Tempting Tuesdays: Chapters 13-15 + Epilogue

Welcome to week four of the Some Girls Bite Read-Along! For those of you who don't know, the wonderful ladies behind Tina's Book Reviews, Books in the Spotlight, The Unread Reader and myself are hosting a read-along of book one of Chloe Neill's outstanding Chicagoland Vampires urban fantasy series. Each week we'll pose and answer five questions about the book and then hop around to the other blogs who have signed up to check out everyone's answers! For all the details about the event and our grand prize giveaway, be sure and check out the introductory post HERE.

Missie is the host this week, so be sure and visit her site to link up your posts! This is the last week for discussion posts, but be sure and check back next week for Chloe's special guest post as well as the announcement of our grand prize winner. Thank you so much to everyone who participated and to my fellow hosts, this has been a blast!

January 3rd - Chapters 1-4 (Jenny at Supernatural Snark)
January 10th - Chapters 5-8 (Tina at Tina's Book Reviews)
January 17th - Chapters 9-12 (Rummanah at Books in the Spotlight)
January 24th - Chapters 13-15 + epilogue (Missie at The Unread Reader)
January 31st - Special guest post by Chloe Neill and our grand prize giveaway!

CHAPTERS 13-15 + EPILOGUE

Chapter 13 opens with Merit describing her new job routine as House Sentinel. Considering that every job Cadogan House is important in helping to make the house run efficiently, which job do you think you'd like to have (guard, cook, social director, gardener, etc.) and why?

Well, I most certainly would never be the cook. I'm miserable in the kitchen. Correction. Epically miserable. That's a far more accurate description. You don't want to eat at my table unless you like all of your food with a nice black char on it ;-) I think I would probably want to be a guard like Lindsey, as that way I would be forced to workout and stay in shape (something I neglect to do now) and I would keep plenty busy. Should there be a lull in my guard duties and I find myself bored, I'd at least have Luc in the operations room with me so I could occupy myself ogling him. Dream job accomplished.

In the supernatural world of Chicagoland Vampires, politics seem to play an important role in the way the Houses are run. Now that you've been introduced to the Rogues, do you think it's better for vampires to be a part of a House or to live outside of one?

While I don't always agree with the strict rules and regulations governing the House system and would most likely push against its rigid structure as Merit does, I still think I would prefer it to the unknown. We know so little of the Rogues in this first book, and while living with them could be the greatest life ever, it could also have more rules than the House system and could easily be more violent without the protection of the very politics that make the Houses so frustratingly complicated. At this point, better the evil I know than the one I don't.

After Morgan openly asks to court Merit, she feels betrayed when Ethan commands her to accept for the show of alliance it could bring to Cadogan House. Do you think her reaction was warranted?

I do. While Merit may buck Ethan's authority and take offense (as she should) to his less-than-flattering offer of being his mistress, there's clearly a spark between them and the potential for something interesting. He spends 99% of the book aggressively campaigning for her loyalty and her trust, and the moment he has it, he dangles her out there like some Cadogan prize available for the taking as long as the bid is high enough. He proves to her in that moment that she's not just a person and not just a Cadogan vampire, she's a chess piece on his sprawling and ever-changing board, and what woman wouldn't feel that slight from someone she's attracted to?

When Ethan meets with the perpetrator of the murders, were you surprised to discover who it was? If you suspected someone, were your suspensions correct? What did you think of the perpetrator's motive?

This is another one of those questions that's hard for me to answer knowing everything I do from the remaining books in the series, so I'll just say this: That woman can't get her comeuppance soon enough.

What was your favorite/least favorite parts of Some Girls Bite?

For me the relationship between Merit and Mallory is one of the highlights. Their banter keeps things light when the weight of all the drama Ethan brings settles in and starts pushing down, and I can't help but love their mutual appreciation for snark. It makes me think we would be friends if they were real :-) I also really love the tension between Ethan and Merit, there's something beautifully painful about them together, and theirs is a relationship where you know each book is going to add a new layer to their connection, and I love starting a book with the promise of increased tension and electricity sparking right there at my fingertips.

What do you think is coming up next for Merit, Sentinel of Cadogan House? Will you continue reading this series, and if so, what do you hope to see happen in the next book?

This is one of my favorite urban fantasy series, so I've already read them all and am now not-so patiently waiting for Biting Cold which I believe comes out in August. To those who have read this book and have questions regarding Ethan and his motives, all I can say is keep reading!