Chloe Neill “Midnight Marked” | Chicagoland Vampires 12

Author: Chloe Neill
Title: Midnight Marked
Series: Chicagoland Vampires 12
Genre: Paranormal, Vampires
Pages: 361
Rate: 2/5 | Goodreads

One of those books I’ve read twice, back to back, because I just felt like I missed something. Turns out, it’s just that thin of a broth here. Ah well, only one more in the series left to go.

About: Someone’s casting an alchemical net over the Chicago, and it’s huge. And, judging by the supernatural corpses, it means no good either. Merit and her happy little bunch gather up, invade the library, and begin their attempts to translate what pieces they found, just to find out – they’re in a dead end. In the meantime the biggest mobster in Chicago, who held many a supernatural in his pocket, has made a move again, and this time, it seems, he wants to take Sullivan down. Sullivan, being an or becoming an idiot, is easily baited, whether he knows he’s biting bait or not. And I, the reader, sit here wondering who and where got all of these war axes from.

Mine: I have issues with witchcraft and alchemy being put into one and the same pot. Especially when author clearly mentioned FMA as one of her loved sources of inspiration or knowledge, so she knows it, she’s seen it, but she still had a witch cast an alchemy spell, and a programmer make an algorithm that correctly translates it. I’m yet to find a translator that correctly translates into English, so that’s some hardcore fantasy right there. To add to that, their obsession with food got to me. It was funny for a while, but now it’s like reading Joey Tribbiani’s from Friend’s biography: sex, food, food, sex, girls on bread! And if you think that wasn’t enough for me to get the score so low, let me add my favorite stuff: bad guys magically escape cells, the biggest and baddest kick the bucket unwillingly, Merit’s the bigger man who won’t have someone’s blood on her hands in this one particular instance, and now we’re definitely on the magical baby track. At least she confronted Sullivan about fake proposals NOT being funny.

I feel like this was the scraping of the bottom of the barrel. I guess there really needed to be thirteen books. I do hope it ends with a bang, because this one gets 2 out of 5 from me, no more.

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Joely Sue Burkhart “Queen takes King” | Their Vampire Queen 2

Author: Joely Sue Burkhart
Title: Queen Takes King
Series: Their Vampire Queen 2
Genre: Paranormal, Erotica, Vampires
Pages: 350
Rate: 5/5 | Goodreads

Remember I said “Their Vampire Queen” are short books, so I’ll read them between “Chicagoland Vampires“? Well, I spoke too soon. But it worked well here, and made perfect sense, since the book felt very much like the final preparatory step towards court politics and intrigues.

About: Somewhere out there in the dark beneath the mountain rages a dying leviathan. Dark, scaly, and dreadful he haunts Shara’s dreams. Her Bloods sense that, and urge her to take action, call more Bloods to her side. Especially now that the young, wild, and powerful new Queen has been noticed by others, and attacks already began. But more Bloods mean more troubles too, mostly in their own hierarchy among themselves. Thus Shara, convinced by visions of Goddess Isis, is on the search for something more powerful than that. What she needs is not in numbers, but in political weight. What she needs is a King that would be in her power. Someone mighty, someone dreadful.

Mine: You know, if you took out all the sex, these books would make awesome YA vampire books. But for better or worse, it is not that. And I know it’s not right to complain about erotica in a book that is in erotica genre, but it feels like people there really got no other hobbies beyond limb origami. Which sometimes really works well with the story, but other times, guys, don’t you got something more important? Like nest making?? Prioritize! But I digress. I do enjoy Shara’s character quite a bit. She’s not dumb, she’s true to her heart, and while unwilling to cause harm, she enforces laws she believes in with iron fist on a table. My favorite being: nobody will be made to do anything against their will. Which shone bright once the King entered their domain, and her alpha, her dominant Blood was threatened.

Listen, I am biased here too. There’s too many little things that play to me here, like really well made vampires, a sense of political dread, the bee-hive-mentality. So I don’t know if I can recommend this off the bat. But I can absolutely give it a 5 out of 5.

Chloe Neill “Dark Debt” | Chicagoland Vampires 11

Author: Chloe Neill
Title: Dark Debt
Series: Chicagoland Vampires 11
Genre: Vampires, Paranormal
Pages: 368
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads 

I admit right away, my rate to this book is full-on biased, because of the implication of vampire mobsters. It wasn’t as great as it sounds, but hey, it made my reading time better, so why not take it and run with it?

About: The more hints there were, that Sullivan’s master Balthazar was alive, the more he denied such a possibility. And then the man just waltzed into their house like he owned it. Merit’s resistances got shattered, and a whole new horror of magic suddenly showed itself.
In the meantime, house Navarre is in a lot of trouble. Their previous master, apparently, loved luxury and perfection, and thus ended up indebted to the mob. Mob with enough balls to make quite a few supernatural houses and clans dance. And now they want their payback.
So, of course, Merit’s in the middle of it all.

