Book source ~ Tour

Meet Lola Nox. She is the daughter of famous filmmaker Nolan Nox. Her mother, Lorelei, played the lead character in Nolan’s most celebrated horror film, Nightjar. Set in Harrow Lake, Indiana, the birthplace of Lorelei, but she took off when Lola was five so she doesn’t really remember her. Nearly as long as she can remember it’s just been her and Nolan. And Larry, Nolan’s right-hand man. When Nolan is near fatally attacked in their New York City apartment, Larry ships Lola off to her grandmother in Harrow Lake. A grandmother she has no knowledge of. The moment Lola gets there strange things begin happening and Lola needs to figure things out before she goes crazy. Or ends up dead.

Okay. This is one weird and disturbing tale of a 17-yr-old girl with a strange family set up. Told entirely from Lola’s POV it’s not always clear what the hell is going on in this creepy town. She’s never been to her mother’s birthplace so she doesn’t know anyone, not even her grandmother. Odd things keep happening, the town is disturbingly obsessed with the slasher movie that put it on the map, and women disappear from it with no explanation. On top of all that, there are signs that the town will once again slide into a sinkhole like it did before but was rebuilt. And the cherry on top? There’s a scary story about a guy named Mr. Jitters who turned cannibal when he was caught in the first sinkhole and he’s still around after nearly 100 years. Creepy much? The story is twisty and turny and has a great ending, but I feel the execution is lacking. At times, the story just stops then jumps ahead without any transition. Maybe that’s just the style of this author, but it feels incomplete to me. However, don’t let that stop you from reading this tale straight out of your nightmares.

Book source ~ Purchased

Claire Hansen is a Keeper. I mean, as in, magically. She goes to accident sites and fixes them. And by accident I mean places that have had a magical boo boo happen. She and her companion, a white and black furry feline named Austin, go where they are summoned, fix the problem, and move on. Except this time, the guardian, a Cousin named Augustus, has buggered off from his post, the Elysian Fields Guesthouse, a rundown B&B in Kingston Ontario. It’s an accident site of unusual intensity and origin and Augustus had been there 70+ years keeping watch over it, but had finally decided he couldn’t take it anymore and summoned a Keeper. Who happens to be Claire. Now she’s stuck with this site and has to figure out how to close it for good or be trapped here until her dying day. Not an enjoyable prospect for one so powerful and in her prime no matter how gorgeous her cook/handy man, Dean McIssac, is.

This is a light and entertaining bit of fluff to keep you occupied for an afternoon. There’s magic, humor, Hell (who speaks in CAPS-trust me, hilarious!), and some yummy non-explicit hotness revolving around the handyman and a ghost. Plus, a talking cat. Yay! Dean’s Newfoundland accent got a bit irritating after a while, but I worked around it. Claire can be a little unlikeable at times, but not horrendously so. I got tired of Jacques and his constant sex innuendos. Give it a rest for a bit would ya? Claire’s sister Diana, I hated. Seriously. Anyway…The world is interesting and the characters entertaining (most of the time), so I say if you like a bit of different magic mixed with humor then give this a go. I mentioned the talking cat, right? Yay!

Book source ~ Library

Mercy Thompson is a mechanic, but she’s also a whole lot more. As a coyote shifter she has some problems fitting in with the Columbia Basin werewolf pack. Normally, she wouldn’t give a fig about the pack, but ever since she married their Alpha, Adam Hauptman, she kinda has to deal with them. And now she’s dealing with a situation that she brought upon herself and the pack and that’s being the go-between for the humans and the Gray Lords of the Fae. Mercy doesn’t try to make her life more complicated. These things just seem to happen.

I love this series. I really do. And while I love this installment in it, it just seems to be a bit much this time. I’m not sure why I feel that way because the book has everything I love about the entire series: paranormal shenanigans, steaminess, humor, my favorite characters, danger, mystery, and a decent plot. Ok, maybe it’s the plot. It feels off. Maybe because the last book had Mercy kidnapped and carried off to Europe. It seems like the thing on the bridge with the troll happened forever ago and I guess what I really need is a series refresher. I do hope the Fae storyline gets some more attention because I think that’s what it needs. They really only end up as a subplot of this book because there’s some new Big Bads in town and they are not Fae. Hint: there’s some adorable zombies involved. If I had to guess, this book is setting up a big Fae/human showdown which should prove very complicated and interesting. I do still love this series and can’t wait for the next story.

2.5

Book source ~ Library

Stephanie Plum is a bond enforcement agent for her cousin Vinnie’s agency, but now she has to also manage a deli that the agency has acquired through the collateral on a bond skip. A deli that she finds out has had three managers go missing in the last month and all that was left behind was one shoe. Yikes. Never fear though because Lula is going to help her. *cue eye roll*

This series is so stale I want to slap myself for continuing to read it. At least I get the books from the library now and have for some time. The best thing I can say is it’s an easy-to-read brainless fluff book for when you just need to unwind with something completely predictable and uncomplicated. Grandma Mazur is barely in this one, but Lula is there for nearly all of it. Stephanie *still* can’t decide between Morelli and Ranger and I’m sick of her shit. Each book she’s on again, off again with Morelli who she isn’t ready to marry and apparently neither is he. But her one excuse for not considering Ranger is he isn’t looking to get married. What the actual fuck?! That makes zero sense. Plus, in this book she’s macking on Ranger while she’s still in a sort of relationship with Morelli. Ok, that’s cheating full out. At least all the other (few) times she hooked up with Ranger she and Morelli were off again. I can accept that. But this? No. Just, no. I’m not sure I can keep doing this to myself, but I probably will only because I love Ranger. He deserves so much better than Stephanie.

*Book source ~ NetGalley

Mercy Thompson is the wife to Adam Hauptman, Alpha werewolf of the Columbia Basin Pack and she’s a Walker who can shift into a coyote. She can see ghosts, has a nose for magic and has the knack of making friends, allies and enemies wherever she goes. In this novel, while dealing with every day Pack business, she and the Pack suddenly have to deal with a troll. But the troll is not a run-of-the-mill problem. They come to find out the troll is the shot across the bow from the Fae. Mercy and the Pack have given refugee to a boy who has escaped Underhill and the Fae want him back. As if Mercy’s life wasn’t complicated enough, now they have a possible war with the Fae to prepare for.

Mercy Thompson is back and better than ever. I was getting worried, as each book produced a Big Bad that was bigger and badder than those that came before, that this series may be writing itself into a corner. However, Patricia Briggs brought things back home and gave me a look into what it’s like to belong to the Columbia Basin Pack and having a husband like Adam.

While there is a tense and potentially fatal situation developing between humans, the Pack, and the Fae, there is no single Big Bad to up the stakes yet again. In any volatile situation there are going to be factions and this tale shows how things can go from bad to worse to good again, how to negotiate (especially with the tricky Fae) and how to make the most of your connections. I also am glad that a situation in the pack that was driving me crazy is finally resolved. As with every story so far in this series, this book has everything I love: paranormal situations and characters, humor, depth, action, great dialogue and steaminess.  I love every bit of it and I look forward to more Mercy books.