Moon Called by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #1)

Mercedes Thompson, aka Mercy, is a talented Volkswagen mechanic living in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. She also happens to be a walker, a magical being with the power to shift into a coyote at will. Mercy's next-door neighbor is a werewolf. Her former boss is a gremlin. And she's fixing a bus for a vampire. This is the world of Mercy Thompson, one that looks a lot like ours but is populated by those things that go bump in the night. And Mercy's connection to those things is about to get her into some serious hot water...

I read this book well over ten years ago, and although I don’t remember why, I didn’t like it.
Needless to say, I haven’t read another Mercy Thompson book since despite quite enjoying the sister series - Alpha and Omega.
Deciding to give the series another try was based upon the fact that my reading preferences have shifted a lot over the years and UF has become an enduring love of mine, so much so I’d say it’s probably my favourite genre. Back then, I was more of a paranormal romance lover and that probably explains a lot of my original problems with the book: It is not a romance. Not that UF should be a romance but the UF I read always has a strong romantic link - or great potential - otherwise it loses me quickly. I am what I am and I am a romance junkie.

Anyway, re-reading it was a gamble but seeing as I own up to book six already it seemed like a worthwhile thing to do.

And I’m glad I did! This time around, I really enjoyed the book. It’s nothing like I remember… Which is so odd! I usually have good recall of books I’ve read but with this one, even though I remembered key facts, the detail completely escaped me and the devil was in the details with this book.

Mercy is a shapeshifter. She’s fiercely independent, owns her own business and, for the most part, seems to mind her own business right up until a young werewolf turns up at her garage seeking cash-in-hand work. She helps him and inevitably gets sucked into his business thus introducing him to the local alpha - a sexy wolf named Adam - who just so happens to own the property next to hers and who seems to be a source of friendly irritation for Mercy. As it’s UF and nothing can ever be simple, bad things happen and Mercy is forced to return to the pack she grew up in - despite not being a werewolf - with a wounded Adam in tow and then gets further embroiled in werewolf politics and dastardly plots.

It was a lot of fun for despite being a shapeshifter, Mercy does not have ‘superpowers’. She isn’t super strong, she doesn’t heal super fast… She is human in those respects and very breakable. A very breakable human playing with ‘monsters’ who are very strong and can recover from pretty much fatal wounds and are incredibly volatile and violent… Not to mention exceedingly prone to the proverbial pissing contest.
As I said, it was fun.

The story moved smoothly, the world building was delivered in digestible chunks, the characters were all introduced in a way that told you they were important - either now or in the future - and nothing felt pointless. Every detail mattered, every character had their part to play and from reading the Alpha and Omega sister series, I was able to pick up on details directly linking into that storyline too which amused me greatly.

It’s clear from the events in Moon Called that Mercy’s time of avoiding the pack and living her life mostly outside of pack politics is over. She’s clearly back in the fold and she’s going to need all her wits about her to survive!

While romance is pretty much non-existent in this book, I have high hopes for Mercy and Adam hooking up in the future. They had nice chemistry and I’m rooting for them. However, if Mercy and Sam - the head honcho werewolf of North America’s son - hook up, I’m going to be ragey! His past with Mercy - i.e courting a 16 year old girl when he’s hundreds of years old! - was just too weird…

Anyway, if you like werewolves and shifters with a side of fae and vampires then you should give this series a try!