DATING TERRORS
Dating Terrors by Patricia Briggs in the anthology Heroic Hearts
Book 18.5 in the Mercy Thompson series
Narrated by Holter Graham
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook, paperback, & audiobook
The werewolf Asil finds a blind date might just turn into something more – if the woman can escape the dark magic binding her.
Asil is an old, old wolf and just biding his time until the Marrok kills him and finally give him relief of this world. However, he also have pack mates who are mischievous who set him up with three blind dates with good intentions. The first blind date was a novella titled Asil and the Not-Date (book number 17.5 in the Mercy Thompson series) in the anthology Fantastic Hope. Asil, for the lack of nothing better to do, went along with it. And for the heck of it! This is the second blind date. For a very short story, this novella managed to have a tiny plot and gave a wonderful reading time! Too short a reading time!
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 5
Pace = 5
Plot = 5
Narration = 5
|
About Patricia Briggs
|
|
 |
|
Holter Graham, winner of AudioFile’s 2008 Best Voice in Science Fiction & Fantasy for Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Acheron, is a stage, television, and screen actor.
The different formats of this book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.
SMOKE BITTEN
Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs
Book 12 of the Mercy Thompson series
Read by Lorelei King
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About Smoke Bitten:
Mercy Thompson, car mechanic and shapeshifter, faces a threat unlike any other in this thrilling entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
I am Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman.
My only “superpowers” are that I turn into a thirty-five pound coyote and fix Volkswagens. But I have friends in odd places and a pack of werewolves at my back. It looks like I’m going to need them.
Centuries ago, the fae dwelt in Underhill — until she locked her doors against them. They left behind their great castles and troves of magical artifacts. They abandoned their prisoners and their pets. Without the fae to mind them, those creatures who remained behind roamed freely through Underhill wreaking havoc. Only the deadliest survived.
Now one of those prisoners has escaped. It can look like anyone, any creature it chooses. But if it bites you, it controls you. It lives for chaos and destruction. It can make you do anything — even kill the person you love the most. Now it is here, in the Tri-Cities. In my territory.
It won’t, can’t, remain.
Not if I have anything to say about it.
Source: Info in the About Smoke Bitten was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44571368-smoke-bitten on 14/07/2019.
My Thoughts:
Being an old Patricia Briggs fan, of course this book is a 5 out of 5! I knew it was going to be a 5 out of 5 even before I’ve read it! What I didn’t expect was a killer bunny!
Now that, is a fun thing to read! Then there is Wulfe making more of an appearance which I love! Love! Love! And other things I love which I cannot mention here without being spoilery…. What I kinda was disappointed though is that Sherwood did not bring Pirate to the 5 o’clock meeting
…
What this book is starting to feel though, is like Lt. Eve Dallas in the In Death series by JD Robb where only Dallas ever knows whodunit. That kind of gets old fast.
Not the best book in the series, however, I still enjoyed it immensely!!
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 5
Pace = 5
Plot = 5
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Mercy Thompson Series:
Click on the cover image to go to my review or to the GoodReads page of the book for more info.
| About Patricia Briggs | |
|
|
BURN BRIGHT
Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs
Narrated by Holter Graham
Book 5 of the Alpha & Omega series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audio 
About Burn Bright:
They are the wild and the broken. The werewolves too damaged to live safely among their own kind. For their own good, they have been exiled to the outskirts of Aspen Creek, Montana. Close enough to the Marrok’s pack to have its support; far enough away to not cause any harm.
With their Alpha out of the country, Charles and Anna are on call when an SOS comes in from the fae mate of one such wildling. Heading into the mountainous wilderness, they interrupt the abduction of the wolf — but can’t stop blood from being shed. Now Charles and Anna must use their skills — his as enforcer, hers as peacemaker — to track down the attackers, reopening a painful chapter in the past that springs from the darkest magic of the witchborn…
Source: Info in the About Burn Bright was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35294265-burn-bright on 03/02/2018.
My Thoughts:
I find Holter Graham‘s words are not very clear and distinct so I am so very glad of kindle’s whisper sync feature where you can read the ebook and listen to the narration at the same time. Otherwise I would not have bought just the audiobook by this narrator. Having said that, I find Holter Graham‘s reading of this book is not as slurred as the previous book.
Patricia Briggs surprised me with the plotting with this book. I’m not really used to twists in urban fantasy. Most of the time they’re formulaic. So kudos to the author for the story building!! Not to mention the masterful story telling quality and wonderful world building, as usual! Now its post-great-read-depression!
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5 (US)
Pace = (9 hrs and 47 mins listening time)
Plot = 5
Narration = 4
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Alpha & Omega Series:
| About Patricia Briggs | |
|
|
This book, in all it’s purchased formats, was bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.
