Chloe Neill’s Blade Bound
I have to be completely honest here. I just couldn’t see it. I mean we all knew going into Blade Bound that it was going to be the last Chicagoland Vampires book. And yet, how could we possibly say goodbye to Ethan and Merit, Jonah and the Red Guard, Mallory and Catcher or Gabriel and the North American pack? And, as with so many of the books in this series, the villain seemed unbeatable and the craziness just plain off the charts. We got to see a vampire wedding, a warning from Gabriel that the vampire child may not be coming and we all knew that we had not seen the end of Sorcha.
About halfway through the book, I started to get really scared though. Ethan had already returned from death, much to all our surprise. But I started to wonder if maybe the way this book ended the series was with everyone’s death or confinement. And so it took me a while to wrap my head around finishing this book, come what may. I had carefully avoided all reviews and spoilers while I wrapped my head around the fact that this ending was here. But about halfway through, I had to have a little faith–in Chloe Neill and in myself. I could take whatever came in the series.
I won’t spoil the ending. But I will say that my faith paid off in ways unimaginable. And that is the key to this whole series. Despite being a jaded paranormal romance reader who thought she had seen everything, this series constantly came out of left field. Consistently, we found ourselves wondering how all our heroes could possibly pull this one off. And they always, somehow did. It’s sad to be saying goodbye to our intrepid heroes but the series ended on a high note rather than disappointment.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I highly recommend this book, and the series itself. It’s lighthearted and campy and unbelievable at times, but these characters will soon hold a piece of your heart, as they did mine!
I look forward to discussing all of this with fellow fans at my site bestbooklover.net and at the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BestBooklovernet-336745780072074/
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Fiction
Penguin
2017
384
"Continuation of New York Times bestselling author Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampires series"--
The thrilling final installment of Chloe Neill’s New York Times bestselling urban fantasy series sees sinister sorcery advancing across Chicago, and it might usher in the fall of Cadogan House....
Since the night of her brutal attack and unwilling transformation into a vampire, Merit has stood as Sentinel and protector of Chicago’s Cadogan House. She’s saved the Windy City from the forces of darkness time and again with her liege and lover, Ethan Sullivan, by her side.
When the House is infiltrated and Merit is attacked by a vampire who seems to be under the sway of dark magic, Merit and Ethan realize the danger is closer than they could have imagined. As malign sorcery spreads throughout the city, Merit must go to war against supernatural powers beyond her comprehension. It is her last chance to save everything—and everyone—she loves.
And then Fred came to the rescue. “No, no, no, I got this,” he said, jogging in from the lounge, and talking to someone over his shoulder. “Got what?” I asked warily as he turned to me and grinned. Don’t know why.” Because they’re depressing, I didn’t say, since he was only trying to help. But honestly, who bought black balloons? Fred, apparently, and now he was blowing them up. “Trust me … I used to do this … all the time,” he told me in between breaths. He soon had a cluster of long, skinny tubes, which he then proceeded to tie together using vampire speed. One second, there was a depressing bunch of cylinders, and the next … It was worse. The kids were glancing at each other, like they didn’t know what to make of it, either. But Fred looked hopeful. And then he started moving his creation up and down, so that the tortured appendages hanging off either side flopped about in a dying-bird sort of way. One of the littlest girls made a sound and hid her face.“Fred,” I began, trying to figure out how to say please stop without hurting his feelings. And then one of the guys solved the problem for me. “What the fu—uh, heck?” “Leo,” Roy said, frowning at him from beside the bar. “What? I said heck. And look at that thing.” “What is it?” another guy asked. “A spider?” “A bat, obviously,” Fred said. And flapped it about some more, on the theory, I assume, that he just hadn’t been vigorous enough the first time. “Freakiest thing I ever saw,” the vamp mumbled. “Freakiest?” Roy dropped ice into a glass. “You haven’t been here long enough.” “Then why does it feel that way?” “I have more,” Fred said, finally realizing that his distraction was not a hit. “A lot more. I used to make these all the time—well, the pig bladder kind—” “But were any of them any good?” Leo asked. Fred stopped to glare at him, while Roy assessed his latest attempt. “What is that?” “It’s a clown!” “Oh, demonic clown. Great choice.” gift from someone I cared about, so I just never had. Plus, they had a charm on them I thought the girls might like. It had proven oddly accurate at reading the atmosphere around a situation and giving advice in the form of a pertinent card. And sure enough, practically as soon as I touched them, one popped up. A black one. A black one with a leering devil on it.Well, shit.