Review: Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill

Merit, Chicago’s newest vampire, is learning how to play well with others. Other supernaturals, that is. Shapeshifters from across the country are convening in the Windy City, and as a gesture of peace, Master Vampire Ethan Sullivan has offered their leader a very special bodyguard: Merit. Merit is supposed to protect the Alpha, Gabriel Keene—and to spy for the vamps while she’s at it. Oh, and luckily Ethan’s offering some steamy, one-on-one combat training sessions to help her prepare for the mission.

Merit must accept the assignment, even though she knows that she’ll probably regret it. And she’s not wrong. Someone is gunning for Gabriel Keene, and Merit soon finds herself in the line of fire. She’ll need all the help she can get to track down the would-be assassin, but everywhere she turns, there are rising tensions between supernaturals—not least between her and a certain green-eyed, centuries old master vampire

ebook.

Full-length novel

First person - Merit.

No.

I think you could pick the series up here - there are summaries and recaps throughout - but I wouldn't.
I'd say UF works best when you start at the beginning.

No.

N/A

No.

No.

Yes.
Supernatural violence but it's not too bad.

Twice Bitten jumps straight back into the Chicagoland vampires pretty much immediately from where it left off in Friday Night Bites and focuses on a gathering of the shapeshifters in Chicago which, naturally, Merit and House Cadogen get pulled into by the Apex - aka Alpha of Alphas - of the North American pack.
There is action, subterfuge and treachery. Romance and minor heartbreak.
Merit has gotten her head back on straight - and has stopped being a self-centred ass - and I was relieved that things were straightened out with Mallory - her BFF -  despite life pulling them both in different directions.
I was really happy with how the book played out. I loved the shapeshifters, and the foreshadowing of escalating tensions between supernatural and non-supernatural - which I assume will explode at some point soon - as well as the simmering tension amongst the paranormal factions.
Twice Bitten has been my favourite of the series so far and I strongly recommend that UF fans give this series a try!

They're getting a bit better - either that or they're growing on me - but I'm still not a big fan.

“A friend once told me the hurt that came with the end of a relationship was painful because it was the death of a dream—the future you’d imagined with a lover, a loved one, a child, or a friend. That loss was its own painful, nearly tangible thing. You had to reimagine your future, perhaps in a different place, with different people, doing different things than you might have first imagined.”

💬

“Do you want to be with a man who has to be convinced to be with you?”