Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson Book 3) - Paranormal Romance Novel - Perfect for Fantasy Readers & Urban Fiction Lovers

I have found a new author I like. I sure do miss them being on kindle unlimited though. It has been a while since an author I was reading didn't use kindle unlimited ad a form of payment. As always it is interesting. I am looking forward to more moments where there's some normalcy in their lives instead of just snipets.Possible spoilers! I struggle with some of the triggers in this book, so I have read it fewer times than some of the others in this series. That aside, this is an amazing book. The deeper look into the Fae, the expanding relationships and the character development are all wonderful. Ben steps into the light and becomes one of our favorites.I've enjoyed each adventure Mercy has. I highly recommend for fantasy lovers. Love that it is in my community. You won't be disappointed.There's no content warning for this one, but I think perhaps it should have one. Be aware that this includes violence, a non-detailed account of sexual assault, and the emotional aftermath of an assault.So far, I think this has had the most drama out of the series. The push and pull of Zee's situation, the confusion over Adam and Sam. The guilt and despair that Mercy has after the attack. So many things to have happened that isn't really part of the action, but are still vital to the story and character development.MY RATING SYSTEM5 stars--WOW4 stars--would read again3 stars--was good, won't read again2 stars--read it, but didn't enjoy it1 star--didn't finish, it was so awfulDo I need to read books before this one: yesCliffhanger: noSUMMARYZee calls Mercy, needing her nose to help investigate murders on the fae reservation. First they have to get by the federal guard, O'Donnell. She sniffs 4 of the 7 scenes. At 2 of them, she closes her eyes to sniff and then the environment changes. The first gets a forest for a backyard. The other becomes the ocean and a man is upset she's there, would've killed her except Zee grabs her tail before she's pulled out to sea. At the last scene she sniffs, she finds blood other than the victim's, confirming O'Donnell is the murderer. Zee sends her home in his truck while he and Uncle Mike go confront O'Donnell.The next day, Samuel performs at a music festival. Afterward, Uncle Mike calls to say Zee is in jail, suspected of murder. Mercy rejoins the group, hears a Tim give Samuel pointers on how to pronounce Welsh words. When Tim finally leaves, Samuel asks Mercy what's wrong.Mercy's police friend, Tony, calls, says their fae consultant, Dr Altman, is convinced Zee did it. Mercy calls Dr Altman's credibility into question. Kyle gets a good defense attorney for Zee. Mercy tells the attorney everything at Kyle's insistence, including demonstrating why the fae asked a mechanic for forensic assistance.That night, Mercy as a coyote investigates O'Donnell's home. She watches his ghost relive the murder, sees his last word is Mine. She finds a fae walking stick, then a blind raven the size of a golden eagle picks it up and flies away through the wall with it.EVALUATIONThis supernatural suspense had me on the edge of my seat, trying to figure out whodunit, why, how, etc. With only Mercy's point of view, my knowledge of fae magic was as limited as hers. I was glad to get the love triangle sorted out. Adam, Ben, and Darryl all rose in my estimation with their strength and sensitivity in how they handled what happened during the last 20%. That was extremely well written with unique insights. PLEASE SEE TRIGGERS.I am left with questions that have me reaching for the next book. Underhill thoroughly intrigues me; how did Mercy get in? How will she heal? Where's Stefan?RECOMMENDATIONTo everyone who's read the first two books. SEE TRIGGERS.FAVORITE QUOTESI didn’t brush my teeth with gunpowder this morning so I could go shooting my mouth off.Here I was on firmer ground. History degrees aren’t entirely useless.“[Defense attorney] can keep secrets. If she doesn’t know everything, then she’s defending your friend with one hand tied behind her back.”I tried to imagine working a job where your convictions were an inconvenience that you learned to ignore—and decided I’d rather turn a wrench no matter how much better her paycheck was than mine.The antagonism that was stirring in my living room like the inky surface of Loch Ness just before the monster erupts.Does it matter whose fault it is once you’re sitting in the middle of the frying pan?POSSIBLE TRIGGERS (spoilers)Sex: kisses, rapeLanguage: 2 F words, 1 Lord's name in vain, 3 S wordsViolence: fantastical murders, beaten by bullies, rape [somewhat described], poisoning, theft, report of child rapeJust like catching up with an old friend I rediscovered small delectable details of this saga. Keep on reading this amazing story gets better.This is a great book and a great series. This book does have triggers for sensitive readers. I love the way magic and folklore are woven into the story.I love this series and while I would give the whole series a solid 5 stars, I went back and forth on my rating for this book. It’s just as well written, cleanly edited, with great plot and character development, as the other books. But the level of violence against Mercy goes up a notch higher than I’m comfortable with. If you are triggered by nonconsensual intimate assault (sorry, trying not to get my review rejected), then you should give the last 1/3 of the book a pass. Not trying to spoil the story, just trying to give a trigger warning.To be fair, the scene itself is very undefined and hazy, as that is the character’s state of mind at the time. So nothing overly graphic, which is how Briggs is anyway. So if you can stick around