Second Alpha & Omega

Cry Wolf unlocked the doors to a unique urban landscape in “a great… new werewolf series.” Now Patricia Briggs invites readers to follow her even deeper intot that seductive realm of the unknown…

Anna Latham didn’t know how complicated life could be until she became a werewolf. And until she was mated to Charles Cornick, the son-- and enforcer-- of Bran, the leader of the North American werewolves, she didn’t know how dangerous it could be, either…

Anna and Charles have just been enlisted to attend a summit to present Bran’s controversial proposition: that the wolves should finally reveal themselves to humans. But the most feared Alpha in Europe is dead set against the plan-- and it seems like someone else might be, too. When Anna is attacked by vampires using pack magic, the kind of power only werewolves should be able to draw on, Charles and Anna must combine their talents to hunt down whoever is behind it all-- or risk losing everything…

Title: Hunting Ground
Author: Patricia Briggs
Series: Alpha and Omega, Book 2
Start & Finished: 10/8/09
Published: August 25, 2009
Publisher: Ace
Pages: 286
Genre: Urban Fantasy

“Seattle is a city with a certain… panache. Never know what you are going to find when you come for a visit. Good food, friendly people, ancient legendary weapons.” Not to mention a werewolf summit, vampires, and even some fae thrown in for good measure. [There‘s] “Always something different” in one of Patricia Briggs’ novels and that holds true for the second book in her spin-off Alpha and Omega series, Hunting Ground. The sequel to Cry Wolf, Hunting Ground takes place during the author’s main series book Blood Bound which is the second Mercedes Thompson.

I first discovered Patricia Briggs through her bestselling Mercy Thompson books which led me to picking up an anthology called On the Prowl in which the author had contributed a story set in the same world starring different but slightly related characters. That story was the jumping off of a new series called the Alpha and Omega of which the first one was Cry Wolf and the sequel has come out.

The Mercy series will always be my favorite books by Patricia Briggs but the Alpha and Omega series is coming along nicely! Anna isn't quite as reticent as she was in the first book (she did have good reason to be) and it's even revealed that she has a bit of sass to her still. With being Charles mate her emotional wounds are really starting to heal.

An interesting note about this series: Charles shares equal POV time with Anna which I thought was unique. He has such a way of thinking and speaking that sometimes shows his age (200 years give or take) at times and then on the flip-side just how down-to-earth Anna helps him be. Also, it shows his struggle with being his father's (the Marrok- kind of like the king of the North American werewolves) "hatchet man." He's good at it and it's a necessary job but he doesn't like it and because of it, he keeps walls between himself and the world.

Not to mention that when Brother Wolf "speaks" it's an experience all it's own. Brother Wolf is the werewolf in Charles. Unlike all the werewolves that have been introduced in either of Briggs' series, Charles was born a werewolf not bitten and he has some different "abilities" than the others including the fact that his wolf and him are seperate beings but yet of one soul and one body. Briggs' werewolf lore is just so neat! Although Mercy was raised by these werewolves (Sam is Charles is brother by the way), she isn't one so the author barely skims the surface in those books. Yet here it's almost like an entirely different world!

Now that I've gushed about the characters I can talk about the plot. Well, not too much more than the synopsis above because the mystery will be spoiled but I do have to mention that the mythological angle was surprising and very pleasing as well. There was a hint here, I believe that one of the secondary (but important) characters used to be a mythological legend and I'm really, really curious to see if I'm right about that in the future books.

Alpha and Omega
1. Cry Wolf (2008)
2. Hunting Ground (2009)

Mercedes Thompson
1. Moon Called (2006)
2. Blood Bound (2007)
3. Iron Kissed (2008)
4. Bone Crossed (2009)
5. Silver Borne (2010)

First Paragraph: She observed him from her chosen cover, as she’d done twice before. The first two times he’d been chopping wood, but today, after a heavy snowfall appropriate for the middle of December. He was shoveling the sidewalk. Today was the day she’d take him.

Links:
Author Wikipedia

Interview:
Fiction Factor
The Book Smuggler I, II
McNally Robinson

Picture Explanations:
Excalibur: There is a character in the book obsessed with Arthurian legends who believes he's found Excalibur.
Troll: The stone troll in the book is based on the real Fremont troll.
Winter: It's December where Charles and Anna live.

An Anthology of Dark Fantasy

On the make. On the scent. On the edge.
On the prowl…

Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs
The werewolf Anna finds a new sense of self when the son of the werewolf king comes to town to quell unrest in the Chicago pack-and inspires a power in Anna she’s never felt before.

Inhuman by Eileen Wilks
Kai has a secret gift of sensing thoughts and desires. What she senses in her neighbor Nathan could be dangerous. Because he has a secret gift too, and it’s about to be let loose…

Buying Trouble by Karen Chance
A Lord of the Fey crosses paths with a fiery red-headed mage named Claire in a New York auction house. But in this strange underground society, the rarity up for sale is Claire herself.

Mona Lisa Betwining by Sunny
Among the children of the moon, Mona Lisa is of mixed blood-part Monère, part human, and destined to be alone. Until she meets a man who could be her salvation-or her downfall.

Title: On the Prowl (anthology)
Author: Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance, Sunny
Published: 2007
Publisher: Berkley Publishing
Pages: 341
Genre: Anthology-Paranormal Romance-Urban Fantasy, Adventure

The anthology On the Prowl includes a story from the best-selling author of the Mercedes Thompson series, Patricia Briggs as well as stories by Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance, and Sunny all whose characters dwell in paranormal/fantasy worlds where dragons, werewolves, or even Fey could very well be your neighbors.

Alpha and Omega is a short story that takes place in the world of Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series during or soon after the first book, Moon Called but Mercy herself is never mentioned. This is the story of the Morok’s (leader of the werewolves) son and “hitman” Charles and how he meets Anna while investigating the Chicago pack.

The whole reason I picked up this anthology in the first place was because of how much I liked Briggs’ writing style and Charles’ half-brother Samuel is a recurring character in the Mercy series but little is mentioned of Charles himself so I was interested in finding out more about him. I also really liked Anna because she was such a strong character and refused to be continue being a victim.

