REVIEW: Alpha and Omega (audio novella) by Patricia Briggs, narrated by Holter Graham

Alpha and Omega is urban fantasy with romance aspects. It's technically the first work in Briggs' Alpha & Omega series, although the first full novel is actually Cry Wolf and Briggs' Mercy Thompson series, which is set in the same world, came first.

Review:

When Anna spots a particular newspaper article, she realizes that her pack may have murdered someone and should be reported to Bran, the Marrok. Ever since she was turned into a werewolf against her will, Anna's life has been a struggle - her pack abused her, and her pay is barely enough to feed her and cover the money she's required to give to the pack - so she isn't sure the Marrok will listen, but he does, and tells her that Charles, his son and Enforcer, will deal with the problem and protect her. 

Bone Crossed (book) by Patricia Briggs

This is not the best of the Mercedes Thompson books, but it's still a good series. Currently, Patricia Briggs in one of the few authors whose books I still buy - everyone else's books I get via ILL, thereby allowing me to spend my money on anime and the occasional few volumes of manga. If I read a book good enough that I find myself wanting to request it again, I put it on my "to buy" list. Even Briggs's "worst" books have been good enough that I just buy them as they come out.

As usual, my synopsis is long and probably gives more detail than those who haven't read the book would want to know. Even so, it still doesn't include everything. If you'd like, you can just skip it and go to the commentary or read-alikes.

Synopsis:

In the previous book, Mercy was raped at the end. She's still trying to overcome the trauma of that in this one - she has agreed to be Adam's mate, but she's still too emotionally damaged for sex. Adam is patient, however - he's just happy that she's agreed to be his mate, he can wait for the rest later. Mercy isn't entirely sure of the effect this will have on her life (will she live with Adam or not?) or on Samuel (if she moves out, who will keep Samuel's fragile emotional state intact?).

Unfortunately, Mercy doesn't have the luxury of just focusing on healing. Marsilia, the head of the local vampires, has found out that she and Stefan killed one of her people (in Blood Bound, I believe) - she's tortured Stefan, killed his people (his food), and sent him to Mercy's house to kill her (he's so thirsty for blood that he'd risk draining anyone dry he drank from). Luckily, Mercy has a few werewolves with her. Instead of killing Mercy, as Marsilia likely intended, Stefan drinks from a few werewolves.

Aside from just being plain terrible, one awful aspect of the rape is that everyone in the nation has seen the tape of her being raped (side note: wouldn't that cause all kinds of ethical and legal problems for the stations that aired it?). Amber, an old acquaintance of Mercy's from her college days, comes knocking at her door, saying, "sorry you were raped" and asking for help with a ghost. When things start to get uncomfortably dangerous in her own area because of the vampires (they put a warning on the door of her garage and almost get one of Adam's werewolves killed), Mercy decides to leave town for a bit with Stefan and investigate Amber's ghost. She's not able to do much - all she manages to do is convince Amber's husband that their deaf son isn't just acting up and that there really is a ghost. Mercy's presence seems to make the ghost worse (it tries to hurt Chad, the son), so she and Stefan leave again. She's still worried, however, because Amber has worse problems than a ghost, problems Mercy can't tell her about. Amber has been food for a vampire named Blackwood for a long time, and that vampire had been snacking on Mercy as well while she stayed at Amber's house. In order to break Blackwood's hold on her, Mercy exchanges blood with Stefan.

Adam is relieved she's tied to Stefan and not Blackwood, but Samuel doesn't think either option was a good one - he thinks (and so does Stefan, actually) that Mercy trusts Stefan more than she should, considering that he's a vampire. Anyway, while Mercy was gone, the werewolves tried to negotiate with Marsilia. With the help of the horrible "truth chair," Marsilia finds out which of her vampires were the least loyal towards her - it is discovered that Stefan, despite his part in killing that one vampire, is loyal to Marsilia to a fault. He will not betray her, even though she has killed his people. It is painful to him, however, that he was tortured and his people killed just so that Marsilia could discover who among her people meant her harm.

Mercy ends up getting kidnapped by Chad's dad - it turns out Blackwood is holding Chad hostage. Unfortunately, Amber is dead, sort of - her body is dead and rotting, but it's still moving around. The remnants of her soul are sticking around in an attempt to keep Chad safe, even though she can't do anything contrary to Blackwood's wishes. Blackwood, it seems, has the ability to take on the power of whoever/whatever he drinks, and he wants Mercy's abilities. With the help of an oakman, who's been held captive by Blackwood for ages, and Stefan, who manages to find her, Mercy gets Chad to safety and kills Blackwood and, possibly, one of the dangerous ghosts who stays near him.

