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Moon Called
RECOMMENDED: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs is $2.99! This is the first book in the Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series and I really loved this book. Admittedly, I’m not caught up in the series and have only read the first three or four books, so maybe someone can add some thoughts on how the series unfolds, whether good or bad. Many people love the heroine because she’s a bit of a badass. However, some people feel like the first book is a little slow.
Mercedes “Mercy” Thompson is a talented Volkswagen mechanic living in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. She also happens to be a walker, a magical being with the power to shift into a coyote at will. Mercy’s next-door neighbor is a werewolf. Her former boss is a gremlin. And she’s fixing a bus for a vampire. This is the world of Mercy Thompson, one that looks a lot like ours but is populated by those things that go bump in the night. And Mercy’s connection to those things is about to get her into some serious hot water…
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While the Duke Was Sleeping
While the Duke Was Sleeping by Sophie Jordan is $1.99! This is a historical romance retelling of the movie While You Were Sleeping. Some readers thought the story worked better as a contemporary romcom. Others loved the animosity and banter between the hero and heroine early on in the book.
Sometimes the man of your dreams . . .
Shop girl Poppy Fairchurch knows it’s pointless fantasizing about the Duke of Autenberry. Still, dreams can’t hurt anyone . . . unlike the carriage Poppy spies bearing down upon the unsuspecting duke. After she pulls him to safety, the duke lapses into a coma and Poppy is mistaken for his fiancée. But one person isn’t fooled: his arrogant and much too handsome half-brother, Struan Mackenzie. Soon Poppy isn’t sure what she wants more . . . the fantasy of her duke or the reality of one smoldering Scot who challenges her at every turn.
. . . is not who you think.
An illegitimate second son, Struan may have built an empire and established himself as one of the wealthiest men in Britain, but he knows he will always be an outsider among the ton. Just like he knows the infuriating Poppy is a liar. There’s no way the haughty Duke of Autenberry would deign to wed a working class girl. It doesn’t matter how charming she is. Or tempting. Or how much Struan wants her for himself.
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Ten Days with the Highlander
Ten Days with the Highlander by Hayson Manning is 99c! This is a contemporary romance with an enemies to lovers feel; it sounds super cute. I will warn that it’s on the shorter side at a little less than 200 pages, but readers say this is a charming, low angst romance. Seems worth the 99c!
Go-getter Georgia Paxton has ten days to acquire a quaint hotel in the Scottish Highlands for her travel accommodation company before she’s off on her next grand adventure. Too bad the sexy, broody Scot who owns the place is dead against the idea…and that she’s in very real danger of losing their little bet to see who can convince whom first.
There’s no way Callum MacGregor is going to let the gorgeous American turn his tiny hometown over to bored tourists looking to satisfy their Outlander fantasies. He only has ten days to convince her to slow down and see the magic of the town and its people. If he succeeds, he won’t have to run her out of the county. But if he fails, Georgia might run off with his heart.
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The Bastard
The Bastard by Lisa Renee Jones is 99c! This is the first book in her Filthy trilogy and seems to be a mishmash of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. This book was originally titled Dirty Rich Bastard, but Jones decided the hero’s story needed to be expanded, so you may have already read this one.
ERIC MITCHELL’S STORY
I’m the bastard child, son to the mistress, my father’s backup heir to the Mitchell empire. He sent me to Harvard. I left and became a Navy SEAL, but I’m back now, and I finished school on my own dime. I’m now the right hand man to Grayson Bennett, the billionaire who runs the Bennett Empire. I’m now a few months from being a billionaire myself. I don’t need my father’s company or his love. My “brother” can have it. I will never go back there. I will never be the mistake my father made, the way he was the mistake my mother made.And then she walks in the door, the princess I’d once wanted more than I’d wanted my father’s love. She wants me to come back. She says my father needs to be saved. I don’t want to save my father but I do want her. Deeply. Passionately. More than I want anything else.
But she’s The Princess and I’m The Bastard. We don’t fit. We don’t belong together and yet she says he needs me, that she needs me. We’re like sugar and spice, we don’t mix, but I really crave a taste. Just one. What harm can just one taste do?
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The Mercy Thompson books need a content warning for sexual assault, not for the first IIRC but certainly later on. Maybe someone else can be more specific? I think it’s dealt with sensitively but in quite a lot of detail.
Personally I struggled with the series because it does still maintain the alpha werewolf dynamic, and there’s a lot about her love interest’s instinct to dominate which I found uncomfortable, e.g. Mercy has to be careful not to look him in the eyes to ‘challenge’ him if he’s in a certain mood. I know it’s a play on dog behaviour, but still. However, since I read the series I’ve realised I don’t like alpha heroes at all, so YMMV. It’s one of the most highly recommended UF series out there.
EDIT: I should clarify the sexual assault doesn’t involve the love interest!
I think it was also the rape book in which Mercy spent most of the time in captivity and waiting to be rescued. She was set up for however many books before that as being a badass problem solver, and then suddenly she had to be completely helpless and graphically victimized for “character development” or some bullshit. I was done right there.
