Bone Crossed - Spoilers Likely

[Jess]

I can't wait for this book to come out!! Although I'm irritated that it is coming out in hardcover but I will still buy it.

I wonder what's going to be happening with Adam and Mercy??

[Kelley Anne]

I am so excited too! Actually, when you posted the topic, I thought that maybe you'd gotten lucky and your book store put it out early. I was going to be very jealous! lol!

Did you read the first chapter at the end of Cry Wolf? The teaser just made me more and more anxious for it to come out!

My sister-in-law just finished Moon Called and came today to borrow the next couple. I told her that she is lucky that she hasn't been having to wait for Bone Crossed.

[DarkHeart "Vehngeance"]

I remember reading on her boards that we finally get some action between Mercy & Adam. Apparently it's the first love scene she's put in her books (I've only ever read her were novels).

And I'm glad to see Stefan is back in this one. I missed him and the Mystery Machine. =)

[Jess]

I wish it came out early!! I went looking for it the other day when I was in BN but alas.. I couldn't find it!

I did read the teaser in Cry Wolf and I then thought to myself that I shouldn't have read it because it made me want to know more.

I hope nothing happens to Stefan in this one :(

We know that Mercy won't die or anything because hello she's the main character. But I hope Stefan ends up okay.

[Laura]

I know...I missed Stefan in the last book. I like Stefan, for some reason when I picture him it's the old character Stefan from General Hospital lol

[Kelley Anne]

lol, that's funny! I actually picture him exactly the opposite of the Stefan from GH. That Stefan was stuffy, always wore a suit, always serious and kind of a jerk. Where Mercy's Stefan drives a Myster Machine van, crazy clothes and acts completely different from most vamps.

[Laura]

You're right...I just can't shake the name association though :)

[[deleted user]]

i just got my copy.. :D cant wait to start reading it..

[Kelley Anne]

I have to work tomorrow and can't go to try find it, so I'm going to go out tonight and keep my fingers crossed that one of my fav book stores put it out a night early!

[Jess]

I think that I am showing amazing restraint.. I just bought Bone Crossed through my kindle (I love that damn kindle lol)... and yet I am doing my stupid graduate school work first before devouring it.

stupid homework... ugh.

[Kelley Anne]

See, just one more reason that I really need to get myself a kindle!!! I have to work all day today and tomorrow and have no way to go to the store to pu Bone Crossed! But, if I had a kindle, I could just download it and at least start reading it during my breaks!

[Jess]

Ahh I read it and finished it in like 5 hours. Soooo good :)

[Kelley Anne]

So, I still haven't been able to go get this one yet. Hopefully tomorrow!!! But, I just got my weekly email with deals and such from Borders and they had a section about Bone Crossed. One of the things that was included was a letter from Patricia Briggs about the book. So, I figured for those of you that aren't on the Borders email list, I'd copy it here.

Letter
The Evil Cackle Is Optional
By Patricia Briggs

Confidence is a funny thing for an author. You write the best book you can, hoping that somehow everything will work out and the readers will like it. As a beginning author, with rejection slips and unfavorable reviews it's often hard to hard to muster the courage to keep putting words on the page. I've been pretty lucky, but Cry Wolf kind of shook my confidence. I'm very happy with the results, but it took a while to get there. I've gotten used to the story working out right the first time. With Cry Wolf I was rewriting long after I should have been in the editing stage.

So, it was a slightly apprehenisve author who sat at the keyboard, already months late. and stared at the the blank screen under the title Bone Crossed. I knew how the story started. I'd left a scene unfinished in Iron Kissed, closing the pages before the reader could see that what looked like a happy ending was actually…

As an author, I sometimes feel like the wicked witch. My job is to find someone happily minding their own business, and mess up their happy little lives until they're upset enough to get off their rump and go change something. It's seldom a good thing in a character's life when the author looks at them and says, "You're happy, aren't you? My goodness, you're trying to slip off into a quiet happily-ever-after! Well, don't get too comfortable my pretty, because I've got plans for your future." The evil cackle is optional, of course, but I find it refreshing.

