★ ★ ★ ★ ½

Deep breath in....deep breath out...., that was soooo good!

Quick-cap: The first installment in the Mercy Thompson series introduces us to Mercedes, a coyote-shifter, mechanic living in the Tri-Cities, WA. Through an act of kindness to a newly fledged wolf-shifter teen, she is exposed to danger within the world of werewolves. Her past ties as a foster child in the pack lead by the Alpha of North America, and her current ties as the next-door neighbor of the Tri-Cities Alpha, make it inevitable that she is then swept into the clash/mystery that follows. Old romances and new potential ones are kindled without overpowering the story and making it feel like a romance novel. We are also given a bit of foreshadowing in regard to Mercy's 'power-level' in the food chain potentially being on the rise. Many new story paths were set up in this first book. A strong series opening overall.

Briggs does a wonderful job introducing us to the variety of characters in her world. This book deftly joins together the current plot with the introductions and 'flashbacks' needed to pull all the characters of Mercy's past into the present without endless backstory. We also get a quick but satisfying peek at the diverse group of paranormal peeps that she calls friend. No character felt completely contrived and although there were one or two that weren't visited as much as I would like, it didn't detract from the story. Her relationships with multiple areas of the 'paranormal' world give us glimpses of future turns for the main series plot-line.

The only element that kept me from awarding the fifth star was the weakness of Mercy's 'revelations'. For me, they never really felt like the character was having an "Ohhh!" moment, but instead as if they were thrown in as dialogue to keep the reader informed.

This book has received fabulous reviews from many sources whose opinion I value, and man...were they right. Well done Ms. Briggs! You have another fan to add to your list.