SHIFTING SHADOWS
Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs
Narrated by Alexander Cendese and Lorelei King
Novellas in the Alpha & Omega and Mercy Thompson serieses
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About Shifting Shadows:
Mercy Thompson’s world just got a whole lot bigger…
A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today” (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends…
Includes the new stories…
“Silver”
“Roses in Winter”
“Redemption”
“Hollow”…and reader favorites
“Fairy Gifts”
“Gray”
“Alpha and Omega”
“Seeing Eye”
“The Star of David”
“In Red, with Pearls”
Source: Info in the About Shifting Shadows was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20821263-shifting-shadows on 07/02/2018.
My Thoughts:
I believe that these collection of short stories or novellas in the world of Mercy Thompson would have been better read chronologically within the series’ timeline. As it is, I read them in one bulk as given here in this anthology after I’ve read the books that has been published already thus far. And a few of those books were read, like, donkey’s years ago, that I have forgotten the events in those stories already. This kind of diminished my enjoyment of the little stories here, however, I would still read them even though it is no longer according to chronological order because they are good reads. And I am a die-hard Mercy Thompson fan. Little bits of morsel to savour. Most of these little stories are like little snippets with in which the ending and the start was in the books in the series, therefore, if you haven’t read the books, it would not make a lot of sense and I presume that it would just be more frustrating than an enjoyable read. So caution to those who are not followers of this urban fantasy world. This anthology book is so not a good place to start reading about the Mercy Thompson world or the Alpha & Omega series.
Plot… some of the short stories does not have much of a plot because it is just a little slice of the bigger story in whatever book in which the short story fits into the Mercy Thompson timeline. So, in so many ways, the plot rating does not apply to this anthology. However, even though the stories here are just short and/or snippets, the wonderful story telling quality that is the trademark of this author still shines through, that is why this book remains a good read despite all my whining about it.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 4
Story itself = (N/A)
Writing Style = 4
Ending = (N/A)
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (14 hours & 52 minutes)
Plot = (N/A)
Narration = 3.5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Mercy Thompson Series:
Click on the cover image to go to my review or to the GoodReads page of the book for more info.
Books In The Alpha & Omega Series:
|
About Patricia Briggs
|
|
|
|
This book, in all it’s purchased formats, was bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.
DEAD HEAT
Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs
Narrated by Holter Graham
Book 3 of the Alpha & Omega series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About Dead Heat:
For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles’s role as his father’s enforcer. This time, their trip to Arizona is purely personal — or at least it starts out that way…
Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous Fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The Fae’s cold war with humanity is about to heat up — and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire.
Source: Info in the About Dead Heat was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22571699-dead-heat on 03/02/2018.
My Thoughts:
I dove straight into this book right after Fair Game because by then I became a rabid fan of this series.
Why can’t they keep Dan delos Santos‘ amazing cover art??! Somebody needs to clue in the UK art department that their cover art sucks!
This would be the second book I’ve listened to by Holter Graham. I have forgotten his halting way of reading. And he doesn’t pause or give any indication that the scene has changed and suddenly the story lines does not make sense so I have to go read the ebook for that part to understand what is going on. That made the pace a whole lot longer than the 11 hours listening time that this book is supposed to be. And then there’s the way he gives some characters a slurring way of talking, ala Al Capone or some such Italian mobsta. This made his words indistinct, and so not a desirable trait.
On the up side, this book has the same wonderful story telling quality and world building that this author is famous for! So needless to say that I enjoyed this book despite all my whining! The horse talk though, went right over my head.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = (11 hours & 25 minutes)
Plot = 4
Narration = 3.5
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Alpha & Omega Series:
|
About Patricia Briggs
|
|
|
|
This book, in all it’s purchased formats, was bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.
FAIR GAME
Fair Game by Patricia Briggs
Book 3 in the Alpha & Omega series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & paperback
About Fair Game:
They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son — and enforcer — of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind.
Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can’t afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father’s dirty work is taking a toll on Charles.
Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack’s help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves — all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer’s sights…
Source: Info in the About Fair Game was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7942786-fair-game on 01/02/2018.
My Thoughts:
This is the first book in the series that got tantric magic in it, even including the original Mercy Thompson series. That was unexpected… With Hunting Ground, I was not so very enthusiastic about this series despite me being a big fan of Patricia Briggs. However by this book I became a devotee of this series. It finally got its hook on me after all these years! The darkness of the first novella which was the first entry into this series is now far, far away… So now I got to enjoy this author’s marvellous story telling quality again without that darkness looming over my reader’s head. So I enjoyed another great read from Patricia Briggs! What ticks me off though is the ugly cover art of the UK edition of this book! Why can’t they keep Dan delos Santos‘ amazing art??! And the Anna depiction of the UK cover art is not even apropos to the story! Whats that all about!! So the cover art rating I gave for this book relates to the US cover as opposed to the UK cover.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = 5
Plot = 4
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Alpha & Omega Series:
|
About Patricia Briggs
|
|
|
|
STORM CURSED
Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs
Book 11 of the Mercy Thompson series
Read by Lorelei King and George Newbern
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: hardback, ebook & audiobook
About Storm Cursed:
My name is Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman, and I am a car mechanic.
