Book of the Week: Patricia Briggs’ IRON KISSED

This will make me very unpopular.

As I’ve said often before, one of the perks of being a writer is knowing other writers, and one of the perks of knowing other writers -- and being known – is that you get asked to blurb (provide a favorite quote for the jacket) other writers’ forthcoming books.

No, this isn’t the blog; I’m getting to the book. Give me a minute to gloat.

I’ve had a bumper crop of ARCs to read lately, and even a few books in bound galleys, a step before an ARC. This past week, I had the pleasure of reading a bound galley of Patricia Briggs’ IRON KISSED, the third in her Mercy Thompson series. IRON KISSED isn’t even listed on Amazon yet, so you can imagine how gleeful I was to get a sneak preview.

Since I’ve been a fan of Briggs for a long time, I was delighted to have IRON KISSED on my reading agenda, and I made a space for it as quickly as possible. I can’t say a lot about the plot, because it’s just too early, but I’ll tell you that no Briggs fans will be disappointed in the excellence of the writing, the character development, and the plot action. Mercy remains a wonderful character – down to earth, proud, independent but not stupidly so, realistic, and ferociously loyal to people who’ve proved their worth.

She’s also willing to listen to reason, a quality that comes up short in quite a few protagonists I’ve encountered lately between the covers of a book. (The modern trend seems to be toward women who are almost suicidal in their determination to follow their own path, no matter how many pitfalls and red flags they see waving in front of their eyes.)

I found Briggs’ view of the fae (no secret with a title like IRON KISSED that fae are part of the plot) to be fascinating, and I think lots of other readers will, too.

So put IRON KISSED on your reading calendar, and I’ll try to remember to post the publication date for you when I learn it. For those of you who’ve already read the first two Mercy Thompson books, I’m afraid you’ll have a long wait. But this gives the rest of you plenty of time to try MOON CALLED and BLOOD BOUND, or any of Briggs’ other non-series books. She never disappoints.

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This is going to be a difficult week, I can tell in advance. For one thing, I’m trying to speed ahead to finish the next Sookie, and its title is still up in the air.

Why no title? Well, the theme of the book changed dramatically. I thought the book was going to be about weddings and attachments, but instead it turned out to be a book about war and encroachment. I know, I know -- in some cases very much the same thing . . . but not in this book.

Characters have changed on me, plot developments have changed on me, and in one case the identity of the murderer changed on me, but the theme of the book never has. This is a first. That goes to prove that no matter how many books you have written, there is always so much to learn. There’ll never be a moment when I throw up my hands like a successful calf roper and say, “Hah! Now I know how to do it!” Writing is always an education in progress, one of the reasons it’s not ever boring.

So, the book title thing and the need for speed – those are hanging over my head.

This week will also be challenging because Daughter will be out of school. Her day job collapsed, so she’ll have free time. This is not good. I am lining up tasks for her, because she is one of those people who really needs to be busy.

Also, I have a lot of doctor stuff to do, and since I am a fairly healthy person who really doesn’t like to go to the doctor’s, that’s no fun for me. Sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and get things taken care of.

Is that enough to make me eye this week with a lack of enthusiasm? I think so. But at the other end of this less-than-stellar week is another one (God willing and the creek don’t rise, as the southern saying goes), and I can hope for clearer horizons then.

I hope all of you have plans for a happy and productive summer, and I hope all of you make a little “you” time for some good reading.

Charlaine Harris