Title: The Spymaster’s Lady

Author: Joanna Bourne

Review Number: 6

Genre: Romance

Stand alone or series: Stand Alone

Summary: Amazon.com says – She’s braved battlefields. She’s stolen dispatches from under the noses of heads of state. She’s played the worldly courtesan, the naive virgin, the refined British lady, even a Gypsy boy. But Annique Villiers, the elusive spy known as the Fox Cub, has finally met the one man she can’t outwit

Why did I read the book: Rave reviews, recommended by everyone in romanceland . I think this is the book every romance lover is reading this month.

Review:

I begin with a confession and a plea. The confession: this is my first spy novel so I read this book without any expectations. The plea: I urge you to forget about the ghastly cover and get this book now for this is truly a masterful work.

Annique Villiers is a French spy who, as the book opens, is being held prisoner in a French dungeon by a couple of villains who believe she holds the so called Albion Plans – Napoleon’s plan to invade England and they want it. She does know the secret plan (as it is plain from the very beginning) and her inner struggle to decide what to do with them is the underlying plot for most of the novel – will she keep quiet or will she warn the British about it? If she does tell the British she will be avoiding death and destruction but at the cost of giving away France’s secrets (number of weapons, men, ships etc) and this is why she is torn. She may not agree with Napoleon but she is French and she is loyal.

But as it turns out she is sharing the cell with two British spies: Grey and Adrian (who has a gunshot wound and is barely alive) and together they manage to escape from the prison but Grey knowing that the Annique is this ultra famous spy, plans to capture her and take her to England as soon as they are out of the dungeon. And hence beings a game of cat and mouse where we are never sure who is the mouse or who the cat is. They are both extremely skilled in their profession, cunning and smart but eventually Grey is the winner for he has the only thing that can subjugate Annique – physical strength.

And so they go about trying to leave France, fighting common foes and fighting each other all the way. Are they allies or enemies? The boundaries of their relationship keep moving as they go along – there is the undeniable attraction between Grey and Annique as well as their growing respect for each other’s skills .

And what skills! This is where I say that this book is unbelievably COOL. There is no other word for it. As they shift from French and English to The Courtesan, to The Innocent, to The Master , to The Seducer, through all the fighting sequences that were so thrilling, my heart skipped a few beats a couple of times, I must admit.

But enough about the plot – I cannot talk about much of it as to not spoil the many twists – there is one in particular that left me gasping “Holy Guacamole, did I just read that? Are my eyes deceiving me?” – for where this book really shines is in its writing.

The storytelling is amazing but the writing is simply superb. Joanna Bourne managed to convey the accents of each person and how they speak in such a way, that you have no doubts about who is talking and when. You read Annique’s speech and thoughts and you know that she is French. There is also such a cadence in her writing, it is almost like reading poetry:

“He did not touch her, but something in her body reached out and greeted his body as if the two were old friends who had not seen one another for a long time. She did not like it that her body chatted to his in this fashion”.

I was awed by the writing, captivated by the heroine, thrilled by the plot , intrigued by all the secondary characters and I can not praise this book high enough. It is hard to believe this is her first book and I have only one question: what’s next?

Notable quotes/parts: There are many memorable parts but I just loved the sequence where they are still in France being chased by Leblanc’s men and they must separate – Annique goes with Adrian to hide in a monastery and Grey goes with Doyle to try to loose the men. I love the whole scene, the action, the feelings, the conversation between Annique and Adrian (by the way, can I please please please have Adrian’s story?) but the best part was when Grey and Annique realized they wanted each other so he tells her to stay alive and that he will be back and not let her go. This was a very powerful scene and my heart was racing and it reminded me of one of my favorite movie sequences, from the Last of the Mohicans where they must separate and he tells her to stay alive no matter what and “I will find you!”. Pure heaven.

Additional thoughts: I have a girl crush in Annique. I am usually a “hero” kind of girl which means that I relate to the heroes much more than to the heroines. But Annique is amazing – she is ever so resourceful, funny, cunning and smart. Plus, I really want to read more spy stories now.