(A quick look at reviews indicates the rape book is #3, Iron Kissed.)
re the mercy thompson books – yes, definitely needs a TW for some people. it’s not graphically spelled out, but you know what’s going on. It is dealt with VERY sensitively imo, and realistically, in both the book it happens in (# 3 I think?) and in the following books on how Mercy (and those around her) deal with it’s impact on her. No magic cure for trauma in this (no magic peens!), but supportive people around her to help when SHE wants help.
for the eye/challenge thing, it’s more her ‘playing the werewolf dominance game’, then doing whatever she wants/thinks is right! no meek heroines here 🙂
For me, they’re some of the best urban fantasy books out there. I LOVE them, and pre order every one.
I do highly recommend this series. Initially I stalled out at book #3, Iron Kissed, for a while, as per GraceElizabeth’s comment. Was going to delete Bone Crossed from the TBR pile, but skimmed it to assure I should do so, and got pulled in… reread the 1st 3, then devoured the rest of the series. The reader gets more of the pack dynamics, and you realize that while Adam is the alpha and Mercy may avoid the gaze challenge, as a coyote she pretty much does her thing without worrying about whose pack toes she tromps upon. I also highly recommend the Alpha & Omega series, with Anna & Charles. Despite the challenges Mercy (and Anna) face, there is still a lot of humor to balance the scary elements.
The Mercy Thompson series is my favorite series. I wish I could be friends with the main character haha I love that she doesn’t skimp on her badassness/morals/beliefs. She’s decided who she is and there’s no saying one thing and then 5 minutes later going against it for her love interest. I also really love the love interest. He may be an alpha werewolf, but he doesn’t require her to submit to him. They’re one of my favorite fantasy couples. I wouldn’t agree that she waits around to/must get get rescued in any of the books. She does get into A LOT of tight spots/trouble, but mostly she kicks ass and then help arrives not long after or even after she’s already saved the day. If anything she makes me tired! Haha I could not imagine doing all she does in this books on as little sleep as she seems to get. Like others said, book 3 is the sexual assault book and it is brought up throughout the other books after it in the series. The Alpha and Omega deals with that A LOT more through the whole series so I’d warn on that more. It’s much more emotional for me reading it than the Mercy series I think, but I love it just as much.
The Patricia Briggs book reminds me when I brought that book into a middle-school classroom where I was substitute teaching to look over during breaks. One of the kids saw the cover and teased me the whole class about reading a “dirty book” with my protests that it was just a regular book being in vain. It made me wish urban fantasy covers had more modestly dressed heroines.
I love the Mercy series and think it’s great. The series keeps getting better and better. The first two are good but not great. The third one it starts getting really good and they just take off from there. Mercy is an awesome badass. Also, Adam (her mate) is an alpha wolf but he doesn’t try to act alpha with Mercy. It’s like his wolf is alpha but his relationship with Mercy is a partnership. Adam calls on Mercy for help himself when he needs it.
@Ren Benton I’m not sure which book you’re talking about. I can think of two books where Mercy ends up in captivity (not Iron Kissed). Both times they are only a short section of the book and both times she manages to free herself as help is on the way.
Regarding the rape it isn’t graphic and handled sensitively. As others have said even the aftermath is handled well and realistically. One thing I’d like to say about the rape storyline. One of the things I really like about it is that Mercy is able to save herself because of who she is, because of her experiences and choices. I don’t know how to hide SPOILERS so here’s your warning.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
Mercy is attacked by a man (Tim) using a fairy item to make her obey him. He tells her she loves him. He also has a fairy item that keeps his enemies from hurting him. Mercy ends up fighting back and killing him. She “loves” him (ie isn’t his enemy) but is still able to fight back against him. As she says “Part of me knew I loved him. but I didn’t give in to love. Not with Samuel so long ago, not with Adam, and not with Tim.” I just love that it’s HER choices that she’s made since she was sixteen years old that made her into the woman she is and those experiences that make it possible for her to fight back against her rapist. It’s not magic or some extra training. It’s who she is.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
Diving in to echo just how damn GOOD the Mercy Thompson series is. The world Briggs builds is rich, complex, and has been evolving in really interesting ways over the course of the series. I absolutely cannot stop making Good Book Noises whenever I pull one off the shelf. Mercy is a fascinating heroine, who can absolutely hold her own in a fight but who does much better simply out-thinking (or at least out-sneaking) the people who want to bring her down.
Since this has been addressed elsewhere, I want to weigh in on this aspect in particular: Mercy is raped in Iron Kissed (Book 3) and the way the aftermath is handled both in that book and in the subsequent books as she and the people around her deal with her PTSD following the incident is incredibly cathartic. Mercy is traumatized, but she’s supported and she heals. Further, because of her place in her local supernatural community, it becomes a catalyzing event for many characters in the books in big and small ways and Briggs uses it to tackle a lot of the tough conversations around rape in a way that has been for me, hugely cathartic and satisfying.
