to pique my full interest again. Die hard fans of the series, will of course love this book and if you're a supernatural I always recommend giving this series a chance.


Chicagoland Vampires - Reading order and purchase links

    


      


        


The Author
Chloe Neill was born and raised in the South, but now makes her home in the Midwest—just close enough to Cadogan House and St. Sophia's to keep an eye on things. When not transcribing Merit’s and Lily’s adventures, she bakes, works, and scours the Internet for good recipes and great graphic design. Chloe also maintains her sanity by spending time with her boys—her husband (also her favorite landscape photographer) and their dogs, Baxter and Scout. (Both she and the photographer understand the dogs are in charge.)

Connect with Chloe Neill:

Saturday Series: Blood Games (Chicagoland Vampires #10) by Chloe Neill

This is the last week of Saturday Series for the Chicagoland Vampires. The eleventh book isn't out until 2015. So coming up next week I'll be reading The Maze Runner series by James Dashner, starting with The Kill Order. You can always join me, if you like :)


While Merit didn’t choose to become a vampire or Sentinel of Cadogan House, she vowed to fight for her House and its Master, and she’s managed to forge strong alliances with powerful supernaturals across Chicago. But even though Merit has had wild adventures, this may be her deadliest yet...

A killer is stalking Chicago, preying on humans and leaving his victims with magical souvenirs. The CPD hasn’t been able to track the assailant, and as the body count rises, the city is running out of options. Vampires and humans aren’t on great terms, but murder makes for strange bedfellows. Can Merit find the killer before she becomes a target?

*Do not read if you haven't read the previous books*

Chicagoland Vampires has become one of those series I will continue reading because I do want to know what else will happen to Merit and her friends, but it's no longer a 'must read this now on release day'. Unfortunately I no longer have that feeling.

While I still enjoys the novels, it does have become a bit bland. With Ethan challenging Darius for the position of leader of the GP, I expected some epic battle or at least something cruel, which we are used to from them. Instead it's pretty vampire standard, I guess. The threat actually came from somewhere else and I didn't really felt the need for that.

Honestly the entire plot of this novel is a bit all over the place and pretty much a repeat performance from the last three novels. I am still waiting on something really big and epic to happen, and I'm not sure how much longer I can wait on this.

There is only three more books to go, though I don't know what point Chloe Neill is growing towards. I'm thinking it's still that green-eyed child, but to me that doesn't seem like an end point, just a new beginning.

Like always the characters are still very likeable, Merit and Ethan do get very cheesy at times and have the tendency to make the same mistakes over and over again. We have some supernatural mystery going on and Merit's little group is of course on the case. The GP part concluding this little story and while some might say this ends with a cliffhanger, I am not dying to know what will happen next. Mostly I am glad to be able to take a break from this series for a while. Reading these ten books in ten weeks was a bit too much for me, which only explains my overall feeling with this series. It had a great start, but by now I'm ready for an ending.


Chicagoland Vampires - Reading order and purchase links

    


      


        

Dark Debt: Amazon - Kindle (coming in 2015)

The Author
Chloe Neill was born and raised in the South, but now makes her home in the Midwest—just close enough to Cadogan House and St. Sophia's to keep an eye on things. When not transcribing Merit’s and Lily’s adventures, she bakes, works, and scours the Internet for good recipes and great graphic design. Chloe also maintains her sanity by spending time with her boys—her husband (also her favorite landscape photographer) and their dogs, Baxter and Scout. (Both she and the photographer understand the dogs are in charge.)

Connect with Chloe Neill:

#SaturdaySeries: Wild Things (Chicagoland Vampires #9) by Chloe Neill


Since Merit was turned into a vampire, and the protector of Chicago’s Cadogan House, it’s been a wild ride. She and Master vampire Ethan Sullivan have helped make Cadogan’s vampires the strongest in North America, and forged ties with paranormal folk of all breeds and creeds, living or dead…or both.

But now those alliances are about to be tested. A strange and twisted magic has ripped through the North American Central Pack, and Merit’s closest friends are caught in the crosshairs. Gabriel Keene, the Pack Apex, looks to Merit and Ethan for help. But who—or what—could possibly be powerful enough to out-magic a shifter?

