River Marked by Patricia Briggs

Title: River Marked
Author: Patricia Briggs
Narrator: Lorelei King
Series: #6 in the Mercy Thompson series
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group (March 1, 2011)
Source: Library Find
Rating: ☕☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Car mechanic Mercy Thompson has always known there was something different about her, and not just the way she can make a VW engine sit up and beg. Mercy is a shapeshifter, a talent she inherited from her long-gone father. She’s never known any others of her kind. Until now.

An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River—one that her father’s people may know something about. And to have any hope of surviving, Mercy and her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will need their help…

My Thoughts: I really wanted to like this more than I did.

The Good, The Bad, and Everything in the Middle: So there were some really good things about this book. I complained (just a tad) about the lack of progression in Mercy and Adam's relationship so I'm really happy there was a wedding in this one and a honeymoon in this one. The wedding was over pretty quickly but it was so sweet and then the honeymoon starts. Where else would a werewolf take a coyote walker for a honeymoon but camping. I thought this was perfect but then I have a love of camper camping (don't give me a sleeping bag and a tent Hells no).

Of course Mercy finds trouble while camping...or rather trouble finds her. I loved the setting as they visited Multnomah Falls which I was lucky enough to visit in the 90's and would love to go back. It's so beautiful and seeing recognizable landmarks is fun as well.

Multnomah Falls

Despite the forward movement in the romance I'm just really surprised all the sexy parts happened behind closed doors. Is this new to the series or has it always been this way and I just never noticed until I powered through the Kate Daniels book and witnessed an amazingly passionate relationship? I am not one for sex scene after sex scene but I need more than just talking about their passion. I want to see it too.

I think the highlight of this book was our learning about Mercy's heritage and the American Indian lore. Sure we all knew she was part Native American but we got to meet her father, Coyote, and also meet several new characters to the series all deeply rooted in the Native lore. I really liked this but much of it was explained in dialogue I had a hard time keeping it straight. At one point Coyote was her father but yet he wasn't and in the past he was Joe Coyote but wasn't as well. Even Mercy had a tough time keeping up.

Although the pack was all but missing through this whole book, not to mention Zee, Gabriel, Samuel, etc., I did like the addition of Stephan's plot at the beginning and the end because I kind of like him...a lot. There will be more of him and Coyote because there is history there folks!

I listened to this book on audio and once again Lorelei King was a great narrator. I love everything she does but I'm currently knee deep in 2 UF series she narrates with 2 completely different protagonists. And to complicate that I just finished  the first book in a new series by Darynda Jones which Lorelei also reads. She's Mercy. She's Charley Davidson. She's Stephanie Plum. And now she's Sunshine Vicram but that is for another post.....

In a Nutshell: I'm so far invested into this series to give it up now. I'm hoping they get back to giving me some major book love like I had when I started this series. If you're new to this series don't start with this one....go back and pick up Moon Called and go from there.