Hard Bitten: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel [Kindle Edition]

This is book four. You should begin with book one: Some Girls Bite, then book two :Friday Night Bites, then book three: Twice Bitten.

I'm still recovering from this one. There is (get ready for the understatement of the century) a big surprise towards the end of the book. Not a cliffhanger- you know exactly what's happening- it's just a surprise turn of events. Actually, more like a cardiac arrest inducing turn of events. I kept waiting for the punchline...even tried rubbing my eyes, turning my eReader off and on again (that always works, right?) but no, apparently I did read it correctly the first time.

So what can I say without giving anything away. Lets see...the storyline for the rest of the book was very good as always. Easily as good as the previous three. The characters you have grown to love are all moving along nicely after the shapeshifters came out of the closet and are trying to deal with the new human antagonism towards vamps. Merit continues to show a lot more maturity and I really feel like she's coming into her role as Sentinel. She may have been thrown in at the deep end with the on-the-job training, but she is now a competent member of the Cadogan House security force.

I did get really cross when some bigwigs from the Presidium got involved in things and started trying to blame everything that's ever happened since the dawn of time on Cadogan House. Don't you just hate those types? The pretentious, jumped-up suits from some governing body, that deign to come down from their ivory towers once in a blue moon to tell you how rubbish you are and to judge you on the black and white facts without knowing the first thing about you or the possible reasons behind your actions. Gah!

But, it's no good, all of that got overshadowed by the end of the book. I have no idea what's coming next for the characters of this brilliant series, but I really hope it goes the way I want it to or I will be seriously pi- um...seriously cross!

This is book four in the series, so I suggest you start off with Some Girls Bite: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel, Book 1 (Chicagoland Vampires Series). This was my favourite series last year & well I'm just going to have to trust CN on where she's going next, after reading this explosive edition.
Merit is Sentinal and takes her job seriously, she's determined to keep Ethan at arms length, & he in return is determined to win her back,I loved the banter & sizzling repressed tension between the two . Now the weres have come out, it's kicked up mistrust & insecurity from the humans & with political manoeuvring Cadogan house find themselves between a rock a hard place , stuck in the middle between doing the right thing, the mayor & vampire bosses.
A twisty knotted plot that is unravelled one thread at a time. Very exciting finale with well drawn protagonists & just when you think it's all over a shocker occurs, well several really, it all feels so final so where I wonder is she going next?

Personally I can't wait, gutsy move but I can see why so many readers are up in arms, we'll just have to see eh?
What I love about this series is the politics, love angst, premise & plot, the author is not afraid to go off a well worn urban fantasy path & make her own way, even if it will upset a few people... Great series & worth picking up...

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.***

This is book four in the series. It starts off with Cadogan House putting their house back together after the aftermath of the shifter battle in the last book. The battle didn't do the vampire's of the town any favours and there are anti-vamp protesters camped outside Cadogan house.

Things are tense between Merit and Ethan, but they come together when The Mayor Tate calls them in to discuss a rave problem, where there was a human eye witness account of killings. Tate ever the Politician has to secure votes and be seen to be publicly handling the situation. So he says if the rave problem is not sorted out soon he has a warrant for Ethan's arrest.

On top of that Darius The head of the GP is coming on a visit to the house. Merit is trying to figure out more about the raves and try to shut them down. She calls in help from Jonah who accompanies her to a rave, they found out about from a text message on a phone left in Grey House Bar. Arriving at the Rave Merit notices something is wrong when a vamp bumps into her causing her to bump into two male vamps, they cause all sorts of trouble and are extremely aggressive. Merit makes her way through the crowd away from the two crazy vamps and finds a girl, a human, sitting on the floor. She takes the girl with her when she leaves, and gets some info from her, pills with a V on them, a description of the bloke who invited her to the Rave who is with a woman named Marie.

When Merit reports back to Ethan she doesn't realise that Darius is standing behind her and has heard the whole thing. Darius is not pleased with the situation and decides to put Cadogan house in receivership by the Presidium until Chicago is back under control.

Merit finds out that V is a drug for vampires, that makes them more violent, to let out their true natures. Merit believes Celina is behind the making and distribution of V, but she just needs the proof.

Ethan and Merit attend a party in grey house which Darius has set up, while there someone puts V into the wine and things turn messy. The man Merit met, who sells the V, sets Merit up for a meeting with his boss Celina. Merit is waiting for Celina to arrive in a very crowded place, when she does arrive Merit grabs her wrist, but Celina is genuinely shocked to see her. Celina admits to everything, the making and distribution of V the raves in front of everyone. The Police show up and arrest Celina and everyone is happy Merit finally got her, apart from Darius and the GP.

Now the ending, I was not expecting. I'm still not sure how I feel about Ethan dying in the way he did. It was not how I expected A master Vampire to go out. It took me three books to warm up to Ethan and then he is ripped away. He died in place of Merit which shows how much he loved her. I never suspected Tate at all, so i was pleasantly surprised. The book was good and I enjoyed it as a whole, but I felt like nothing really happened until the end. The ending for me was a little rushed for me.

The ending leaves me eager to find out what's going to happen in the next book DRINK DEEP. This is a must read if anyone has read the series so far. :)