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Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, #3)

Patricia Briggs

Start date: March 1, 2021

Finish date: March 31, 2021

Discussion: Challenges: What's the Rush

Why we're reading this: Part of our group series (re)read: Mercy Thompson …more
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Challenges: What's the Rush

* 2025 Series Read: K.N. Banet's "Jacky Leon"
By Steph , Serious series addict · 103 posts · 33 views

last updated Sep 26, 2025 08:29PM

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* YEAR-LONG CHALLENGES
By Steph , Serious series addict · 1 post · 389 views

last updated Aug 17, 2010 11:14PM

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What Members Thought

May 28, 2010 Chrissie rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, books-i-own, for-review, books-read-2010

Mercy is asked to sniff around a crime scene at the fae reservation by her good friend, Zee. He is hoping that Mercy may be able to help find the person behind a run of murders being carried out on fae in an attempt to steal magical artifacts. Once she has scented the killer, Zee and Uncle Mike (another powerful fae) go to have a talk with him, but when they arrive he has already been brutally murdered. But, to make matters worse, the police then arrive and arrest Zee for the murder. Mercy feels Mercy is asked to sniff around a crime scene at the fae reservation by her good friend, Zee. He is hoping that Mercy may be able to help find the person behind a run of murders being carried out on fae in an attempt to steal magical artifacts. Once she has scented the killer, Zee and Uncle Mike (another powerful fae) go to have a talk with him, but when they arrive he has already been brutally murdered. But, to make matters worse, the police then arrive and arrest Zee for the murder. Mercy feels the need to help prove her friend’s innocence even though this brings her to the attention of some dangerous fae. And, once again, in an attempt to keep everybody else safe, Mercy ends up getting herself into a whole heap of trouble.

Before I get started on my review, I must warn you that I may be doing a lot of gushing. This series has become my favourite Urban Fantasy series and I absolutely loved Iron Kissed. Although this is part of a series you could probably read this as a stand-alone novel (but I wouldn’t advise that as Moon Called and Blood Bound are amazing too and definitely worth a read!). I have noticed that in each book, the author seems to concentrate on a different type of supernatural creature. Moon Called was focused on werewolves, Blood Bound on vampires and Iron Kissed on the fae.

It was interesting to read all about the fae in this book, although as a whole they seem to be my least favourite paranormal creature in fiction. But the author manages to provide just enough details mixed in with a huge amount of mystery to keep my interest in their storyline. I really like Zee – he is a good friend to Mercy but at the same time he is such a mystery and I was really happy to see him as one of the main characters in Iron Kissed.

The novel seems to start off at a slightly slower pace than the previous books in the series, but things seemed to speed up for me once the werewolf pack was reintroduced to the story (could this be something to do with the delicious Adam Hauptman? Possibly *swoon*). As well as the problems she has to deal with for the fae, she also has some things to sort out with the local werewolf pack. When Mercy moved to the area, Adam, the Alpha of the pack, declared her as his mate to keep her safe from other werewolves – apparently wolves kill coyotes in the wild so he was trying to stop this from happening to Mercy. But Mercy finds out that Adam has declared her his mate for another, more personal, reason. He is in love with her. To complicate matters, Mercy is currently living with her ex-boyfriend (and uber-dominant werewolf) Sam, who is still in love with her. It becomes clear to Mercy that she must choose between the two as her indecision is having a strange effect on the pack.

I love the dynamics between Mercy, Adam and Sam. Mercy loves them both a lot, but for completely different reasons, and she doesn’t want to see either of them get hurt. She also knows that she will lose whoever she doesn’t choose and she can’t bear for that to happen, so until now Mercy has been trying to keep both of them at arms length. During Iron Kissed, Mercy is visibly torn between the two and having to choose is obviously breaking her heart. But she knows it isn’t fair to keep them both waiting for her.

At several times during this novel, we are shown a much more vulnerable side to Mercy. Don’t get me wrong, she still has her tough, say-exactly-what-she-thinks, do-whatever-needs-to-be-done-to-save-the-world attitude, but the events of Blood Bound and Iron Kissed have taken a toll on her and she starts to have panic attacks and there is a fearful side to her that wasn’t there in Moon Called. I absolutely love Mercy as a main character and this vulnerability only makes me love her even more.

My only complaint about this book would have to be the ending. I loved the direction it was going in, but just as the author starts detailing an event that I have been waiting for for a long time, the book just stops. I would have preferred more details about this this event (a LOT more details!).

Overall, this is an amazing installment from one of the best Urban Fantasy series’ around. If you have not started this series yet – DO IT NOW! ...more

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Jul 10, 2011 Tessa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

Wow, how brave of the author to handle such delicate subjects so well. I was glad that Mercy did not breeze through this tragedy with little effect, but she let her "family" and friends care for her and didn't let the bad guys take her life from her. She took it slowly and reclaimed a little at a time. Best one so far! ...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Nicole rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-werewolves

Iron Kissed is another great addition to the Mercedes Thompson series. This series is slowing becoming one of my favorite. I will be the first to admit I was worried when I read Moon Called, but I gave the second book a try. I am so happy that I did. After this third book I think that I am hooked.. Overall Iron Kissed had a great plot. The book moves at a fast pace. I did not see the events towards the end of the book coming.

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Sep 25, 2011 Dawn rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook

I really like Mercy. She's a great character, strong in her own rights but knows her limitations. Good to see she finally chose between Samuel and Adam. The ending of this book had me sitting on the edge of my seat, it was angering to read what was happening to Mercy, then to feel Adam's anger and compassion and finally Ben. He sure had a different side to show. Mercy has a battle in front of her to heal after the brutality she endured. I can't wait to continue reading this series. ...more

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