Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs

Synopsis:

Mercy Thompson's life has undergone a seismic change. Becoming the mate of Adam Hauptman--the charismatic Alpha of the local werewolf pack--has made her a stepmother to his daughter Jesse, a relationship that brings moments of blissful normalcy to Mercy's life. But on the edges of humanity, what passes for a minor mishap on an ordinary day can turn into so much more. 

After an accident in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Mercy and Jesse can't reach Adam--or anyone else in the pack for that matter. They've all been abducted. 

Through their mating bond, all Mercy knows is that Adam is angry and in pain. With the werewolves fighting a political battle to gain acceptance from the public, Mercy fears Adam's disappearance may be related--and that he and the pack are in serious danger. Outclasses and on her own, Mercy may be forced to seek assistance from any ally she can get, no matter how unlikely. 

Review:

I am a huge fan of Patricia Briggs, I love her writing style and I love the way the characters have evolved over the years. To say I am a big fan of Mercy would be an understatement. I have to admit I was a little worried about how this next book was going to go, the last one wasn't my favorite, and less face it the longer a series goes on the harder it is to keep the characters interesting and exciting while still keeping the things we love about the characters in tact. I have to say that I did enjoy Frost Burned a lot more than I was expecting. 

The action in this book starts from page one and then just when you think it's all over and you have everything figured out, it turns out there was so much more going on behind the scenes and the action continues on. Briggs has always done a great job with fight scenes and building up suspense that keep the reader wanting to turn the page. She brought those skills to his book definitely. 

As for the characters, she brought back a lot of my favorites. You have Stefan finally acting a little like himself. Wulfe makes an appearance, and let's face it, he's just as creepy as he has ever been. Jesse and Mercy definitely are starting to have a stepmother/daughter relationship, which is fun to watch. I loved that Ben was back on the scene, he's such a great departure from the standard werewolf. And even better Briggs brought The Moor over from Bran's pack, and I really love him in this. Oh and Tad and Zee make an appearance, which always makes me smile, what's a Mercy Thompson book without a little fae in your life? 

On the down side, the book has a couple of things I wish were a little different. But primarily I thought that there was not enough time between Mercy and Adam, or Mercy and the pack. It was action all the time, and for most of it Mercy was separated from the pack, so you don't really get to see the relationships between the characters evolve. Also if you don't have a great memory of the books you have read in the past, you may have a hard time recollecting all the character dynamics because Briggs doesn't waste a lot of time rehashing the past, nor does she introduce new characters. 

One thing I have to mention, because I really enjoyed it, was Adam got a couple of chapters to himself. Briggs through in a couple of Adam's POV, and it's in those chapters that you really get to see how much Mercy and Adam really love each other. I really appreciated those pages. 

Long story short, I always recommend picking up a book by Briggs, she is awesome. And this is a pretty good book, not my favorite of the seven, but definitely worthy of Mercy Thompson. I look forward to what comes next for Mercy.