There are a few references to things that happened in the original series but there aren’t any big spoilers and I believe that this story could be read on its own. Charles and Anna’s first complete book , called Cry Wolf will be out this August, hopefully it will continue into a series as well.

Eileen Wilks is the author of the second short story called Inhuman and it is the sixth story in her World of the Lupi series, most of which are available in other anthologies. The WotL takes place in an earth very similar to ours except it’s populated with people who are “Gifted” because of the “power winds” and “nodes”. Of course there are regular people too and people who aren’t even from this world!

I have never read anything by Ms. Wilks before but I found the story itself very intriguing. There was a lot of interesting world-building but unfortunately, it was also way too complex for a short story. You’re left with a bit of a cliffhanger and it also doesn’t really explain some things either. More like the author realized that her story was the longest in the book and tried to wrap it up as quickly as possible. I was left with the feeling that she decided to just set up for the next story with Kia and Nathan in it called Night Season and ultimately let this one become unraveled in places.

The third story in the book is called Buying Trouble by Karen Chance. Magic null Claire knows her life sucks, her whole family (what’s left of it) wants her dead or sold (nulls can be killed and harvested) but she soon finds out that there is more to herself than she originally thought when she and a Fey named Heider are accidentally transported into a hostile part of Faerie.

Karen Chance seems like she’s a fairly new author whose Cassandra Palmer series have recently become best-sellers but I’ve actually never heard of her before now. However, her story was the second best story in the anthology. The characters had so much personality (especially Claire!) and the worlds that the story is set in are full of Sidhe, dragons, werewolves, mages, etc. I wouldn’t mind visiting again if Ms. Chance decided to set another novel in those worlds... I just wouldn’t want to live there!

Author Sunny’s (no last name) Mona Lisa Betwining is a dark fantasy, erotic romance and it’s the last short story in On the Prowl. It’s also the fourth story in her Monére, Children of the Moon series. The Monére are supernatural creatures, mostly shapeshifters who are “descended from the moon” and take power from it as well. Mona Lisa is a Queen (there seem to be many of them) who is a half Monére, half human and she has to go to the High Court with her men about things that happened in previous novels.

Being the last story in the anthology, you would expect that it would be really good (most authors and publishers like to leave you with a high note) but you cannot really understand too much of Mona Lisa Betwining unless you’ve read the other books in the series. Not only do they constantly refer back to things that happened previous to this story but also it seems like you’re expected to know about them (the Monére themselves aren’t even explained very well). Not very friendly to a first-time reader of Sunny’s work like myself. I did like what I understood though and I’m considering trying to get the first couple of books in the series.

For an anthology, On the Prowl has a surprising amount of information available online! The first author

Patricia Briggs comments on her story Alpha and Omega here on her website. To view a complete list of her works, check out the Wikipedia article. Eileen Wilks talks more about her World of the Lupi series in this interview, she has a Wikipedia article with her complete bibliography too. The third author, Karen Chance has an excerpt of her story on her website and this interview explains what her other series is about. This interview with Sunny helped me understand the background of her Mona Lisa series better.

My New Favorite Series

Werewolves can be dangerous if you get in their way, but they'll leave you alone if you are careful. They are very good at hiding their natures from the human population, but I'm not human. I know them when I meet them, and they know me, too.

Mercy Thompson's sexy next-door neighbor is a werewolf.

She's tinkering with a VW bus at her mechanic shop that happens to belong to a vampire.

But then, Mercy Thompson is not exactly normal herself... and her connection to the world of things that go bump in the night is about to get her into a whole lot of trouble.

Title: Moon Called
Author: Patricia Briggs
Published: 2006
Publisher: Ace Books
Pages: 288
Genre: Paranormal-Adventure, Mystery

Moon Called is the first book in Patricia Briggs’ amazing urban fantasy, adventure series about Mercedes Thompson, (Mercy to her friends) a coyote skinwalker VW mechanic who was raised by werewolves. Like most coyotes, she also has a nose for trouble too... especially when her friends are threatened!

It’s been a long time since a series has been able to capture me so completely. Patricia Briggs is an amazing author who has that rare talent of making the reader empathize with the characters as well as build a believable world for them to live in. I just love Mercy! She’s funny, sassy, and brave yet vulnerable, the perfect person to have as a friend and to help guard your back.

That said, there were a few things that annoyed me about the story but my biggest issue is the fact that it seems to be almost edited like a PG-13 movie. There is absolutely no sex whatsoever in Moon Called although there are some vague references to the fact that werewolves can mate and there is a sexual attraction between Mercy and some of the characters. Hopefully Mrs. Briggs will lose her squeamishness in a future novel.

I have many people to thank for turning me onto this series but I actually never would have picked it up in the first place if it wasn’t for Darla D.’s review. If you would like more information on Patricia Briggs and her books, Wikipedia has an excellent page available and here is an interview with the author that talks a little about Moon Called.

The Mercy Series:

• Moon Called
• Blood Bound
• Iron Kissed

A Kickass Supernatural Heroine

Welcome to Patricia Briggs's world, a place where "witches, vampires, werewolves, and shapshifters live beside ordinary people" (Booklist). It takes a very unusual woman to call it home-- and there's no one quite like Mercy Thompson.

By day, Mercy is a car mechanic in the sprawling Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington. By night, she explores her preternatural side. As a shapshifter with some unique talents, Mercy has often found herself having to maintain a tenuous harmony between the human and the not so human. This time she may get more than she bargained for.

Masilia, the local Vampire Queen, has learned that Mercy crossed her by slaying a member of her clan-- and she's out for blood. But since Mercy is protected from direct reprisal by the werewolf pack (and her close relationship with the sexy Alpha), it won't be Mercy's blood Marsilia is after.

It'll be her friends'.

Title: Bone Crossed
Author: Patricia Briggs
Series: Mercy Thompson, Book 4
Start & Finished: 3/17/09- 3/18/09
Published: February 3, 2009
Publisher: Ace
Pages: 309
Genre: Paranormal

In 2006, fantasy author Patricia Briggs published the first book in her urban fantasy series starring Mercedes (Mercy) Thompson and she continued to gain fans with each new story. Three years later, Ms. Briggs’ mechanic coyote skinwalker heroine with the complicated love life finally received her due recognition when the fourth book Bone Crossed was published in hardcover.