Commentary:

I think I'll start this off by writing about Mercy. I was wondering how Briggs would deal with the events that ended the previous book. Mercy came off as more than a bit fragile, which makes sense but was a little hard for me to read. I hate it when characters I like have something really bad happen to them - I'm too emotionally attached, I guess. On the plus side, although Mercy wasn't completely better by the end of the book, she's wasn't hopelessly damaged and showed signs of healing. She slept with Adam, for one thing, so the rape didn't completely screw things up between the two of them. On the minus side, Mercy kept doing stupid things, and her situation kept getting worse. I'm not sure what she could have done instead at certain points, but there are things (like tying herself to Stefan) that I don't think she thought out well enough. I don't know if her fragility made stupid decisions (or maybe it would be better to say "badly thought out decisions"?) more likely, but it seems possible.

Since I just mentioned the whole "tying herself to Stefan" thing, I'll say this, too: I totally didn't expect Adam to react as well to that as he did. I mean, Mercy only recently agreed to be his mate, so their relationship was still on shaky ground - by tying herself to Stefan, it seemed to me that she just put their relationship on even shakier ground. Mercy and Adam should have been aware of this, since they both also knew that Stefan had the hots for Mercy, and yet the only one who thought the whole thing was a mistake is Samuel.

I also wasn't really expecting Adam's pack to react so badly to Mercy being declared as Adam's mate. They had a pretty long time to get used to the idea, since Adam had been pursuing her for a while before things became more official, but I guess it was the "more official" part that really stirred things up. Even though her being a coyote (as a skinwalker, Mercy can change into a coyote) gets some pack members' backs up, I think Adam is probably better off with her than a regular human. A regular human would probably be dead by now - although, admittedly, a regular human probably wouldn't attract as much supernatural baddie attention as Mercy does. Oh, by the way, I cheered at the bit where Mercy finally held her own against those who didn't approve of her being Adam's mate. Go, Mercy!

As far as minor characters go, I liked Chad. Some authors write their child characters in ways that make them annoying and/or overly cute, but Briggs thankfully didn't do that with Chad. His being deaf added some interesting complications, since Mercy didn't know sign language and Chad's father didn't quite know how to handle him. I wonder if Chad's father would have been more likely to believe him about the ghosts if Chad hadn't been deaf. Anyway, even though he'll be massively messed up, I kind of hope Chad will show up in a future book. It'd be nice to see how he's doing.

Which leads me to Chad's mother. Ick. The bits with her near the end of the book made me feel a bit queasy - despite all the zombie books I've read recently (and the zombies in my NaNoWriMo novel), I'm really not that good with the idea of walking, talking, rotting corpses. I think what really put me off is that Amber didn't really realize she was dead. She followed Blackwood's orders because she had to, and some leftover part of her tried to protect her son, but everything she said and did was disturbingly "off". Usually, the zombies in books I've read or movies I've seen are more dead than Amber was. They not "off", they're just dead and still moving around, if that distinction makes any sense. It's disgusting, but less disturbing. Laurell K. Hamilton's books occasionally had zombies that were, like Amber, more alive, but that didn't disturb me as much as Amber, either. I think maybe it's because I didn't get to read about the zombies in LKH's books as they were before they became zombies. Or maybe it's because I didn't have to read about them in multiple scenes, as they slowly rotted more and more - LKH's Anita Blake can keep her zombies as "fresh" as she wants, and individual zombies are rarely around for long.

Basically, even though I have a fairly high tolerance for "ick" in books, there are still certain things that have the power to scar my brain. Amber was one of those things. Amber will probably make me shudder for quite some time. Amber, porcelin dolls, and moving spinal cords with heads attached (thank you, Kelley Armstrong, for also adding to my list of "things that have scarred my brain" - eww).

I'll wrap this up with vampires. I can't believe Mercy (even with help) managed to kill off Blackwood. He was wickedly powerful, after all. It kind of surprised me that he hadn't attracted the attention of even more powerful vampires. Briggs's vampires don't want humans finding out they exist, since their very existence would generate bad PR - even vampires like Stefan, who could potentially be painted as "good," keep humans for food. Vampires like Blackwood not only make all chances of future good PR go up in smoke, they increase the likelihood that vampires' existence will be made public. You'd think some other powerful vampire would kill him for the benefit of vampires as a whole.

Finishing up my vampire comments in particular and my commentary as a whole, I must mention Marsilia. I really hope she dies soon, although I'm sure that her death will only lead to an influx of more bad guys - that's just the way these things work. Sure, Marsilia didn't really kill Stefan's people, but she made him think she did, which is nearly as bad. When someone mistreats their own allies, you know that their death can't (and shouldn't) be far off.

