Audible Book #Review: Frost Burned: Mercy Thompson Book 7 by Patricia Briggs

This is a series I really enjoy listening too.

Frost Burned: Mercy Thompson Book 7

• UNABRIDGED
• by Patricia Briggs
• Narrated by Lorelei King 
• Series: Mercy Thompson, Book 7

    LENGTH: 10 hrs and 1 min
    RELEASE DATE: 03-05-13
    Program Type: Audiobook
    PUBLISHER: Penguin Audio
Amazon Link
Genre: Urban Fantasy
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Publisher's Summary
Mercy Thompson returns in the seventh novel in the number-one New York Times best-selling series.
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. Outclassed and on her own, Mercy may be forced to seek assistance from any ally she can get, no matter how unlikely.
©2013 Patricia Briggs (P)2013 Penguin Audiobooks

Review:
Mercy Thompson is a rare creature, a Coyote Walker. She is the wife of Adam, the Alpha leader of the local werewolf pack. The entire pack has gone missing while Mercy and her step daughter, Jesse, are out shopping. An injured Ben, a British werewolf with attitude, finds Mercy at her garage and she learns that he is the only one who escaped when supposed government authorities rounded up the pack and subdued them with silver tranquilizers.

Mercy is able to use their mate bond to contact Adam mentally and determine that the pack is alive but weak from silver poisoning. Mercy must keep Jesse save from the kidnappers who would use her as additional blackmail to coerce Adam to do their bidding. She must also keep herself safe and find a way to rescue the pack before Adam has to make a devastating sacrifice.

There are political implications that require careful handling. Mercy calls for help from her fae friends, Zeek and his grandson Tad, to guard Jesse, Gabriel, Mercy’s college-age employee, and Gabriel’s family.  Then Mercy calls upon her vampire friend, Stephan, to help rescue Kyle, a prominent attorney who is the lover of one of the kidnapped wolves.

Mercy risks her own well being by ‘changing the rules’ to help Adam and then she faces an ambush attack. Even when the pack is free, Mercy is not out of danger. She is summoned to a special meeting with the Queen Vampire. At first she fears it may be over the Mercedes she borrowed which has suffered from a bleeding werewolf, battle dents and a (supposedly) dead body in the trunk. Soon Mercy learns that the car is a trifling matter compared to the political Vampire war she is pulled into.

I love the strength in Mercy and in her bond with Adam. Coyotes are not as strong as werewolves and not all of the pack accept Mercy. But her position as Alpha mate and her bond with Adam allows her to bring along an Alpha attitude in her own presence.  I like the strong pack atmosphere of ‘family’ that is exhibited in these stories. I also like that Mercy has friends among the other paranormal communities.  This particular story has some brutal killing but also Mercy’s own special touch of faith and forgiving grace. Ms. Briggs brings a unique and new tale of danger and action to each of the books in this series. They never fail to entertain me.

Audio Notes: I greatly enjoy the narrations of this series by Lorelei King. She distinguishes the voices so you can almost see the different creature personalities– the werewolves, the fae and the vampires. There is an even flow to the reading that keeps it moving well at rare moments of calm as well as the usual emotional times of danger and action.

I highly recommend this series for the warm relationships presented in action packed and entertaining plots. Preferably read the books in order for the full impact of the character involvements and nuances.

I read this from my own Audible library.

This is set in Tri-Cities, Washington for my 2013 Where Are You Reading Challenge.