Twice Bitten: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel by Chloe Neill

Twice Bitten: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel by Chloe Neill
Library find!

PJVs QUICKIE POV: One of my favorite series, the Chicagoland Vampires have a special place in my heart, so not buying it straight when it came out was a killer for me. Luckily my library is speedy like that. I devoured this book page by page - one of those in-one-day numbers. The pace was excellent, the story intriguing, but I did find a few, well a bit more than a few, inconsistencies that were glaringly obvious, which made this book rate so low in my opinion. Because of these inconsistencies and out-of-whack character behaviors I am going to say, this has to be the worst book in the series *ducks* and my excitement for book 4 has fizzled.

REVIEW: Twice Bitten takes place right after the events of Friday Night Bites. Merit is training hard to be all the vampire she can be and is prepping for an oncoming Shifter reveal and security details for the shifters that might cement relations between Cadogen House and shifters.  On top of it, Merit is being actively recruited by the Vampire Internal Affairs {Red Guard - RG} and she is unsure if she wants to sever her Cadogen House ties {Ethan} to work for the "greater" good of the vampires. To top it off, a few of Merit's ex-beaus keep on resurfacing and sexual tension between Merit and Ethan is at an all time high.

The intensity of the story, going from one intentionally dangerous event after another kept the story going all the way to the end. It was hard-hitting as Neill's other CLV novels have been with a lot of katana blade slashing and side kicking, but the usual tough-chick, snarky Merit seemed to be, well tamed. I mention inconsistencies in my opener, and to list them would be to give a lot of spoilers. I'll do my best not to do that. First, Merit's behavior was, well un-Merit-like. She was almost a bit cowed, and insecure. All of a sudden she was like this super loyal, my blood bleeds Cadogen House vampire. The snarkiness was down a bit and her Ethan interaction was just off. Also, a few things "disappeared" in this book that were focused on in other books. Did Merit just solve her broken vampire problem? Did I miss that in FNB or forgotten a resolution to that problem? Maybe I need to reread.

And, the biggest glaring inconsistency {spoiler} that I have to mention:

When Ethan welcomes the ex-Master Chick, Lacey Sheridan to his house, he specifically states, "Thank you for coming at such short notice." This statement is there for a reason, it builds hate and discontent within Merit, because the reasoning of Ethan bringing his ex-lover in to the house, last minute, the day after they've "fought" seems to be obvious retaliation/replacement for her. Why else would he fly Lacey in at the last minute? Yet, in the final pages of explanation... via Ethan, he states that they had the trip in the works for six months.  This had me confused at first then all wrinkled up when I realized the reason for my discomfort.

Inconsistencies don't work well in a series. Especially character inconsistencies. When these characters change from book to book readers start getting agitated...which leads to them not buying the next in the series. I did enjoy the book, but these subtle problems left a bad taste in my mouth. At first I was like any other fan girl just bowled over by the final culmination of something I have been hoping for through the last two books... but in the end it wasn't enough to cover up the problems. And personally I would rather see Merit stay single girl, if she is going to act like such a cowed little insecure chick whenever her man says something she doesn't like, or preen when he gives her a compliment.

RECOMMENDATIONS:  This is not a stand-alone. I do recommend reading Some Girls Bite & Friday Night Bites before reading this one. Fans of Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress Series & Richelle Mead's Succubus or Eugenie Markham series should enjoy. Adult material, not recommended for a younger teen audience.

My other reviews in this series:
Some Girls Bite Review
Friday Night Bites Review