Biting Bad picks up a couple of months after the events of House Rules. Cadogan House officially broke from the Greenwich Presidium and seem to be living just fine as a "rogue" house. Of course just when things seem like they might be quieting down, a riot breaks out at the Bllod4U factory. Add to it the fact that the GP has decided to blacklist Cadogan House (making it forbidden and considered an act of war if any affliated house so much as looks at a Cadogan vamp) and things are back to "normal" for Merit and crew. 
 I really felt like with Biting Bad we are getting back to what the series was before the life-changing events in Hard Bitten. Everyone is trying to get back to where their characters once were it seems. Obviously there are a few alterations due to the events of the previous books, but Biting Bad reall focused on Chicago politics and the mystery surrounding the riots. Ethan and Merit's relationship held strong throughout the entire book which was a breath of fresh air. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the back and forth between the two as much as anyone, but when it gets to the point where every book questions their relationship, it was bordering on tiring. Biting Bad keeps them solidified as a couple while everything around them seemingly falls apart. It was good that Merit's attentions weren't split between her feelings for Ethan and the mystery. More focus could be put in figuring out the riots and what they mean for the vampires of Chicago. 
 Neill still makes the relationship between these two hot, but it seems natural not forced. I'm very interested to see where their relationship moves to in future books. Since we are here, I hope that Neill continues to focus on them strengthening the relationship and is done with tearing them apart and putting them back together. 
 Mallory too is beginning to return to normal making moves to fix the damage she brought when she became evil Mallory. I had a terrible gut feeling that maybe this is a little premature on her part, but hopefully I'm wrong about that. I do like that Neill is taking her time repairing Mallory's relationships. The things she did could have hurt a lot of people, it's only realistic to think that there would be hesitancy for her friends to completely trust her again. 
 John McKettrick is making trouble once again for the vampires. I'll admit, I was hoping he would be more of a hands on foe for our group, but I guess I can't count him out just yet. I'm interested to see if Neill has more in store for him. 
 The end of Biting Bad is a slight cliffhanger. Nothing too bad, but it definitely leads us right into Wild Things which will be out in February 2014. I'm happy that Chloe Neill could successfully take us back to the feeling of the first books in the series. In the chaos created with the last few books it's nice to go back to the slightly familiar.