Maybe it's being relatively pain-free following the back surgery. Maybe it's just that Mercy is such a fun character to write. Heck, maybe it's the helpful wee folk around the house, I don't know, but somehow this story worked like they're supposed to. The sentences flowing onto the screen weren't all polished works of verbal art (mine seldom are), but they told a great story. The characters, bless their little hearts, stayed in character. Nobody tried to get whiny, or angsty, or too darn clever. It just kind of fell onto the pages. I was as excited to see what happened next as any reader. That's how writing is supposed to happen, even though it very seldom does.

It's like playing jazz. Some days you're a muddle trying to remember scales and modes, wondering if you need an F or an F#, and finding the answer the hard way. Other nights, you play and the music moves through you, and you really don't care about the key, because your fingers just know where to land. Those are the nights you remember. Bone Crossed was a good night, and a much needed bolster to my confidence. It's not perfect, no book ever is. An author can always go back and second-guess the decisions, find rough sentences and explanatory passages that could be improved. But it's a good book, and it tells the story I intended to tell. What more can an author ask for?

[DarkHeart "Vehngeance"]

Ugh... now amazon.co.uk is giving me an expected ship date of 19 Feb?! Don't they understand I NEED this book. Going to have to put in a call to Borders to see if they've got it in yet, as today is the UK release date. May have to venture out in the snow.

[Jess]

Darkheart, this book would be worth going out in the snow. seriously... lol.

[Kelley Anne]

Yeah! I finally got it! It's a good thing that I am done working for the rest of the day so I can read!!!

[DarkHeart "Vehngeance"]

Jess wrote: "Darkheart, this book would be worth going out in the snow. seriously... lol."

They didn't have it. Books don't seem to be available on release date over here lately. It's published by Orbit over here though, and their site recommended another online shop to buy their books from over here, so I tried them. They claimed to have it available, so I've placed another order. Finger crossed it arrives in Saturday's post! ;)

[Jess]

Is anyone else dying to know when the next book is coming out??? I feel like as the reader we got such insight into the characters, but of course since it's Mercy - it was all drama filled.

I would like to see Mercy and Adam for a little while as they are content lol.

I wonder what's going to happen in the next book with Stefan? I think he really loves Mercy, but she's obviously taken... right???

[Theresa]

The one good thing about being sick enough to be bed-ridden is that it gives one plenty of time to read. I started this book on Saturday and finished it the same day. It was awesome!

When I first started reading this series, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. Now, it is becoming one of my favorite series.

There were so many loose ends tied up in this one or at least, addressed.

The only thing that was depressing was reading the last page and knowing I have to wait another year to get the next entry!

[Kelley Anne]

I really loved this book! I am so hooked on this series!!! I really enjoyed the interaction between Mercy and Adam. At the end of Iron Kissed I was pretty excited to see that they were finally going to get together, but at the same time it seemed a bit quick after everything that had happened to her. I'm glad that they ended up addressing that issue a bit, rather than just ignoring what happened. They are just such a great couple!

Although I am glad that Mercy ended up with Adam, I still feel so bad for Samuel. I really love him! He has been through so much in his life, and I hope that Patricia Briggs will develop his story a bit more in the next book. I would love to see him have a happy ending! As a side note, I find it interesting when I can pick out any inconsitancy in a book. Several times in this book, Mercy mentiones that Samuel was his father's second before he moved in with her. But in the earlier books it says that Charles is his second and Samuel is third.

As for Stefan, I think that he is completely hung up on Mercy. It will be interesting to see how that develops in later novels.

I also enjoyed seeing more of the pack dynamic and learning about how the ties between them work. I think of all of the were-animal books that I've read, Briggs is one of my favorites for her portrayal of the pack dynamic.

[Kasia]

Well put Kelley Anne!

[Liz]

Well Kelly Anne, we could always hope for a Stephen spin off.

[Jess]

I was kind of torn in this novel between who I liked better, Stefan or Adam. I mean I love Adam and Mercy together because they fit so well and he really understands her. But with Stefan, he so obviously cares about Mercy and I'm starting to wonder how she really feels about him. But now that she's mated with Adam, nothing can really come out of her relationship with Stefan. So I wonder why Briggs was emphasizing Stefan's love for Mercy in this book so much. Maybe she's planing on trying to put them together.. but I just don't see how it will work.