"One of the important things about urban fantasy is that you ask the readers to believe this big whopper, that there are vampires and werewolves in the real life- at least I hope it's a big whopper- that there are vampires and werewolves in the real world. You have to set it in a really real setting and that's where the "urban" part of urban fantasy comes in." Urban fantasy is a particularly favorite sub-genre of mine and the Mercy Thompson series is one of the best. That's not to say that I haven't had problems with it though, especially the previous book, Iron Kissed. It was just as intriguingly written as the Moon Called and Blood Bound however there was quite a bit of more unpleasantness to it than I had expected. Fortunately, in Bone Crossed the characters don't dwell on things very much but continue to move forward.

With each novel Mercy has somehow managed to make someone powerful angry and with Bone Crossed that’s no exception. However she has good friends and allies that have managed to pull her tail out of the fire in the nick of time again. Fans of the series will be happy to know that Stefan, the Scooby-Doo- loving vampire has a more dominant part in this story too.

Altogether, a lot of things happen during this book- way too many to name and even harder to remember months later after I’ve read it. This latest Mercy book was incredibly good and I can't wait for the next one Silver Borne. Until then, I may just have to refresh my memory by reading this awesome series again.

Mercedes Thompson Series:
1. Moon Called (2006)
2. Blood Bound (2007)
3. Iron Kissed (2008)
4. Bone Crossed (2009)
5. Silver Borne (2010)

Related Posts: Cry Wolf (spin-off series) & On the Prowl (anthology)

Links & Interviews: Patricia Briggs' Wikipedia, Mercy Thompson Wikipedia, Mercy Fanpop Page, Book Smugglers Interview Part 1 & Part 2.

Merciless Faeries

"I could smell her fear, and it satisfied something deep inside me that had been writhing under her cool, superior gaze. I curled my upper lip so she could get a good look at my sharp teeth. I might only weigh thirty or so pounds in my coyote shape, but I was a predator..."

Mechanic Mercy Thompson can shift her shape- but not her loyalty. When her former boss and mentor is arrested for murder and left to rot behind bars by his own kind, it's up to Mercy to clear his name, whether he wants her to or not.

Mercy's loyalty is under pressure from other directions, too. Werewolves are not known for their patience, and if Mercy can't decide between the two she cares for, Sam and Adam may make the choice for her...

Title: Iron Kissed
Author: Patricia Briggs
Published: 2008
Publisher: Ace
Pages: 304
Genre: Paranormal-Dark Fantasy, Adventure

In the third and current novel Iron Kissed, of Patricia Briggs’ best-selling series, mechanic and coyote skinwalker Mercy Thompson is back and like in the previous books, someone needs Mercy’s special talents and since the Fae are the only species left that haven’t played a major role in one of the stories, they’re it.

After the last fiasco in the second book Blood Bound, Mercy has understandably developed a healthy fear of vampires so there aren’t any in Iron Kissed, not even Stefan. Thankfully it doesn’t take away from the story so there was much more time spent with the werewolf pack and resolving some of her feelings as well as hunting down bad guys.

I’d like to warn without spoiling for some: there is a pretty ugly, emotionally graphic scene near the end of the book that I thought was totally out of character for Patricia Briggs, at least judging by the other stories I’ve read by her. It is important though and it also helps the reader to get to know one of the characters (Ben) that Mercy has disliked from the very beginning of the series. Hopefully everyone will heal and it won’t leave too many mental wounds for the author to prod in the next book in the series.

Patricia Briggs’ official site, has recently been updated in more than just looks! Her What’s Next? Page has her new works in progress on it like the first book in the series parallel to Mercy’s called Cry Wolf starring Samuel’s brother that comes out in August 2008 and I’ve recently learned that the Mercy series is being turned into a graphic novel courtesy of Dabel Brothers Publishing. Wikipedia has Briggs’ complete bibliography available as well as more information on the author too.

The Mercy Series:

• Moon Called
• Blood Bound
• Iron Kissed

No Mercy to Vampire Scum

Under the rule of science, there are no witch burnings allowed, no water trials or public lynchings. In return, the average law-abiding, solid citizen has little to worry about from the things that go bump in the night. Sometimes I wish I was an average citizen...

Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places-and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a message to another of his kind.

But this new vampire is hardly ordinary-and neither is the demon inside of him.

Title: Blood Bound
Author: Patricia Briggs
Published: 2007
Publisher: Ace
Pages: 292
Genre: Paranormal-Dark Fantasy, Adventure

Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson -a mechanic who happens to be a coyote skinwalker- returns in the second book, called Blood Bound in her dark fantasy adventure series. In it, Mercy repays a favor to the local vampires (they helped her in the first book, Moon Called) and soon becomes wrapped up in vampires, demons, and werewolf politics as well as juggling her feelings about certain males in her life.

Like I said in my previous post about Moon Called, there is plenty of sexual tension in Patricia Briggs’ stories but so far absolutely no sex. Which actually isn’t really all that big of a problem because the world she lives in is just one big whirl-wind of adventure in which the little skinwalker always seem to be smack-dab in the middle of. What I would like to know is how Mercy finds time to sleep!

I truly like all of the characters in the Mercy series (well the good guys anyway) and was pleased at how many characters from the previous story showed up and played important roles in Blood Bound. I think that the fact although Mercy is incredibly independent, she can ask for help when she needs it makes her a stronger heroine. She’s definitely not at the top of the food chain, and she knows it but she (or someone else) always seems to pull her tail out of the fire in the nick of time.

Wikipedia has a small article on Patricia Briggs but you can find more information on her official site including an excerpt from Blood Bound and author comments.

The Mercy Series:

• Moon Called
• Blood Bound
• Iron Kissed

Same World New Rules

Anna never knew werewolves existed, until the night she survived a violent attack… and became one herself. After three years at the bottom of the pack, she’d learned to keep her head down and never, ever trust dominant males. Then Charles Cornick, the enforcer-- and son-- of the leader of the North American werewolves, came into her life.

