Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs

"Hunting Ground" is the second in the "Alpha and Omega" series by Patrica Briggs, a companion series to the "Mercy Thompson" novels that I've also written about. In the previous book we met Anna Latham, a rare Omega werewolf, and Charlas Cornick's new mate. Life could be rather tumultuous as they explored their new mate bond, but they did eventually begin to settle into their new life, of course having to kill off that evil witch didn't make things any easier on them.

Married life just isn't destined to be easy for Anna and Charles. Charles is the son of the Marrock, the lead Werewolf of North America, and more than that, he's his father's assassin and enforcer. This has meant that Charles has always kept to himself not wanting to have any weaknesses that anyone else could exploit. Having a mate brings a totally new dimension to his world that this ancient werewolf doesn't quite know how to deal with, but he is working hard to process!

To further complicate matters, Alpha's from all over the world are coming together to discuss the Marrock's plan to reveal the Werewolves existence to the general public. Emotions are running high, and Charles and Anna have gone to the meeting in the Marrock's stead. Unfortunately someone in Seattle has decided to kill Anna.

Meanwhile Anna is still exploring what it means to be an Omega. There are many Omega's in the human population, but it's so rare that they are turned, that it's hard for her to find information on what she can do. One advantage of the conference is that she gets to meet another Omega. He knows even less than she, but just the process of talking to another of her kind helps to broaden their understanding of who they are.

Oh and did I mention there's a nasty fae mixed up in all of this?

Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs

"Cry Wolf" is the first book in the Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs. It's a companion series to the Mercy Thompson books, set in the same world with some of the same characters, but taking things in a new direction! If you've read and fallen in love with the Mercy books, you'll love this series as well!

In "Cry Wolf" we meet Anna, and we get a chance to get to know Charles. Charles, as you may remember, is the Marrok's (the werewolf leader's) son and chief enforcer. In the Mercy books we've heard of him, but never really gotten to know him. Now, he's one of the main characters!

Charles goes into the Chicago pack and is forced to take out the leader, as well as several others, because they are completely out of control. They've been torturing members of the pack. Especially Anna. In the process the wolf in Charles and the wolf in Anna choose each other as mates. Normally the human's choose mates and hope their wolves agree, but this time it's happened backwards. This creates all sorts of interesting situations, especially because of how Anna was tortured, and because she is an Omega.

While trying to sort out their new relationship, Charles and Anna are sent out to track down a rogue werewolf. It turns out that not only is there a rogue on the loose, it's being controlled by a witch, a witch that has ties to a member of the Marrok's pack. It's going to take all the skill of Charles, Anna, and Bran to take down this witch!

"To Die in Italbar" by Roger Zelazny

"To Die in Italbar" (at least the copy I picked up from the library) actually contains two books by Roger Zelazny. "To Die in Italbar" and "A Dark Traveling." I'm not really sure why they were paired together because to me they seemed very different, but I enjoyed both of them! Just for different reasons.

"To Die in Italbar" tells the story of a man named Mr. H who is rather different. He goes through cycles where he is highly contagious to those around him, and cycles where he can heal the people around him. He doesn't really know why, and he doesn't really care.

Until Mr H. snaps that is. Well, he didn't really care at that point why he had these abilities, all he cared about was hurting those around him. He was bitter and angry, and it was time to start a plaque that would rock the galaxy. Now there are multiple people trying to track down Mr. H, all for different reasons.

"A Dark Traveling" seems to have been written for a slightly younger audience. It reads much quicker and with less thought, but it's still very entertaining! It's the story of a young man, mostly normal, unless you think his sister being a witch, his uncle being a werewolf, and the fact that he seems to have werewolf tendencies to be abnormal that is. James's family are like guardians. The help to monitor these "bands" that are basically parallel realities.

James's father has been attacked and sent to a "dark band," one of the realities that is usually avoided because of the danger they represent. Now it's up to James, his witchy sister, and their exchange student from a different band to find out what's going on and put it all right! Along the way they all learn more about what there abilities are, and some secrets about the family are revealed.

Both books put forth some really interesting ways of looking at reality and are well worth the read!

Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

Buy It Now!

Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, Book 4)

"Bone Crossed" is the 4th book in the Mercy Thompson series, and unfortunately the next book doesn't come out until March 30th, 2010! I have to wait! The good news is she has a companion series, Alpha and Omega, so I just ordered the first book in that series to read.

