OH MY GOD WHAT DID I JUST READ?

So.

Lemme take a breath.

So. Having just finished the 4th book (roughly being a third of the way thru the current number of books) and having no other fore knowledge of the last two chapter events I can say with the utmost certainty I AM NOT OKAY.

Ethan & Merit are like...they're like my new (somewhat less enjoyable and intimidating) Curran & Kate (from the Kate Daniels books by Ilona Andrews). Addicting, so good together and OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED?

SOMEONE REASSURE ME ABOUT THE WORLD. Like do bunnies still hand out candy? Is Santa still besties with a skeleton? Is Killian Jones still the hottest guy to ever raise his eyebrow and lick his lips in a saucy dashing pirate way? ( )

I just flew through this book, i devoured it, I am on a book high. This book gives such a cliffhanger style ending....You have to read it for yourself, because you won't be satisfied with my comments ( )

This book... Oh, god, this book. Not saying any more, because spoilers, but... THIS BOOK, man... ( )

I like this series but I do not love it. I have given it 4 stars but its really more of a 3.5 in my opinion. I have continued to read this story because I am just enough interested with the story to want ot know how it ends. Basically everything about this is just alright for me the characters are good not great, the story is fairly interesting and the writing is decent. It is in no way bad but it is not one of my favorites either. ( )

enjoy the Merit books but I'm beginning to find it hard to miss some of the Mary Sue-ness popping up here and there. Overall Merit is very enjoyable and I do see the draw of Ethan, her continuing love interest. It's getting annoying to deal with the back and forthness of "I love Ethan" but "He broke my heart!". That said, I still have to root for them to get together. -Sigh- I'm a sap.

The Mary Sue-ness:
1/ Merit is of course not just a vampire, but an uber-vampire.
2/ All the boys love her. She's not exactly Anita Blake (thank goodness!) but I find myself rolling my eyes every time the new love interest introduced in this book gazes on her. Seriously?
3/ While Merit spends a lot of time doing "Sentinel" things in this book she never seems to actually do her "job" the way it was initially described. This appears to be the least guarded vampire House in the world, judging by how often Lindsey and Merit appear to be out on the town.

Hard Bitten follows Merit as she runs through her Sentinel duties, while half-heartedly trying to avoid Ethan's advances. I like this side of Ethan actually. We've seen the alpha male in him, watching him gently try to woo Merit is a nice change, not just for Ethan but for an UF book period. When first the mayor and then the GP threatens Ethan and Cadogan House Merit is on the job. Raves are drawing too much human attention, but this time it's getting deadly. Merit finds herself fitting better and better into Cadogan House, but this means she's being drawn deeper into the House's troubles as well.

So, the spoiler has been much talked about on goodreads. If you haven't read it already you won't hear it from me, but it admittedly made me a little bitter throughout the book knowing it was coming and when it finally played out it was anti-climactic to say the least. I see the foreshadowing, I can imagine how this is gonna play out, but still - argh!

These books are like candy. Not good for you, not sure why I keep eating it but I do really enjoy it! I'll be interested to start Book 5 and see where we're going from here. This series may or may not stay on my list of readables based on that. ( )