Waiting on Wednesday: Silence Fallen

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine and is a fun way to see what books other bloggers just can't wait to get their hands on!

SILENCE FALLEN

Mercy Thompson #10

Patricia Briggs

Releases March 2017 from Ace

From Goodreads:

Attacked and abducted in her home territory, Mercy finds herself in the clutches of the most powerful vampire in the world, taken as a weapon to use against alpha werewolf Adam and the ruler of the Tri-Cities vampires. In coyote form, Mercy escapes only to find herself without money, without clothing, and alone in the heart of Europe...

Unable to contact Adam and the rest of the pack, Mercy has allies to find and enemies to fight, and she needs to figure out which is which. Ancient powers stir, and Mercy must be her agile best to avoid causing a war between vampires and werewolves, and between werewolves and werewolves. And in the heart of the ancient city of Prague, old ghosts rise... 

MERCY AND ADAM! There will never be a time I'm not absurdly excited for a new installment in this series, as Mercy is one of my all time favorite heroines. I'm a little bummed because it sounds like she and Adam are going to be separated for most of the book and their interactions are one of the higlights of this series for me, but Mercy is more than strong enough to carry a book on her own and I'm looking forward to seeing her take Europe (and these ancient powers) by storm:)  

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Review: Fire Touched

FIRE TOUCHED
Mercy Thompson #9
Patricia Briggs
Urban Fantasy
352 pages
Ace
Available March 8th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Tensions between the fae and humans are coming to a head. And when coyote shapeshifter Mercy and her Alpha werewolf mate, Adam, are called upon to stop a rampaging troll, they find themselves with something that could be used to make the fae back down and forestall out-and-out war: a human child stolen long ago by the fae.

Defying the most powerful werewolf in the country, the humans, and the fae, Mercy, Adam, and their pack choose to protect the boy no matter what the cost. But who will protect them from a boy who is fire touched?

MY THOUGHTS
Fire Touched is everything there is to love about the Mercy Thompson series, reuniting us with a beloved heroine who has an uncanny ability to land herself smack dab in the middle of epic supernatural trouble. One of the things that makes Mercy so lovable however is how she handles the problems she both purposely and inadvertently causes, always stepping up to be part of the solution while charming us with her gift of humor even in the darkest of moments.

Since Bone Crossed (book 4) when Adam made Mercy Pack, Mercy's faced more than a little negativity from other pack members who don't find her to be a suitable mate for their alpha, and while Adam is an extraordinary man and mate, he's continuously fallen short in his defense of Mercy to the pack. His lack of outspoken support for Mercy has rankled a touch when pack politics have come into play over the past few books, but in this newest installment we have the pleasure of seeing Adam reach his breaking point with the pack and finally lay down the law in spectacular fashion. We also get his reasons for staying silent in his own words, something that goes a long way to smoothing any mildly ruffled feathers from his previous inaction.

As always though, Mercy and Adam's relationship, and their joint relationship with the pack, takes a back seat to the latest paranormal problem to seek sanctuary in their territory. One of the highlights of this series is the wide range of supernatural creatures Ms. Briggs brings into play, and she doesn't disappoint this time around with a classic bridge troll and a few close encounters with a number of fae powerhouses. Through it all we get a united Mercy and Adam, stronger and more in love than ever as they continue to be trailblazers bringing the human world and the supernatural world a step closer to living in relative harmony.

Overall, Fire Touched is another quick, fun read, leaving us completely satisfied and content to wait until it's Mercy and Adam time once again.

Rating: 4/5

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

 

If you haven't had a chance yet, be sure and check out my re-read post for Bone Crossed and enter to win one of two copies!

This book was sent to me by the publisher  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Murder of Crows

MURDER OF CROWS
The Others #2
Anne Bishop
Urban Fantasy
369 pages
ROC
Available Now
Source: Bought

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
After winning the trust of the terra indigene residing in the Lakeside Courtyard, Meg Corbyn has had trouble figuring out what it means to live among them. As a human, Meg should be barely tolerated prey, but her abilities as a cassandra sangue make her something more.