Verdict: BUY it now. I am keeping mine for sure and looking forward to the next one.

Rating: 9

Reading Next: Charming the Prince by Teresa Medeiros

Why did I read this book?: It was the chosen book of the month for our book club.

Review:

I start reading the book and I am immediately sucked into it. I find the first few chapters enchanting, the writing captivating and soon enough I am falling in love with the story of Henry, a guy who has a genetic disease that makes him time travel and Clare, the love of his life. The narrative alternates between the two of them and so we are privy to both their internal voices.

They meet in the present time when Henry is 28 and Clare 20 .Clare has known Henry since she was a child but this 28 year old Henry does not know her yet – it is his future self who has jumped back and forth to her childhood.

It sounds complicated but it really is not. I think this is one of the best accomplishments of the book – Henry time travels to several points in time to several different points of Clare’s life and yet the author makes it easy for us to follow and to always know where he is and most importantly, when.

The story proceeds and Clare is growing up from child to teenager and has a number of encounters with Henry – a Henry that it’s between the ages of 33 and 42 whilst Clare is between 6 and 18. And this is when things start to leave a sour taste in my mouth. I know I am supposed to be elevated by this love story that surpasses time, future and past, but somehow I can’t look past the fact that at first Henry behaves like a father figure towards Clare respecting her age but as she becomes teenager he can’t help but to feel like he is supposed to feel for her – like his lover, like his husband, for whenever Henry comes from he is married to her future self.

So what begins as a beautiful love story starts to turn into these little moments of weirdness. I do not like the fact that she lost her virginity to his 42 year old self, for example. Or that in the future, Clare is sleeping with Henry (he is her husband now ) and another Henry comes from the past and they have sex right there and then. But most of all, I do not like the uneasy feeling that keeps creeping up – do they really love each other? Because we haven’t seen them falling in love, or having a period a honeymoon that is so dear to young love – in fact, it seems that their story is one of entrapment and desperation. And as the story moves forward I feel more and more suffocated because I have the feeling that I am trapped in the story just like they are trapped in their lives. And with that comes this sense of an impeding doom and then I realize that I should have expected that from the beginning. The epilogue says it all:

Clare : Why has he gone where I can not follow?

Henry: I hate to be where she is not when she is not and yet I am always going and she cannot follow.

And THIS is what I think the book is about. The fact that their lives were so intertwined, they ended up being each other’s anchor in time without having a say about it. They could not escape it and in a life where everything was so uncertain (where would Henry be in the next moment?) having the certainty of having each other was the one comfortable, easy thing.

They never had a choice and I think it was even worse for Clare for she grew up knowing Henry, knowing that they would be married in the future, and that pretty much ruined any chance of her having a normal life. She did not have much of a childhood, did not live her teenage years in full – Henry was her life. And so she waits.

There is this sense that no matter what they do they can not change a thing and I feel as desperate as they feel as the book comes to a close. The book ends and I am in tears without knowing exactly why – at some point I got disconnected with the story and the characters but still some resonance from the first chapters still lingers and I sob and I sob and I sob and I realize I am sobbing for the book that this could have been.

Memorable quotes/parts: I will choose to remember good moments: for instance when Henry jumped to the future and met his 5 year old daughter who in his present was yet to be born. It was a sweet, tender and immensely poignant moment for me.

Additional thoughts: The time travel scenario is one that has always messed up with my head. I remember watching and reading Somewhere in Time (which touches the same themes , time travel and a love story much more successfully, by the way) and then spending hours trying to figure out how did it work. An old woman goes to this man and says “come back to me” and gives him a picture of herself as a young woman. He falls in love and goes back in time so he can meet her and doing so, makes it possible to her, in the future, to ask him to go back to her and then the cycle starts again. It cannot be broken otherwise the story does not exist. It is the same thing with The Time Traveler’s Wife – they are together in the present only because they are together in the past only because they are together in future. There is no life without each other for these two.

Verdict: If you like sad love stories this may be for you. I am dying to see the film though for it has Eric Bana and that is already a good start!

Rating: 5 take it or leave it.

I guess I’ll begin with the regular spiel.

