A Quick Bite by Lynsay Sands and Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill

Paranormal romance is hot, hot, hot. So I decided to read a couple to learn more about the genre.

A Quick Bite is the "first" book in the Argeneau series about a Canadian vampire family (Sands's first publisher published only later books in the series, so this first novel was published after some books from later in the saga).

Lissianna is a vampire with a problem (aren't they all?): she has problems feeding. She's unable to feed from bags of blood, as is the current "civilized" practice in vampire circles: she has a fear of the sight of blood.

For her 30th birthday, Lissianna's mother uses her powers of mesmerism and mind control to kidnap a psychologist she believes can cure Lissianna of her fear of blood.

Unfortunately, that psychologist is very good looking (and a professional man, no less). What no one reckoned on was the marvelous chemistry Lissianna would find with her new friend, complicating matters for the entire family.

Merit (she goes by one name, like Cher) is the former graduate student -- and reluctant vampire -- at the heart of Some Girls Bite. She crosses the quad at the U of C one late night on the way to her office when she's attacked by a vampire. Barely conscious, her attacker is startled by another vampire, who "converts" Merit -- saving her life by making her a vampire.

Overnight, her life is turned upside down. She's forced to leave the University of Chicago -- they don't admit vampires, unfortunately. Her social-climbing father, a well-known real estate developer, is shocked and dismayed by this social lapse on his daughter's part, and the man who rescued her wants her to "pledge" his "house" -- a kind of vampire dorm/corporation. Merit doesn't want to be a vampire; she doesn't want to pledge her fealty to this strange man; but, she doesn't want to be a vampire on her own and she can see that the bossy vampire who saved her life -- without her consent -- is really, very, very good-looking.

Along with the romance, there's a mystery: there's a been a murder, by a vampire, in Grant Park. Perhaps Merit was the next intended victim. Is she safe? And who's the killer?

Some Girls Bite interested me particularly because the protagonist is a Chicagoan -- a graduate student from the University of Chicago. There are some familiar characters here: imperious good looking-men, faithful best friends, a semi-retired cop who's the salt of the earth, a social climbing real estate developer. There are a few references to Chicago places like the University of Chicago, Bucktown, and Oak Park.

Something Neill does well is "world-building." She spends a good bit of time helping us to understand the politics and organization of the vampire world, which mirrors our own to a surprising degree. Here, too, a lot of time is spent on exposition; the ending is a little less satisfying because the book is meant to be the first in a trilogy.