Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson book 3)

By Patricia Briggs

Book Blurb:
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.

Iron Kissed was AWESOME. So, so good! Iron Kissed advanced the series forward. We learned more about the Fae, we understand Samuel's feelings toward Mercy and we are proud of what Mercy had to overcome in Iron Kissed. The entire book was based around Mercy's loyalty and what she is willing to do and how far she willing to go for her friends. 

Iron Kissed was more of a puzzle and murder mystery and the villain wasn't clearly defined until near the end of the book. Mercy acted like a private investigator and the villain wasn't really interested in Mercy until she got to close to the truth. An excellent read and a plot that commanded my attention. I didn't want to put Iron Kissed down for one second. 

Because it is a continuous series I don't want to provide any spoilers but I am truly excited about the advancement of all the various pack members. Even the secondary characters were more interesting in Iron Kissed. 

Iron Kissed ended on a really high note and I forced myself to stop to type my thoughts before moving forward but I really want to pick up Bone Crossed right now. *stares at cover* As much as I loved Blood Bound I think I loved Iron Kissed more. 

Teasers - Sam's epiphany, fae artifacts, brave Mercy, Zee's real form is shared.

Guest Guilty Pleasure #17 author Laura Bickle, Journal This

There are a few other bloggers that are doing these Guilty Pleasure posts as well. It all started with C.J. Duggan and if you want a bunch of smiles, circle back to her site and see the comments to read other pleasures. Love to have you join the fun. 


Today I am excited to turn over my blog to Laura Bickle, author of the Anya Kalinczyk series. A free excerpt of Sparks found here. 

I'm a big fan of guilty pleasures. They don't have to be big. But I think it's necessary to indulge ourselves once in awhile, to demonstrate that we care for ourselves...after all, if we won't, who will?

I have many...my Tarot card collection. My collection of Wonder Woman dolls and action figures (yes, my inner ten year old is alive and well). I occasionally bring home fresh flowers just to bring some life to my desk.A long, hot soak in the bathtub is a daily requirement. And an occasional massage at the spa is just wonderful. 

But my favorite indulgences are journals. Especially ones with gorgeous colors, textures, and bindings. I devote a journal to every project I work on, to fill with notes and research, outlines and hooks. I cut out pictures and paste them into the pages. I doodle maps and sketch the characters. It becomes my Bible for the book I'm developing - part scrapbook, part journal, part file folder.

It's a way of honoring the work that I'm doing at the moment - and a way of keeping a record of the past. I always smile when I run across a journal of a past project on my bookshelf, all tattered and lumpy and full of paste and scribbles and cut-out articles. No one else ever sees them, so it doesn't matter.

They start out pretty. They don't stay pretty. But they're all mine.  


Do you keep a journal of some sorts? Is yours handwritten in books or on-line? Do you blog your journal entries anywhere? Here is my Live Journal blog, Fangs, Fur & Fey.

Laura Bickle has an MA in sociology-criminology (research interests: fear of crime and victimology) and a BA in criminology. She has worked in and around criminal justice since 1997. Although she does read Tarot cards, she's never used them in criminal profiling or to locate lost scientists. She recently took up astronomy, but for the most part her primary role in studying constellations and dark matter is to follow her amateur astronomer-husband around central Ohio toting the telescope tripod and various lenses.

Writing as Laura Bickle, she's the author of EMBERS and SPARKS for Pocket - Juno Books. Writing as Alayna Williams, she's the author of DARK ORACLE and ROGUE ORACLE.More info on her urban fantasy and general nerdiness is here:
http://www.salamanderstales.com/ 

Laura/ Alayna’s blogs: http://www.salamanderstales.blogspot.com and http://delphisdaughters.blogspot.com

Teaser Tuesday Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Bone Crossed 

by Patricia Briggs

He parked us out in the middle of the west nowhere in the parking lot. Paranoia has odd manifestations. It gave me panic attacks and made him park where he could manage a quick getaway. Shared paranoia- could a happily-ever-after be far for us?

page 77

I LOVE this series!

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson book 2) 
By Patricia Briggs

Book Blurb:
Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places-and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a message to another of his kind.

But this new vampire is hardly ordinary-and neither is the demon inside of him.

This series just got even better with Blood Bound. I really liked Moon Called book 1 but Blood Bound completely solidified my admiration for this series. What an action packed enjoyable read. 