Merit is about to go toe to toe, and cold steel to cold heart, to find out.

*Do not read if you haven't read the previous books*

This is already the ninth book in the series and unfortunately by now I've become slightly bored with them. The characters are still great and the big plot is interesting, though I would have liked the focus more on that. It's the specific different things happening in the books that are getting to me. I've come to the point that I don't care about the fact that someone is out-magicing a shifter, I want to know more about the inhouse drama, that possible green-eyed child, supernatural versus the city. With each book the focus has become more and more divided.

Also if you look at the timeline, it's just too much I believe. Merit has only been a vampire for ten months and all the crap she has gone through in that time, it's insane. If you look at it like that, I'm having trouble still believing in the story. I get that a lot changes and it's a wild ride, but the girl deserves a break once in a while. Being Sentinel of course puts her more in the line of danger than other vampires, I just think it's strange that there never seemed to have been any drama before her arrival.

By now I'm just reading this series because I haven't come across a series I didn't finish and the characters are what keep me going. I really feel like a broken record having to say this again, but something big needs to happen, something real good. My need for tension and drama is no longer being satisfied here. The last couple of books seem to flow together to me. Luckily I still very much like the characters and they are what mostly keeps me going.


Chicagoland Vampires - Reading order and purchase links

    


    


      


The Author
Chloe Neill was born and raised in the South, but now makes her home in the Midwest—just close enough to Cadogan House and St. Sophia's to keep an eye on things. When not transcribing Merit’s and Lily’s adventures, she bakes, works, and scours the Internet for good recipes and great graphic design. Chloe also maintains her sanity by spending time with her boys—her husband (also her favorite landscape photographer) and their dogs, Baxter and Scout. (Both she and the photographer understand the dogs are in charge.)

Connect with Chloe Neill:

Saturday Series: Biting Bad (Chicagoland Vampires #8) 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.

*Do not read if you haven't read the previous books*

Cadogan House just can not seem to catch a break. When supernaturals aren't after them, the city once again turns on them. Violent riots, protests and no more reason than they just don't like vampires. I personally don't deal well with racism and intolerance, so I certainly understand the anger from the vampires in these situations. The vampires have been there longer than most people, they pay their taxes and help trying to solve supernatural problems. Chicago is also their city and they do not plan on leaving anytime soon, certainly not when they went through all that trouble with the GP to save their house.

I also don't like how it somehow always comes to Merit and Cadogan house to save the city. The other two houses prefer to keep a lower profile, but I don't see the gratitude towards Cadogan for always stepping in and therefore the other houses can keep that low profile. Though now through circumstances Grey house is forced to step forward. While they're helping it's still mostly Jonah who aides. Things between him and Ethan are not quite peaceful, but they accept each others qualities and usefulness.

So once again Merit and her merry men are trying to keep the city save. What they eventually find out what is going on, well it isn't good for vampires. It's something they didn't think was possible. Having that threat coming from humans, means they have to be careful to not create a big scandal. Luckily things between Merit and Ethan are really well. Even between Merit and Malory things are slowly getting better. Broken trust needs its time to repair.

I really like this series, though by now I am having difficulties writing different reviews when I pretty much feel the same about the stories. Somehow I have the feeling something big is going to happen or at least I hope is going to happen. Slowly things are becoming to same each time to me. There is still progress in the plot and characters, but it feels way less than in the beginning.


Chicagoland Vampires - Reading order and purchase links

    


    


      

Blood GamesAmazon - Kindle (Aug. 5)

The Author
Chloe Neill was born and raised in the South, but now makes her home in the Midwest—just close enough to Cadogan House and St. Sophia's to keep an eye on things. When not transcribing Merit’s and Lily’s adventures, she bakes, works, and scours the Internet for good recipes and great graphic design. Chloe also maintains her sanity by spending time with her boys—her husband (also her favorite landscape photographer) and their dogs, Baxter and Scout. (Both she and the photographer understand the dogs are in charge.)

Connect with Chloe Neill: