Iron Kissed and Bone Crossed, Patricia Briggs

When her former boss and mentor is arrested for murder, its up to shape-shifting car mechanic Mercy Thompson to clear his name, whether he wants her to or not. And she'll have to choose between the two werewolves in her life — whether she wants to or not.

In a world where "witches, vampires, werewolves, and shape-shifters live beside ordinary people" (Booklist), it takes a very unusual woman to call it home. By day, Mercy Thompson is a car mechanic in Eastern Washington. By night, she explores her preternatural side. As a shape-shifter with some unusual talents, Mercy's found herself maintaining a tenuous harmony between the human and the not-so-human on more than one occasion. This time she may get more than she bargained for.

I continue to love Mercy Thompson. I read both Iron Kissed and its follow up, Bone Crossed, today so the two stories have merged in my mind as one big long Mercy adventure. Iron Kissed had a sad plot twist for Mercy that I did not appreciate but it was handled as well as it could be.

I love that Mercy finally chose which werewolf she wanted to be with and I especially appreciate that she picked who I thought she should (Team Adam for the win!). I also love that Mercy drinks hot chocolate in moments of stress and goes to church every Sunday. Mercy is just one of those characters who you want to be friends with.

Now I am sad that I have to wait to read the next installment after getting to read all 4 in one week. And I have to keep my fingers crossed that Mercy and Adam remain firmly in love (I had a momentary New Moon induced panic attack when I thought Mercy was going to hurt Adam by leaving him to "protect him". Thankfully Patricia Briggs didn't toy with me like Edward). I also want Mercy & Adam to have coyote-wolf babies. So I'll be busy holding my breath for that to happen ;)

Blood Bound, Patricia Briggs

Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places - and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a message to another of his kind.

But this new vampire is hardly ordinary - and neither is the demon inside of him...

This book is as equally entertaining and awesome as the first Mercy Thompson story. I was happy to see the love triangle continue and I am leaning toward Team Adam. I also loved that Stefan had a bigger role in this story. I really like his character and his relationship with Mercy. This story was much creepier and scarier but not too much for my wimpy self. It is killing me not to google who Mercy picks in the end, Samuel or Adam. I'm trying to stay disciplined and just keep reading without peeking. But I will be mad if things don't go the way I think they should!

Moon Called, Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson's sexy next door neighbor is a werewolf.
She's tinkering with a VW bus at her mechanic shop that happens to belong a vampire.
But then Mercy Thompson is not exactly normal herself...and her connection to the world of things that go bump in the night is about to get her into a whole lot of trouble.

I am now officially in thrall to Patricia Briggs. And I've realized it happened just like how kids get hooked on drugs. Seriously. At first they resist and think drugs are bad even though they are curious (that was me when I read Cry Wolf). Then they decide they don't really like drugs but they definitely need more. Just a little more they tell themselves (me reading Hunting Ground). And finally they admit they love it and must have it (me reading Alpha & Omega). So I will admit I am totally into Patricia Briggs' writing but I am still slightly mortified to be seen buying the books thanks to the horrifying cover art and I definitely have been keeping their tackiness out of view from my family. Which is probably how I would feel if I was on drugs... hmmm. It's like my dirty little secret.

But I do love Mercy Thompson! I loved reading this book. I can't decide if I like Mercy or Anna better but I love how the characters overlap between the two series. I love that Mercy is tough but also shows emotion. She's not above bursting into tears which I can relate to. I hate when these types of characters are written as these emotionless, automaton, superhero types who need men like fish need bicycles. Mercy is believable. She saves the day quite a bit but is also busy trying to decide which hunky werewolf to choose. I loved it!

And now on to my biggest issue (really my only issue). I despise the cover art for this book and for all of the following Mercy Thompson stories. If these books had better and more appropriate cover art I wouldn't have to skulk through the bookstore and sandwich them in between my other purchases. I truly hate these pictures. So much that I am refusing to post them on my blog that 1 person reads. If you want to be creeped out come find the books on my shelf, Nora. I've posted the UK cover which I don't love but I also don't feel shamed by. The cover art doesn't even match the description of Mercy in the books which is irritating. As far as I have read Mercy has one tattoo... not a bajillion. I also don't get the vibe that she walks around mostly naked... but maybe I am just a prude.

Hunting Ground, Patricia Briggs

Mated to werewolf Charles Cornick, the son -and enforcer -of the leader of the North American werewolves, Anna Latham now knows how dangerous being a werewolf is, especially when a werewolf opposes Charles and his father is struck down. Charles's reputation makes him the prime suspect, and the penalty for the crime is execution. Now Anna and Charles must combine their talents to hunt down the real killer -or Charles will take the fall.

So I have gone back and forth in my feelings about this series and now I have swung back around to liking it. Last night I kept waking up feeling like crap (which might just be symptomatic of not wanting to go back to school after the 3 day weekend) and I eventually picked this book up. And I ended up liking it more than everything else in this series thus far.

This book had a huge focus on the relationship between Anna & Charles which is all I really care about in the first place so I enjoyed reading it. It was perfect middle of the night distraction reading. Now I just need to come to peace with being the kind of girl who is into these kind of books- or these books need to get better cover art and I won't have to feel silly about them.

The only bummer is that the next book comes out in Fall 2011! That is way too far away and it sets me down a depressing train of thought: what if I am in exactly the same life situation in 2011 needing to self-sooth in the middle of the night with werewolf stories. If I am going to be in a bad mood reading werewolf stories in 2011 I at least need to be a lot blonder, thinner, and/or richer. How's that for shallow? Or maybe I just won't be in a bad mood anymore.

Alpha & Omega, Patricia Briggs

"The werewolf Anna finds a new sense of self when the son of the werewolf king comes to town to quell unrest in the Chicago pack- and inspires a power in Anna that she's never felt before."

I really have some issues with this book cover (and really this whole genre as I realized when reading Bitten but that's another topic). I don't get why these books that are marketed to women are given seductive ladies splashed across the covers. You'd think they would go the way of the traditional Fabio romance cover art but with a hunky Native American werewolf instead. And that's another thing why are the werewolves in these books all Native Americans?

When I read Cry Wolf I always felt like there were some pieces of the story missing even though it is the first book in the series. Then I figured out that the story started in this short story in this random anthology. And I liked the start of the story much better than the middle parts I got to read in Cry Wolf. It's weird to me that the publishers wouldn't have included the short story in Cry Wolf or had the author smoosh them together. Or at least made it clear that you will be missing some details if you don't track down this other short story. I found it irritating that it was so hard to figure out where to start reading.

After all that I did like reading the beginning of Anna & Charles's story. It's silly and not entirely my thing but it piqued my interest enough to have me considering reading the second book. We shall see. I do have an exceedingly high tolerance for reading silly books.