River Marked by Patricia Briggs

River Marked (book 6)

By Patricia Briggs

Book Blurb:
Car mechanic Mercy Thompson has always known there was something different about her, and not just the way she can make a VW engine sit up and beg. Mercy is a shapeshifter, a talent she inherited from her long-gone father. She’s never known any others of her kind. Until now.

An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River—one that her father’s people may.

Well as you can see by my last 5 book reviews, I've been buried in the Mercy Thompson series. I also must add, I've been loving this urban fantasy continuation story dearly. So let me tell you how hard it was to decide whether to even purchase River Marked or not. You see, I like all my books to match on my shelf. Every Mercy Thompson book I had got was paperback. River Marked is currently available in either hardcover or Kindle BUT there is the kicker. On Amazon the hardcover of River Marked is $16.43 and the Kindle copy of River Marked is $15.65 and the paperback is not coming out until next year. So what is a girl to do??? Yep I was frustrated. $15.65 is way above what I allow myself to spend on Kindle books. Reading on Kindle is my favourite way of reading books. I dislike holding hardcovers. So I decided I need my Mercy and Adam fix and went against my rules and paid $15.65 for a Kindle copy but I was and still am pretty grumpy about it!

I know none of the above is the author's fault but it is still a thorn in my side. I suppose the publishing world is laughing in my face because I went ahead and bought the Kindle version. 

River Marked is exactly what I was craving for since I started to read the series. A book solely dedicated to Mercy and Adam. River Marked started right off with their "surprise" wedding and dove right into their honeymoon. I loved it! I am super excited that the next books in the series are the continuation of Mercy and Adam as a married couple. I just think the series will get better and better. 

River Marked is different from the other books aside from Mercy and Adam being married. The cast is absent from this book since the duration of River Marked they are on their honeymoon. Now camping is not my personal favourite place to have a honeymoon but clearly a perfect spot for Adam and Mercy. 

Just to make their honeymoon even more interesting, the readers learn a lot about Mercy's heritage, her father and some troublesome fae are thrown in for good measure. I love that even though they are on their honeymoon, the author Patricia Briggs still takes time to insert newlywed arguments to make it even more realistic. I love the scene where they had a very common argument that new couples experience and Adam tries to make it up.  I have to insert it because it makes me smile. (they are in their  wolf and coyote forms)

"He dropped a second rabbit at my feet and lay down in front of me, nose on his paws and his ears flattened. Nothing says you're sorry like a dead bunny."
Loc 1126-27

Regarding Mercy's heritage, I am still deciding how I feel about it. It was a lot of information to absorb. The lowdown about her biological father was a bit confusing to me. I think that Patricia Briggs wrote it that way to be confusing. I am still on the fence about it. I did love reading about the new character, Coyote. I loved his personality and his wit. It was not what I was expecting at all. 

The villain this time around was a river monster that gave me the heebie geebies about underwater creatures. If the River Devil was not scary enough, Patricia Briggs threw in the fact that the creature enjoys eating children the most. It was heartbreaking to read about. 

The battle that Mercy fought with the River Devil was heart pounding and I admit to going back and re-reading. I was reading it so fast that I had to go back to absorb it once I knew how it all ended. Poor Mercy sure takes a beating in her books. 

All in all a great book but perhaps not as good as the previous ones. I am super excited that Adam and Mercy are married and I look forward to their many adventures. That was undoubt the best part of River Marked for me was the solidification of them as a couple. 

Teasers - wedding butterflies, not so cute otters, Wal-Mart smackdown, magic fae staff moves on???