Charles insists that not only is Anna his mate, but she is also a rare and valued Omega wolf. And it is Anna’s inner strength and calming presence that will prove invaluable as she and Charles go on the hunt in search of a rogue werewolf-- a creature bound in magic so dark that it could threaten all of the pack…

Title: Cry Wolf
Author: Patricia Briggs
Series: The Alpha & Omega, Book 1
Start & Finished: 9/17/08-9/18/08
Published: 2008
Publisher: Ace
Pages: 294
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Originally a straight fantasy author (dragons, sorcerers, mages, etc.), Patricia Briggs wasn’t widely recognized until 2006 when she published the first urban fantasy book in her Mercedes Thompson series Moon Called. After the second book Blood Bound (in 2007), she was invited to contribute to the anthology On the Prowl with authors Sunny, Karen Chance, and Eileen Wilks where she had the honor of being the first story in the collection: Alpha and Omega. The story was a spin-off of the Mercy series featuring a minor character Charles (the Alpha) and his new mate Anna (the Omega) and the author decided to go ahead and turn it into a series as well publishing the first one Cry Wolf several months after the third Mercy story had come out in 2008, Iron Kissed.

Discovering Patricia Briggs’ work was such a thrill because her character Mercy was funny and all the other characters were incredibly lifelike as well. Therefore, once I had read all her current urban fantasy I began to look forward to every other release of hers too, which is how I stumbled across her short story in the anthology. The werewolves are a major part of the Mercy series as she was raised by them and her main love interests (one of whom is a brother to the main character in this book) are both werewolves but since Mercy wasn’t one (she’s a coyote skin walker), the audience is left with the sense of being just on the fringes of an interesting culture. In Cry Wolf, the peril and big battle that you would expect of Briggs is there but she also explores the werewolves a bit more too.

I’ll admit it was a bit disorienting to read a series that runs parallel to her Mercy books (and I can’t help but wonder if she can keep minor details out of each other series) but I loved reading her newest series. The characters and the situations were unique and the intriguing glimpse into the Marrok and his werewolves’ culture just wasn’t enough for me! Now I’m going to drive myself crazy waiting for the second book Hunting Ground to be released later this year. I still prefer the Mercy series more but Briggs did a fine job setting up a new series that could almost equal it.

Series: Alpha and Omega (short), Cry Wolf, Hunting Ground (‘09)

Related Posts
Moon Called
Blood Bound
Iron Kissed
On the Prowl (anthology)

Links: Author Wikipedia, Author Comments on the Book
Interview: Nalini Singh Blog Q&A

Picture Explanation
Yellow Rose: Asil owns a hothouse where he grows Spanish roses.
Mountains: The Marrok clan lives in the Montana mountains.
Black Wolf: Walter’s wolf form

Have a Furry Christmas!

Let’s face it- the holidays can bring out the beast in anyone. They are particularly hard if you’re a lycanthrope. Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner have harvested the scariest, funniest, saddest werewolf tales, by an outstanding pack of authors, best read by the light of a full moon and with a silver bullet close at hand.

Whether wolfing down a holiday feast (use your imagination) or craving some hair of the dog on New Year’s morning, the werewolves in these and eleven more frighteningly original stories will surprise, delight, amuse, and scare the pants of readers who love a little wolfsbane with their mistletoe.

Title: Wolfsbane and Mistletoe
Editor: Charlaine Harris & Toni L.P. Kelner
Start & Finished: 12/12/09-12/23/09
Published: October 7, 2008
Publisher: ACE
Pages: 340 (total)
Genre: Anthology-Paranormal/ Christmas

With the success of the birthday/ vampire themed anthology Many Bloody Returns, Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner decided to do another themed anthology with stories contributed by authors from various genres. After batting around a few ideas (zombies and Arbor Day for one), it was decided that the theme for their latest anthology would be called Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (ironically both poisonous plants). As you can probably concur from the title, the stories featured within are about werewolves and Christmas. A werewolf is not a “big, fluffy puppy with bad teeth” and though some of these authors have never published paranormal before, none make the mistake of making the Weres cuddly creatures.

Vamps and birthdays? And now Weres and Christmas? What will these ladies think of next? Mummies and Valentine’s Day? Somehow it wouldn’t surprise me a bit and I can already see the title: All Wrapped Up in You. Both of these anthologies are odd (yet incredibly unique) ideas but they inspired some great authors to contribute incredibly fun stories. Some are just set around Christmas, some add to well-established Christmas legends, and a few even twist those legends but all were amazingly good.


Title: Gift Wrap
Author: Charlaine Harris
Pages: 18

In New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris’s “Gift Wrap,” Sookie Stackhouse is all alone for Christmas and feeling mighty sorry for herself, until she has an unexpected encounter with someone who has bigger problems than loneliness.

Sookie Stackhouse; the heroine of Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mystery series (which recently became the hit HBO show True Blood) is having a boring Christmas Eve in Gift Wrap thinking about how alone she is, when she decides she needs “a mission, a project, a task, [or] a diversion.” She got just that when she comes across a “naked, bleeding, muddy” man in her woods named Preston. After helping him to safety, Sookie decides to keep him safe when his attackers come back for him. Since she enjoys protecting and helping people this is a perfect tailored Christmas gift for her!

It isn’t necessary to have read any of the books in the series to enjoy Gift Wrap though there are a few slight spoilers to show where the story takes place (probably right after From Dead to Worse, the eighth book). I thought that this was one of the oddest short stories I’ve ever read by Charlaine Harris (I actually discovered her books via an anthology several years ago) but I did enjoy learning a tiny bit more about the fae and Sookie’s grandfather that are only a recent addition to the series. Preston is pretty much a throwaway character that we’ll never see again but I did think he was better than some of Sookie’s previous beaus.

First Paragraph: It was Christmas Eve. I was all by myself.