Mine: Author has a great sense of humor. If nothing else, I can really give her props for that, she made me laugh in every single book so far, no matter whether I loved the story or hated it. There’s also a lot of references to other things, movies, books, video games, and I do appreciate that too. And then the mobsters. Listen, I can’t help myself. I love vampires, and I love crime books. And I love when these two very different genres on very different Children of the Night try to work together. Usually it fails so hard it’s funny. And usually, like right now, I don’t even mind anyway.

I kinda really hope that these anne-rice-ish pale-faced gangsters will appear in the next book too, they seemed to have the gall and backing for it. But, hope is just that, hope. 4 out of 5 for this one, and on to the next.

Joely Sue Burkhart “Queen Takes Knights” | Their Vampire Queen 1

Author: Joely Sue Burkhart
Title: Queen Takes Knights
Series: Their Vampire Queen 1
Genre: Vampire, Romance, Erotica
Pages: 190
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

I found this doom, gloom, darkness, and blood cover, and of course it lured me in to give it a shot. The fact that it’s so short also helped. I figured I can read it between Chicagoland Vampires for a break. Though, mind you, pay attention to the genre and make sure you’re okay with the combo, for a lot of action is bed-based, and there’s blood as due to vampires.

About: Shara was hunted by monsters as long as she can remember. Creatures that come as the night falls, thirsty for blood, her blood. They killed her parents too, and she thought this night was her last, for she has been caught outside, with no shelter in sight, nor weapons at hand. But as the end seemed inevitable, two mighty fellas dropped in, and crushed the thralls like ants, promptly falling to their knees before Shara right after. For she is their Vampire Queen. She gives purpose to their life, as long as she’ll have them, and allow them to serve her. But this newly found Queen has so many questions, that the whole serving part might get delayed due to little detective line unfurling.

Mine: Vampires here seem to operate a lot like bee hives. There’s a Queen, who attracts a court of Bloods around her, and they serve her for it is in their nature to follow her will. Queens can be found in the wild, so, living among humans and such, or other courts, of which there’s only a brief mention before the end of the book, so there’s likely plenty of these little (and big) hives they call nests all over. Now, as for the erotica part, blood and sex go hand in hand here, so keep that in mind. And even beside this whole ordeal, I did really enjoy the darker take on vampires. It’s refreshing after all the humans with fangs who drink blood and happen to be immortal.

I liked this, I think I’ll continue with it. Seeing how short they are, I do think they’ll be good break-books. But I’d avoid audiobooks, the female voice… I would’ve preferred someone more mature sounding for the Queen. For now I give it a 4 out of 5.

Chloe Neill “Blood Games” | Chicagoland Vampires 10

Author: Chloe Neill
Title: Blood Games
Series: Chicagoland Vampires 10
Genre: Paranormal, Vampire
Pages: 350
Rate: 2/5 | Goodreads

Right. I am up to power through this. Only two more books to go. But, easier said than done, knowing the baby prophecy is bound to come true in any page now. And seeing how Merit is becoming this obedient, ever forgiving, supportive bundle of “it’s fine if you mock me by pretending you’re proposing 20 times a day” little vampire lady… It might come both too soon, and not soon enough. I am really done here.

About: GP is shaken at the foundation as their rule is challenged by no other than rogue Sullivan, who had the gall to quit GP a couple books ago. And not only that, there’s apparently more candidates to the throne too. Vampire Hunger Games begin: there’ll be tests, there’ll be challenges, and it will be scary. Like, you’ll have a vision, knowing you’re going to see a vision, get glamoured or something, of your dying boyfriend or a girlfriend, and you’ll still fail somehow… But hey, only the best of the best can lead the GP. And since Sullivan is already being blackmailed, I think we all see who the biggest baddest cutthroat is. In the meantime, someone’s ritualistically killing people, and putting blame on everyone: witches, vampires, you name it.

Mine: Forget all the compliments I ever paid to Sullivan. No. He’s just one of those bad boys with past so dark, that if he told you what he did: you’d go gray then and there. SPOILER And then it turns out that someone somewhat related to him killed someone to teach him a lesson. SPOILER ENDS And that’s the big fat secret that makes him so bad, so dark, such a monster, wow. But what about those fancy sounding ritualistic murders, you ask me? Well, if you’re following these reviews on Chicagoland Vampires, you probably already guessed it anyway: it’s the substance lacking side-plot to fill in the gaps between the pages, with a lot of bark to it, and not a damn bite. The best part about this book was that one plot twist that I’ve not even hinted here to. Suffer with me!

But really, while the series are mediocre, this book here was definitely bad. It’s the first I can truly call bad in the series, so don’t stake me just yet. 2 out of 5, and I continue. I continue ASAP in fact.

