| Series: | Heirs of Chicagoland #1 |
| Pub. Date: | Aug. 14, 2018 |
| Publisher: | Berkley |
| Length: | 352 pgs |
| Source: | NetGalley |
Wild Hunger is the first book in the Heirs of Chicagoland series, is a spinoff of Chicagoland Vampires. I admit that I have been eagerly anticipating this book as I was totally sad that the original Chicagoland was ending. It's so hard to believe that the entire series had taken place in approximately a year... and now here we are about 20 years in the future.
Elisa Sullivan, the daughter of Cadogan House vampires Ethan and Merit Sullivan, is all grown up. I actually had to go back and re-read the epilogue of Blade Bound, just so I could remember the details about Elisa's birth and early days. I was quite surprised to learn that she was living in Paris, but I respected her decision to get out and find herself, and be independent of her parents and family legacy. As the only natural vampire ever born, Elisa is more of a mystery than anyone knows, including Merit and Ethan. So we see Elisa struggling a lot with herself and inner demons, so to speak. I thought this was an interesting aspect to the story, but it also made me impatient for her to accept herself for what she is, and also to communicate with her family about it. The struggle was reminiscent of Merit in the early days, when she was fighting with her inner vampire. (If I am remembering that correctly and not thinking of another book, but I could have sworn Merit had a similar issue.) So I hope to see some mother-daughter bonding over this secret at some point. But Elisa is a good heroine, who is still coming into her own. I look forward to seeing her mature, improve her fighting skills, and take care of Chicago in the future.
Much like Gabriel, I was totally gaga for Conner Keene. It appears that he is going to be our love interest in this series, and he is a solid good pick. He has that animal magnetism and playboy charm, but is also fierce and protective. I am totally excited to have him be a main character in this series, as I felt like I was always wanting more of Gabriel in the earlier books. The only problem that I had was that I wasn't feeling much chemistry between Elisa and Conner. Their interactions seemed stiff and there was just something missing - so it came off as forced at times. Hopefully this will be remedied in the future.
The plot followed a similar formula as the Chigacoland Vampires books. There is a big bad that is a threat to the city, and our main characters will need to root it out and destroy it. We have an all new cast of ombudsmen, plus our Chicagoland Heirs, who work together to complete the task. I liked seeing Elisa and Lulu together, and think they will have a fun friendship that will add a nice element to the series. (Lulu is Catcher and Malorie's daughter if your memory is fuzzy.) And I'm very intrigued by one of the pack members, Riley Sixkiller. I hope he features prominently in future books as well. But it was also excellent to have our favorite Cadogan House vamps making appearances, and Ethan and Merit still having parts to play as well. I think I would have been disappointed if this book took place elsewhere and our favorites were only in the periphery.
Oh yeah... what the heck are Autos? I think they are automated cars that are something like Uber (with no driver)... but I don't feel like they were ever explained. Unless I missed it. It was one of the little details that stuck out to me.
Overall, this was a good start to the spinoff series, and I am definitely looking forward to seeing the Heirs in action. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from the publisher, Berkley.
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