Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs *Mercy Thompson #2*

ISBN:  9780441014736

Publisher:  Penguin Group

Rating:  B+

A new vampire, Littleton, has come to the Tri Cities and is wreaking havoc.   Littleton has abilities Stefan hasn’t seen before which is why Stefan needs Mercy’s help.  Stefan needs Mercy’s special abilities to not fall under a vamps influence in order to protect himself and those under his protection, however what they don’t know could get them killed.

I am really enjoying this series immensely and I have enjoyed it since I read the first book Moon Called.  However, I do have a slight bone to pick, there is a certain thing that happens between Stefan and Mercy at the end of the book that totally ruined it for me.  I know it sounds petty but it’s true.  As a reader I don’t know why it was added to the story and it frustrates me.  It frustrates me enough that I won’t be running off to read Iron Kissed right away.

What I love about the series is the immediate connection I have to the characters and how alive and three dimensional they start off with.  Plus the relationships that Briggs has created are core to the story and as a character driven reader this makes the Mercy Thompson one of my new favorites.  

Mercy is the center of the Tri Cities and she is written with such inner strength that she doesn’t even realize how vital she is to those in her life, the fae, the werewolves and the vampires alike need her just as much as she needs them.  I do look forward to watching her grow as a character and I will be visiting her again soon, but not as soon as I wished, I need to get that sour taste out of my mouth first.

The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig

ISBN: 9780451222213

Publisher:  Penguin Group

Rating:  A

I’ve traveled back to England to catch up with my good friend Eloise Kelly in The Deception of the Emerald Ring.  She has gotten me involved in her dissertation and I have found myself as addicted to the intrigue of this period in history as she is.  Although all of our investigations didn’t really leave a lot of time to catch up with her in regard to her own life, I found myself utterly captivated by the story that was unfolding before us.  We found ourselves immersed in the British Library researching a little known woman Mrs Alsdale whom it appears to have been involved in with the Pink Carnation.  You can’t imagine our excitement as we began to search through the bindings and found that we must travel to Ireland in 1803 during the uprise of the rebellion.  

Lauren Willig has a unique talent for making the reader feel a part of the adventure and not just looking in.  With each installment into this series I grow more and more found of her writing style and the characters she has created.  Each time I visit with Eloise, I find myself craving to know what new mystery will unfold.  The next book in this series is The Seduction of the Crimson Rose and I am looking forward to diving in.  There is no end to where this series can go and I am just honored to be a part of it.

Forever in Blue; The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares

ISBN:  9780385729369

Publisher:  Delacorte Press (Random House)

Rating:  B+

I love this series.  Although it is a young adult series, I fell in love with with these characters in their first book Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and my kinship with them has grown with each successive book.  I am really glad that my yahoo group is doing an “eye spy” challenge and that the March word was Forever because it gave me the perfect chance to finally pick up this book.

Brashares wrote 4 very different, but very real girls who are experiencing the first “growing pains” of their lives as they have to spend more and more time apart.  It’s a story of a sisterhood and how to keep it growing when you can’t always be there for each other.  This is a beautiful coming of age story that tells the true meaning of sisterhood and friendship and I think girls and women of all ages should read this series and remember what it means to be a friend.  There is no “age limit” on these books, they tell a timeless story.

Reading some of the young adult genre now as an adult, I wish I would have had more of these options to read growing up because it’s relevant and matters to girls who are this age.  It matters and I think Brashares writes about these feelings and emotions and changes with an incredible depth of experience and shares with the readers what her friends mean to her.

Promises in Death by JD Robb

ISBN:  9780399155482

Publisher:  Penguin Group USA

Rating:  A

As a reader I always feel content when closing a JD Robb installment and Promises in Death did not disappoint.  Eve and the crew are on the path of a cop killer, a killer that broke a friend in half and that just doesn’t work for Eve.  Although she would deny it until the day she dies, she is the mother hen of her little family.  Always making sure that everyone is safe and tucked away and can’t be muddied by the job.  She is such an intricate character full of rough edges and a heart that will always remember those who become hers through the truth of her job.

Trying to “review” this series of books is a futile effort because I will always love every one of them.  Some will be written better than others, but each book will always hold a special place for me.  Although I knew from my first introduction who the “bad” guy was, I didn’t know all the nuances and it’s always those little subtleties that matter in this series.  There may be a flashing marquis saying “I did it” but JD Robb keeps the why/how of it just out of reach of the reader and that is part of why I love this series so much.  The other part is that JD Robb has cultivated an amazing cast of characters that continues to grow and become more with each passing installment.  The overall focus will always be Eve and Roarke and the life they have forged together, but the secondary characters are just as important and sometimes more and Robb makes sure the reader feels that.

For those of you who have never read this series, it’s a must recommend for me, the first book in this series is Naked in Death and it ranks right up there as one of my all time favorites because it introduced me to this world and fueled my love of reading just as it began to rev again.