The appearance of two addictive drugs has sparked violence between the humans and the Others, resulting in the murders of both species in nearby cities. So when Meg has a dream about blood and black feathers in the snow, Simon Wolfgard—Lakeside's shape-shifting leader—wonders whether their blood prophet dreamed of a past attack or of a future threat.

As the urge to speak prophecies strikes Meg more frequently, trouble finds its way inside the Courtyard. Now the Others and the handful of humans residing there must work together to stop the man bent on reclaiming their blood prophet—and stop the danger that threatens to destroy them all.

MY THOUGHTS
I'm going to keep in the more casual vein for the reviews of this series because I'm having so much fun reading them that it's hard for me to write in the more structured way I usually do. I'm taking a short break after this book though, so I'll return to my more formal reviews next week before I gush over book three.

I dove straight into this book the minute I finished Written in Red, and it was everything I'd hoped it would be aside from one small drawback. A quick confession: I tend to obsess over certain characters when I read, especially characters between whom there is the potential for romance. Once my fixation is jump-started, it becomes all-consuming and I can hardly deal with any kind of interruption–in the real world or the fictional one–that tries to rob me of the my quality obsession time. This second book was the tiniest bit guilty of denying me a little extra Meg and Simon time, expanding the boundaries of the world outside the Courtyard's walls and into other towns where tensions between humans and the Others are rapidly rising. While logically I know this entire series couldn't be written within the confines of the Lakeside Courtyard, getting bounced around to a few new characters instead of staying tucked in a little closer to home with Simon and Meg did make me ever-so slightly twitchy.

That is an extremely specific and very minor complaint though, I just can't help but want all the Meg and Simon time possible. Their friendship progresses delightfully in this second book, though I know we're still a long way from developing any kind of physical relationship. The slow, slow, slow burn between them is a highlight for me, and all the small, casual touches and the confusion on both sides about certain aspects of their friendship brings a smile to my face every time they're together.

Some of my favorite Others – Tess, Sam, and the Elementals and their ponies – were sadly absent for most of this book as the focus shifted to the blood prophets still in captivity, but fantastic new characters were introduced (Skippy! Jean!) which kept me from missing them too much. Overall, this second installment further cemented my love for this series, and I will be continuing on my binge read with nothing short of the kind of fangirl joy that comes from discovering a series destined for a top spot on the shelf of favorites.

Rating: 4.5/5

Find Anne:

Website • Goodreads • Amazon

Waiting on Wednesday: Fire Touched

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine and is a fun way to see what books other bloggers just can't wait to get their hands on!

FIRE TOUCHED

Mercy Thompson #9

Patricia Briggs

Urban Fantasy

Releases March 2016 from Ace

From Goodreads:

Tensions between the fae and humans are coming to a head. And when coyote shapeshifter Mercy and her Alpha werewolf mate, Adam, are called upon to stop a rampaging troll, they find themselves with something that could be used to make the fae back down and forestall out-and-out war: a human child stolen long ago by the fae.

Defying the most powerful werewolf in the country, the humans, and the fae, Mercy, Adam, and their pack choose to protect the boy no matter what the cost. But who will protect them from a boy who is fire touched?

This week's pick was a no-brainer. The Mercy Thompson series is one of my all time favorite urban fantasy series, and there will never be a time when I don't need more Mercy and Adam in my life. Like the Kate Daniels books, this series always seems to stay fresh for me no matter how high the number of books climbs, reminding me that established couples can be every bit as swoon-worthy as new relationships and making me wish I was even 1/100th of the badass Mercy is.

Also? That cover. It's like the creepy dog from Ghostbusters but with so much more awesome.

Goodreads • Amazon 

Review: Magic Shifts

MAGIC SHIFTS
Kate Daniels #8
Ilona Andrews
Urban Fantasy
342 pages
Ace
Available Now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
After breaking from life with the Pack, mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate—former Beast Lord Curran Lennart—are adjusting to a very different pace. While they’re thrilled to escape all the infighting, Curran misses the constant challenges of leading the shapeshifters.