And a coyote shapeshifter . . . And the mate of the Alpha of the Columbia Basin werewolf pack.
Even so, none of that would have gotten me into trouble if, a few months ago, I hadn’t stood upon a bridge and taken responsibility for the safety of the citizens who lived in our territory. It seemed like the thing to do at the time. It should have only involved hunting down killer goblins, zombie goats, and an occasional troll. Instead, our home was viewed as neutral ground, a place where humans would feel safe to come and treat with the fae.
The reality is that nothing and no one is safe. As generals and politicians face off with the Gray Lords of the fae, a storm is coming and her name is Death.
But we are pack, and we have given our word. We will die to keep it.
Source: Info in the About Storm Cursed was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25026912-storm-cursed on 02/09/2018.
My Thoughts:
Being an old fan of Mercy Thompson, I have probably said all that I have to say about this book in my reviews of previous books in this series. Nevertheless, it is still true that this book is masterfully written and a wonderful read! However, I am not sure why this book is titled Storm Cursed though… and the ending was slightly drawn-out.
Now that Mercy has discovered her new affinity for zombies, I wonder what this new ability will do for her and for the pack in the future… and what would now happen to Wulfe, after his encounter with the Hardesty witches… and after Mercy told him to be “at peace”.
Looking forward to the next Mercy Thompson book!
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 5
Pace = 5
Plot = 5
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Mercy Thompson Series:
Click on the cover image to go to my review or to the GoodReads page of the book for more info.
| About Patricia Briggs | |
|
|
HUNTING GROUND
Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs
Book 2 of the Alpha & Omega series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & paperback
About Hunting Ground:
Anna Latham didn’t know how complicated life could be until she became a werewolf. And until she was mated to Charles Cornick, the son — and enforcer — of Bran, the leader of the North American werewolves, she didn’t know how dangerous it could be either.
Anna and Charles have just been enlisted to attend a summit to present Bran’s controversial proposition: that the wolves should finally reveal themselves to humans. But the most feared Alpha in Europe is dead set against the plan — and it seems like someone else might be too. When Anna is attacked by vampires using pack magic, the kind of power only werewolves should be able to draw on, Charles and Anna must combine their talents to hunt down whoever is behind it all — or risk losing everything.
Source: Info in the About Hunting Ground was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5292853-hunting-ground on 27/01/2018.
My Thoughts:
I stopped reading this series for a long while because I did not like the torture and rape that was the story of the first entry into this series, the Alpha & Omega novella, in the On The Prowl anthology book. But after several years. I forgot my annoyance and picked this series up again. Which is good because I like Patricia Briggs! And it is something good to read while waiting for the next Mercy Thompson book to come out. However by the end of this book I was also a fan of this series as well. There was a hole in the plot which I am vigorously ignoring however it still irritated me. A little. And that sank the rating of this book down, not down to the sand, but almost. But that didn’t keep me from buying the next books in this series, in two or three different formats!
So the sum of the parts should rate this book a whole lot more than 3.5. And I was ambivalent about the final rating about this book. Sometimes it felt like a 3, and sometimes it felt like a 4 or more. In the end, I settled for 3.5, and by the way, no Patricia Briggs book is ever going to rate a less than 3.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = 3
Plot = 3
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Alpha & Omega Series:
| About Patricia Briggs | |
|
|
| www.patriciabriggs.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads | Amazon | |
This book, in all its formats, were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.
SILENCE FALLEN
Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs
Book 10 of the Mercy Thompson series
Read by Lorelei King and George Newbern
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About Silence Fallen:
In the #1 New York Times bestselling Mercy Thompson novels, the coyote shapeshifter has found her voice in the werewolf pack. But when Mercy’s bond with the pack and her mate is broken, she’ll learn what it truly means to be alone…
Attacked and abducted in her home territory, Mercy finds herself in the clutches of the most powerful vampire in the world, taken as a weapon to use against alpha werewolf Adam and the ruler of the Tri-Cities vampires. In coyote form, Mercy escapes only to find herself without money, without clothing, and alone in the heart of Europe…
Unable to contact Adam and the rest of the pack, Mercy has allies to find and enemies to fight, and she needs to figure out which is which. Ancient powers stir, and Mercy must be her agile best to avoid causing a war between vampires and werewolves, and between werewolves and werewolves. And in the heart of the ancient city of Prague, old ghosts rise..
