Finished reread 7/26 review to come ( )

3.5 stars

Mercedes (Mercy) is a mechanic and a shapeshifter, more specifically a coyote. She was raised by werewolves, so has a foot in that culture. She is also friends with at least one vampire. Her vampire friend, Stefan, appears as an almost “dead” blob on her floor one day. It takes a bit to bring him back. Some things have happened with the vampires (in other books earlier in the series), so they are not on good terms with Mercy (except Stefan). When Mercy is asked by an old college friend to come to Spokane (from Tri-Cities where Mercy lives) to help with a ghost in her house who is bothering her 10-year old son, everyone thinks it’s safest for Mercy to be away for a while. Spokane has only one (very territorial) vampire. Of course, somehow Mercy is unable to avoid him. And things escalate…

I liked this, though it took a while to remember the characters. There was some refresher on what had happened in the previous book (this is the 4th in the series), but I still found it tricky to remember the characters, who they were, or how they related to Mercy and others. It got better in second half, right around when Mercy headed for Spokane. I found the ghost story most interesting of the entire book (and the lead-up to the end). I wonder if this is because I used to like werewolf/vampire stories more than I do now, plus I’ve gotten more interested in ghost/haunted house stories. ( )

The plus is that Stefan is back, and he's pretty much made of win. But the rest of the book traipses into the realm of campy, soapy fluff that most fantasy romances seem incapable of avoiding. Though, I did kind of suspect that would happen from the last book. ( )

I really enjoy all of Patricia Brigg's books and have yet to be disappointed. I really enjoyed this book, and it took me all of three days to finish it (would have been less if I could have just done nothing but sit around and read the book like I wish was possible.)

I really enjoyed Mercy's point of view and how this book was written, I'm glad that the ending of book three was kept in mind and not just forgotten like so many other authors do. Also happy to say that I didn't not see the ending of this book coming, I hate it when books are predictable, but it wasn't also so far fetched as to be unbelievable.

Also, very glad that in the one sex scene that Ms. Briggs kept it classy and didn't turn her book into a c graded romance flick with its poor plot and steamy sex scenes. Though, I wish there had been a little more detail then the abstracts, but at the same time I understand that she was keeping it true to character too.

Loved this book. ( )

This book felt a bit different from the other books, probably because Mercy is out of town for a good part of the book. Different doesn't mean less fun though. The vampires are good enemies and I would love it if the Oakman came back in another story because he is very interesting. The fae walking stick is back and at the end of the story he becomes really interesting.

Somehow I've forgotten a lot about this book and that made for extra fun. I remembered Amber and her family but not what had happened to them. I really don't know why I would forget that, but it made for extra tension so no complaints from me. And again a book that was better than I remembered. Is there something like a reverse suck fairy? ( )