Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs: Book Review

**Possible spoilers for Moon Called**

Mercedes Thompson is a mechanic who just happens to walk in two worlds. There’s the mundane world where she spends her time fixing VWs, and there’s the supernatural world that she was born into. See, Mercy is a walker. She can shift into coyote form at will. She’s not as physically strong as a werewolf, but she has other strengths to make up for it.

So when local vampire Stefan needs some unobtrusive help in sniffing out a new vampire in town who is poaching on his seethe’s turf, he asks Mercy to shift and go with him. They both get more than they bargained for. This vampire is unknown, and so must be fairly young, but his strength is unimaginable. He is wreaking havoc in the Tri-cities, and it’s going to take more than one vampire and a shifter to bring him down.

I like Mercy a lot. (And I loathe these covers. Loathe them, I tell you.) It would be very, very easy to fall in with the local werewolf pack and start to lose her independence. She has fought hard to gain that independence and she fights hard to keep it. It’s just so hard to keep fighting when the werewolves are so damn sexy. I would purr if that were appropriate when talking about werewolves. Adam is hot and a great alpha. He doesn’t just throw his weight around and beat on those who are submissive to him. He cares for them and tries to be is a true leader. Samuel is a little outside the local pack, for some very complicated reasons, but he is every bit as dominant as Adam is. And he’s Mercy’s roommate. And they have a history. *Arching of the eyebrow here.*

*Shakes head* Anyway. Enough about the guys. I was trying to write about Mercy.

I guess it could be due to the coyote part of her nature, but she is so damn loyal. She would do absolutely anything within her power for those she cares for. Heck, she would (and does) do anything for someone she doesn’t even know. Her vendetta against this new vampire is as much about the nameless maid she sees him kill as it is about anything else.

Stefan is getting very interesting. Okay, he’s a vampire who drives a Scooby-Doo van, so he’s been interesting, but he’s starting to show some surprising depth and emotions that I did not expect to find. Seeing his “menagerie” was revealing of his character as well. While other vampires keep unwilling victims bound and in inhuman conditions, Stefan keeps willing…let’s call them roommates, in a very nice house and they can come and go as they please.

Okay–the bad guy. Turns out, he’s a sorcerer vampire and that’s where he gets his strength (not a spoiler–you find out around page 30). The sorcerer part comes from a demon. Ugh. Demons scare me to death. Don’t ask me why. Needless to say, I got a little worried. My husband did too. If I’m not sleeping, ain’t nobody sleeping. That’s all I’m saying. But there weren’t any demonic, spawn-of-Satan kind of parts. He could have just been a vampire with strong magic and it would have turned out the same way. Whew. I was relieved.

The storyline just rocketed along, revealing more about Mercy and company as it also revealed more about the baddie. It was perfect summer reading. Not too much brain power required but hard to put down.

Recommended for a fun page-turner. I’ll be reading Iron Kissed, the next in the series.

Read an excerpt.

My review of Moon Called, the first in the series

Find author Patricia Briggs on her website.

Buy Blood Bound at

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