Number of stars: 3 out of 5
Genre: Urban fantasy, paranormal, fiction
Edition: E-book
Synopsis taken from Barnes & Noble e-book:
Mercy Thompson is a shapeshifter, and while she was raised by werewolves, she can never be one of them, especially after the pack ran her off for having a forbidden love affair. So she’s turned her talent for fixing cars into a business and now runs a one-woman mechanic shop in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State.
But Mercy’s two worlds are colliding. A half-starved teenage boy arrives at her shop looking for work, only to reveal that he’s a newly changed werewolf—on the run and desperately trying to control his animal instincts. Mercy asks her neighbor Adam Hauptman, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, for assistance.
But Mercy’s act of kindness has unexpected consequences that leave her no choice but to seek help from those she once considered family—the werewolves who abandoned her…
My review:
Hum… 2 or 3 stars?
I really liked most of this book, but there were a few cringe-worthy moments and frustrations that kept me from rating this book any higher.
Now, I have to say at the time of this review I’ve only dipped my toes into the urban fantasy genre, and I find myself comparing “Moon Called” with another series when it comes to werewolf packs, sassy heroines, and world building – that series rhymes with “Tate Saniels”. Ok? So maybe that’s some of my problem. Take my review with a grain of salt. These series are different from each other but there are certain things Andrews did SO much better.
Briggs introduces us to her characters and world in an easy-going way that I found enjoyable, especially for an urban fantasy. Normally we get thrown into a semi-grimdark world full of violence and while this book starts with a troubled teenager and yes, some violence, the way Mercy handles the situations thrown at her were actually very smart, imo. She’s not “too stupid to live”. She actually picks up the phone and calls for backup when she realizes she’s in way over her head, which I found very refreshing.
Now I’m going to complain for a bit, so if you’re a super fan of this series feel free to glaze over this paragraph. Why did so much of this book have to take place in a van? I was getting pretty cooped up as a reader. Even glanced at my tablet’s percentage mark and at 68% in the e-book version I was reading Mercy was STILL hitting the highway in that van trying to solve the mystery. C’mon already. It really dragged the pace of the book down. 2nd complaint: the message “Woman is weak, even if said woman is actually a shape shifter and therefore already more unique than the average human woman, she still can’t be trusted to help out and men need to tell her to Sit, Stay” hit the reader over the head pretty regularly. Drove me bonkers.
The romance. While it’s supposed to be sweet, it is unbelievable in my opinion. The way Mercy is treated by (view spoiler) isn’t romantic. It is creepy. His favorite romantic display is to pat Mercy on the head when she’s sitting, kneeling, feeling ill and to me that’s not romantic. That’s a fatherly gesture at best and possessively disgusting at worst. Nope. Not feeling the romance there at all. I’d rather read the irritatingly slow-burn between Curran and Kate (Ilona Andrews’ series) that took 3 books of teasing before those two character addressed it than read about Mercy with (view spoiler) She could do better.
Despite all that, I feel it’s something of a trend that the 1st book of a new series is expected to meander drunkenly or even fall on its face a bit, so I will read the next book in the series to see if it gets better.
Until the next review!
-Rly
C'est la vie 