Chloe Neill “Wild Things” | Chicagoland Vampires 9

Author: Chloe Neill
Title: Wild Things
Series: Chicagoland Vampires 9
Genre: Paranormal, Vampires
Pages: 350
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

I forgot how weak the bad guy plot line always is in Chicagoland Vampires books. But we’re almost done, bear with me! Wild things is 9th book out of, yes, you guessed it, 13!

About: Things made of magic are attacking groups and gatherings of supernaturals. Things that don’t exist. People disappear right after those attacks with no traces, no bodies, no witnesses. And while this happened during shifter gathering, in the house of one prominent pack master, who accepted to shelter Sullivan until his case with GP is solved, Merit has no choice but to try and solve this.  Otherwise, vampires and witches will be the first suspects in line.

Mine: “Oh, but the bad guy who is now dead had a daughter no one knew about” is a nasty little trope that I really don’t like. Almost as much as I don’t like the magical impossible birth tropes. Or supernaturals becoming humans trope. Sullivan was my happy place here, his drive for political power reminded me of mr Northman from Sookie’s books. As for the story itself, it was mediocre. Readable, but meh.

These are good for a quick and very light read, and while not good, still better than a lot of other vampire series I’ve read in the past. I can only give it a 3 out of 5 again.

Josie Jaffrey “The Gilded King” | Sovereign 1

Author: Josie Jaffrey
Title: The Gilded King
Series: Sovereign 1
Genre: Paranormal, YA
Pages: 303
Rate: 5/5 | Goodreads

I’ve received this book as an arc in exchange for some honest reviews. And while from the very start the world has intrigued me, I didn’t like the split of the story for a fair while: I loved to read one character, and hurried through the other one. But the more I read, the more I wanted to read more, and by the end of it, I just finished the amount I kept for two more days in one sitting. That should hint you.

About: Once humans apparently lived with vampires, Silver, side by side. But as humans who were failed to be made Silver turned into Weepers, things got out of hand. Weepers, being a sort of a zombie, bit others, and made entire populations turn in mere hours, thus endangering both human race, and the Silvers too. Up until they made a cure for it, a vaccine that made humans immune to the plague, and successfully killed Weepers. The only problem was, that the vaccine didn’t leave the blood stream, and just as it turned Weepers human, thus killing them, for their bodies were far beyond life, it turned vampires human too. The cured became the contaminated.

Away from the place, and the time that it all happened, some hundreds of years later, Julia watched the Red with longing, from the safety of Blue, the last uncontaminated city safe for humans. They were ruled by Nobles, the forever young, immortal kind that drank their blood in exchange for protection from whatever horrors lurked in the Red and threatened their existence. Cameron is one of those Nobles, a Silver who traveled the Red far and wide in search of a lost, kidnapped friend. Instead of her, though, he kept finding more horrors and strange things: remains of caravans with pits full of human bones smoldering, meat seemingly eaten off of them, blood spilled around the camp; unbelievable amounts of Weepers, pits of dead ones, with live bait of a contaminated human crushed under their sheer weight, them dying on top from the taste of the vaccinated blood. Bit by bit it starts to seem someone is making more of these creatures on purpose… But not all things are bad, or at least, some things are still good. Humans are making settlements, and there’s more of them with passing time. And best of all, this time on his voyage there’ll be a helping hand of a handsome and very skilled woodsman Felix, a man with oh so very much too much knowledge of what Silver are.

Mine: It started good, but too slow for me. I didn’t like Julia’s story for a very long time, but I really, really loved everything Cameron was seeing. The horror was making me regret reading mostly at nights. But as story progressed, their paths came closer, and closer, and finally chapters told both their stories in one. Best part: they’re completely unrelated two characters, with their own adventures, goals, and love interests. All they did was see each other from afar. Another thing I must mention is that this book is one big trick. You think you know what’s going on, but you don’t. Author has tricked me many times turning the plot around, folding it over itself, and presenting solutions I did not expect. That gives me hope for the next book, for the last sentence Felix spoke in my head can only be resolved with a cliche of “you betrayed me – but let me explain” with making up somewhere at the end of the tunnel. Maybe Josie Jeffrey has something better in mind though, I really can’t wait to see.

So, all in all, I really loved this book. I loved the lack of predictability, I loved that heroes were not destined to be together from the start, I loved the insanely stubborn and determined, but so very kind Cameron. I loved how scary it was at so many points, and how beautifully it would fit a zombie apocalypse genre if author would just push it a little over the edge. 5 out of 5 from me, and I really do await the next book!

