“A strong-minded, sharp-witted heroine who will appeal to fans of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series and Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake.” (Library Journal) Clouds are brewing over Cadogan House, and Merit the vampire can’t tell if this is the darkness before the dawn, or the calm before the storm. With the city itself in turmoil over paranormals and the state threatening to pass a … state threatening to pass a paranormal registration act, times have never been more precarious for the vampires. If only they could lay low for a bit…
Then magic rears its ugly head when Lake Michigan turns black. The mayor insists it’s nothing to worry about, but Merit knows a panic is coming. She’ll have to turn to friends old and new to find out who’s behind this, and stop them before it’s too late for both the vampires and humans.
more
In this installment, we find ourselves dealing with the aftermath of what all happened in the Hard Bitten. Due to the nature of this, I found the beginning of the book to be fairly slow. I just wanted the snarky badass Merit back. Despite this, I still enjoyed seeing the story unfold. Jonah is a great character and he truly is a great addition to the Chicago’s supernatural world. It was great to see him and Merit pair up to solve Chicago’s current crisis. For the second time in this series, Neill had me shocked and speechless. There was a turn I should have seen coming, but was still shocked when the realization of what was happening revealed itself. Immediately after, I was punched in the gut by another turn, and once again had to immediately get the next in the series and try to race through it to gain some equilibrium. Love this series!
This is the 5th book in the Chicagoland Vampires series. I do strongly suggest you read them in order, especially book 4, before this one. This is my 2nd read through of this series. It’s been so long since I first read them, it’s like starting new for me.
I don’t want to say too much, just incase the previous book hasn’t been read. But there is a lot going on. Between magic, Tate, Mallory, Ethan, Jonah, the GP, and Merit.
This read will keep you on your toes and you won’t be able to put it down.
I’m cautiously optimistic at this point with where the series might be heading. I was much happier with the ending of this book than I was book 4. There are still some major disappointments, don’t get me wrong, but I think this story could turn out better for Merit than I had originally thought.
So, I’m very curious as to what and who Tate is. Old magic, sorcery, some other sup we haven’t met yet? I also have a somewhat bad feeling about Simon still. Not nearly as bad as when I first started this book, but I’m still not a big fan.
The most shocking to me was the end. I could not have predicted who was responsible for the changes in Chicago and I was flabbergasted when I realized what was going on. As usual, I’m having a hard time expressing how I feel without posting spoilers, so suffice it to say that my heart was in my throat and I am anxious to see where this is going.
This was another amazing 5 star book in this series. It’s still unpredictable, entertaining, with amazing characters and magic in abundance. Although not all the magic is good. I enjoy all the different problems that arise and how the characters work through them together and on there own. Merit is an amazing vampire and star of the series, she goes to all lengths necessary too save lives, Chicago and stamp out evil.