Title: The Haire of the Beast
Author: Donna Andrews
Pages: 7

An unnamed girl agrees to translate a spell for her brother Tom to turn into a werewolf but decides to take it for a test run on her ex-boyfriend first because “if the spell didn’t work, the powder would give him only a few stomach cramps,… and if it did work, it wouldn’t be Tom hauled in by Animal Control and maybe waking up in a cage.” The Haire of the Beast is the first paranormal story by the mystery writer Donna Andrews; she is the author of two series: The Meg Langslow stories and the Turing Hopper.

Revenge is a dish best served… furry. The Haire of the Best was a really fun story! Ms. Andrews had never published a paranormal story before but she did a great job with this one. It still “sounded” like her since it took a more academic approach to the werewolf thing. So far as I know it’s not related to her series characters at all though I think it would be something Meg would find amusing!

First Sentence: “Why on earth would you want to be a werewolf?” I asked.

Title: Lucy, at Christmastime
Author: Simon R. Green
Pages: 4

Sitting and “drinking wormwood brandy in Strangefellows, the oldest bar in the world,” Leo Morn sits talking to the same person as he does every year on Christmas Eve, his Lucy. Simon R. Green’s Lucy, at Christmastime is the shortest story contributed to the Wolfsbane and Mistletoe collection.

Mr. Green is a new author for me so I’d like to know if the world featured in Lucy, at Christmastime is one from this author’s various series because it seemed really neat with the fairies, the demon girl reporter, and various others. This story honestly couldn’t be longer than four pages because it’s so sad and upsetting. I really only enjoyed the descriptions of that world’s inhabitants (especially Rudolph who is “lying slumped and extremely drunk in a corner, muttering something about unionization.”) which is why I’d like to try a book by this author some day.

First Sentence: You never forget your first; and mine was Lucy.


Title: The Night Things Changed
Author: Dana Cameron
Pages: 27

Brother and sister, werewolf and vampire respectively and as the rest of their kind the Fangborn do, each work to save the world from evil. In The Night Things Changed however, the new evil they are hunting just happens to be something new that they aren’t quite prepared to deal with… Dana Cameron is the author of the Emma Fielding archaeological mysteries and is a professional archaeologist herself.

The world building that Dana Cameron does in so short amount of time is really astonishing. The werewolves and the vamps in The Night Things Changed are called Fangborn, also known as “Pandora’s Orphans, the ones the ancients called ‘Hope,’ supposedly trapped at the bottom of the box.” However, according to the actual Fangborn legends, “the first Fangborn got out, and it’s a good thing they did too, for when evil is released into the world, so was means of destroying it. Vampires and werewolves, the first to clean the blood and ease the pain, the second to remove irredeemable evil when [they] find it.” I really wasn’t prepared for this story since I have actually read a book by this author before and didn’t enjoy it very much. I can tell you that if she ever decided to switch from mystery to paranormal, she definitely could!

First Paragraph: I pounded up the stairs to the roof and slammed open the door; the wintry air lashed my face. My sister the vampire was stretched out on her stomach, nearly naked, under the pale December sun.

Title: The Werewolf Before Christmas
Author: Kat Richardson
Pages: 22

He knows when you’ve been naughty, he knows when you’ve been nice and Matthias is definitely on the naughty list this year! After chowing down on Rudolph, Mattie finds himself leading Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve and using his keen werewolf sense of smell since his nose isn’t so bright… completely against his will though. He might as well be related to Ebenezer Scrooge! The Werewolf Before Christmas is Kat Richardson’s first werewolf story though the heroine of her Greywalker paranormal detective series has come up against some other creatures that go bump in the night.

The author did a fair bit of research on old Kris Kringle/Father Christmas/Saint Nicholas (among many other names he goes by that make it into the story) and managed to incorporate those little nuggets throughout the story yet Richardson manages not to get too bogged down with details either. The idea of a werewolf leading Santa’s sleigh could have made this story into a comedy but it really wasn’t and that’s what makes it so unique. I’ve read the first book in Richardson’s Greywalker series and though I really loved it I still haven’t gotten around to picking any of the others up. Thanks to this great short story I might be doing that sooner rather than later.

First Sentence: ‘Twas the night before Christmas- well, the late afternoon, in fact, but who could tell at the North Pole in the middle of winter- and Matthias the werewolf was knee-deep in reindeer guts.

Title: Fresh Meat
Author: Alan Gordon
Pages: 27

Someone is hunting werewolves this Christmas and has found one in guard dog trainer Sam Lehrmann… they didn’t count on his close connection with his canines though! Alan Gordan is the author of the Fools' Guild Mystery series and Fresh Meat was his first werewolf story. He has said that he has plans for writing a book with these characters soon.

Stories about dogs that act almost human have always fascinated me which is why I wasn’t at all surprised with how much I enjoyed Fresh Meat. I had never even heard of this author before but I was impressed with how easily the story flowed since he keeps you guessing right up until the very end. This wasn’t even a mystery yet everything is revealed in increments.

First Paragraph: “Your order is ready, Mister Lehrmann,” called Bert, emerging from the back room wiping his hands on a bloody towel. “Two sides of beef, so fresh they were mooing yesterday.”

Title: Il Est Ne`
Author: Carrie Vaughn
Pages: 27

In New York Times bestselling author Carrie Vaughn's "Il Est Ne'," Kitty is stuck spending Christmas alone in a Waffle House, until she ends up playing Christmas angel to a brand-new werewolf. But when dead bodies start to stack up like pancakes, she has to decide if he's been nice or very naughty.

Carrie Vaughn is the author of the Kitty Norville series which is about a werewolf who happens to be a radio talk show host and Il Est Ne’ takes place right before the third book Kitty Takes a Holiday. Her holiday this year isn’t very jolly but she does get to do what she does best- help someone. Even if there is no place like home for the holidays, Kitty helps make being on the road bearable.

The Kitty books are among my favorite werewolf series to date so I was very excited to see a story by her included in the collection. Besides Patricia Briggs and Charlaine Harris, she’s the reason why I wanted to read Wolfsbane and Mistletoe in the first place. This was a great little story that has no real bearing on the actual series but yet fits entirely in that world so it makes a great read while waiting for the next book in the Kitty series to come out.

