River Marked by Patricia Briggs

Series: Mercedes Thompson Series, Book 6

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Copyright: 2011

Pages: 326

Rating:  4/5

Review: If Mercy and Adam together is what you're looking for, this book is a very happy present. Almost the entire book is the two of them together.

Mercy and Adam are on honeymoon and there's an ancient monster in the river near their campground - one they'll obviously need to take care of. There they meet some of the locals who help them fight the monster and we get an insight into Mercy's Native American heritage, her father and a whole lotta other people who I'll leave in suspense for now. You'll love Coyote!!

After waiting 5 books for more of Mercy & Adam together, this book gives you just that - but I think in overload. I missed not having the rest of the pack around - Bed, Warren, Samuel, especially no cameo by Bran. I can't believe I'm writing this, but there was just too much of Mercy and Adam and yet not enough to their interaction to make me happy.

"But you better put a shirt on, or your gorgeous self will cause an accident if you go running by the road, and someone sees you."

This different side to Mercy also surprised me. I don't know if I didn't notice it in the previous books but the number of times Mercy kept commenting on Adam's gorgeousness stood out for me in this one. I don't remember her going on about it so much before - but then again I guess being finally mated to someone like Adam would do that to you. 

I like that even with book 6, this series is still so lovely to read. The story flows along smoothly and in what is typical with Briggs' writing, you get immersed into it. This one is a lot more relaxed reading than the previous books. This was my first Briggs book where I took breaks in between and didn’t feel the urge to read the whole thing at one go, and in that I feel a bit disappointed, cause I've come to expect 5 star quality from Briggs. I did expect a whole lot more from River Marked, and while it didn't meet all my expectations, its still a good Mercy Thompson book.

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Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, #2) - Patricia Briggs

286 pages

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 who 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

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My first thought when i finished reading this was there is so much more to this book than what the stupid blurb states. This is a pretty good book – although not as good as the first one Cry Wolf – but then pretty good from Patricia Briggs is better then the best by most authors.

Charles and Anna have been together for a month now. Anna still has problems with dominant alphas and all the horror of her past, but she and Charles are in love, and they're getting to know each other.

The timeline of this books coincides with book 3 of the Mercy Thompson Series Iron Kissed - Bran, the Marrok of the North American werewolves has decided to bring the werewolves out in the open, and has planned a meeting with the European alphas to address their issues first. Charles feels something will do wrong and so Charles and Anna go to meet the European wolves instead.

Trouble starts with vampires trying to kidnap Anna. The talks are at an impasse with Jean Chastel, the French alpha also known as Beast of Gévaudan, not agreeing to the suggestions Charles offers. Then, the death of the British alpha's mate. Matters get worse when one of the wolves Charles fights with is later found dead with Charles' scent all over him (won’t say who, gives away the plot then).

Anna & Charles now have to figure who the real killer is before an execution order is made out for Charles..and Anna will need all her Omega abilities to save Charles' life

There was something missing in this book, but i can't put my finger on it. The real villian and the motives were definitely a surprise, i didn't guess who it was till the end. But for most of the book I felt like the situations kept getting cut off, the story changed to different peoples points of view too quickly and most of the time i would have liked to have known more from the previous person's viewpoint. Other than that, this was a pretty good story, my only other complaint being it was too quick a read.

Theres new characters in this book that you'll love. Arthur, the British alpha who thinks he's the re-incarnation of The Arthur, Chastile who they call the Beast, the other older alpha's who've been around a while, Dana the fae who oversees the meetings. A bit of legend and folklore added in as well - which always interests me. Plus there's a bit of Bran - i find him very enigmatic.

I love Briggs werewolves series. The world building is amazing. The third book comes out only next August, so rereads will have to do until then.

Favourite line:
His grandfather had often told him that he tried too hard to move trees when a wiser man would walk around them.

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Cry Wolf (Alpha & Omega, #1) - Patricia Briggs

269 pages

Anna never knew werewolves existed until the night she survived a violent attack and became one herself. After three years at the bottom of the pack, she'd learned to keep her head down and never, ever trust dominant males. But Anna is that rarest kind of werewolf: an Omega. And one of the most powerful werewolves in the country will recognize her value as a pack member, and as his mate


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lovely book this. Cry Wolf is the first book of a new series set in the same world as the Mercedes Thompson Series and tells the story of Charles Cornick, the son of the Marrok of North America and his new found mate and Omega, Anna. The initial story of how the two met was in the anthology On the Prowl.