Also? As a trigger warning the truly excellent Alpha & Omega spinoff series also features a heroine who is dealing with the aftermath of rape, and she does it in a very different way than Mercy. Again, Briggs handles it really well, but I know that it’s a no-go for a lot of people.
But honestly? Both series are AMAZING and despite that one issue they are my go-to comfort reads when I want something both really well written and that ultimately makes me believe that the arc of the universe bends toward justice.
Another Mercy Thompson fan here. I’d also like to reiterate that Mercy doesn’t do anything she doesn’t want to. Sometimes that means doing her own thing regardless of what others want/tell her to do. Sometimes it means playing by the rules because it’s for the benefit of the pack/the people she cares about. But it’s always her choice.
I loved the first Mercy Thompson books, those in which she maintains her business and autonomy. I ‘m less excited about those with lots of pack politics, but the worst are those with travel into fairy realms or getting to know gods. I’m always looking for shifter books with minimal pack politics and prefarably no gated mates. And alas the Crow series doesn’t do it for me…
I’ve read the Mercy Thompson books and I would put them in the top 5 series I’ve read in the genre, which I’d call “bad-ass bounty hunter” urban fantasy. I liked them despite the fact that I usually don’t much care for werewolf fantasy due to the irritating dominant-alpha tropes. (And the fact that there is not much I find romantic about wet dog hair.) But in this series, the head werewolf Bran (who is functionally Mercy’s step-father) became one of my all-time favorite characters. The rape content was handled pretty sensitively, particularly the aftermath, although the actual act was pretty disturbing to read — no spoilers, but there was some magical stuff in additional to physical violence that was pretty terrifying.
Chiming in to squee about both the Mercy Thompson series and the Alpha/Omega series. Mercy was one of the first UF series I stumbled upon when I first starting reading the genre 10 years ago. I love the fact that even though she is often the physically weakest person in the room, she NEVER gives up. She uses her brain and her abilities to their best advantage and usually ends up saving everyone else just by virtue of her tenacity, not by any special magical whoo-whoo. Also UF tends to feature snarky heroines as a stand-in for character strength but Patricia Briggs never falls into that trap. Mercy (and Anna in A/O) are strong, compassionate, and caring without ever being snarky or abrasive.
The Mercy series isn’t my cuppa, I prefer the Kate/Curran dynamic over the Mercy/Adam dynamic, but the book covers are freaking gorgeous.
I used to love the Mercy Thompson series despite the alpha dominance thing. While Mercy is immune to it, pack life is horrible for literally every other female werewolf in any of the packs, including this series and the spin off. That’s never chalIenged enough for me. I kept reading despite that. I also don’t recommend this series for anyone who cares about friendships between women. Literally every female character, with the exception of the alpha’s daughter is written badly. They’re all jealous, mean, petty etc. and clearly meant to show Mercy in a better light. I will say I think Briggs took some of those criticisms to heart and tried to do better in the last two books she’s published in this series.
I finally put this series down after a throw away line in Anna and Charles book. Slight spoiler……….
I’d be curious to know if anyone who loved Bran, like I did, was enraged/grossed out that he may not have ever thought of Mercy as a daughter but something slightly more insidious considering he met her as a newborn and raised her.
As with others, I made it through several of the Mercy Thompson books – liked the character, liked the story. But the rape storyline hit me at about the same time I realized a lot of fantasy series were using sexual violence on their heroes. (Mercedes Lackey Valdemar novels, I’m looking at you!) So I deliberately stepped away from novels that use it, & haven’t looked back. That’s purely a personal choice – I read for relaxation & lighter is better – & I should note that I very much enjoyed the books in the series that I read; I just wasn’t up for the darker turn it took.
On a more positive note, I just finished reading “Ten Days with the Highlander” & loved it. I’m a sucker for Scotland & have spent several happy vacations in small villages like the one here. The author even got the quirky small-hotel bit right; I’ve stayed in quite a few with temperamental pipes, odd pets & quirky room. I particularly liked the fact that it’s the heroine who’s the hard-charging corporate type & the hero who’s the nurturing one.
And now I’m off to one-click “While the Duke Was Sleeping”, because how can I resist a retelling of one of my favorite feel-good movies?!
Yeah, it seemed to be a thing in fantasy for awhile that the heroine got to be raped, often in book 3. It was a trend I could have happily lived without.
For a different take on character rape: https://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/470626.html
@filkferengi:
Thanks for the link. Also, love your posting name!
Thank you very kindly!
The Mercy Thompson series is one of my favorite series. Yes this one is a book wiht a sexual rape; The important thing to emphasize in this book is how Mercy faces sexual assault and how she overcomes it with the help of her “pack” and her partner. No all books has to be a nice book. This kind of literary plot is important to be reflected in the books because they are a reflection of a society reality, are scenes that we find every day in the newspapers and for women who have suffered it is necessary that their heroines are a reflection of them so that they serve as inspiration.