Review: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Title:  Moon Called
Author:  Patricia Briggs
Series:  Mercedes Thompson, #1
Publisher:  Ace
Release Date:  January 31, 2006
Pages:  292
Rating:  ★★★★★

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.

Mercy Thompson is a walker, a coyote. Her father died before she gave birth and her mother made the decision to allow the Marrock, alpha of the werewolves to raise her daughter, because let's ace it how can a human woman raise a wild coyote? Mercy ends up being raised by werewolves. But she doesn't really belong. She left when she 16 years old to have her own life, away from the werewolves but just keeps getting pulled into the world of the werewolves.

Mercy is now a mechanic and lives next door to an alpha werewolf, Adam who also has a daughter, Jesse. One night Mercy witnesses an attack on a bot who she employs at her work and calls Adam for help because he would know how to better deal with this situation because the boy is a werewolf. Then the next morning Adam has been attacked and is seriously injured and Jesse is missing. Mercy has to save Adam, find Jesse, and re-visit her past again.

Mercy is a strong, capable woman. She just wants to have a normal life with her job but she always gets pulled into the werewolves world. But she is caring will not take crap from nobody. At first I was very surprised that Mercy was not a werewolf, I just expected that she was, but it was a great twist in the story. Adam is described as very scary at first, real tough and brings an aura like you should be afraid of him. But he is caring and has a soft heart underneath all of that toughness. I think he is a wonderful love interest for Mercy.

We also have Samuel, who is Mercy's first love. I really did not connect to him that he should be a love interest for Mercy as well. Sam seemed more like a best, guy friend. I found him kind of distrustful when it comes to Mercy's love life. We have Stefan, the vampire, who just pops in and out of Mercy's life occasionally. I think he is a fun character and look forward to more of him. We also have the werewolf, Ben, who I am not sure if I trust the guy yet. He is a bit of a mystery and I have no idea what he is up to. I think he has this bad past we don't know about yet.

I liked the book but some parts in the book I felt were not necessarily, and some parts in the book dragged on and I am not sure about the storyline yet. I am thinking what will happen in book 2 then? It was good but had some minor flaws within the book. It was enjoyable though. And I look forward to see what the second book will be like.