Why did I read this book?: I have heard a LOT about this book from multiple sources, and all the reviews have been positive. That said, this is not a book that typically I would pick up and read on my own, and when the opportunity arose for hosting a book club (and from the eager reactions from everyone involved!), it was finally time to succumb and read the damn thing.

Review:

The more I think about this book, the less I like it. Simply put: it creeped me out (and NOT in a good way).

I am torn. On the one hand, I can appreciate what Ms. Niffenegger has tried to accomplish. She has attempted to write a sweeping epic love story with a peculiar quirk. Instead of infidelity or mistrust, the problem is completely out of the hands of the couple–Henry De Tamble is an unwilling time traveler that can flicker in and out of time at any second. While I can appreciate the pains Ms. Niffenegger took to make this time traveling love story accessible, I just couldn’t really buy it. I really did not like Henry De Tamble at all. He struck me as a selfish, self-pitying clod for the entire story. Clare was only marginally better–but perhaps to best discuss my qualms with the book, I should explain a bit more.

A particular theme in this book that prickles me is the concept of Fate vs. Free Will. In my opinion, this story was completely devoid of Free Will–which is something I have a really hard time with, and don’t agree with. The love story, while touching and poignant when Clare and Henry are both consenting adults, really creeped me out initially. The hardest thing for me to come to grips with is how neither Clare nor Henry had a choice in falling in love. Clare’s life has been so drastically skewed because ever since she was a child, Henry has always been there guiding her, being her friend, mentor, and lover. Similarly, Henry never had a choice because in his early 20s, Clare approaches Henry and lets him know that they are meant to be together and he will spend the rest of his life traveling back to her, and falling in love with her. Sure, it works because they actually ‘love’ each other, but the predicament is circular, and there is no real free will involved. It bugs me enormously. Especially in the case of Clare (who genuinely never had a chance–she literally spends her ENTIRE LIFE WAITING for Henry–even when she’s an 80 year old woman, she’s still WAITING for him, from beyond the grave!)

This thematic dislike aside, however, I appreciate the novelty of the story with one character moving both backwards and forwards in time, while his lover is bound to a linear path. I liked the idea that time travel is not something that can be controlled and is a genetic disorder, and Henry can’t do anything about it (but again, isn’t that just fate over free will?).

This book as a time travel story disappointed me on almost every level. Inherently, time travel stories have some kind of screwy paradoxical problem. Most of these stories involve some kind of impending paradox that comes about from f*ing with time (think Back to the Future and Biffland). The Time Traveler’s Wife took a different approach to this scifi theme, and did away with any possibility for altering the future or the past. The universe in this book is closed, and static. Anyone in the vacuum CANNOT change the ultimate outcome. A time traveler has no ability to alter the future in any way because every outcome has already been determined and compensated for.

Well, where’s the fun in that? Perhaps if Ms. Niffenegger attempted to show her characters actively trying to change what their ultimate fate is, doing something other than simply floating along the pulling tide of destiny like lumps on a log, it would have been entertaining. But, like I said before, these characters are completely passive and devoid of any fighting instinct or further dimension.

Also, the physics of Henry’s time travel bugs. The discussions he has with Clare and his past/future self concerning causation and how it can only happen ‘once’ doesn’t make any sense (because there is no ‘first time’ in this closed, cyclical environment). I was disappointed in the author’s quick attempts to try and explain the mechanics and then dismissal as a genetic disorder that there is no cure for. For example, there is a scene where Clare draws a picture of 40 year old Henry and tries to “change” what Henry knows happens in the future by writing a date on the portrait. Henry says that there is no date on the picture, and Clare’s writing one SHOULD cause some sort of time paradox–however, it doesn’t happen because Clare later trims off the date–again implying there is no free will, because it has already happened, time is cyclical, and because of this, even if Clare and Henry try to change the future/past it doesn’t matter. It will be negated in some way.

