Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Series: Heirs of Chicagoland #3
Published by Berkley on May 4, 2021
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Elisa Sullivan is the only vampire ever born, and she bears a heavy legacy. After a sojourn with the North American Central Pack of shifters in the wilderness—where she turned a young woman into a vampire to save her life—Elisa returns to Chicago.
But no good deed goes unpunished. The ruling body of vampires, the Assembly of American Masters, is furious that Elisa turned someone without their permission, and they’re out for her blood. When an AAM vampire is found dead, Elisa is the prime suspect. Someone else is stalking Chicago—and Elisa. She'll need to keep a clear head, and a sharp blade, to survive all the supernatural strife.
The Heirs of Chicagoland series continues with the gang back in Chicago. I appreciated the last book because it gave us more time with Connor and Elisa alone, so we got to see their relationship building. Their relationship continues to develop in Shadowed Steel. Her friend, Lulu, still seems silly but loyal.
The primary story here is the AAM (Vampire rules watchdog group) wants to hold Elisa accountable for the human she turned to vampire as she is not a Master. She only did so because the human would have died because of the Pack. Their plan is to lock her up and test her, and force her to join a Vampire house under the control of a Master.
Elisa has no interest in being in a house, having the control of a Master, becoming a Master or creating any vampires in the future. She enjoys her work in the Ombudsman office. I suppose Elisa will always be a bit of a “special snowflake” considering who she is and Connor, but she does a good job of figuring things out and managing her own problems here, not relying on her friends or family to solve them.
The villains were easy to spot and one motive was clear. The other motive and details were much harder to see and had to be untangled throughout the story. Shadowed Steel is a solid installment with world-building, character development and an interesting mystery.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- C21-Spring
I’m glad you enjoyed this book. I haven’t read a lot of Urban Fantasy novels lately.
It’s one of my favorite genres.
Sounds like this series is pretty solid! Glad you loved this, I’m so curious to try it?
I enjoy this author. This is a spinoff from the Chicagoland Vampires and honestly while you could read this series on its own, you would miss a lot by not reading the original series.