Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

Trouble follows Mercy more than any coyote I know.  Not that I know many.  Someone is killing fae and Mercy’s favor is being called in for help.  Zee is thrown in jail for a crime he didn’t committ.  Mercy is the only one silly enough to ignore the Gray Lord’s orders and to clear Zee’s name.   This series is turning out to be one of my favorites.  Ms. Briggs surprised me with the first two installments and has not let me down.  I think that Moon Called is the strongest first installment of any series I have ever read in this genre.  Each book gets better and better.  Iron Kissed is spectacular.  The mystery is brilliant and the ending is written so thoughtfully.   The final chapters are indescrible unless I include spoilers which I am not willing to do– suffice to say it it the best ending that I have read in a long, long time.  The raw emotion that Ms. Briggs evokes from the reader is extraordinary.   I was apprehensive on how she would deal with the Samuel/Mercy/Adam triangle, as I love both werewolves involved.  I shouldn’t have been anxious because Ms. Briggs knows her characters and her craft.  It is dealt with beautifully.  I did not find it anticlimatic like some reviewers, but instead focused on the beauty of how people grow and change without realizing.  

The Harlequin by Laurell K Hamilton

The Harlequin is Book 15 in the Anita Blake series.  It reads pretty similar to the last several installments of the series.  So, don’t expect the Anita of Guilty Pleasures or Burnt Offerings.   I don’t mind the sexually intense writing.  I just miss the plots of the earlier books.  I miss the mystery and crime solving.  I am not one to jump ship though.  I tend to stay true to my favorite characters and I do so love Anita and Jean Claude.  So, I will keep reading the series until Ms. Hamilton decides to not write any more.  However, I will hope with each one that she goes back to the butt-kicking, crime-solving Anita of the first handful of books.  With all that being said, I love Jean-Claude and want more of him that we have gotten in these last couple books.  I truly miss the intimate relational moments that he and Anita had in the beginning of their love affair.  I think that Jean Claude gets pushed aside too much during the fury of Anita’s many lovers.   I absolutely love Edward and am glad to see him back in the fray.  I was terribly disappointed in the direction Ms. Hamilton took Raphael, the RatKing.  I was impressed with the scenes at the end in Malcolm’s church.  I thought the part with Richard says it all and I am glad that it happened that way. (Don’t want to spoil the book for all those who haven’t read it yet.)   I thought there was a major plot point that was left hanging in regards to Mommie Dearest and the fourth mark.  All in all I would say it is pretty much the same as the last three or four books.