Source: Info in the About Silence Fallen was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30687916-silence-fallen on 12/03/2016.
My Thoughts:
This is the first time that I have heard a book in this series where there are two narrators and it suited this book well. I guess that is why they chose to do it so. It made listening to the book very pleasant indeed! It added a little bit of a different flavour to the story than I would have had if I just read the book. I also like the fact that the author added a little twist in the end! That made the plot of this book the best yet in this series. And then there is the fact that I am an old die hard fan of these books already so I might just end up fan raving in this review… great world building…. great characters…. compelling story telling quality….
Can’t wait for next year and get my hands on the next book!
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 5
Pace = 5
Plot = 5
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Mercy Thompson Series:
Click on the cover image to go to my review or to the GoodReads page of the book for more info.
| About Patricia Briggs | |
|
|
| www.patriciabriggs.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads | Amazon | Tumblr | |
Review: FIRE TOUCHED
Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs
Book 9 of the Mercy Thompson series
Read by Lorelei King
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About Fire Touched:
Mercy Thompson has been hailed as “a heroine who continues to grow and yet always remains true to herself.”* Now she’s back, and she’ll soon discover that when the fae stalk the human world, it’s the children who suffer…
Tensions between the fae and humans are coming to a head. And when coyote shapeshifter Mercy and her Alpha werewolf mate, Adam, are called upon to stop a rampaging troll, they find themselves with something that could be used to make the fae back down and forestall out-and-out war: a human child stolen long ago by the fae.
Defying the most powerful werewolf in the country, the humans, and the fae, Mercy, Adam, and their pack choose to protect the boy no matter what the cost. But who will protect them from a boy who is fire touched?
Source: Info in the About Fire Touched was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25776210-fire-touched on 08/03/2016.
My Thoughts:
I’ve been eagerly awaiting for this book for a year!! Then I had to read it slowly to savour it and make it last. Still too quick a read… The reason I was so looking forward to reading this book was because I wanted to know what happens to Joel as a member of the pack and how the pack is doing with Joel in it… And I was happy to say I got what I wanted… but… I wanted more!!! And I have to wait another year for the next book! How cruel is that?!!
So the world building and character development were already established in book one and continues on to be fantastic in this book. Same goes with the story telling quality. Ok, so I am a die-hard fan of this series (so consider me raving already). Surprisingly, I cannot get into the offshoot seires which is the Alpha And Omega. Tried and failed to get into it… maybe I’ll try again later… Anyway, this book was a fantastic read, as usual with a Mercy Thompson book!
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 5
Pace = 5
Plot = 4.5
Narration = 4
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Mercy Thompson Series:
Click on the cover image to go to my review or to the GoodReads page of the book for more info.
| About Patricia Briggs | |
 |
|
About
This blog is a sister site of www.cherrymischievous.com. Content on both sites is more or less the same.
ABOUT US
Cherry Mischievous (CM) started out as a personal blog of Cherry. It still is, sort of, among other things. But now, we have evolved into a kind of blog where friends who share the same love of books also blog… to know more about us, click on our names to go to our profiles:
Please note that not all reviews here are positive, but then we do not expect the entire wide world to agree and have the same tastes as us. It would be an incredibly boring and monotonous world! Besides, even among ourselves we don’t agree! One would rate a book 4.5 while the other would rate the same exact book with only 3 or less… So have a look and see, especially if it is your genre of books, even though it garnered a low rating with us, you might find it interesting 🙂
Now, let me tell you about Cherry… I am an avid reader of SciFi/Fantasy/Romance books and always on the look out for a good book to read. I dabble in the black arts of light and shadow… err mmm… photography, I mean. I am also in great excess of 18 years old. I am a nurse and constantly getting in trouble because I refuse to live in a box of preconceptions of other people of how things are suppose to be. And let me tell you, nursing is dominated with “tradition” and “sacred cows“, as any nurse and nursing student will tell you. I love spaghetti, chocolate ice cream, coffee and of course, books! I positively abhor stories with cliffhanger endings and driving in London! I am slightly insane, sometimes sarcastic, can be obnoxious, and totally honest. And oh yeah, people call me tactless too 🙂 Welcome to my corner of the world!
CONTACT US
You can contact us at: cherrymischif-contactcmwp2 [at] yahoo [dot] com
or CONNECT WITH US:
Please go to the Review Requests page for review requests.
Cherry Mischievous
www.cherrymischievous.com
Blog Button
<center><a href="https://cherrymischievous.wordpress.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3716/9199302982_0e644f4301_o.png" height="135" width="145"/></a></center>
Cherry Mischievous 