In "Bone Crossed" Mercy deals with the ramifications of her actions in previous books. She shows up at her shop one morning to find that it's been covered in graffiti. Some of it is rather harmless, but her door also has magically painted crossed bones on it, and she discovers they are a message from the Vampire Queen Marsalia. It's a sign to show that she has earned disfavor with the Queen, and any one who feels like taking her out has permission.

On top of that, an old acquaintance of Mercy's shows up asking for her help with a ghost. When Mercy investigates she finds the situation to be far more difficult than she would have suspected. Not to mention there is an adorable 10 year old boy who wraps himself around her heart.

There is also an ancient vampire making life even more complicated, but that's what we've come to expect from Mercy! On an interesting side note, she runs into a fae in this book who suggests that her coyote nature is carrying a little bit of "grandfather coyotes" chaos. It certainly explains why so many things happen to her!

Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

Buy It Now!

Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, Book 3)

"Iron Kissed" is the third book in the "Mercy Thompson" series. Mercy is a walker, one of the rare people who can change their form between human and, in her case, coyote. She also was raised by werewolves, is friends with members of the fae, occasionally helps out vampires, and can talk to ghosts. The world that Mercy lives in is different from the one that you and I live in. In most ways its the same, but the fae have come out into the open, as have (more recently) the werewolves.

There are many different stories out there about the fae, and many of them are false or hold only a small portion of truth, but one of the one's that is true is that most of the fae can not handle the touch of iron. One of Mercy's friends is different though, he is "iron kissed" and not only can handle the touch of iron, he has an affinity for it. In fact, Zee was the original owner of the shop that Mercy now runs.

Now there's trouble among the fae and Zee's the one that has been designated to take the fall. Mercy, of course, doesn't take too kindly to this idea and begins looking into solving the crime. This pits her against some powerful fae, but Mercy always has some tricks up her sleeve, and of course she has some powerful friends of her own.

Zee tries to stop Mercy from interfering. It's not so much that he likes the idea of being the fall guy, it's more that he knows that there are some incredibly powerful forces involved, and he doesn't think Mercy is going to be able to stand up to them. Mercy is stubborn though, and when it comes to her friends, very little can keep her from giving her 100% to help them! She does find herself in quite a bit of hot water before the book is over, but in true Mercy fashion, she also finds a way out of it.

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Buy It Now!

Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, Book 2)

"Blood Bound" is the second book in the "Mercy Thompson" series by Patricia Briggs. Once again she's written a great book full of magic, adventure, and even a little bit of romance! Whereas the last book delved deep into the world of werewolves, this book takes us (and Mercy) into the secret lives of vampires.

Mercy knows that vampires are, by definition, evil. She makes an exception for her friend Stephen though, so when he goes missing, she's more than willing to investigate! Plus she has the advantage of being semi-immune to vampire magic, which has lead to the queen of the vampire coven calling on her for help, because they are dealing with a rogue vampire.

Along the way Mercy learns a lot about vampire society that she never knew, and a lot about her friend Stephen. Including that he seems to care for her a bit more than just as a friend. How complicated can her love life get? She already has two werewolves vying for her attention...

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Buy It Now!

Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1)

"Moon Called" by Patricia Briggs is a modern fantasy set in the Tri Cities area and is full of werewolves, vampires, fae, and the main character is a skin changer! For those of you not familiar with the Tri Cities, it's part of my home state, so that was a lot of fun for me. This is the first book I've read by Briggs and I'm really looking forward to reading more.

Mercedes, the main character, is a skin walker. She's of Native American descent and can easily change back and forth between her human form and coyote form. She didn't grow up in a Native American community though, no, she was raised by Werewolves. As a result, she knows way more about their culture than most, and she's on friendly terms with the local pack.

Actually, Mercedes seems to be able to make friends with just about anybody. Her former boss and friend is a fae, she regularly does car work for a local vampire, and she's quick to befriend a new werewolf when he shows up on the scene. Things go crazy not long after that as blood is shed and Mercedes finds the people she loves in terrible danger.

One thing I really appreciated about this story is that it's not your typical "oh it's fantasy so we have to throw some dirty, nasty sex scenes in." There is some romantic tension (and I loved it) but it's a pretty clean read. The cover art doesn't really reflect that though.