Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs

Not every werewolf is part of a pack but that doesn't mean that the Marrok doesn't take care of them. Even if there are some wolves that are too wild doesn't mean that they all have to be put down. But when the wildings are targeted and the Marrok has left town, Charles and Anna will have to step up to try and save as many as they can.

Ufda. This book feels like there was more death than usual in it. But also some tie-ins with witches to the next Mercy Thompson which was really interesting to me. There was also a bit more about Bran's relationship with Leah even though he is absent for most of the book.

Three stars

Follows Dead Heat

Followed by Wild Sign

Borrowed as ebook from CloudLibrary

This book came out March 6th, 2018

Opinions are my own

Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs

An old friend of Charles' calls and asks him to come down to Sedona. They can visit and Charles can look for a horse for Anna. But the visit starts off with a bang when the Charles has to help a dying woman become a werewolf. Her husband's grandfather is the local Alpha and he is less than pleased about the decision because she is witchborn but Charles feels like it is the right decision. The woman had stabbed herself rather than kill her children when she was under some serious fae magic.

It may not be up to Charles and Anna to figure out what is going on but they take it on anyway since they are the only ones around to protect the innocent.  

Three stars

Follows Fair Game

Followed by Burn Bright

This book came out March 3rd, 2015

Borrowed as ebook from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own 

Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

Anna is worried. She fears that Charles's duties to his father, the Alpha of all Alphas, are wearing on his spirit. She knows that their mate bond isn't what it could be. So she appeals to the Marrok for something else for Charles to do. Instead, Bram assigns Anna to help the FBI solve a particularly heinous group of serial killings. Charles goes with Anna as her bodyguard. And it's good because they'll need both of them before the end of the book.

An interesting book that starts off a series of explosions further down the Mercy Thompson series. A little slow in places but overall a nice read.

Three stars

Follows Hunting Ground

Followed by Dead Heat

This book came out

Borrowed as ebook from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own 

Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs

Leah and Bran's relationship has been touched on in past books but the origins of it have remained murky. It is cleared up a little bit in this story when Leah's past comes to haunt her present. 

The book opens with Leah, Rachel, Sage, and Anna on a girls' outing some time before the beginning of the last book. They are having some drinks (although alcohol doesn't affect werewolves) when Sage gets Leah to open up a little bit about how the two became mated. And even just this section proves Briggs' mastery of timelines as she deftly bobs and weaves between the past and present of two overlapping series.

This new story sends Charles and Anna along with the berserker, Tag, to the California mountains where a whole town has disappeared. They were there one week after being checked on by the Forest Service and then... gone. An old evil has popped up again and is joining forces with a group that has had past interactions with both the Alpha and the Omega as well as the Columbia pack.

I wish we had seen a little bit more with Bran and Leah. After the big set up of learning more about her past, we don't see a lot of them. Of course, the series does focus more on Anna and Charles so that makes some sense.

Four stars

Follows Burn Bright

Gifted an ebook on Kindle

This book came out March 16th, 2021

Opinions are my own

Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs

Anna and Charles were introduced in a short story and it would definitely help to have read it to understand a lot of this book but I don't think it's entirely necessary (edited: I have since read the short story and it helps a little but not necessary). There is some world building in this book as well, setting up the same rules we read in that story (how werewolves function, their packs work, etc.)
Anna has only been a werewolf for three years but her previous pack kept much of the knowledge of being a werewolf from her. Charles, on the other hand, has been a werewolf for almost two hundred years and his father is the Alpha of all Alphas. The book opens when Charles, having determined that Anna is his mate, has brought her to Montana. She is immediately soaked in pack politics as they are dealing with the funeral of a beloved townsperson. Plus, there appears to be a rogue wolf killing people in the nearby wilderness and Charles is the person who is best suited to figuring out what is going on, even though he is healing from being shot with silver bullets.
I generally enjoyed this story and am liking where Charles and Anna are going (no love triangles! Woot!).

Four stars

Follows Alpha & Omega

Followed by Hunting Ground

This book came out July 29th, 2008

Borrowed as ebook from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

Alpha & Omega by Patricia Briggs

For three years, Anna Latham has been a part of a living nightmare. At the bottom of a werewolf pack in Chicago, she is a monster who is trapped by circumstance. But she works up the nerve to call the Marrok, the head of all werewolves, and tell him that things are wrong where she is. 

The Marrok, Bram, has known that there is something wrong in Chicago so he sends his enforcer, his son Charles, to figure out what is going on. Bram directs Anna to pick up Charles.

It's immediately up on seeing Anna that Charles realizes that she is his mate. He also realizes that she is not a submissive wolf as she has been told, rather, she is an Omega. Omegas are a rare type of wolf who can bring peace to other wolves. And that is exactly the reason Anna has been treated the way she has... something is rotten in the state of Denmark and it will take both Anna and Charles to solve it.

For a short story, this is really good at introducing two strong characters as well as building a complete world.

Four stars

Followed by Cry Wolf

Published in On the Prowl, August 7th, 2007

Borrowed as ebook from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs

Anne Latham is still getting used to being a werewolf. Never mind throwing into the mix the fact that she's an Omega (outside the normal pack structure with powers of her own). And she just was mated to Charles Cornick who is the son of the most powerful werewolf in the Americas. And Charles, his father's enforcer, is no slouch. That's the reason why Charles, instead of his father, is the one to attend a meeting of Alphas from around the globe to discuss whether or not werewolves should make themselves known to the human population.
Also attending is a man known as "The Butcher," a long-loved werewolf from France who loves to kill. Innocents are his favorites and he may have set his eyes on Anne. Someone certainly has since she's set upon by six vampires while shopping. It all gets hairier when the wife of a werewolf who believes he's King Arthur reincarnated is attacked. Through in a fae who used to be Charles' lover and it all gets very, very complicated.

A fine story that does a lot to advance what's going on in the larger Mercy Thompson universe.

Three stars

Follows Cry Wolf

Followed by Fair Game
This book came out August 25th, 2009
Borrowed this book from the library
Opinions are my own