Anna was Changed against her will and abused in her past pack as a means to keep her in line and help keep the Alpha's crazy mate in check. Charles, as his father's executioner takes care of the problem and having pronounced Anna as his mate, the two along with his father Bran are back at the pack lands at Aspen Creek.

Anna is trying to get used to her new world and apparent mate Charles, but the demons in her past are hard to slay and trust is something that takes time to come by. Their mate bond isn't sealed yet, and a rogue werewolf has been killing humans in the mountains and Charles, still not healed from his bullet wounds from Chicago, is the only one who can get rid of this problem

But there's more to this rogue werewolf who's trying to attract one particular werewolf from Bran's pack. The past catches up with Asil, also known as the Moor, a werewolf in Bran's pack whose dead mate used to be an Omega, and also Bran who faces a repeat of the nightmares of his past.

It is up to Charles and Anna to save the situation and each other while learning to get used to and trust one another.

This was a great book. Charles, who everyone thinks of as his father's ruthless thug, shows as side of himself not many have seen before, with this love and protectiveness of Anna. A side Charles didn't know he had - and i liked reading how he adored Anna, not for her Omega abilities, but for who she is. He needed her and found it hard not to show it. ("If she knew how strongly he felt, she'd have run out the door. He wasn't used to the possessive, or the savage joy she brought to his heart")

Anna, who was abused in her previous pack, is learning more about being an Omega is while at the same time trying to learn more about the man who is her mate. She learns to trust and eventually love Charles and you see her trying to leave the fear behind ("She wondered that hope was so much harder than despair") and slowly grow in confidence in her abilities, herself and her relationship with Charles.

Go read this book. If you love the Mercy Series, you'll love this. If you haven't read the Mercy series yet, you'll still love it.

Some more of my favourite lines:
Identity was partly heritage, partly upbringing, but mostly the choices you make in life.

“Illegitimis nil carborundum,” she murmured....
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down?” said Bran from her doorway. He was looking at her like a child who had been unexpectedly clever. “That’s horrible Latin, and your pronunciation needs some work.”
“It’s my father’s fault,” she told him, rubbing her shoulder...“He had a couple of years of Latin in college and used it to amuse himself. Everyone in my family picked it up. His favorite saying was, 'Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum europe vincendarum.’”
“ ‘Sometimes I have the urge to conquer large parts of Europe’?” Bran said, sounding a little incredulous.
She nodded. “Usually he only said it when my brother or I were being particularly horrible.”
“And it was his favorite saying?” Bran said, examining her as if she were a bug…but a bug he was growing pleased with.
She said, “My brother was a brat.”

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Masques (Sianim, #1) - Patricia Briggs

127 pages

When the peaceful kingdom of Reth is overrun by Geofrrey ae'Magi, the evil master of illusion, Aralorn, weaponsmistress of the shapechanging race, and her companion, Wolf, attempt to overthrow him.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Funny thing about this book - hard to find it in libraries and book stores, there aren't many hard copies available - but you can find it for free online.

Lady Aralorn is a shapeshifter who works as a spy. She's charming, humourous, courageous and has a knack for folklore. Wolf is a powerful magician with a scarred tortured past where he wasn't on the good side. He prefers to avoid human contact and stays in wolf form - hence the name. However Aralorn helped him once and he finds he keeps returning for her company.

They're only friends for almost all of the book, and only towards the end do they voice their feelings out. There was one kiss somewhere in between, which you almost miss, so this is no romance book. What i liked was their understanding of each other - they knew what to say or do and what the other needed better than the person themselves. Aralorn uses her wit and simple gestures to show Wolf she cares or to calm him down - and that was one of the reason i read this till 4 this morning.

The villain in this book in an archimage who has everyone's affections and is described as charming and full of laughter. But behind closed doors he's creating new monsters and doing horrible things to children to increase his power - and not enough people know this to be able to stop him without reprisal.
The final showdown between the couple and the archimage was more a blip than a bang - but I've realised that Briggs usually does things subtly and while she's refined her style over the years, this book follows in the same pattern.

This is one of Patricia Briggs early works, and in a way it does show. A lot of things went unexplained, the characters aren't black and white, they don't have the depth of character that you see in her Mercy Thompson series for example. But its a great story nonetheless.