Read-alikes:

• Urban Shaman (book) by C. E. Murphy - This is the first book in the Walker Papers series. This book features another strong, somewhat supernatural main female character who also happens to be a mechanic. In a jarringly short amount of time, Joanne Walker makes a new friend, discovers she has shamanic powers (including the ability to heal herself by imagining she's fixing herself in the same way she might a car), and finds out she has to use those new shamanic powers to save the world from the Wild Hunt. The only help she's got in trying to figure things out is a cryptic coyote who shows up in her dreams. Like Mercy, Joanne is a competent woman who's in over her head a lot of times. There's a little less in the way of romantic subplots in this book and in the series in general than there is in the Mercedes Thompson books, although there are indications of a potential romance between Joanne and her boss (I can't remember how strongly it comes through in this book, but I do know it shows up in later books).
• Tempting Danger (book) by Eileen Wilks - This is also the first book in a series. Lily Yu is a cop who's trying to figure out who's going around killing people in gruesome ways. It looks like werewolves might be involved, and maybe even the prince of the Nokolai clan, Rule Turner. This is especially unfortunate, because Lily and Rule have suddenly discovered that they are mates - the result is a compulsion to be near each other, and it'll look really bad if someone finds out Lily's having sex with the prime suspect. Lily, like Mercy, is a strong, competent female character who manages to use her own skills to accomplish things, despite being physically outclassed by supernatural beings like Rule. If you're not up to trying an entire novel by a new author, this series actually grew out of a short story featured in the anthology Lover Beware. Consider the story a different version of how Lily and Rule met and came to terms with each other - Lily is still the same basic character in the story and the novel (a strong, competent woman whose family is important to her), but Rule in the story is a somewhat different man from Rule in the book.
• Dead Until Dark (book) by Charlaine Harris - This is the first book in Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series. Sookie is a telepathic barmaid. Most of the people in her small Southern town know about her special abilities, but most people can also forget about it a bit because Sookie makes an effort to either not read people or not show that she's read someone. It's an exhausting life, however. Before the beginning of this book, vampires revealed their existence to the world, and in this book Sookie discovers something she thinks is wonderful - it's very hard, if not impossible, for her to read the thoughts of most vampires. Soon, Sookie is dating a vampire, but, unfortunately, being around him gets her involved in more danger than she's ever experienced before. Those who'd like another story featuring supernatural beings (shapeshifters, various were-animals, vampires, fairies, etc.), the occasional murder, and a main female character with supernatural powers who's in a little over her head might like this book and series. As an added bonus, several male characters are interested in Sookie.
• Touch the Dark (book) by Karen Chance - This is the first book in Chance's Cassandra Palmer series. Cassie is a gifted clairvoyant whose entire life since she was a little girl has been controlled by vampires. Three years ago, she managed to run away from the vampires who both raised her and had a part in her parents' deaths, and she's been in hiding ever since. Now the vampires are closing in, and Cassie learns that the mages are after her as well. Cassie has to figure out who she can trust, stay alive, and figure out why so many people want to kill her. Those who'd like something else with supernatural beings (vampires, mages, etc.), magic, and a main female character with supernatural abilities who's in a over her head might like this book and series. As is the case with similar books, several gorgeous guys are interested in Cassie. Unfortunately for her, these guys are generally untrustworthy.
  
• Guilty Pleasures (book) by Laurell K. Hamilton - Once again, this is the first book in a series set in a world where the things that go bump in the night have recently revealed themselves to the world at large. Before American law gave vampires, werewolves, and other beings the same rights as humans, Anita Blake was a vampire hunter. Now she's a vampire executioner, in addition to her full-time job as an animator (raiser of the dead). Like Bone Crossed, this is a fast-paced book with a strong, competent female lead who's surrounded by dangerous beings. In this first book, we meet Jean-Claude, a vampire who is one of the many people throughout the series who will be competing for Anita's affection. The various supernatural societies in this series all have their own politics and culture, and the cast of characters is usually fun and interesting. The early books feel a lot like paranormal mysteries with a hint of romance. Be warned, though - at around book 10 or so, the tone of the series changes drastically, Anita becomes darker and harder, and the sex scenes become way more graphic and time-consuming, leaving little room for the mysteries that were part of the early appeal of the series. Those who particularly liked Bone Crossed's super-creepy zombie Amber might want to try the second book in the series, The Laughing Corpse, which focuses more on zombies than the first book.
  
• Bitten (book) by Kelley Armstrong - Elena became a werewolf after the man she loved betrayed her (that's how she sees it, although it's not what he intended) and bit her while in wolf form - she had no idea what he was and never chose to become a werewolf. She leaves her pack as soon as she is able and begins as normal a life as she can in Toronto. Elena agrees to help her former pack members hunt down mutts (non-pack werewolves) who are leaving a conspicuous trail of carnage - humans don't know about werewolves, and they want to keep it that way. Unfortunately, Elena has to deal with her former lover (the werewolf who bit her) and finds herself drawn to him again. Those who'd like another book with a similar "feel" that features werewolves, a bit of romantic tension, and danger might want to try this. Other books in the series include witches, vampire, half-demons, and more.
  