I've determined what I really like about the characters that Patricia Briggs created is that she doesn't waver and change the foundation of what she originally developed. When the werewolf character Warren was gravely injured, he was challenged by a pack mate for his place in the wolf hierarchy. Of course I completely disliked the other wolf from making that stake but that is truly the wolf mentality. I respected the author for keeping up with the pack frame of mind and sticking with it.  Same with the vampire seethe. The vampires are not a nice sexy group but rather a cruel assembly. With the exception of one character Stefan, they continue to be pitiless and not adjust even if the story line would be easier to write if they all of a sudden decided to take on more of a human justice approach. 

The sorcerer turned vampire villain was perfectly despicable and hauntingly spooky. The scene at Mercy's trailer made me sweat. He was cruel and the way Patricia Briggs wrote his destruction and murders made the reader's imagination bloom and the body shudder. I LOVED that particular writing talent in an author. Instead of saying exactly what the villain did, she leaves it more to the readers intelligence. My favourite style!

The love triangle of Adam, Mercy and Sam continues but it's not the center of the story. Sam may have been Mercy's past but Adam is her future and I find myself just wishing Sam would go back to Montana. I like him fine and perhaps there are camps of fans that would rather the Mercy/Sam team, but honestly I am all about Adam and I have a book crush on him. 

The ending was climatic and even though Blood Bound does not end with a cliff hanger, I cannot wait  to start book 3. These books are not really stand alones and are to be read in the series. The heat level at this point has only consisted of kissing. 

Teasers - garage workout, ghostly encounters, vampire love words, and Mercy about Adam "let the warmth of his body sink into my soul"

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Moon Called (Mercy Thompson book 1) 
by Patricia Briggs

Book Blurb:
Werewolves can be dangerous if you get in their way, but they'll leave you alone if you are careful. They are very good at hiding their natures from the human population, but I'm not human. I know them when I meet them, and they know me, too.

Mercy Thompson's sexy next-door neighbor is a werewolf.

She's tinkering with a VW bus at her mechanic shop that happens to belong to a vampire.

But then, Mercy Thompson is not exactly normal herself ... and her connection to the world of things that go bump in the night is about to get her into a whole lot of trouble.

Moon Called is book 1 in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. This series was highly recommended by my commenters and I have to tell you, my commenters have great taste!

I wanted an engaging story about a kick ass woman in a great series. It didn't take me long to adore Mercy Thompson. I love how the author Patricia Briggs writes Mercy. You see Mercy is a kick ass lady but what makes her remarkable is that she's smart and she's completely aware of her physical limitations. She also knows how to act in the right situations even if she hates to do it. That is just plain brilliant and knowing how to properly read people er I mean, werewolves/fae/vampires. 

This limitation awareness is what sets Mercy aside from other kick ass heroines I have read in the past. She knows when she needs to be submissive with the werewolves and she knows her strength when it comes to aggression. She doesn't pretend to be something she's not. Who doesn't love a heroine that can kill a werewolf in a fight by accident and then go home and make homemade cookies. Can you tell I adore Mercy? 

Mercy is part Native American and an ancient "walker" species (she is not ancient) who can effortlessly shift into a coyote. She is one of a kind and hasn't met others like her. She is rare but with Mercy, it's not just her "walker" status that makes her a rare woman. She is surrounded by supernatural beings like gremlins, vampires, fae and werewolves and she seems to have somehow befriended many species that do not normally associate to one another. She is a self-employed garage owner/mechanic who fixes European vehicles .

There is a great mystery and an abduction in Moon Called that needs solving and a rescue. All the investigating and planning is an excellent plot device  as it allows for an effective introduction to the important characters and gives the reader a perfect insight to the pack life.  

Moon Called is a wonderful beginner book to a series that I just know I'm going to love. With each book centered around Mercy and her activities, I just can't wait to start book 2, Blood Bound. There was an excellent introduction to many character and beings and a great mystery to get the readers involved. The only thing I didn't care for is the obviously love triangle budding between Mercy, Adam and Sam. I just wanted her to get with Adam and have the series take off like a "Cat & Bones" couple but alas, I guess I will have to endure because that is the way it looks like it will all play out...I think it does anyhow??

Teasers - Alpha yummy, power of silver, graffiti backyard car, moon song

The Many Sins of Lord Cameron by Jennifer Ashley

Ainsley and Lord Cameron's book




The Many Sins of Lord Cameron (Highland Pleasures book 3)

By Jennifer Ashley

Book Blurb:
A renowned rake, Cameron Mackenzie doesn't care if Ainsley Douglas has a virtuous excuse for sneaking around his bedchamber. He only cares that she's at his mercy. One kiss at a time, he plans to seduce her. But what starts out as a lusty diversion may break Cam's own rules.