Another novelty Ms. Niffenegger integrates into her tale is breaking one of the cardinal rules of time travel–Henry actively seeks out and openly interacts with his “other self” while traveling. There is so much interaction, in fact, that some very questionable (and frankly disturbing) scenes ensue–at Clare and Henry’s wedding another version of Henry shows up to say the actual vows; there’s some sex involving another Henry (while present Henry is still in the room, sleeping)…it’s just weird and off-putting. Could you cheat on your spouse with another version of your spouse? Would or should he be jealous? Just…no. For these reasons, and more that I won’t fully divulge to avoid major spoilers, the scifi aspect fell completely flat.

But this novel isn’t really about time travel. It’s really a love story, and a story about loss and trials and the ability for that love to transcend time, right?

Unfortunately, I could care less about the romance. Perhaps this is because I did not like either character. Perhaps it is because there was no honeymoon period for our lovers–there was always impending danger or misunderstanding…either Clare is a big crying self-pitying mess over miscarriages, or something really nasty happens to Henry (I won’t spoil it for you, but it comes completely out of nowhere), and so on and so forth. They could never be on the same page and just be HAPPY. Not a single respite. It was a bit much for me. The book focused on the negative aspects of their relationship, and the problems they faced without any of the positive payoff. You don’t even get to see the two of them ‘fall in love’ because of the nature of the time travel love story. I’m not a fan of sadism, and there was so much unnecessary, exploitative pain in this story and it felt like it was written for shock value instead of being an intrinsic part of the story.

I won’t even start to delve into the obvious objections about the sexually charged relationship that a 40 year old Henry has with a teenaged Clare.

Ultimately, this story just didn’t work for me. As a romance, it felt contrived and mean-spirited, and as a time travel story it fell flat on its face.

Memorable Quotes/Parts: Oh, where to begin. How about the scene where Henry takes Clare’s virginity (yeah, she’s 18 and he’s somewhere in the vicinty of 43). Touching. Or, the cringeworthy scene after Clare is beaten and date raped?

Additional Thoughts: Nothing comes to mind.

Verdict: Save your money. If you want to feel exploited and emotionally drained, wait for the movie version to come out. At least Eric Bana and the lovely Rachel McAdams are in that.

Rating: 4 Bad, but not without some merit

Since Thea and I read different genres most of the time – Me, reading mostly Romance Novels and Thea reading mostly Sci-fi/Fantasy, although I can feel deep in my bones that she will turn into a voracious Romance reader very soon. I know that she loved Lord of Scoundrels, she just bought Dreaming of You and yesterday she was reading about Georgette Heyer! But I digress – we though it would be interesting if, at least once every month, we read the same book and turned our reviews into a conversation of sorts, which we hope can be extended to the folks that read the blog.

So, without further ado, here is the information about this month’s book:

Title: The Time Traveler’s Wife

Author: Audrey Niffenegger

Review number: 5

Genre: Romance? Sci-fi? Both?

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Summary: From Publishers Weekly – This highly original first novel won the largest advance San Francisco-based MacAdam/Cage had ever paid, and it was money well spent. Niffenegger has written a soaring love story illuminated by dozens of finely observed details and scenes, and one that skates nimbly around a huge conundrum at the heart of the book: Henry De Tamble, a rather dashing librarian at the famous Newberry Library in Chicago, finds himself unavoidably whisked around in time. He disappears from a scene in, say, 1998 to find himself suddenly, usually without his clothes, which mysteriously disappear in transit, at an entirely different place 10 years earlier-or later. During one of these migrations, he drops in on beautiful teenage Clare Abshire, an heiress in a large house on the nearby Michigan peninsula, and a lifelong passion is born. The problem is that while Henry’s age darts back and forth according to his location in time, Clare’s moves forward in the normal manner, so the pair are often out of sync. But such is the author’s tenderness with the characters, and the determinedly ungimmicky way in which she writes of their predicament [...] that the book is much more love story than fantasy. It also has a splendidly drawn cast, from Henry’s violinist father [...] to Clare’s odd family and a multitude of Chicago bohemian friends. [...] It is a fair tribute to her skill and sensibility to say that the book leaves a reader with an impression of life’s riches and strangeness rather than of easy thrills.

We will be posting our reviews shortly.