Cry Wolf (book) by Patricia Briggs

I've been looking forward to this book ever since I read Briggs's short story, "Alpha and Omega," which can be found in the anthology On the Prowl. The cover of this book makes me laugh, though. I don't think Anna would ever wear something like that, even if she hadn't spent most of this book trudging through snow. What is it with cover artists trying to turn all of Briggs's female characters into pin-up girls?

Anyway, this book picks up where Briggs's short story left off. Anna travels with Charles back to his home. He considers her his mate, and he believes that, as an Omega wolf (sort of outside the pack hierarchy - she's not compelled to follow anyone's orders but her own, and her mere presence can sooth other werewolves), she should be a valued and protected member of any pack she chooses to be a part of. Anna is attracted to him, but she can't help but feel as though she doesn't really belong.

Before the two of them have much of a chance to get used to each other, Bran, Charles's father and the Marrock (sort of the Alpha of Alphas, and one of the oldest werewolves in the world), learns that a rogue werewolf is out is out in the wild somewhere killing people. The werewolves plan on going public soon, and a killer werewolf would not be good and reassuring publicity. Although Charles is wounded, Bran decides resolve things as quickly as possible and send him after the werewolf. Anna won't let him go alone, so the two of them leave together. Charles hopes that Anna's abilities as an Omega will make it so that he won't have to kill the rogue.

They do discover Walter, a new werewolf who has very little control, and Anna is able to "tame" his beast, but he's not the one who was killing people. The "rogue" is actually a ghostly werewolf controlled by an evil and crazy witch who's bent on finding a werewolf in Charles's pack named Asil. Centuries ago, Asil's mate was tortured to death by that witch. Although Asil was never able to avenge her death, he at least thought his mate was truly dead - unfortunately, part of his mate lives on as the witch's guardian and plaything. Charles, Anna, Asil, and Walter must try to stop the witch before she gets to Bran and, through Bran, gains control of all the werewolves in his pack. Of course, what the witch doesn't realize is that she's not strong enough to fight the Berserker lurking inside Bran. If Charles and Anna don't work quickly, the witch may be the least of their problems.

I have to admit, I was far more interested in Charles and Anna's relationship than the witch storyline. Anna, who was abused physically, emotionally, and sexually by the members of her former pack on her Alpha's orders, has plenty of issues to work through. Although Charles shows no sign of being like anyone in her former pack, it's hard for her to trust him, so there's a lot she doesn't tell him about what she's feeling and thinking. That leaves Charles with very little to go on when interacting with Anna - I kind of liked that he wasn't on solid ground with her. Since he's sexy and comfortable with both his human and wolf self, it'd be a bit much if he were also confident about dealing with Anna. A little insecurity can be a good thing.

The witch storyline wasn't exactly boring, but it didn't really grab me either. If everyone hadn't stumbled into her clutches, would she have been able to do as much damage as she did? I suppose there's the whole "it'd be bad publicity for the werewolves," but somehow that seems kind of weak. The witch seemed very familiar to me, and then I realized it - she could've been related to Shaman King's Tao Ren! After all, she can turn dead things into her guardians. Unfortunately, rather than being even a fraction as exciting as a Shaman King villain, she just sits around, acts like a crazy, evil, spoiled child, and gloats. If she had died sooner (I suppose you could consider that a spoiler, but did you really expect her to survive?), Briggs could have written more about Charles and Anna, darn it.

I did enjoy getting to find out more about the Marrock, and I suppose that couldn't have happened without a witch breaking his control. I knew from the Mercedes Thompson books that Bran is stronger and tougher than he looks, but this book shows, just a little, how scary he could be if he let loose. As bad as he apparently was centuries ago, now that he has a bunch of werewolves tied to him who aren't all that stable to begin with, he could potentially wipe out large chunks of the human population. True, he usually has control of the Berserker part of himself, but Briggs repeatedly says in her books that older werewolves are less stable. Bran may be the oldest werewolf in the world - is it really a good idea for so many old, powerful, dangerous werewolves to have their sanity dependent upon him? I'm not sure what they would do if they didn't have Bran, but, after reading this book, being with Bran seems like being part of a house of cards. Bran may be doing ok now, but even he can't last forever.

As someone who has read Briggs's Mercedes Thompson books and the short story that introduced Charles and Anna, I have a different perspective of it than someone who hasn't read all those things would have. I'm not sure how well a newbie to this world would do. I think it would probably be fine not to have read any of the Mercedes Thompson books, although that would mean missing out on some of the things going on with Samuel (he makes a brief appearance in this book). I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to miss out on Briggs's short story, though. Even though the main happenings of the story are explained here and there, it's not the same as actually getting the story "firsthand." The story shows Anna's former pack situation, Anna and Charles's first meeting, how Charles was hurt (he spends much of this book suffering from wounds he received in the short story), etc.