Chloe Neill “Biting Bad” | Chicagoland Vampires 8

Title: Biting Bad
Author: Chloe Neill
Series: Chicagoland Vampires 8
Genre: Vampires, Paranormal
Pages: 350p
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

Are you at all surprised that I am back on vampires? I’m pretty sure this could be called binging. As always, easy to read and preferably with vampires is what I wanted. Even if I keep dreading the ever ominous miracle baby prophecy.

About: Anti-vampire riots, attacks on houses and individuals. They don’t gain much traction, but cause a lot of damage. Thus making it all seem mighty suspicious of riots being merely a cover up for something else, something more sinister. And Merit feels like she found a lead once vampires starving to death start popping up. They’re vampires alright, but… Somehow humanized. Out there someone is experimenting on vampires, trying to reverse the process of turning. And if seems a little horrible, well, not to those who dream of sunshine and children, so there’s no shortage of volunteers who do their best to cover up who is doing this.

Mine: Riots and their incentive, as often with main plot of action that serves no real purpose than give a boost and cover up for a detective plotline – had no substance in them. It felt like a red balloon with too little air – ya, you might try to give me an idea of Pennywise being around, but seeing that sorry floppy thing is not getting the effect through. On top of it, Merit’s sudden obsession with having a baby is icky. I don’t like children, I can’t help it. And if Sullivan turns human, I quit these books.

It was a meh. Not a good book, but hey, not a bad one either. I knew what I was getting into, and I know I read more of convenience than of actual love for the story. Also, I have learned that I am very capable of ignoring all romance. This is a romance book, and other than who is banging who in the main character shelf – I couldn’t tell you who is in love with who. You know what’s helping though? Their food obsession. 3 out of 5 this time.

Chloe Neill “House Rules” | Chicagoland Vampires 7

Title: House Rules
Author: Chloe Neill
Series: Chicagoland Vampires 7
Genre: Paranormal, Vampire
Pages: 352p.
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

Yeah, vampire books are definitely a comfort read for me, even the or maybe especially the short and simple series with many books I can get through easily. Thus, on to the “House Rules” by Chloe Neill, 7th book in the Chicagoland Vampires.

About: House Cadogan chose freedom under strain over safety under GP’s unjust rule. They cut bonds with disloyal fae, and are now trying to do what they do best: mingle, make connections, play politics. The only real difference is that these folk here are now all rogues. Free vampires or outright enemies of the GP. But things are never so easy, are they? Vampires are getting murdered, often in pairs, their heads sliced off with something sharp. They disappear in moments, and reappear in different circumstances. And if vampire serial killer is not bad enough, it seems that this murderer has access to clan houses too. No one is safe anymore.

Mine: The plot was pretty weakly built up, lacking tension even with something as severe as murders of vampires happening under the very noses of Clan Heads. And if I hear more of that damn prophecy of “green eyed baby”, I will start chewing at the pages. I will, don’t test me. But there’s good things here too. Like, character dynamics, they worked very well, jokes were on point and on time. So, mediocre story, okay-ish characters, interesting vampires.

I actually enjoyed this book up until the very end, where all the good things, the badass Sullivan, the kick-ass Merit, the plot twist of killer walking through walls got murdered off. Killer made no sense, kills made no sense, and the damn prophecy trope is always a thumbs down for me. Especially when it comes to impossible births. But for the sake of it, I’ll give this book a 4 out of 5 for once.

Chloe Neill “Biting Cold” | Chicagoland Vampires 6

Author: Chloe Neill
Title: Biting Cold
Series: Chicagoland Vampires 6
Genre: Paranormal, Vampires
Pages: 352p
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

You know, sometimes you just need vampires, no matter in what form they come. So I continue with Chloe Neill, Chicagoland Vampires series. I kinda got used to it, you know? It’s not Sookie’s novels, but serves the same purpose to me.

About: A fallen angel is unleashed upon the world, serving justice as he sees it fit. All due to an ancient artifact that was stolen and broken with a spell. Meaning there’s an even greater cause now to take magic under control, and possibly punish the ones responsible for the new mayhem. On top of this trouble, the Fae Queen seems to have a liking to this creature and harbors him. Any attack upon the Dark One will result in Faeries turning against vampires, against Merit. And if that’s not enough, GP wants Sullivan’s throne, and so House Cadogan is forced to choose: become the enemy or suck it up. The world as Merit knows it seems to be at an end.

Mine: This is one of those rare books where politics were better than the action side of the plot. It made me start to like Sullivan, he has a head on him, and morals to back it up. But some of the other characters are turning into all gender Mary Sues. And the whole angel/demon thing? Never works for me. Never ever, no matter how great you tell that myth, the moment you call some winged bastard an angel – we’re done. I don’t know why, I’ve nothing against the myth or the creature per se, or at least not that I know of.

These aren’t masterpieces. They’re tacky and shallow. But they’re exactly what I need right now: easy, simple, no brainer. It’s a book for a lazy reader. 3 out of 5 from me.