Book Review: Alpha and Omega Series by Patricia Briggs

Patricia Briggs writes other novels besides the Mercy Thompson series I enjoy. I've started reading the companion series called Alpha & Omega (Charles and Anna).

We're introduced to Charles, a werewolf, in the first Mercy Thompson novel Moon Called. Charles is one of the sons of Bran, the Marrok, the "king" of the werewolves. Charles is the only natural-born werewolf. Female werewolves cannot have children because changing into a werewolf during a full moon is too violent for the baby to live. However, Charles's mother was a Native American Salish woman, the daughter of a medicine man. She used the knowledge of her father to keep from changing while pregnant. She carried Charles to full term, but was so weak she died after his birth. She did, however, pass her magic to Charles, who can change easier and faster than other werewolves.

Charles's role in the pack is assassin. His father sends Charles to eliminate rogue or dangerous werewolves. When they discover an out-of-control Alpha in Chicago, Bran sends Charles to eliminate that werewolf. If possible, definitely start this series with a short story called Alpha & Omega: A Companion Novella to Cry Wolf. The first actual novel involving Charles and Anna together is Cry Wolf when Anna goes to Montana with Charles. The novella is the story of Charles and Anna's meeting and falling in love, as well as the story of the bad werewolf and his pack. It is the best start to this series.

This is a must-read series for those interested in werewolf folklore. To keep this blog short, I'll discuss Cry Wolf in another post. Most definitely two thumbs' up!

Book Review: Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1) by Patricia Briggs

Vampires, werewolves, and fairies! Oh my!! The series of Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs is wicked cool. This is a fantastic series. Definitely begin with Book #1, Moon Called. I have enjoyed these books so much that I'll write a separate review for each book.

In a world where vampires, the fae and werewolves co-exist with humans, Mercy straddles the line as one of the few remaining "walkers" from a Native American magical bloodline - she can shapeshift into a coyote. As a child, Mercy was orphaned and was raised by a pack of werewolves. She ran away from the pack and an early marriage in her teens. Now she lives alone, the owner of her own car repair shop. The Alpha of the Columbia Basin Pack is her neighbor, her old boss is an ancient fae, and she fixes car for the vampire seethe. This is one cool chick.

Moon Called focuses on an apparent clan war among werewolves. When Mercy takes in a newly-made teen werewolf she discovers someone is performing experiments on werewolves and creating new werewolves to sell. She seeks refuge in her childhood pack when the Alpha is badly injured, and must solve what evil is preying on young werewolves.

Moon Called is a tautly written action thriller in a believable alternate universe. Briggs outlines a creative, highly detailed society in which they live without long detailed explanations. Her characters are well-written, sympathetic and entertaining. There are a ton of characters to cheer for, and among these different supernatural species only Mercy is friend to them all. Well, almost all.....

Book Review: Vampire for Hire Series by J.R. Rain

I started reading the Vampire for Hire series J.R. Rain with Moon Dance, Book #1. It was free on Amazon. I have since read American Vampire and Vampire Moon, but they were $3.99 each. The novels are actually short stories. My Kindle ends at 75%-80%. The rest of the downloads are previews of his other books. I find this annoying. I paid for a novel, so I want a novel. It's not really a series as much one book chopped up into little pieces.

The premise is a good one - Samantha Moon was turned into a vampire six years ago. She's a mother of two children, married, has a sister, and the usual array of other characters. First of all, you can tell these "books" are written by a man. Samantha finds every man sexy, except for drug dealers and other baddies. She even thinks the older, overweight, donut-jelly-stains-on-his-shirt-detective sexy. Seriously? Dude.......

Secondly, the storyline and characters are not well thought out. There's a lot of repetition - a lot of repetition - and conflicting subplots. I found myself continually yelling at my Kindle, "Oh, no! Don't go there," but, of course, he would. The best character of the "books" is Kingsley. A hunk-o-hunk of burning love, and a werewolf. He even survives getting shot in the face five times. Cool. But, J.R. Rain must be jealous of his own character. Samantha constantly spurns Kingsley, even though he loves her. He even provides her with goblets of blood. Now that's sexy. Of course, whenever she needs a friend, she turns to him. And, then, again, she wants nothing to do with him....yada, yada, yada.

Thirdly, she hates being a vampire. She loves being a vampire. She hates being a vampire. She loves being a vampire. She hates being a vampire. She loves being a vampire. Shut up, please!

I suggest reading the first one (Moon Dance) because it's free. However, buying a chapter at a time - at $3.99 each - is not sexy. The storyline isn't consistent enough to recommend buying the other "books" in the series. My local library doesn't have ebooks of #4 and #5, so I'm done reading. I don't want to pay another $3.99 for a short story and a lot of advertising. 

Book Review: Like Part of the Family

Like Part of the Family is an outstanding short story by Jonathan Maberry. It's only available on ebook,* but it's totally worth the 99 cents. It was a nice 30-minute read with a very good ending.

Being a short story, it left me hungry for so, so much more. Like his Joe Ledger books, I want - no need - this character to have full-blown character development in a series.

Jonathan Maberry is masterful... He knows how to reel the reader into his story and eagerly awaiting the next book. Although I must say, Maberry's writing is brilliant. If you don't want to read a longer Maberry just yet. Read this entertaining short story for a taste of what's to come. You'll beg for the next book too.

*8/19/12 Update: Check out the comment by Jonathan Maberry himself! How cool is that?! Note that the book is available in hard copy: And if anyone wants a print version of LIKE PART OF THE FAMILY, it's included in the recent anthology BEST NEW WEREWOLF TALES.