Overall, even though the witch storyline didn't excite me, I'm looking forward to the next book with Charles and Anna.

Read-alikes:

• Tempting Danger (book) by Eileen Wilks - Lily Yu is a cop who's trying to catch the one responsible for some gruesome murders. It looks like werewolves might be involved, and maybe even the prince of the Nokolai clan, Rule Turner. This is especially unfortunate, because Lily and Rule have suddenly discovered that they are mates - the result is a compulsion to be near each other, and it'll look really bad if someone finds out Lily's having sex with the prime suspect. Werewolves have only recently revealed their existence to humankind, and things are still a little tense. Those who'd like another book featuring werewolves and a couple trying to figure out how to make a new relationship work out might want to try this. If you're not up to trying an entire novel by a new author, this series actually grew out of a short story featured in the anthology Lover Beware. Consider the story a different version of how Lily and Rule met and came to terms with each other - Lily is still the same basic character in the story and the novel (a strong, competent woman whose family is important to her), but Rule in the story is a somewhat different man from Rule in the book.
• Dead Until Dark (book) by Charlaine Harris - This is the first book in Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series. Sookie is a telepathic barmaid. Most of the people in her small Southern town know about her special abilities, but most people can also forget about it a bit because Sookie makes an effort to either not read people or not show that she's read someone. It's an exhausting life, however. Before the beginning of this book, vampires revealed their existence to the world, and in this book Sookie discovers something she thinks is wonderful - it's very hard, if not impossible, for her to read the thoughts of most vampires. Soon, Sookie is dating a vampire, but, unfortunately, being around him gets her involved in more danger than she's ever experienced before. Those who'd like another book featuring supernatural beings (vampires, werewolves and other shapeshifters, faeries, etc.), the occasional bit of romance, and a likeable female main character with some supernatural aspects of her own might want to try this.
• Guilty Pleasures (book) by Laurell K. Hamilton - Before American law gave vampires, werewolves, and other beings the same rights as humans, Anita Blake was a vampire hunter. Now she's a vampire executioner, in addition to her full-time job as an animator (raiser of the dead). In this first book, we meet Jean-Claude, a vampire who is one of the many people throughout the series who will be competing for Anita's affection. The various supernatural societies in this world all have their own politics and culture, and the cast of characters is usually fun and interesting. The early books feel a lot like paranormal mysteries with a hint of romance. Be warned, though - at around book 10 or so, the tone of the series changes drastically, Anita becomes darker and harder, and the sex scenes become way more graphic and time-consuming, leaving little room for the mysteries that were part of the early appeal of the series. Those who'd like another book featuring supernatural beings (vampires, werewolves, and more), a bit of romance, and a female main character with supernatural skills of her own might want to try this.
• Bitten (book) by Kelley Armstrong - Elena became a werewolf after the man she loved betrayed her (that's how she sees it, although it's not what he intended) and bit her while in wolf form - she had no idea what he was and never chose to become a werewolf. She leaves her pack as soon as she is able and begins as normal a life as she can in Toronto. Elena agrees to help her former pack members hunt down mutts (non-pack werewolves) who are leaving a conspicuous trail of carnage - humans don't know about werewolves, and they want to keep it that way. Unfortunately, Elena has to deal with her former lover (the werewolf who bit her) and finds herself drawn to him again. Those who'd like another book featuring werewolves, a bit of romantic tension, and a hunt for a dangerous killer might want to try this book.
  

Iron Kissed (book) by Patricia Briggs

Mercedes Thompson, mechanic and walker (someone who can see ghosts and change into a coyote at will, but who is otherwise human), became indebted to one of the fae in a previous book, and that debt gets called in now. Someone has killed several members of the fae inside one of their own reservations. They're having trouble figuring out who the killer is, but they don't want to alert the human authorities - things are tense enough between humans and the fae. They're hopeful that Mercy's sensitive nose can identify the killer, preferably without her finding out more about the fae and their secrets than is good for her.

Before Mercy can confirm the identity of the killer, Zee, her boss and a rare iron kissed fae (he can touch iron without pain), is taken in by the police and accused of killing the most likely suspect in the murders. Against Zee's wishes, Mercy continues to investigate the fae killings, tries to clear Zee, and risks angering the Gray Lords (the very powerful and dangerous leaders of the fae). While all of this is going on, Mercy is also dealing with serious relationship issues. She is finally forced to choose between the two main men in her life, Samuel and Adam (both of whom are werewolves).

