Biting Cold (Chicagoland Vampires #6) – Chloe Neill

Biting Cold has Merit fight on several fronts at once. She needs to help Ethan keep the House together, they need to find out why Seth wants the book, and they also have to deal with the Council on one hand, and with the faeries on the other. The pace is pretty fast, and a lot of things happen.

Biting Cold is about redemption. For Mallory, for Ethan, for Merit and for Seth. I had a little trouble getting into the world of Chicagoland again, after having been quite disappointed with the two prior books. I was devastated at the end of book 4, when Ethan died. And I was not happy with the way he was brought back from the dead at the end of book 5. Biting Cold started with Ethan and Merit chasing after the Maleficius, and a fight with Seth on the way to were it was hidden.

The story was fast paced and very well written. And filled with the humor and snarky remarks that we Chicagoland fans love so much. Merit was strong again, but still vulnerable as well where Ethan is concerned. And Ethan being his normal stubborn self, he was unsure as to how to move forward in his relationship with Merit. *sigh* That’s what got to me the most – they should have been beyond hesitating at this stage. Ethan came back from being dead – I wanted him to grab Merit with both hands and just be with her – no matter his inner fears.

There were a lot of incredible fights, and as usual, Merit almost died again. See, when she has to almost die in each book, it becomes a little redundant in my opinion. She has the skills, she has the courage, and she most definitely has the heart. And I do love Merit – she’s the perfect strong heroine, she can make do without her man, and she can count on at least some of her friends. Cadogan House was still in dire circumstances because the GP was not happy with the way things were done there, and I really liked how Ethan and Malik dealt with Darius and all the other things on their plates. But it would be nice if Merit could fight the good fight without almost leaving the world behind – and the fact that Ethan died, and then came back a book later is making me wary about this. At the same time, as Merit is the main character, it seems like she would survive anything, so it just makes it a little less exciting in my eyes.

Quite a few of my favorite secondary characters did not really show up in this book, I was hoping to see more interactions with Jonah, and also with Merit’s grandfather. Jonah showed up briefly, but with no real storyline of his own, only to play backup when Merit was trying to stop Dominic for the first time. The only time there was any interactions with Chuck it was on the phone. And I really missed the happy banter between Mallory and Merit, although I understand that Mallory has to truly make amends before Merit can see her as a sister again.

The final part of the book redeemed the series in my eyes, though, the was Ethan finally opened up and started to trust both himself and Merit again was glorious! I love them together, and I hope that in future books, they will stay together, and fight battles side by side, not hiding from their true emotions.

Epic battle at the very end, although it felt a little rushed, and I was a little surprised at the character who ended up doing the kill – even if it seemed to be poetic justice in the best way. Also, the way the Cadogan vampires took their fate into their own hands was great, it showed that they are still able to think for themselves, and that they trust their Master, even if it was a close call.

If you loved the two prior books, this will probably be a favorite in the series for you, for me, it was the start of the series redemption as well as the character’s redemption. I will be sure to get the next book and read it with less pre-conceptions in my mind. I think it’s time I started trusting that this series will continue to be one of my favorites for a while still.

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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