Shadowed Steel (Heirs of Chicagoland, #3)

by Chloe Neill

[Berls]

I am continuing to enjoy this series a bit more with each book. Thanks to the separation from Chicago in Wicked Hour, I've gotten to know the characters a bit better and now that they're back with some of the familiar favorite characters they're still standing on their own.

In fact, I think that's a big part of this book in general - Elise and Connor are adults with BIG shoes to fill, but they are trying to stand on their own and make their own choices. I enjoyed that element, their independence and the way they're trying to carve out their own path. For Elise, this is made harder because the AAM has arrived to punish her for changing a human without authority and their solution is that she needs to join a Vampire House (thus stripping her of that identity she's trying to make for herself).

I appreciated Merrit and Ethan's role in this book - they are very parental, wanting to protect their child and having to balance that with letting her make her own choices. It didn't feel like they had an overbearing presence like in Wild Hunger. Malik also made a significant appearance, but in an appropriate, behind the scenes, uncle way. So I appreciated the distance from old characters, while still having them present. It was a nice balance.

I'm enjoying this new group of characters and the relationships they are forming. There's lots of potential to still be explored - you've got Elise's tenuous relationship with her "beast" and, though it's only been marginally mentioned, I think Lulu's magic avoidance is going to have consequences as some point. And then there's Connor's role as likely future Apex, which had some developments in this book.

Obviously, there was the standard mystery and detective work in this book and, as always, that was solid and enjoyable. I'm more invested in the long-term plot potential, than the mystery within the individual books though. I'm looking forward to seeing where this series will go. I continue to enjoy the narration and will keep listening, assuming the narrator remains the same.