First Paragraph: Hugging himself, shivering, David curled up under the reaching bows of a pine tree. A moonlit drift of snow glowed silver just a few feet away, outside his shelter. More snow was falling, and he was naked. If he simply relaxed, he wouldn’t be that cold. But he was afraid. More afraid every time this happened.

Title: The Perfect Gift
Author: Dana Stabenow
Pages: 13

This isn’t the first short story by Dana Stabenow I’ve read since she contributed to the anthology And the Dying is Easy but like a few other authors’ in this anthology The Perfect Gift is her first story with a werewolf in it. Set in her home state of Alaska (just like all of her work), there have been several killings that look like they were done by animals when Detectives Lobison and Romanov get a tip that will lead one of them into a whole new world.

Another fairly short story, also with serial killers in it, The Perfect Gift wasn’t a very noteworthy addition to the collection. I did find the beginning interesting, especially when I re-read it after I finished the story but there isn’t very much concentration on that. It’s a pity Stabenow didn’t play that part up a little because I felt like this story ended a bit too abruptly.

First Sentence: “They’re overgrazing their range.”

Title: Christmas Past
Author: Keri Arthur
Pages: 25

In “Christmas Past,” by New York Times bestselling author Keri Arthur, Hannah gets an unmerry-- and possibly life-threatening-- Christmas present when the hunky werewolf who dumped her last Christmas Eve turns up as her partner on a hunt for a vampire serial killer.

There is a vampire out there sucking Christmas donation collectors dry in the story Christmas Past and it has caught the attention of the Para-investigations squad. Hannah's a human who can sense evil and her partner on this case just happens to be her ex. While staking out for the vamp and reminding herself constantly, "No. He's bad for our health and we don't like him, remember?" Poor Hannah has got it rough this year!

The best thing about anthologies is getting a small taste of an author’s work to whet your appetite for more and that’s exactly what happened when I read Christmas Past. I vaguely remember hearing about Keri Arthur here and there but now I certainly know what the fuss is about! By the second page I was already invested in these characters, so much so that I thought for sure that they had their own series. Unfortunately that’s not the case but there is several other series she has written that have the same elements in it.

First Sentence: Normally, I love Christmas.

Title: SA
Author: J. A. Konrath
Pages: 40

The longest story in this collection, J.A. Konrath’s SA is of course about a werewolf who is just finding out what he is and that he’s been eating bad people but also about a group of therianthropes (humans who morph into animals such as a boar, a cheetah, a tortoise, and even coral) too. Oh and “Kris Kringle and his magic red suit are using Satan’s Claws- which became Santa Claus over time- to kill therianthropes with the help of… the Salvation Army.”

SA started off extremely gross but it got much more interesting pretty fast and though it was mostly a silly story I still found parts of it funny. Other parts were a bit ridiculous but on the whole… no, it was still ridiculous. I still have to give credit for it being the most original, if slightly out there story in Wolfsbane and Mistletoe though.

First Sentence: Robert Weston Smith walked across the snow-covered parking lot carrying a small plastic container of his poop.

Title: The Star of David
Author: Patricia Briggs
Pages: 28

#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs’s lone wolf David Christiansen mends fences with his daughter and gives a young man an unusual Christmas gift he’s sure never to forget in “The Star of David.”

Author of the Mercedes Thompson series Patricia Briggs has written a wonderfully interesting story starring a minor character from her first Mercy book in The Star of David. David is a werewolf that is estranged from his daughter when one of the kids that her foster agency placed has a bit of a problem and she only knows of one person to call… papa.

Patricia Briggs’ Mercy and Alpha & Omega books are both some of my absolute favorite paranormal series which is why I was so eager to read her story in this collection. It’s been awhile since I read Moon Called but I still remembered David from it. I’m so glad that she decided to explore his character further and if she ever decides to write another series about the werewolf mercenary I’ll be one of the first in line to pick them up.

First Paragraph: “I checked them out myself,” Myra snapped. “Have you ever just considered that your boy isn’t the angel you thought he was?”

Title: You’d Better Not Pyout
Author: Nancy Pickard
Pages: 22

Nancy Pickard is another mystery author who has never written about the supernatural before contributing her story You’d Better Not Pyout. In it, two Russian vampires decide that Santa Claus must be a vampire himself and go to the North Pole to get set up for life only things don’t exactly go their way…

The werewolf in this story was more interesting than the vampires in my opinion but it seemed like she had a smaller part. This was another evil Santa story but I liked it a whole lot more than the others because the idea of a vampire Santa actually makes sense. A very interesting take on the Santa myth so well done Ms. Pickard!

First Sentence: “I’m telling you,” Pasha argued, “it explains everything.”

Title: Rogue Elements
Author: Karen Chance
Pages: 34

In Karen Chance’s Rogue Elements someone is kidnapping werewolves, and not just any wolves at that: every one is the daughter of an important clan leader. Desperate to find his daughter, Sebastian Arnou does the unthinkable: he goes to the War Mage Corps, and although they agree to help, few have much experience with Weres. The exception is disgraced war mage Lia de Croissets, whose mother happened to be a high ranking member of an important Were clan. Someone with a werewolf mother isn’t much trusted by the Corps, and a mage with a human father is equally suspect as far as the clans are concerned. But her knowledge of Were customs and her background in human magic make Lia unmistakably the best person for the job. Whether they will be enough to keep her alive is another matter.

This was a surprisingly complex short story that feels a bit like a novel and I enjoyed every second of it. I’m not sure if this world relates to Karen Chance’s two series or not but I’ve been wanting to try her books for awhile now and I think I may just have to do that soon. If she manages to make a short story so detailed I can only imagine what a full-length novel would be like. Rogue Elements was easily one of the best stories in the collection.

First Paragraph: “There’s no such thing as a half werewolf,” I said, trying not to growl. I’d been dreading this conversation for six months. It figured my boss would wait until now to bring it up. Way to ruin my Christmas Eve.

Title: Milk and Cookies
Author: Rob Thurman
Pages: 19

The first young adult story in Wolfsbane and Mistletoe is Rob Thurman’s Milk and Cookies and it’s the story about a thirteen year old boy dealing with a bully around the holidays. He’s also trying to make his little sister’s Christmas a happy one too.