Favourite line:
"When I die of heart failure the next time you frighten me like that, you can put that on my gravestone—‘I didn’t mean to startle her'"

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Blood Bound (Mercedes Thompson, #2) - Patricia Briggs

292 pages

Rating 4.5/5

Under the rule of science, there are no witch burnings allowed, no water trials or public lynchings. In return, the average law-abiding, solid citizen has little to worry about from the things that go bump in the night. Sometimes I wish I was an average citizen...

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...

In typical Briggs style, the book gets you involved in it from the get go.
There's more of the vampires in this book. Stephan asks Mercy for help when going to check out a new vamp in town who turns out to be more than just a typical young vampire. The wolves get involved to help stop the killings, and its up to Mercy to save them all.

This book had some lovely scary scenes (i like scary scenes, hence the 'lovely'), like when Stephan and Mercy first meet Cory Littleton the vampire or when he scratches Mercy's trailer.

I like the vamp characters in this book. There's more of Stephan, and like i mentioned during book 1, anyone driving the Mystery Machine is awesome in my books. The vamps aren't your typical bloodsucking-but-good-guys types. They're more concerned bout themselves and have no value for human life (They call the humans they feed off 'Sheep') or anyone not vampire - something i found refreshing. Except for Stefan. Who seems to have a heart. I hope there's more of Stefan in the books to come. Also more of Wolfe, i liked the idea of a wizard vampire, and he has a interesting character.

Mercy is still torn between Samuel and Adam. Sam is now living with her ("So how are you going to explain to your neighbors that there is a strange man sleeping on your front porch?" when Mercy refuses to let him stay) and Adam and her are finally getting somewhere. I can see her with Adam, but i do hope Briggs has something good in store for Samuel.

The part where he talks about his life in Texas and asks her "I wonder if she knew that I had money, would she still have killed my baby?... Was it my fault?" broke my heart.

Once again i didn't see the end coming. I'm usually good at guessing the whodunnit. Mercy had the balls to fight the good fight knowing there would be consequences, and i think that is one reason I'm still reading these books and will continue to.

Review for book 1 - Moon Called

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Moon Called (Mercedes Thompson, #1) - Patricia Briggs

292 pages

Rating: 5/5
Werewolves can be dangerous if you get in their way, but they'll leave you alone if you are careful. They are very good at hiding their natures from the human population, but I'm not human. I know them when I meet them, and they know me, too.

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 to 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 was pretty reluctant to start reading this series considering all the hype - i figured this would be another series i wouldn't like despite the good reviews (flashack to Twilight and sparkly Vampires)

Boy was i wrong

Mercedes Thompson is a coyote (or walker) who grew up with a werewolf pack. After leaving one werewolf love behind, she moved to the tri-states and is now an established VW mechanic who lives next to the local Alpha werewolf.
The book started off pretty boring for me, but as the pages went by, i was hooked.

Life takes a rollercoaster turn when a lone new wolf turns up at her garage. What follows is werewolf killings, the kidnapping of the Alpha's daughter, return to her original werewolf pack for help, Samuel - her first love and a plot that i didn't figure out until i actually read the actual who-dunnit.

Too many people have reviewed this book a lot better, so I'm not giving away any plot. However, i will say that for once i loved ALL the characters in a book.

I liked Mercy - she is well grounded, knows her limits, and is comfortable in her abilities - human and otherwise. She has a brain in her head. She wasn't out to prove anything, and new when it made sense to give in and when to go for it.

Adam as the local Alpha werewolf is hot. The attraction between Adam and Mercy is subtle and fun to see. They both care for each other, and they're just beginning to show it to each other. You can tell it'll be a good romance in the next book. You cannot help but like Samuel, the love Mercy ran away from at sixteen. Despite their problems in the past, they still have feelings for each other. Bran, as the Marrok - the alpha of all alpha's, had just the right amount of complications to make him a mysterious character. Warren and Kyle were fun as a gay couple. I liked Kyle trying to hit on Samuel. A vampire who drives around in the mystery machine will always be thumbs up in my book.

This book really has it all - werewolves, vampires, fae. You can tell that despite Mercy's smart mouth, she's surrounded by friends she cares about and who are loyal to her.

I loved Briggs description of werewolf politics and rules and culture.

The beauty of this book was that it got me completely involved in the lives of Mercy, Adam, Samuel and everyone else. Each of the characters was well rounded and made a connection. That's what makes it a great book.

Aaah well. Just go read it if you haven't already.

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