[Kelley Anne]

*Spoliers for both Bone Crossed and Cry Wolf

K, I have a question. I was just relistening to Cry Wolf last night at work and something connected with Bone Crossed that I hadn't noticed before. In Bone Crossed, during the whole scene at the bar we meet the snow elf who they say is also a Berserker. At the time, I didn't really think much about what a berserker is or anything, just another type of creature. Well, then last night with Cry Wolf it talks about what Bran became after he broke his mothers hold on him. It said that he became a berserker. I had remembered that he turned into something, but I had forget what it was called. So, I never made the connection between the two.

K, so what exactly is a berserker wolf? The only other reference that I can think of for a berserker is in one of Karen Marie Moning's books and I don't think that they are the same thing. Any insight would be appreciated!

[Liz]

Berserker is a German word.

From dictionary.com
–adjective
1. violently or destructively frenzied; wild; crazed; deranged: He suddenly went berserk.
–noun
2. (sometimes initial capital letter) Scandinavian Legend. Also, ber⋅serk⋅er. an ancient Norse warrior who fought with frenzied rage in battle, possibly induced by eating hallucinogenic mushrooms.

My guess that the use of the word in Cry Wolf is more closely related to the first definition (i.e. Bran because crazy and violent for awhile), and the use of the word in Bone Crossed is referring to the second definition (i.e. the elf literally was an ancient Norse warrior who fought with frenzied rage in battle).

[Susan]

one thing that isn't being specified is that a Berzerker, when the madness descended, blanked out everything but the enemies. One myth had that Berzerkers could be grievously wounded but not know or care until their fugue lifted.

[Dawn, Desperately seeking new worlds]

To add on in Bone Crossed she says something to the effect of Bezerker wolves are bad enough but a bezerker snow elf....so that totally fits with Liz's definition.


**********SPOILERS****************************
So I just finished the book today and I thought it was great! It was nice to see Adam and Mercy and I like them as a couple I really liked it when she takes off her shirt and he is like HELLO we are not doing this today and then her mom comes...I thought it was sweet and funny. BUT I am still a Stefan fan and while I think her relationship is better with Adam I still like Mercy and Stefan. So my first question is did you get the feeling that Stefan was angry or maybe disappointed when he realized the blood bond between them was broken and do you think he was doing something more when he was licking her arms and hands after the inquiry? The my final question is what did you think about the end?

I am not really sure how this relationship will unfold or if it is something like Stefan needs Mercy to remember who he was and that he is not a monster. I thought it was endearing that Stefan must be watching over Mercy because Marsilia comes to question Mercy and Stefan is holding her while he is telling Marsilia he will come back and but he needs some time. Plus in all of the books he seems to generally watch over her but yet he never forces himself on her and he never really asks her for anything.

[Jess]

SPOILERS


Dawn:

I think Stefan was very upset that his blood bond was broken with Mercy. At the end of the book he seemed so sad. And I thought it was interesting how Marsilia tells Mercy that she hates her because of the fact that Stefan walked away because Marsilia risked Mercy's life.

I think that the author might end up coming up with a storyline that focuses on Stefan and Mercy and somehow have to make her choose between Stefan and Adam. That's the only reason I can come up with for the ending. She made sure we realized that although Mercy is with Adam there is still something with Stefan.

I can't decide who I like more. I mean I love Adam and Mercy together, but I always had a soft spot for Stefan. And especially at the end I really felt bad for him. :(

[Jael ~ *~ Syhren ~* ~]

Just finished this book and I am highly upset that we have to wait a whole year for the next Mercy I really love Adam and Mercy but like u I have a soft spot for Stefan as well

[Dawn, Desperately seeking new worlds]

Me too!! I mean Mercy and Adam fit but I dunno there is just something about Stefan and how he quietly protects her. I do wonder how Mercy feels about the lack of her blood bond especially since she seemed so shocked to find out that it must have cost him even more to find him.

And Jael ...I know I hate waiting ....

[Jess]

At least we have Hunting Ground to tide us over. That helps.

[Jael ~ *~ Syhren ~* ~]

Yeah until we read that and then want more of that as well