A slightly disturbing story but I still liked it and I had a feeling I knew what the big twist was all along too. Still, it was quite a bit different from most of the stories included in this collection. I almost hesitate calling this a “young adult” story since it does feel a bit younger than that but only at times since the main character Nicky is a bit older than his years. This was the first time I had ever even heard of this author before but I’m a bit curious now so I may pick up the first in her Cal and Niko Leandros series.

First Sentence: Christmas sucked.

Title: Keeping Watch Over His Flock
Author: Toni L.P. Kelner
Pages: 18

A recent contributor to the paranormal world with her vampire short story in Many Bloody Returns and the co-editor of Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, Toni L. P. Kelner takes her first stab at writing about werewolves in Keeping Watch Over His Flock and what a stab it is! This is the only other young adult story where the teen in it is spending Christmas with the Alpha of his new pack when a young girl goes missing in town.

There was so much I loved about Keeping Watch Over His Flock such as Dogwarts (yes, like Hogwarts only for werewolves and no, that’s not the official name), the fact that though it takes practice the wolves can change into just about anything and I really loved the pack’s story of the first werewolf and how it tied into the traditional Christmas story too. Easily one of my favorite stories in the whole collection so it’s fitting that Wolfsbane and Mistletoe ends on a high note.

First Paragraph: Maybe half the members of the pack were in wolf form, with the others still human, and Jake wasn’t sure which he would rather look at- the bared teeth or the stern frowns. So instead he aimed his answers at the Christmas tree with its twinkling lights. There was something unreal about having his whole life decided in front of a Christmas tree, but that’s what happened when you broke virtually all of a werewolf pack’s rules on Christmas Eve.

Picture Explanations
Shotgun: Sookie protects Preston. “ ‘Oooo, I’m scared,’ said the Man Mountain in an assumed falsetto. But as I swung open the front door and he got a look at the shotgun, I could see that he truly did look as if he was having second thoughts. Good.”
Brownies: The girl in the story puts the concoction into brownies and leaves them on her ex-boyfriend’s porch.
Bar: The setting of the story
T-Shirt: Claudia wears this in her story
Bishop of Myra: Also known as Santa Claus among other things is one of the main characters in this story.
Doberman: The main character trains all kinds of guard dogs, this is Waldo.
Waffle House: Kitty meets a new werewolf at a Waffle House
Wolf: The werewolves are out on Christmas Eve
Elf Shoe: Hannah dresses up as a donation elf to catch the killer and she really hates the shoes!
Salvation Army: The helpers of the evil Santa Claus
Wolf: David in wolf form “the perfect killing machine covered with four-inch-deep, red-gold fur.” African Wild Dog: A pack of these take Ingrid in as a baby when her parents abandoned her after learning that she is a werewolf.
Christmas in Front of the Fire: There is a really important scene that takes place at a Christmas party.
Cookies: Nicky’s little sister still believes in Santa.
Rudolph: He doesn’t guide Santa’s sleigh in this one!

Kitty Norville Series Books #1-4

Author: Carrie Vaughn
Series: Kitty Norville, Books 1-4
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station-- and a werewolf in the closet. Sick of lame song requests, she accidentally starts "The Midnight Hour," a late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged.

After desperate vampires, werewolves, and witches across the country begin calling in to share their woes, her new show is a raging success. But it's Kitty who can use some help. With one sexy werewolf-hunter and a few homicidal undead on her tail, Kitty may have bitten off more than she can chew...

Title: Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Start & Finished: 1/6/09
Published: November 1, 2005
Pages: 259 (paperback)

"Werewolves, (also known as lycanthropes) are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to shape shift into wolves or anthropomorphic wolf-like creatures" have been the subject of stories probably since before the written word. Thanks to film and literature though, the werewolf is one of the most recognized horror icons but not that long ago, authors began to make these creatures people that actually changed into beautiful wolves. Even more recently, these types of werewolves have become quite common in paranormal romance and urban fantasy and they can almost rival vampires (and quite often do) in popularity. Carrie Vaughn is one of these authors and her heroine is a werewolf, named ironically enough Kitty Norville. She’s a radio-DJ who first got her start in Kitty and the Midnight Hour.

Kelley Armstrong, Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton, Patricia Briggs, and several others softened me up a little bit about werewolves because I prefer (and probably always will) vampires more. There’s just something so fresh and original about Vaughn’s Kitty series though! When asked what sparked the idea for it the author replied, “I decided Dr. Laura would never be able to handle a call from a character in one of these stories, so this world needed its own call-in radio advice show. A werewolf named Kitty seemed the natural host for such a show. The story kind of exploded from there.”

Kitty and the Midnight Hour does such a good job of introducing the characters and the world that they live in. In a slight way, the book kind of reminds me of Brigg’s series but I can almost say that I like Kitty more. The idea of a werewolf talk show host is just interesting no matter how you look at it and I loved Carrie Vaughn takes female empowerment, self-discover, and prejudice to the next level without smacking you over the head with it. The author sets up a little story arc in this book so I’m curious as to what happens next!
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The country's only celebrity werewolf, late-night radio host Kitty Norville prefers to be heard, not seen. But when she's invited to testify at a Senate hearing on behalf of supernaturals, her face gets plastered on national TV. Kitty's been in hot water before, but jumping into the D.C. underworld brings a new set of problems.

And a new set of friends and enemies, including the vampire mistress of the city; an über-hot Brazilian were-jaguar; and a paranoid, Bible-thumping senator who wants to expose Kitty as a monster. Kitty quickly learns that in this city of dirty politicians and backstabbing pundits, everyone's itching for a fight.

Title: Kitty Goes to Washington
Start & Finished: 1/7/09
Published: July 1, 2006
Pages: 358

The second book to Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty series is quite a bit different from the first one. "Kitty is a werewolf who starts a talk radio advice show about the supernatural ... In [Kitty Goes to Washington], the stage gets bigger--she's the country's first werewolf celebrity and has to deal with that as well." Not to mention all of the new characters she meets during her stay in Washington and not all of them are friendly…

As I said in my review of the first one, werewolves were never really my thing even though the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton was my introduction into urban fantasy/ paranormal. Then I discovered Kelley Armstrong’s werewolves in her Women of the Otherworld series and I found that I really enjoyed them. Then Patricia Brigg’s Mercy (and Omega/ Alpha) series was my next stop into the world of the Weres, which finally led me to picking up Ms. Vaughn’s amazing Kitty series.