I'll start this off by talking about the relationships aspect of this book. Patricia Briggs is one of many current authors writing a vampire/werewolf series starring a female character with several men in her life, and I'm thrilled that Briggs actually had Mercy make a choice. Although I knew it was going to be a difficult decision for Mercy, I already had a good idea of who she might choose. Even though one of the men made it easier on her by admitting that he already considered himself out of the running, Mercy didn't find that out until after she'd done some soul-searching and settled upon a decision. Some might think that Briggs kind of took the easy way out by having one of the men back out, but, just as I'm glad that she made Mercy choose, I'm also glad that Mercy's choice didn't tear apart any friendships - I can't help it, I like both the men, even though they both have their aggravating moments. It's a nicely done "have your cake and eat it, too" situation.

As far as the "who's killing the fae and who really murdered the suspect?" part of the book goes, I'll admit that I occasionally lost track of what was going on. Mercy didn't exactly have a lot of information to go on, and whenever she tried to do some serious investigating other things would get in the way, someone would tell her to drop the whole thing, or someone would try to kill her. When the killer was finally revealed, it was a big surprise to me (but that's not saying much, because I'm often unable to correctly guess who the killers are in books).

I might've considered this something of a ho-hum book if it hadn't been for Mercy finally deciding between Adam and Samuel and the book's ending. I'll say right now that, in order to talk about the ending, I've necessarily got to give some things away, but I'll try not to give it all away (I don't know why I'm being so careful about spoilers when I've got posts that spoil everything about some of the books I've read, but there you are). Basically, near the end of the book Mercy gets raped in such a way that both her body and mind respond willingly (magic is involved, because there's no way she would have been willing otherwise). The rape isn't described in much detail - for me, it's the stuff before and after the rape that's the most horrific and heart-breaking. Mercy is such a strong-willed character that it was painful to read about her will and her choices being taken away. After the rape, Mercy's spirit is crushed so badly that she's sure she'll never be loved. However, rather than ending in a completely depressing way, Mercy gradually begins to heal emotionally and I think the process helps her and the werewolf she's chosen for herself grow closer.

It may be that my feelings about the book's ending are coloring my feelings about the entire book, but I really enjoyed this book, the third in Briggs' Mercedes Thompson series. I can't wait to read more. Before I list read-alikes, however, I'd just like to mention one nit-picky little thing that kind of bothered me: I'd have to look this up to be sure, but I could've sworn that Mercy called herself a skinwalker in the previous books. In this book, however, she makes it clear that she's a walker, not a skinwalker, and lists the reasons why this is so. Maybe I'm wrong, and she's always called herself a walker, but that bit still stuck in my brain as something that felt a little off.

Read-alikes:

• Urban Shaman (book) by C. E. Murphy - This is the first book in the Walker Papers series. This book features another strong, somewhat supernatural main female character who also happens to be a mechanic. In a jarringly short amount of time, Joanne Walker makes a new friend, discovers she has shamanic powers (including the ability to heal herself by imagining she's fixing herself in the same way she might a car), and finds out she has to use those new shamanic powers to save the world from the Wild Hunt. The only help she's got in trying to figure things out is a cryptic coyote who shows up in her dreams. Like Mercy, Joanne is a competent woman who's in over her head a lot of times. There's a little less in the way of romantic subplots in this book and in the series in general than there is in the Mercedes Thompson books, although there are indications of a potential romance between Joanne and her boss (I can't remember how strongly it comes through in this book, but I do know it shows up in later books).
• Tempting Danger (book) by Eileen Wilks - This is also the first book in a series. Lily Yu is a cop who's trying to figure out who's going around killing people in gruesome ways. It looks like werewolves might be involved, and maybe even the prince of the Nokolai clan, Rule Turner. This is especially unfortunate, because Lily and Rule have suddenly discovered that they are mates - the result is a compulsion to be near each other, and it'll look really bad if someone finds out Lily's having sex with the prime suspect. As in the Mercedes Thompson series, werewolves have only recently revealed their existence to humankind, and things are still a little tense. Lily, like Mercy, is a strong, competent female character who manages to use her own skills to accomplish things, despite being physically outclassed by supernatural beings like Rule. If you're not up to trying an entire novel by a new author, this series actually grew out of a short story featured in the anthology Lover Beware. Consider the story a different version of how Lily and Rule met and came to terms with each other - Lily is still the same basic character in the story and the novel (a strong, competent woman whose family is important to her), but Rule in the story is a somewhat different man from Rule in the book.
• Dead Until Dark (book) by Charlaine Harris - This is the first book in Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series. Sookie is a telepathic barmaid. Most of the people in her small Southern town know about her special abilities, but most people can also forget about it a bit because Sookie makes an effort to either not read people or not show that she's read someone. It's an exhausting life, however. Before the beginning of this book, vampires revealed their existence to the world, and in this book Sookie discovers something she thinks is wonderful - it's very hard, if not impossible, for her to read the thoughts of most vampires. Soon, Sookie is dating a vampire, but, unfortunately, being around him gets her involved in more danger than she's ever experienced before. Those who'd like another story featuring supernatural beings (shapeshifters, various were-animals, vampires, fairies, etc.), the occasional murder, and a main female character with supernatural powers who's in a little over her head might like this book and series. As an added bonus, several male characters are interested in Sookie.
• Touch the Dark (book) by Karen Chance - This is the first book in Chance's Cassandra Palmer series. Cassie is a gifted clairvoyant whose entire life since she was a little girl has been controlled by vampires. Three years ago, she managed to run away from the vampires who both raised her and had a part in her parents' deaths, and she's been in hiding ever since. Now the vampires are closing in, and Cassie learns that the mages are after her as well. Cassie has to figure out who she can trust, stay alive, and figure out why so many people want to kill her. Those who'd like something else with supernatural beings (vampires, mages, etc.), magic, and a main female character with supernatural abilities who's in a over her head might like this book and series. As an added bonus, several gorgeous guys are interested in Cassie - unfortunately, none of them have proven themselves very trustworthy yet.