So when the Pack offers him its stake in the Mercenary Guild, Curran seizes the opportunity—too bad the Guild wants nothing to do with him and Kate. Luckily, as a veteran merc, Kate can take over any of the Guild’s unfinished jobs in order to bring in money and build their reputation. But what Kate and Curran don’t realize is that the odd jobs they’ve been working are all connected.

An ancient enemy has arisen, and Kate and Curran are the only ones who can stop it—before it takes their city apart piece by piece…

MY THOUGHTS
The Kate Daniels series is one that manages to remain fresh and engaging despite rapidly approaching the double digits in number, teaching us new things about the endlessly imaginative world and its inhabitants with each installment. Magic Shifts is the latest outstanding addition to a phenomenal series, giving us a new and impressive villain to test Kate and Curran while at the same time deepening the relationship between the two of them as well as their relationships with those around them.

Kate is a woman who, without fail, brings a smile to our faces every time we pick up a book in this series, her quick wit and laid-back approach to creatures and situations that would have most people curled in the fetal position just a few of the things that make us want to reach out and hug her for being a more unconventional variety of badass. She has a healthy understanding of her own capabilities without constantly patting herself on the back, making her occasional boastful taunts to whomever she's facing down come across as genuine rather than self-congratulatory.

Her relationship with Curran is as much a highlight in this newest installment as it has been from the beginning, the two of them reaching a place where they have complete trust and faith in the other, and just when we begin to think an established romance might not hold our interest the way the building of it did in previous books, Ilona Andrews delivers the emotional equivalent of a smack upside the head for ever doubting them. The romantic punch to the gut is short-lived but no less poignant for its brevity, reminding us just how beautiful a couple Kate and Curran are and how much we want to see the two of them get to a place where their days are no longer full of life and death struggles.

Overall, Magic Shifts is as engaging and entertaining as we've come to expect from the writing team of Ilona Andrews, telling a complete story so that we're left utterly satisfied as we turn the last page while keeping the larger plot involving Roland alive and well so future installments have innumerable legs to stand on.

Rating: 4.5/5
 

Find Ilona:

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This book was  sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Mini Reviews: Fair Game + Dead Heat

FAIR GAME
Alpha and Omega #3
Patricia Briggs
Urban Fantasy
293 pages
Ace
Available Now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son-and enforcer-of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind.

Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can't afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father's dirty work is taking a toll on Charles.

Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack's help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves-all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer's sights...

MY THOUGHTS
Fair Game highlights everything there is to love about mated werewolf pair Anna and Charles, their growth both individually and as a couple evident as the story unfolds, with the two of them finding once again that while strong apart, they’re nearly invincible together. Anna has come so far from the abused young woman Charles saved from the brutal whims of her former pack, now able to stand strong in the face of the alpha of all alphas in Charles’s father when all those around her are forced to their knees by his power. She’s lost nearly all her fear of dominant male wolves, beautifully confident in her own ability to make sure she never finds herself in the role of victim again.

Charles, for his part, is as magnificently protective as ever, the rules Anna gives those meeting him for the first time bringing a smile to our faces because we know just how necessary they are. While he’s quite stubborn in this latest installment, seeking to protect Anna from the things that haunt him day to day instead of letting her be a true mate in every way, he’s someone willing to admit when he’s wrong, and by the end we can feel additional layers of unbreakable steel threaded through their bond when he does so. Despite the dark grittiness of this world, Anna and Charles are what could be described as a comfort couple, two people we know are going to stand strong together against everything they face without letting petty drama and angst make a mockery of everything they’ve built.

Rating: 4/5

DEAD HEAT
Alpha and Omega #4
Patricia Briggs
Urban Fantasy
336 pages
Ace
Available March 3rd
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles’s role as his father’s enforcer. This time, their trip to Arizona is purely personal, as Charles plans to buy Anna a horse for her birthday. Or at least it starts out that way...

Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous Fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The Fae’s cold war with humanity is about to heat up—and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire. 

MY THOUGHTS
Dead Heat continues the evolution of Anna and Charles as a couple and this supernatural world as a whole now that werewolves have been outed to the general public. The two of them, as always, are a delight together, his quiet intensity and unexpected sense of humor a beautiful match for the genuine warmth and light that shines from Anna as the shadows of her past slowly but steadily fade away. The way his very presence intimidates all those around him allows Anna to be the more social of the pair of them, her place as his mate as soothing and comforting to him as it is empowering for her, and there's nothing better for a reader than watching a beloved couple get stronger with every chapter of their story.

While the first couple installments were more a bit more relationship-focused, Anna's well-earned skittishness and the nightmares of her past things neither quickly nor easily overcome, Fair Game and Dead Heat both step up the supernatural mystery aspect of this series, dragging one terrifying case after another into the limelight. Though Anna and Charles's romance is the kind that would have us doing anything in our power to find our way into this world so that we might find a werewolf mate of our very own, Ms. Briggs masterfully portrays the dark with the light, showing us unflinchingly what a real monster looks like. The wait in between installments in this series is almost always painfully long, but we know without a doubt Anna and Charles (and Mercy and Adam!) will never disappoint, leaving us utterly satisfied just as they have every time before.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Patricia:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Shifting Shadows

SHIFTING SHADOWS
Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson
Patricia Briggs
Urban Fantasy
450 pages
Ace Hardcover
Available Now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Mercy Thompson’s world just got a whole lot bigger…

A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today” (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends…

Includes the new stories…
“Silver”
“Roses in Winter”
“Redemption”
“Hollow”

…and reader favorites
“Fairy Gifts”
“Gray”
“Alpha and Omega”
“Seeing Eye”
“The Star of David”
“In Red, with Pearls”

MY THOUGHTS
In many cases, anthologies or collections of short stories end up being the perfect way to get a feel for the writing style of either a single author or many different contributors, allowing readers the chance to see if they might find a new favorite in the mix. Shifting Shadows is not that type of collection however, the ten stories splashed across the pages more for dedicated fans of the Mercy Thompson universe rather than series newcomers; little peeks at the beloved secondary characters who never fail to enrich Mercy's world and bring a smile to our faces. For those who stare mournfully at a calendar bemoaning the slow speed at which time seems to travel in between installments though, Shifting Shadows is a true and utter treat.

Personal Favorites:
This collection gives us glimpses of both prominent secondary characters whom we've met repeatedly as well as lesser known characters, but for me personally, the strongest stories were those with familiar friends at the forefront.

ALPHA AND OMEGA
This tale is perhaps the one exception to the aforementioned not-for-newcomers label, the first meeting of Charles and Anna (protagonists of their own Mercy spin-off series) beautiful in the raw emotion that immediately smacks us in the face upon meeting Anna. After being Changed against her will, she endured the unfathomable for three long years, but though her experiences clearly left scars not visible to the naked eye, she refuses to let her fire be starved by those who have her at their mercy. Charles, for his part, is the kind of protective we can't help but swoon over, rising up in Anna's defense while still granting her the freedom to save herself.

Their story continues in a series by the same name and is definitely one that should not be missed.

ROSES IN WINTER
"Roses in Winter" is a sweet story depicting the friendship between a very young wolf struggling to control the animal inside her and a very old wolf who sometimes finds himself fighting the same battle, and while their unlikely affection warms our hearts, their tale is also a painful reminder of how brutal this world of werewolves can be. The safety of the many is often preserved through the sacrifice of those few who are emotionally or physically unequipped to handle life as a wolf, and nowhere is that concept more gut-wrenchingly apparent than with Asil and Kara.

