Some Girls Bite is the first book of the series Chicagoland Vampires by author Chloe Neill.  The story takes place in a world where vampires have recently made their existence public (like in the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris, which True Blood is based on).  As the story starts our narrator and main character, Merit, is attacked walking home through her college’s quad.  When she next wakes up she’s told that she’s been turned into a vampire in order to save her life.  Merit now has to deal with this new life that she didn’t want and it’s rituals and laws while fighting to hold onto her old life.  In the middle of all this there’s a vampire killing girls like Merit all over the city and she’s determined to get to the bottom of it.

I came to this book almost accidentally.  I was looking for something to read and an excerpt of this caught my eye.  I expected it to be some sort of True Blood rip-off for a Young Adult audience.  But I was quickly caught up in it.  The characters are great.  Merit isn’t some helpless girl but isn’t Buffy either.  She’s a modern 20-something woman who doesn’t quite want to move on in life.  Her roommate is a fun, take no shit chick too who helps Merit through her slacker ways.  There’s also the various vampires and other supernaturals as well as Merit’s family that are all unique voices and really make the book come alive.

This is pegged as the dreaded “Supernatural Romance” but even though there is a romance element it’s really a smaller part of a bigger story and it’s light and fun.  The book never takes itself too seriously and it never really drags.  It’s also helpful that the character of Merit is kind of a mystery, so you can’t totally predict what’s going to happen.  There’s lot’s of sex but not really anything graphic, mostly discussion.  And this is definitely more for a 20-something audience than a teen/young adult reader, also due to being able to relate more to the characters.

Overall this book was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to start the next one in the series.  I recommend it if you’re into vampires and light, quick reads.

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