Title: The Rake (Formerly The Rake and The Reformer – a better title I think)

Author: Mary Jo Putney

(beautiful cover *pats book adoringly* )



Review Number: 4

Genre: Romance – Regency

Stand alone or series: Stand alone although for what I understood the hero appears in an earlier book.

Summary: Fate has given a disgraced rake one final chance to redeem himself–by taking his place as the rightful master of an ancestral estate. But nothing prepares him for his shocking encounter with a beautiful lady who has fled a world filled with betrayal. Now he will awaken in her a passion more powerful than anything she has ever known–a passion that can doom or save them both if they dare to believe.

Why did I read the book: It is a classic in the genre and usually figures in the top 100 lists.

Review:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you my nomination for Most Tormented Hero of the Romantic world: Mr Reggie Davenport.

Reggie is a consummate rake. Which means that he spends his days doing nothing but indulging himself with women, gambling and all-nighters. He also has the usual issues: difficult childhood, no one who really loved him after his family died when he was 8, plus the fact that his inherited rights have been denied to him. You must be asking yourself, how is he different from the truckload of Tormented Heroes around?

The difference is that he has a serious drinking problem. He is also suffering from depression: he realises that he has nothing to live for and at the age of 37 he cannot keep up with his younger mates. He is suffering from constant memory loss that usually follows a night of debauchery and it is not unusual that he wakes up feeling like the world is crumbling apart, full of bruises he does not know how he came about or money he does not remember he won. A voice keeps telling him that this way of life is going to kill him and he despairs.

So it is no surprise when he jumps at the chance life is giving him when his cousin, who recently inherited the family title, decides to give his mother’s estate back to him. Strickland is where he was born and where he lived a happy life until he was 8, a estate that it should have been his for years but his eviiiiil uncle wouldn’t allow it. I could not help but to think that Strickland was to Reggie what Tara was eventually to Scarlett O’Hara– a lifeline, a source of strength where he could go and try to change his life.

But things are not as easy as it seems – he may have left the way of life behind but the drinking problem follows. To begin with, he doesn’t think it is a problem, he thinks he is in control and can choose when and how much to drink so he starts his new life full of hope. Strickland is a highly successful enterprise all because of his industrious steward who has been running the place very efficiently for 4 years so it was very surprising when he arrives there and realises that the steward is a woman! Enters the heroine, Lady Alys Weston.

Alys is a 30 year old spinster who is also running from her past. She is capable, smart and has earned her living for years as a governess and later on as the steward of Strickland, a job she got based purely on her references. Reggie’s uncle never interviewed her for the position and everyone in London just assumed she was a man. She is accepted and respected by everyone in the region and soon enough by Reggie too, who realises that she is brilliant at what she does.

On top of her brains, she also has a heart – she has 3 wards that she must raise by herself and she is the friend who provides Reggie with the support that he needs.
I loved Alys – she is a force to be reckoned with but to me, the book belongs to Reggie and his struggle to fight his inner demons, to stop drinking and to become a better man so that he could be with Alys.

As I read the book, I wanted so very much to see him win this fight that I was quite taken aback by my reaction. I have rooted for heroes before, I have suffered as they suffered, I had a most guttural reaction when Derek Craven was crying at the end of Dreaming of You and I thought I was going to dehydrate when Heathcliff heard that Cathy was dead in Wuthering Heights. But this was the first time I actually yelled at a book: every time Reggie thought about succumbing to his urge to drink I would scream “Do not do it Reggie!” or “STEP AWAY from that drink cabinet NOW” . Yes, I can see how this book helped me to prove to my partner that I am not crazy.

I was very surprised to see how delicately and yet seriously, the author dealt with the issue of alcoholism in the book. But this is still a romance novel and there are also moments that there are silly, flirty and sensual and a few secondary plots there were also interesting. And of course, eventually we are granted with the happily ever after that these two deserve.

Notable quotes/parts: I just LOVED the scene where Reggie succumbs and drinks and is caught by Alys. What ensues is a must gut-wrenching moment: he finally realises that he has no control and runs like he is being chased by demons until he collapses and prays. Alys finds him later and they just hold hands and talk for hours. It was sweet and we see how much these two mean to each other. Yes, they lust for each other but they are first and foremost, friends.

