25) Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs

The Blurb :

For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles’s role as his father’s enforcer. This time, their trip to Arizona is purely personal, as Charles plans to buy Anna a horse for her birthday. Or at least it starts out that way...

Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous Fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The Fae’s cold war with humanity is about to heat up—and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire.

My Thoughts :

The Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs is a spin-off from the Mercy Thompson series.  Charles is the Marrok's son and Anna is his wife.  Their relationship is a strange one and Anna's Omega abilities make her extremely special.  She is feisty but also quite timid while Charles is the strong leader with unusual social skills.  They fit together well but somehow come across as peculiar.

The plot took a while to really find the pace I am used to from this author.  While the first few chapters really set the scene and started the story off there was a bit of a dull moment before things really got interesting again.  It may just be my lack of enthusiasm for everything horse but the equestrian in-depth ramblings were boring and not of much use.  A few simple paragraphs about riding some different horses would have been enough.

Being in a different location was refreshing and visiting another pack, catching up with friends and the general back stories were nice and readable.  There were some good investigating skills which led to a very intriguing paranormal elements.  With a huge Fae plot mixed with some witchiness.  I enjoyed the general mystery plot but there were a few things that went too fast. I am sure I missed a few important connections towards the end which left me with some unanswered questions.

At the end of the day I have to admit that I prefer the Mercy Thompson series over this one.  This spin-off makes for a nice read while waiting for the next Mercy installment but it just isn't as fascinating.  The whole Alpha and Omega concept is interesting enough but Charles and Anna aren't as likable.  However this is a series worth reading if you are reading the other one.  It compliments the Mercy series well and opens up the world a little bit more.

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63) Fair Games by Patricia Briggs

The Blurb :

They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son-and enforcer-of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind.

Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can't afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father's dirty work is taking a toll on Charles.

Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack's help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves-all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer's sights.

My Thoughts :

For some reason the Alpha & Omega series isn't really making me rush out and buy it. So when I came across a copy on Audible I decided to use my credit and listen to this third installment. After all I do love the stories Patricia Briggs tells about werewolves and she has a nice way of telling them.

Fair Game had a nice plot. A gruesome and sometimes scary plot but it worked well into the paranormal world that the author has created and it showed what Anna and Charles can do as a team. It also left the reader not knowing what will come next in this series and in the Mercy Thompson books. Both are connected and the outcome of this story will have effects on all of the characters involved.

This series still isn't my favourite but I did like listening to it. I really like Anna and Charles has his moments too. I got quite attached to the federal agents working with the werewolves and hope they appear again or that the werewolves keep teaming up to help them. Sort of like a Paranormal version of Criminal Minds. The author certainly has the talent to make it work and seems to know what she is writing about or has done enough research.

I had a few problems with this story but it was basically more of an audio book problem. Firstly I don't know why, but the whole story was told by a guy. Even the girl parts. This was a little weird. Then secondly it was hard to tell which character was actually 'talking'. There were no real breaks between parts in the chapters and it took me a few paragraphs to realise that the POV had changed from Anna to Charles or one of the many other characters that took the reins. Maybe this would have been easier to follow when reading the book but listening wise it was a horror.

All in all, this isn't one to be missed if you are a fan of Patricia Briggs. I like this spin-off of the Mercy Thompson series but I am not sure if it will ever match up to what the author has built up with her coyote based books. Although I have to give the author a big thumbs up for making the spin-off work. Not many writers could managed it.


Alpha & Omega Series :

#1 - Cry Wolf
#2 - Hunting Ground
#3 - Fair Game