Blood Bound (book) by Patricia Briggs

Mercedes (Mercy) Thompson is a mechanic and a skinwalker. Being a skinwalker means she can change into a coyote, she has a certain amount of immunity to vampire tricks, and she's not bound by the moon like werewolves are. However, it also means that she's nearly as fragile as a human when she's in human form.

This is the second book in the Mercedes Thompson series. In this book, Stefan, the vampire Mercy thinks of as a friend, enlists her help in dealing with a strange vampire. In theory, all Mercy is supposed to do is come along in coyote form and keep an eye out for anything Stefan might miss. Unfortunately, things go badly wrong, and it soon becomes clear that there is a demon-possessed vampire sorcerer on the loose. With the demon around, everyone in the area becomes touchier, and violence is on the rise. The local werewolves and vampires go hunting for the demon-possessed vampire, but Mercy may be the only one who can find him, if she can figure out how her skinwalker powers can help her against vampires.

Mercy is a fun character - physically, she tends to be outclassed by nearly everyone around her, but she makes up for that with intelligence, determination, and emotional strength. In this book, she's still got Samuel, a werewolf and her ex-lover, as a house-mate (trailer-mate?), despite her developing relationship with Adam (another werewolf, the Alpha of the local pack). If this series focused solely on Mercy's sex life, this setup would quickly become horribly tense and awkward, leaving little room for a story, and there'd probably be a lot more sex (actually, I don't think there's any sex in this book - if there is, then there isn't much and it isn't graphic). Instead, other than a few tense moments when all three of them are in the same room together, it's not an issue. Part of Mercy still loves Samuel, but she has enough pride and self-esteem not to want to be with a man whose main reason for wanting to be with her is that there's a high likelihood that she could bear him healthy children.

Mercy's issues with Adam also stem from her pride and self-esteem - she wants to be on equal footing with whoever she chooses as her lover, but Adam's status as a werewolf and as an Alpha means that either his nature may require her subservience or she may instinctively give it. That's not what she wants for herself, so she spends most of this book avoiding him. Mercy and Adam's temporary fix for this problem comes up near the end of the book, and I'm interested to see where their relationship goes next.

Mercy's world may be familiar to readers of many recent vampire/werewolf/fairy books. It's a world much like ours, only various supernatural beings have started to come out of the closet. Prior to the first book, the fairies had revealed their existence. By the end of the first book, werewolves had revealed their existence, although not everyone had come out of the closet. By the second book, the werewolves are still trying to make sure that any werewolf news that makes it to the media is good news - unfortunately, the demon/vampire kills might get blamed on werewolves or fairies, and neither group wants that. Humankind still doesn't know about vampires, and, if the vampires have their way, they never will - there's just no way to make creatures that feed off and eventually kill their human "sheep" sound good and human-friendly.

Despite a book cover that makes Mercy seem like a potential pin-up, she is actually a good mechanic. It's not a hugely important part of the story, but it's still interesting, and it gives Mercy a life outside of all the supernatural stuff going on around her. There's even the occasional funny car tidbit - in this book, my favorite is a bit about a car that can only go about 20 or 30 miles/hour forward, but 90-100 miles/hour backward.

In addition to all the fantasy elements (demons, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, fairies), there's also a decent mystery in this book. I didn't really catch all the clues as I was reading it this first time, but I know I'd catch all the clues setting up the ending during a second read. Mercy not only has to figure out where the demon-possessed vampire is hiding and how to defeat him, she also has to figure out what various vampires are hiding from her. Briggs manages to get a lot into a fast-paced book that's under 300 pages.