I do love the MacKenzie men. I really enjoyed reading about their current life updates in The Many Sins of Lord Cameron. Although I have to say, every single time an update was shared about Ian (my favourite book) it had to do with Ian bedding his wife. Surly there has to be more to Ian than the constant nookie. Lord Cameron’s book was nicely set up for The Duke’s Perfect Wife, Hart Mackenzie’s book. (not due out until April 2012)

Ainsley Douglas was an extremely likable character. She was able to pull off this prim and proper façade yet when she was alone with Cameron, she was able to open up and be herself. She was smart and witty and played the part of a respectable widow remarkably well. Ainsley was someone I would want as a friend. Loyal when the time period seem to disregard loyalty as a top value. I do believe that was one of the main characteristics that drew her to Lord Cameron.

Cameron seemed like such a tragic character. I have to admit I was very confused by him. He seemed like an alpha male yet allowed his late wife to rule him emotionally AND physically. I found many of the things that she had done to him unbelievable. I guess I should say, I believe that she may have been crazy enough to try and do them but I do not believe that Cameron would let her get away with it. I just found it difficult to swallow. I realise that 18 years had passed from time she committed suicide until the present day but I still struggled with Cameron allowing it all to occur. I think I needed more evidence that Cameron would allow such atrocities to occur other than it was 18 years ago, he was young and allowed himself to be abused to protect his baby son. 

I enjoyed reading about Lord Cameron and Ainsley coming together as a couple and I smiled at all the interruptions that kept preventing them from moving forward. I enjoyed the plot line conflicts and thought that they were creative diversions. I loved reading a bit more about Daniel and I hope that he does get his own book. He is a bit too young right now for marriage so it would make sense to age him a bit more.

I was hoping for a bit more excitement regarding Ainsley and Cam’s travels around the continent and I kept expecting something dramatic to happen. It felt like unwarranted angst built in. 

Overall I did enjoy it but it was easy to put the book down and pick it up again. Regardless, I love this Mackenzie family and I did love The Many Sins of Lord Cameron. I will most definitely continue with the series and look forward to reading about the more mature Hart MacKenzie. Speaking of more mature, as much as I LOVE the cover it seems to portray a young man. With Cameron being in his 40’s, it would have been great to have a mature cover model. I know that author has no control over that but it would have been nice.

Teasers - button games, horse drama, bitch queen, honey pot thoughts 

Guest Guilty Pleasure #16 by author Danielle Gaven, Sleepy Time

There are a few other bloggers that are doing these Guilty Pleasure posts as well. It all started with C.J. Duggan and if you want a bunch of smiles, circle back to her site and see the comments to read other pleasures. Love to have you join the fun. 

Today's Guilty Pleasure is brought to us by author Danielle Gavan. Danielle is in the middle of a blog tour promoting her book, "Ardeur". However today, I've gotten her to reveal her little Guilty Pleasure. Welcome Danielle!

The air in the room is chilly but I’m warm in my little cocoon. I’ve got eight hundred and fifty thread count wrapped around me and a thick comforter on top of that delicious softness. Soft pillows, comfy jammies and gloomy darkness barely touched by the sunshine outside. My name is Danielle and my guilty pleasure is sleeping in.

Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you—I don’t relax. Sitting around, doing nothing isn’t something I do very well, if at all. Lounging around in bed and catching a few extra z’s though? Oh, yeah. I can do that. It doesn’t happen often but, when I get the chance to stay in bed later than my usual six thirty A.M. wakeup call… you bet your booty I’m all over it like white on rice.

Six days a week I’m mom, maid, chef, nanny, and all of the other things we work from home moms are on a daily basis. On Saturday mornings though… I’m a slug. If my eyes are open before nine A.M., there had better be blood flowing or fire raging. Otherwise, sleep is my friend. Oh yes, it is. Hypnos and I? We’re best buds.

My boys are trained. They know that Saturday mornings are sacred to mommy. Before I head to bed on Friday night I put two bowls, two spoons and their favorite cereals on the counter. My eight year old is usually the first one up and at ‘em. (You can’t mistake the buzz of energy he’s putting off as he skips down the hallway passed my bedroom door. He’d make even the happiest morning person you know look like a grumpasaurus.) He knows which bowl is his—it’s got his meds in the bottom—ready to start the countdown to calm kid time. His five year old brother is not far behind.

