Obviously MAJOR SPOILERS abound as this is the 7th book in a series.
Mercy Thompson’s life has undergone a seismic change. Becoming the mate of Adam Hauptman—the charismatic Alpha of the local werewolf pack—has made her a stepmother to his daughter Jesse, a relationship that brings moments of blissful normalcy to Mercy’s life. But on the edges of humanity, what passes for a minor mishap on an ordinary day can turn into so much more…
After an accident in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Mercy and Jesse can’t reach Adam—or anyone else in the pack for that matter. They’ve all been abducted.
Through their mating bond, all Mercy knows is that Adam is angry and in pain. With the werewolves fighting a political battle to gain acceptance from the public, Mercy fears Adam’s disappearance may be related—and that he and the pack are in serious danger. Outclassed and on her own, Mercy may be forced to seek assistance from any ally she can get, no matter how unlikely.
From Goodreads
If you've read my blog long, or even if you're new around here, you might know that I ADORE the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. I found this series fairly early in the game, right before the 4th book was published. I devoured them all and eagerly await the next installment every time. Unsure if they were "appropriate" for my blog audience, I refrained from reviewing them for quite some time. When I finally did bite the bullet, I did 2 sets of mini-reviews that cover the first 5 books (1-3, 4-5) and have subsequently reviewed each released book since then. Even more exciting was the fact that I finally got the chance to meet Patty at a signing for this book! It made all the difference in the world to hear her talk about her characters and actually read to us in the voices of those characters. But enough rambling, let's dig into the review!
Some time has passed between the ending of River Marked and the beginning of this book. Mercy has healed from her wounds and is settling in as the alpha's mate. Now residing in the Hauptman household, she is also officially step-mother to Adam's daughter Jesse. The easy-going nature of this relationship is what lulls you into a fall sense of security because right from the get-go we know something is wrong when no one from the pack can be reached.
There is a lot of suspense and detective work that has to go into discovering just what has happened to the pack. Making things even more difficult is the shear number of those involved. Despite these obstacles, and being a bit out of her element being the one solely in charge of the well-being of any and all pack members, Mercy shines throughout the book. Her dedication to the ones she loves can lead her into trouble if she's not cautious, as it naturally does in this book, but she wouldn't be Mercy if she didn't fight tooth and claw.
What made me really love this book, as opposed to the "meh" feeling I had for the last one, was the reappearance of some long-missed companions. There are a lot of beings and characters in Mercy's world and we don't often get to see many of them as often as we'd like due to other storylines. This book however saw the return of many characters that I had missed and their interjection allowed us to see how Mercy has grown and changed since the series first started. She is no longer just a shapeshifting mechanic working for a fae in a local shop, aggravating her werewolf neighbor with broken down vehicles, but otherwise trying to stay out of the supernatural world. Rather than hide from this world that she can't help but be a part of, Mercy has embraced her role in it and is a bit more careful in her actions.
If you haven't read the series yet, give it a go. There's hardly any romance, but lots of supernatural action that will keep you wanting to read. If you're a bit squeamish though, be forewarned, as these are werewolves, vampires, & fae who don't always necessarily have the best interests of humans in mind.
Do you read this series? What do you think? Do you have any other series that are like it that you love?
On Sunday, March 10, something that I have been hoping to happen for 6 years finally came true. I got to meet Patricia Briggs! I happened to see a tweet about her being out on tour & on a lark decided to see if she'd be nearby. Having lived in NC for most of my life, I was accustomed to getting passed over on many author's tours. Now that I live near St. Louis, I was hopeful and boy did I luck out. Patty was making a stop in Fenton, MO at a Barnes & Noble. My adoring husband was kind enough to drive me the almost hour, in the pouring rain, to make sure I could meet her.
While I arrived on time, I had a little snafoo while trying to buy my book. Once that was settled it was smooth sailing. I took my place among the attendees, seated to the front right side on the floor like a school child at story time. Patty was reading a chapter to us from Frost Burned and we all listened completely engrossed. It was quite amusing because as she read, she paced. She also self-edited as she read because, "I just can't help it." I think my favorite part was her pausing to tell us we were "sick" after we giggled at a particularly gruesome scene. Someone shouted out "well you wrote it!" and her reply was "I never said I wasn't sick!"
Once she let us dying for more, she moved forward into a Q&A session. This is what I learned from that:
- Night Broken will be the title of the next Mercy book in 2014; there will be another Mercyverse book (she's not sure if it will be Mercy or Alpha & Omega because she feels like A&O is just at a good holding place
- There is no end in sight for either series; she promises to stop writing them 1 book before she gets tired of it.
- In her upcoming short story collection we'll get to see Ariana & Samuel's story, Asil & Kara's story, and we'll finally get to hear about Bran's werewolf transformation.
- She wants to write something with Moira & Tom
- As far as her writing style is concerned she's a pancer which mean she doesn't outline.
- She wanted Mercy to have tension & extra reality so she gave her the garage. It doesn't matter what happens to her, she still has to get up in the morning and go to work to earn her living. Mercy's garage is based on real garage practices that actually happened to Patty & her husband.
- Dan dos Santos (the INCREDIBLE artist who does the Mercy covers has partnered with the Briggs to sell quality, affordable prints of the covers. I'm super excited!
After all that questioning it was time for the big event: the signing! I followed my signing etiquette & since I was one of the last to arrive, I made sure to stick towards the back of the line. Little did I know how fortunate that would make me because Mike (Patty's super awesome husband) decided to keep us company by hanging out, talking, and answering more of our questions. It was so much fun to hear personal stories about his view on the writing business. These two are the most genuine, down-to-earth people I have met that are pseudo-celebrities. They were very real and very open to discuss just about any topic imaginable.
I was so excited when I finally got my book signed. Patty was even awesome enough to take a few minutes to talk to each of us & she even let us choose what color she used to sign our book. When I told her this made been a dream in the making for 6 years for me, she was flattered and shocked that it took so long. When I explained about never being near enough to a tour stop she let me and everyone in the group know that if we'll tell them where we want to see her, that her manager will try to take that into consideration the next time they're working up a tour schedule.
I was over the moon and beyond appreciate to my husband for sticking it out the whole time. I want to thank Patty & Mike for making my trip more than worthwhile and for being so wonderfully attentive.