Additional Thoughts: In the book, Reggie finds in his library a pamphlet called The Effects of Ardent Spirits Upon Man written by one Benjamin Rush in 1784. This is when he realises that his drinking is a real problem. I looked it up – and this pamphlet is real. It just so happens that Benjamin Rush (who by the way, is a Founding Father of the USA and co-signer of the Declaration of Independence) was the one to introduce the idea of “addiction”. From wikipedia: “Prior to his work, drunkenness was viewed as being sinful and a matter of choice. Rush introduced the idea that the alcoholic loses control over himself and identified the properties of alcohol, rather than the alcoholic’s choice, as the causal agent. He developed the conception of addiction as a form of medical disease and finally developed the idea that abstinence is the only cure for addiction”.

So interesting. And I learnt this by reading a romance novel, a genre that is seen as trash. Oh, the irony.

Verdict: oh, definitely a keeper, it should be read by any romance lover. I want to read more of Mary Jo Putney, can someone recommend which one I should pick up next?

Rating: 7 – was torn between a 7 and a 8 and the only reason why I do not give this book a higher rate is because of the plot involving Alys’ past. OK, she was a heiress and I guess Reggie needed a chance to prove that he was noble and selfless but did she HAVE to be the greatest heiress ever of all times? Also, not enough sex. After all the build up I expected something more…..explosive.

Reading next: The Spymaster’s Lady!!!!!!!!

Title: Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson Series, Book 3)

Author: Patricia Briggs

Review Number: 4

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction

Stand alone or series: Third (most recent) entry in the Mercy Thompson Series

Summary: (From amazon.com)
When her former boss and mentor is arrested for murder and left to rot behind bars by his own kind, it’s up to shapeshifting 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.

Why did I read the book: Lately, I’ve been getting into paranormal fantasy. I like a strong heroine in my books, and this rapidly growing genre has a lot of ‘em. Granted, it’s overly chocked with were-creatures, fae and vampires, but the Mercy Thompson series has received such glowing reviews that I had to give them a shot. While this review is for book 3, I’ll address the series as a whole (I picked up book 1 Moon Called, fell in love with it and rushed back to pick up the remaining two books in the series).

Review:

Mercedes Thompson is unique. In a world where fantastical creatures are real, Mercy is the only one of her kind. She is a walker—not to be confused with a skinwalker—that is, she can shapeshift from woman to coyote painlessly, a birth gift from her Native American Indian father. When her mother came to Mercy’s crib and found a coyote pup in the place of a baby girl, she gave Mercy over to the werewolves to be raised. Which adds to Mercy’s uniqueness—she grew up with not just any werewolves as her family, but the Marok (the head werewolf of all North America) himself as her pack leader.

In books 1 and 2, Mercy’s relatively quiet life as a VW mechanic is shaken up from troublesome werewolves and nasty vampires. In Iron Kissed, her former boss Siebold Adelbertsmiter (Zee for short) is in trouble. Zee is a self-proclaimed gremlin, a rare and powerful metal-working fae, with the appearance of an aging, skinny, potbellied grumpy old man (this isn’t his real appearance though, just the glamour he employs). Zee and Uncle Mike, another powerful local fae, approach Mercy to call in a favor owed from book 2. They ask her to use her keen coyote senses to try and sniff out someone who has been murdering fae on the reservation. When Mercy quickly finds the killer, Uncle Mike and Zee set out to dispatch their own brand of justice…but are too late. The killer is already dead when they arrive at the scene, and unfortunately, the cops show up at that moment. Uncle Mike can disguise himself, but Zee is caught and pinned for the murder. What makes matters worse is, humans are becoming increasingly distrusting of the recently-outed fae, hate groups are on the rise, and a murdering fae is throwing oil on the fire.

Mercy, knowing that her friend is innocent (even though he WOULD have killed the murderer had the job not been done before he got there) works to find the real killer while dealing with her own romantic problems (involved in a love triangle with two very dominant werewolves), and angry nasty fae.