What am I doing while all of this is going on? Listening quietly. Waiting for the five minutes of squabbling over who gets to watch what before they settle down and I can go back to sleep.

I don’t indulge in much but my bedroom is my haven. I’ve got a queen sized bed all to my little ol’ self. It’s got fluffy pillows with just the right amount of firmness, a heavy comforter and, I’ve have the bed long enough that it’s developed a sweet spot. You know what I’m talking about. That spot where, when you roll into it, you’re body relaxes and instantly, you fall asleep. It’s that comfy place where you fit perfectly and no other part of the mattress compares. Ah, yes. Bliss… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Where’s your haven? Do you have somewhere you like to go for a few minutes (hours) of relaxation?

You can find Danielle on Twitter here:
@DanielleGavan 

Her website here:
www.daniellegavan.net
Facebook here:

Teaser Tuesdays - The Many Sins of Lord Cameron

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Many Sins of Lord Cameron

by Jennifer Ashley

     The count said in careful English, "That was perhaps not, as you English say, very sporting."

     "Games are played to win," Cameron said. "And we're Scottish."

page 35

I loved that line!     

Guest Guilty Pleasure #15 - Margaret Ethridge Sings the Songs..

There are a few other bloggers that are doing these Guilty Pleasure posts as well. It all started with C.J. Duggan and if you want a bunch of smiles, circle back to her site and see the comments to read other pleasures. Love to have you join the fun.

Once again this week I am giddy about turning over my Guilty Pleasure post over to a guest. This week I am welcoming the witty and talented author Margaret Ethridge as she talks about a pleasure that a lot of us can relate too. Well I know I am guilty of it for sure. 

I Sing the Songs…

When Michelle said she was going to open her Guilty Pleasures spot to guest authors, I jumped at the chance to spill my dirty little secrets all over her blog. I thought this would be a natural for me. I was born and raised Catholic, so I am nothing if not guilt-riddled, and confession is second nature to me. 

There are more than a few indulgences I find pleasurable, so all I should have to do is pick one and babble away, right? Wrong.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a traitor to my upbringing. Each day, my free will is almost crushed under the weight of the guilt pressing down on me. I have not updated my own blog or finished the scene I promised myself I’d have done last week. I haven’t scrubbed the tub, corralled the dust bunnies that chased me down the hall this morning, or sorted the massive pile of socks on top of my dryer. I didn’t spend nearly enough time trying to coax my teenager into conversation this weekend, and we throw away way too much food. These are the things that give me guilt.

My problem is; I don’t feel guilty about partaking in the things I love.

The fact that I sang every word to ‘Drive’ by the Cars at the top of my lungs on my way back from lunch? I don’t feel the teensiest bit bad about that. It felt too good. To quote another hit by the same band: it was just what I needed. 


My name is Margaret, and I am a car singer. Not just a car singer, but a hedonistic, retro-lunch-hour, loud and proud, car singer.

They dare to dust off ‘Hungry Like a Wolf?’ I’m in. Oooh! What’s this? ‘Rock This Town’ by the Stray Cats? I know every word, and I’m not afraid to use them. Cyndi Lauper hit the nail right on the head. I am a girl, and I just want to have fun.

This wouldn’t be such a bad thing if I didn’t know that I am a horrible singer. I mean it, really bad. I have no middle range. I can sing very high or very low, but nowhere in between. When I was in college, my sorority song mistress actually told me I could mouth the words. No lie.

That’s why I only unleash my inner Celine Dion when I am all by myself. (Yes, I went there. I couldn’t help it. Rest assured Celine fans, I only sing along with the Eric Carmen version.) Well, it’s mostly when I’m by myself. I have been known to serenade the hubby and kids when a particularly kitschy song pops up on the radio, but I’m sure to ham it up so they think my wretched warbling is all an act.

So, yeah. That’s one of my little pleasures in life. Singing along with the radio. Seems harmless enough, right? Well, you might think so, but you better hope you’re not in the vicinity when they dig out the Barry Manilow classics. I do love me some Barry…

I guess I should talk to Michelle about writing another post about my latent Fanilow tendencies.

How about you? Do you perfect your Idol audition while your engine idles? What songs rev your motor? Are you a Fanilow? Tell me every little thing. You know I’d never rat you out—I’d feel too darn guilty.

Margaret Ethridge can be found posting the funniest Tweets here:
@MKEthridge
Her Facebook Fan page is here:
Author Margaret Ethridge