REDEMPTION
"Redemption" grants us a little time with Ben, one of the far less agreeable members of Adam and Mercy's pack, but someone who has been there for Mercy unfailingly and unflinchingly in her darkest moments. Because we know him to be as a true a friend to her as they come, we look upon his complete disregard for the art of tact as charming rather than offensive, smiling uncontrollably as he lets anyone and everyone know just what he thinks of them. We also get a brief-but-sickening look at what landed him on Adam's doorstep in the beginning of Mercy's series, and that taste of his darkness only makes us want to hold him tighter even though we know he would recoil in horror if he knew the direction of our thoughts.

Overall Rating: 4/5

Find Patricia:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Night Broken

NIGHT BROKEN
Mercy Thompson #8
Patricia Briggs
Adult Urban Fantasy
352 pages
Ace
Available March 11th
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
An unexpected phone call heralds a new challenge for Mercy. Her mate Adam’s ex-wife is in trouble, on the run from her new boyfriend. Adam isn’t the kind of man to turn away a person in need—and Mercy knows it. But with Christy holed up in Adam’s house, Mercy can’t shake the feeling that something about the situation isn’t right.

Soon, her suspicions are confirmed when she learns that Christy has the farthest thing from good intentions. She wants Adam back and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen, including turning Adam’s pack against Mercy.

Mercy isn’t about to step down without a fight, but there’s a more dangerous threat circling. Christy’s ex is more than a bad man—in fact, he may not be human at all. As the bodies start piling up, Mercy must put her personal troubles aside to face a creature with the power to tear her whole world apart.

MY THOUGHTS
The Mercy Thompson series is one of those series where returning to it is not a desperate, driving need, but yet once we’re there it settles around our shoulders with all the comfort of a warm blanket on a cold winter day. There’s a beautiful familiarity waiting for us from the moment we crack the spine, beloved characters ready to land themselves in various types of troubles for our amusement, and we can do nothing but smile when we settle down to read. Even installments that might have a particularly bothersome flaw don’t ruffle our feathers all that much or take away from our overall enjoyment because the strength of our tie to the series as a whole is simply too strong.

One of those aforementioned flaws is present and accounted for in Night Broken in the form of Adam’s ex-wife Christy, her manipulative and petty presence like nails on a chalkboard for the effect she has on Adam and the rest of the pack. Christy has an uncanny ability to render both Adam and majority of the pack completely docile, unwilling to say or do anything that might hurt her or cause her fake tears to flow, and while it’s easy to simply greatly dislike Christy and move on, it’s more difficult to do so with Adam's behavior toward her. Mercy is not the type of woman who needs a man to protect or defend her in any way, but there’s a point when Adam's lack of outspoken support for her becomes not simply a matter of keeping the peace within the pack, but rather shows a distinct lack of respect for his wife and mate. He expects Mercy to swallow behavior from Christy he himself would never dream of enduring were their roles reversed, so for the first part of this story Adam unfortunately loses a few of the points he's earned with us over the course of this series.

Where Adam loses points though, Mercy earns them with the way she handles herself, never fully backing down from Christy’s deliberate provocations but never rising to them either, instead she gives an inch or two before taking them back once again. We might wish for her to wrestle those inches back in more dramatic fashion as our anger on her behalf is quite impressive, but nothing knocks Mercy from the beautiful high road she’s so set on walking. Luckily for us though, about halfway through the focus shifts from Christy’s presence to the more pressing mystery surrounding her stalker, and we quickly leave all our frustrations behind in favor of diving headfirst into the adventure Ms. Briggs never fails to grant us with each Mercy Thompson novel.

Overall, even with Christy and her childish game playing this story is still delightfully entertaining, Mercy’s life as hectic and as dangerous as ever when she finds herself of interest to numerous very powerful entities. Adam does charm his way into earning our forgiveness by the end, so we're left with one of our favorite couples strong, in love, and back on track in our eyes by the time we reach the last page. We can only wonder what near-death experience awaits Mercy next, and I for one am greatly looking forward to watching her escape its cold, clammy fingers all over again.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Patricia:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.