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Phantom Kiss (Chicagoland Vampires #12.5)
Chloe Neill
Published: Jan. 17, 2017 (Intermix)
Purchase: Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review
Reviewed by: Margaret
Rating (out of 5): 4 stars
Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books. If you haven’t started this series yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Some Girls Bite.
Ethan and Merit have just left a party at her parents’ house. (I won’t mention the nature of the party so as not to spoil the Big Thing that happens at the end of Midnight Marked, which means that this is probably not one of those novellas that you can read out of order in the series.) On the way home from the party Merit receives a call for help from her necromancer friend Annabelle. Merit and Ethan then find themselves patrolling a cemetery in their formalwear looking for a grave robber.
Someone’s stolen a skull and raised a ghost. Merit calls in her grandfather and the Ombuddies to help investigate. She even encounters Chicago’s very own version of Ghostfacers, the Paranormal Action Network, also looking for the summoner. And then the ghost follows her home. Vampires are being attacked in the tunnels under Cadogan House and the case becomes much more personal.
One thing I loved about this story was the amount of Chicago history that it incorporates, starting with those tunnels. Then there’s the possible connection between the ghost and Al Capone. Merit’s usually so focused on the city’s food, and I love that too, but it’s nice to see other aspects of Chicago in the series. My other favorite moment is Merit shutting down a vampire-bashing relative. She’s probably all of us at a big family gathering, but it feels especially pointy this year.
Phantom Kiss is set two months after Midnight Marked and two months before Blade Bound, which will be the series finale. I liked having this extra little slice of life before I have to say goodbye to these characters. I even got to see Merit fighting side by side with Catcher, which took me back to the early days of the series. I just wish this story was longer. I was surprised what a quick read it was. But fans of the series won’t want to miss this opportunity to spend a little more time with Methan and the gang before the end.
Sexual content: sex
I completely agree with your review. I loved the all the Chicago history in this one, and I wish is was a little bit longer. But definitely not a bad way to prepare for the final installment (sniff).