and keep reading, the rest of the story is powerful and handled with the kindest touch.Patricia Briggs is rapidly establishing a place on my top ten list of fiction writers I will read unconditionally. This is another from my comfort-reading booklist that came courtesy of a self-Santa order to Amazon. I gulped this book down in two sittings (and only took a break because by 6.00 a.m. I thought I should try and get a few hours sleep). At less than 300 pages it's a quick read - quick too because of the roaring pace - but Briggs never sacrifices character for either plot or pace.This is the third Mercy Thompson book. Mercy is a self-employed garage mechanic with a history degree. She is also a walker, a Native American shape-changer, maybe the last of her kind, whose other form is a coyote. Raised by werewolves, she knows just how deadly they can be and in the last two books, `Blood Bound' and `Moon Called', we saw Mercy getting drawn into the increasingly violent world inhabited by werewolf, vampire and fey as well as humans who can barely comprehend what they've only recently begun to be aware of. As a coyote amongst wolves she's an outsider, as a walker amongst humans she's an outsider, as a non-fey amongst fey she's so far outside that she's on a different world, but when she has her nose in the engine of an old VW she's entirely at home. Her life is complicated by the fact that she must decide between two loves, both werewolves: her old flame Samuel and the alpha of the local pack, Adam, who makes her blood boil for two entirely opposing reasons. Briggs werewolves are not nice. Bad-tempered doesn't even begin to cover the barely-held-in check killing rage that they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. It makes them grouchy, to say the least, but they are entirely three dimensional characters, swinging - sometimes wildly - between human and wolf.In this book Mercy's friend and mechanic-mentor, Zee, an ancient fey with the ability to work iron, is accused of a (human) murder he didn't commit and it seems as though the rest of the fey are happy enough to let him take the (fatal) fall for it as long as it means the law doesn't come snooping around their reservation. Mercy's stubborn loyalty draws her in to a dangerous hunt for the real killer that brings her into closer contact that she ever thought she wanted with the world of the fey and causes conflict with and between her two potential werewolf lovers (remember those tempers?). It's time to choose between Samuel and Adam, but how can she choose when she loves them both? It may not matter in the end because after some close brushes with death in the form of a Kelpie Mercy's eventual discovery of the real killer puts her in mortal danger of the worst kind. By the time she's been through the wringer she's going to need a lot of love an understanding. From a werewolf? Yeah, right!Highly recommended (but read the others first) and then order the next, Bone Crossed, due later this year.When Zee gets into trouble, as in arrested for murder we know there is no way Mercy is going to keep her nose out of it. The fae might be happy to sacrifice an innocent man but Mercy feels differently. This brings her to the attention of two ancient Fae, one seemingly benevolent the other just wants to eat her!Oh she also makes a decision about Samuel and Adam!As others have concluded below, if you are a fan of Urban Fantasy this series will be a great new discovery for you with a strong female lead character and her tangled relationships with various supernaturals, friends and foe. I hugely enjoyed the first two books in this series but have struggled a little with the later events in this book. Without giving a spoiler, I would not have made the choices that Patricia Briggs did with the story and her central character. Whilst the plot was skilfully and professionally handled I remain unconvinced that it was necessary to allow things to go as far as she did. Maybe it's realism, maybe it's sensationalism, I found it slightly too much of the latter. Whatever it was, I didn't enjoy it. That said, I will buy later additions to the series and would recommend this author to friends.Following on from the previous Blood books this one seems to conclude Mercedes' relationships, but at an awful price. I don;t really like revealing plots becasue its a real spoiler, so instead let me assure you that the standard of writing is as good as in the other books in the series. Tehy also included somewhat serious themes but this one was in places harrowing to read if you have empathy for the heroine! I suppose this is what separates Briggs form other, softer writers who dabble in the genre - she is a genuine fantasy writer, and its just coincided that everybody now is writing werewolf/ghost/paranormal romance stuff, a lot of which frankly seems to be utter schematic tosh. This book shows that she can write the real deal, which is quite affecting. I mean that I genuinely was surprised by where the plot went, and how it got there. Anyway, this is a really good conclusion to the series! The standard was as high as always and I look forward to her future offerings.I bought these early books in the series in pre-kindle days but wanted to have them on my kindle so re bought them. they're a reasonable price. I've lots of books i'd love to have on kindle, i hope the US scheme to let readers but kindle versions at discount comes to UK!! Please Amazon :-) These are all really well writtne novels, full of action and advnture, characters that feel real, danger that feels genuine and capped off with the romnce between Adam and Marcy running through all the books. Definatley one for keepers and re reading - and i've just gone through the whole sereis again, along with the Aspen Creek spinoffs.