Kitty and the Midnight Hour was a great introduction even if the main character was a bit “spineless.” In this story, she's gained a bit more confidence in herself and it has made her more interesting. She’s always been great at giving advice and during her shows she was a totally different person than the “beaten dog (or in this case wolf)” persona that she normally adopted and now that she’s on her own it really shines through. The first book didn't really have that subtle humor that I love but Washington did so in my mind it will always be one of the best books in the series.
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All work and no play makes Kitty a dull girl . . .

After getting caught turning wolf on national television, Kitty retreats to a mountain cabin to recover and write her memoirs. But this is Kitty, so trouble is never far behind, and instead of Walden Pond, she gets Evil Dead. First someone leaves grotesque animal sacrifices on her front porch to curse her, then werewolf hunter Cormac shows up with an injured Ben O'Farrell, Kitty's lawyer, slung over his shoulder. Two hotties and one Kitty in a single-room cabin -- can the situation get more tense? When a wolf-like creature with glowing red eyes starts sniffing around the cabin, Kitty wonders if any of them will get out of these woods alive...

Title: Kitty Takes a Holiday
Start & Finished: 1/13/09
Published: April 1, 2007
Pages: 336

Starting with a bunch of short stories, author Carrie Vaughn realized she really had something with her werewolf DJ-turned-supernatural-radio-talk-show-host Kitty Norville. Now after a couple of major battles and some humiliations (one really big one), her heroine has tucked her tail and slunk away to lick her wounds in the third book Kitty Takes a Holiday (also known as Kitty Goes on Holiday). Of course being Kitty, trouble seems to follow wherever she goes…

Kitty is perhaps my favorite werewolf for many reasons not the least of which is because when she is knocked down, she somehow copes and moves on. Which is why I was so upset when I learned that due to what happened to her in Kitty Goes to Washington she essentially runs away. I also really missed the radio show aspect of the book (the author does still include a playlist at the beginning of the book like all the others in this series) as Kitty is actually taking a “holiday” from her radio show and even though she was scared, I still missed it more than she did. She's so good at what she does and it seems a terrible shame for her to hide.

To be honest, compared to the first two books, Kitty Takes a Holiday is actually somewhat dull. Many things happen that I should have found exciting (shape-shifting witches, curses, and Kitty even gets a new “pack-member”) and some are vital to the story but I really didn't find a lot of it as thrilling as I should have. In addition, though I did not like the ending nor did I really care for the romance in the book, as I didn’t want Kitty paired up so quickly, this was still a really great story. Just not really on the same level as the first two.
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Kitty's radio show is as popular as ever and she has a boyfriend who actually seems to understand her. Can she finally settle down to a normal life? Not if this is just the calm before the storm. When her mother falls ill, Kitty rushes back to Denver--and right back to the abusive pack of werewolves she escaped a year ago. To make matters worse, a war is brewing between the city's two oldest vampires, threatening the whole supernatural community. Though she wants to stay neutral, Kitty is again drawn into a world of politics and violence. To protect her family, her lover, and herself, she'll have to choose sides. And maybe become what she hates--a killer.

Title: Kitty and the Silver Bullet
Start & Finished: 1/16/09- 1/18/09
Published: January 1, 2008
Pages: 326

Kitty and the Silver Bullet is the fourth story in Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series and in it, everything comes full circle… in short, Kitty is going home again. However, she isn’t the same person or wolf that she was when she left. That’s not to say that she goes looking for trouble but as usual, it seems to find her one way or the other.

When talking in an interview about Kitty the author said, “The comment I get the most is how real she is to people. People tell me that they relate to her, that they can see her as a friend. I think because she isn't totally wrapped up in being a werewolf, that isn't the be-all and end-all of her existence, she appeals to a much wider audience. It seems like most werewolf stories are all about the angst of being a werewolf, of trying to cure it, of losing control to it. That stereotypical Jekyll and Hyde dichotomy doesn't interest me at all. I made a conscious decision to say, "Okay, she's a werewolf, she's dealing with it, let's move onto to other things now…" and what “things” they are!

Just about every character that we’ve met over the course of the book makes some kind of an appearance in Kitty and the Silver Bullet and there are even some new ones thrown in too. There’s an enormous battle, but the main strengths of the story: the characters and the humour continue to shine through. This particular story arc has ended but there are quite a few more adventure for Kitty ahead and I can’t wait to find out what they are.

Kitty Norville Series
1. Kitty and the Midnight Hour (2005)
2. Kitty Goes to Washington (2006)
3. Kitty Takes a Holiday (2007)
aka Kitty Goes on Holiday
4. Kitty and the Silver Bullet (2008)
5. Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (2009)
6. Kitty Raises Hell (2009)

~Note: I’d like to thank Lady T from Living Read Girl for getting me a signed copy of Kitty and the Midnight Hour.

Links: Author Blog, Author Wikipedia, Character and Books Wikipedia, A Mock-up of Kitty's Radio Show (mp3)
Interviews: SFF World, Bitten By Books, McNally Robinson, Blogging the Muse, Love Vampires, Drey’s Library, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist

Picture Explanations
Radio Station: Kitty started off as a DJ but one late night question later, she has her own supernatural radio talk show.
Wolf Pack: Kitty was the "cub" of her pack until she got her radio station....
Senate: After her radio show becomes a big success, the government begins to take her claim of being a werewolf seriously and they subpoena her.
Traveling Preacher: A preacher claims he can cure supernaturals but those that join, very few ever want to leave and Kitty finds out why!
Cabin: Almost this whole book has Kitty in the woods in the middle of nowhere.
Wolf: Even though she's in the middle of nowhere she eventually has company!
African Wild Dog: A friend of Rick the vampire's named Dack who is a Were.
Spray Bottle: Filled with holy water to war against the vampires not on Rick's side.