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Book Review of Drink Deep (Chicagoland Vampires, Bk 5)

Drink Deep (Chicagoland Vampires, Bk 5)
reviewed on + 503 more book reviews


A good place to end the series (for this reader).
The story takes up months after Ethan's death with new weird things happening in the city, with vampires being blamed for everything, and Merit finding friendship and partnership in her post-Ethan world. I have some troubles with this book, despite the happy ending. Primarily that Catcher and Mallory are a couple of hypocritical jerks who don't deserve Merit's loyalty. Seems like Chloe Neill wants us to forget having read the other books, where for example, Mallory and Catcher give Merit crap and practically end their friendship with her because she's "chosen Ethan" over Mallory (a problem more suited to teenagers than adult women.). Now in this book Catcher is angry with Merit because he thinks she might be dishonoring Ethan's memory by dating someone new months after Ethan died? And the multiple references to a past relationship with Ethan that didn't exist- they had a physical relationship that lasted less than 24 hours. I'm not saying the ties aren't deep but references to the "times they made love" as if there was more than once insults the loyal rader, like Chloe Neill is rewriting history. Other problems? When the GP sends a power hungry weasel to run their house, they allow him to deprive them of junk food and blood.. Why don't they just go buy their own blood outside of the house? That must be possible since the 200 Cadogen vampires who don't live in the house also drink blood. And blood was delivered to Merit's house in Wicker Park before she move into Cadogan. Does Chloe Neill not remember the facts of her own books? Or does becoming a vampire turn you into a hipster-slang spouting mindless idiot, hoss?

Drink Deep is pretty PG, possibly G rated material, and looks Ike that is the wave of the future for this author. She started as a Young Adult author and frankly the books read like young adult material. Most of what happens in their world is more hijinks than anything else. In the wild and dangerous world of supernatural creatures, nothing is very severe. The greatest punishment the GP offers is excommunication? since in five books Chloe Neill has never demonstrated what good they serve, this sounds like a great idea. Noah and the other Rogues seem perfectly content. The GP doesn't threaten death or dismemberment or imprisonment or anything harsh. The vampires have special abilities but not so much that they are really much stronger than humans. Oh they can jump off a great height. Even that was never used in the story, these are pretty boring vampires...

This is the end of the series for me. There's a satisfying Happy ending which I can pretend is HEA, and I don't need to read another five books of indecisiveness between hero and heroine. Note to Chloe Neill: it is actually possible to write a story about a couple who is together and not constantly tear them apart to keep I things interesting. At this point it seems like a silly plot device to keep readers going for ten books, not because it makes any sense for the characters. It's boring! And hopefully I never have to see the word "snark" again.