I absolutely love this book. Mercy is the ideal heroine. Unlike other butt-kicking lead ladies in the paranormal genre, Mercy doesn’t have multiple superhuman powers at her disposal. She’s not powerful at all, and actually is at the bottom of the hierarchy of mystical beings. As a walker, she can transform into a coyote and is not moon called like weres (nor does the transformation hurt like a were’s would), but she is not a huge lumbering predator. In her coyote form, Mercy weighs only 30 pounds, and while she does have heightened senses and speed, she’s easy prey for anyone bigger. The only ‘power’ Mercy has is her strange partial immunity to some forms of magic. Which isn’t to say she is impervious to magic—just that she can be underestimated, and she uses this to her full advantage. Magical abilities aside, Mercy is just cool. She’s not drop dead gorgeous or sexy, and as a mechanic she knows she isn’t the belle of the ball. She doesn’t have a private harem at her beck and call, nor is she bitchy and mean to assert how tough she is. Mercy is gutsy, smart, and knows when to submit—and that is what makes her so appealing.

As an avid Lost fan, I am loathe to read ANYTHING that involves a romantic triangle (“Geometry of Doom” or “Zombie Triangle”, as we like to affectionately like to think of it). Especially if I don’t know when the blasted thing will end. I was quite relieved to see a love triangle handled with class and sensitivity in the Mercy Thompson books, though, and I guarantee you that it will be worth your while to read (there will be no screaming, hair-tearing, head banging against a brick wall in prolonged triangle purgatory). Iron Kissed marks the final choice Mercy makes in regards to which man she will be with—Adam or Samuel? (Sam Adams? Hee!) She feels the heat here as Sam—the emergency room doctor werewolf who is her first love and current roommate—pressures her from one side, while Adam—the local werewolf Alpha who has publically claimed Mercy as his mate for her protection from the pack— pressures her from the other. I won’t spoil it for you, but her decision makes perfect sense to me. She is honest with herself, opens her heart and goes with what she knows is right.

Plus, she picked the guy I wanted. I’m shameless, I know.

Romantic entanglements aside, this book is wonderfully complex. Peripheral characters from the first two books are fleshed out here, and the fae are brought to terrifying life. I loved that Ms. Briggs makes the fae out to be the not-so-nice creatures from older fables, and she really captures the danger that Mercy faces. Similarly, the dynamics and politics of werewolves (dominants vs. submissives) is wonderfully imagined and original.

A word on Patricia Briggs: if you have yet to read her books, please hurry and jump on board. Ms. Briggs is a beautiful storyteller and has an incredible knack for creating deep, sympathetic characters that challenge typical stereotypes.

Finally, I’ll leave you with one caveat: this book is not without some heartache and there are some hefty, unpleasant trials that Mercy goes through. It isn’t sensationalized or for dramatic effect though; rather, it serves a purpose in the grand scheme of the story. Furthermore, I’m certain the repercussions of these actions will be dealt with in future installments. The revelation about the werewolf Ben, for example, is something I cannot wait to tackle in the next book.

These books are intense and enthralling, but not without a softer, human side—something that characters like Anita Blake lack. I couldn’t get enough of this series, and eagerly await Mercy’s next adventure.

Notable Quotes/Parts: I won’t spoil it for you, but the section where Mercy makes up her mind about who she cannot live without is wonderful. When she finally confronts the man she is not going to be with, the discussion they have is heartfelt, and genuine.

Naturally, the reaction of the man she chooses isn’t bad either.

Additional Thoughts: Don’t really have any…except to say that if you choose to read ONE traditional (by that I mean lycanthropes, vampires, fae) paranormal series, I would tell you to read this one. Way better than Anita Blake or Meredith Gentry, and even better than the popular Kelly Armstrong’s Women of Otherworld.

Mercedes is where it’s at.

Verdict: I loved this series. Go out and buy all 3 at once—you’ll thank me when you’re done with book 1 and don’t have to rush back to the bookstore!

Rating: 8 Excellent

Reading Next: The Blue Sword