Read-alikes:

• Urban Shaman (book) by C. E. Murphy - This is the first book in the Walker Papers series. This book features another strong, somewhat supernatural main female character who also happens to be a mechanic. In a jarringly short amount of time, Joanne Walker makes a new friend, discovers she has shamanic powers (including the ability to heal herself by imagining she's fixing herself in the same way she might a car), and finds out she has to use those new shamanic powers to save the world from the Wild Hunt. The only help she's got in trying to figure things out is a cryptic coyote who shows up in her dreams. Like Mercy, Joanne is a competent woman who isn't really ready to handle everything that's being thrown at her. She's got power, but she doesn't know how to use it, and part of her doesn't even want to learn how. Technically, she's a cop, but she mostly just works as a mechanic at the station, so she doesn't have much experience with bad things like dead bodies. There's a little less in the way of romantic subplots in this book and in the series in general than there is in the Mercedes Thompson books. There's the potential for something between Joanne and her boss (I can't remember how strongly it comes through in this book, but I do know it shows up in later books), and Joanne has a serious crush on Gary (the friend I mentioned - he's a great guy, who unfortunately happens to be in sixties, maybe early seventies). As with Blood Bound, the story and characters is more important than any potential romance.
  
• Tempting Danger (book) by Eileen Wilks - This is also the first book in a series. Lily Yu is a cop who's trying to figure out who's going around killing people in gruesome ways. It looks like werewolves might be involved, and maybe even the prince of the Nokolai clan, Rule Turner. This is especially unfortunate, because Lily and Rule have suddenly discovered that they are mates - the result is a compulsion to be near each other, and it'll look really bad if someone finds out Lily's having sex with the prime suspect. This book, like Blood Bound, features a complex werewolf society (rules, traditions, secrets, different clans with slightly differing cultures). Werewolves have only recently revealed their existence to humankind, and people and the law are still trying to deal with this new information. Lily, like Mercy, is a strong, competent female character who manages to use her own skills to accomplish things, despite being physically outclassed by supernatural beings like Rule. Romance is more important in this book than it is in Blood Bound, but I would by no means consider this a romance novel. If you're not up to trying an entire novel by a new author, this series actually grew out of a short story featured in the anthology Lover Beware. That particular book is, in fact, a romance book, but Wilks' story is best described as paranormal romantic suspense. Consider the story a different version of how Lily and Rule met and came to terms with each other - Lily is still the same basic character in the story and the novel (a strong, competent woman whose family is important to her), but Rule in the story is a somewhat different man from Rule in the book, so be aware of that.
  
• Guilty Pleasures (book) by Laurell K. Hamilton - Once again, this is the first book in a series set in a world where the things that go bump in the night have recently revealed themselves to the world at large. Before American law gave vampires, werewolves, and other beings the same rights as humans, Anita Blake was a vampire hunter. Now she's a vampire executioner, in addition to her full-time job as an animator (raiser of the dead). Like Blood Bound, this is a fast-paced book with a strong, competent female lead who's surrounded by dangerous beings. In this first book, we meet Jean-Claude, a vampire who is one of the many people throughout the series who will be competing for Anita's affection. The various supernatural societies in this series all have their own politics and culture, and the cast of characters is usually fun and interesting. The early books feel a lot like paranormal mysteries with a hint of romance. Be warned, though - at around book 10 or so, the tone of the series changes drastically, Anita becomes darker and harder, and the sex scenes become way more graphic and time-consuming, leaving little room for the mysteries that were part of the early appeal of the series.
  
• Bitten (book) by Kelley Armstrong - Once again, this is the first book in a series featuring strong, competent women as main characters. Elena, the main character in this book, is either a main or minor character in many of the books in the Women of the Otherworld series. She became a werewolf after the man she loved betrayed her (that's how she sees it, although it's not what he intended) and bit her while in wolf form - she had no idea what he was and never chose to become a werewolf. She leaves her pack as soon as she is able and begins as normal a life as she can in Toronto. This book differs from Blood Bound and many of the above books because, although the werewolves have a very non-human feel to them, the pack Elena used to be part of is too small to have a complex structure and culture. In this book, Elena agrees to help her former pack members hunt down mutts (non-pack werewolves) who are leaving a conspicuous trail of carnage - humans don't know about werewolves, and they want to keep it that way. Unfortunately, Elena has to deal with her former lover (the werewolf who bit her) and finds herself drawn to him again. Armstrong is very good at creating a believable non-human feel to her characters - these are not just humans who happen to be able to turn into wolves. They think a bit differently and react a bit differently than humans, in much the same way that Briggs' wolves have definite non-human behaviors and reactions.