Iron Kissed question

I personally do not enjoy books with explicit sex scenes, although sex is a normal part of life I don't neccesarily read to experience REAL life. Give me a conservative sex scene any day! Believe me, people can experience it without all the details! As for the rape scene I think the dialog was rather clear.

I would rather she didn't write sex scenes than write one and ruin the series for me.

I had to re read the rape scene over again and then I finally realized that Mercy was raped.

Some people want sex and some don't. That's why you have to look for different tags like the erotica. If you are looking for more PC Cast rights a really good series with a lot of sex called the goddess series (not the one with her daughter). One of them involves a minotaur which is pretty hot under the collar. I'm always looking for some more PNR books to collect too.

Briggs on the other hand keeps it very romantic and more emotional which is what I like for those days it's about the psychological level and not the physical, but her writing is well done. She is more about the storyline and that's what draws you in. I've picked up several books to just drop them after a few chapters for lack of story or sex, but not only did I read through Iron Kissed, I went out and bought all of Briggs books for my library and put myself on the mailing list for her new books as one of my top authors.

I don't think graphic sex scenes are neccesary, some authors it gets a bit ho hum, basically the same scene renacted in multiple books, I didn't click on about the rape right away either, but then you realise it is right there. Mercy does mention about messing around some in College so you figurre she had a sex life before Adam.

Best series EVER! I love the way Patricia Briggs writes, but I would of added a few sex scenes here and there..

I don't mind a good sex scene here and there (I am a big fan of romance in all its genres), but sometimes I feel that you can feel an even deeper depth of emotion with a lack of the physical being spelled out.

I had no problem understanding what was happening with the rape, and I thought the Briggs was very sensitive and made it more than just a plot device as many books I've read have done. It was also more than a physical rape - Mercy became completely powerless in every way possible.

The relationship between Mercy and Adam became even more poignant, and his strength and depth of emotion for her was beautiful.

Okay, I'm sounding a bit sappy, but... needless to say, I love Briggs' writing, and wouldn't change one bit of the physicality in the books.

I think I may just have to start the series all over again.

thinks its actually great the way briggs writes. does not focus on sex in lots of detail. and the rape, i think you just weren't paying attention, cos i knew what was going on. shes evolved mercy slightly without changing her in a big way, unlike what's happened in the anita blake books.

I went to hear her doing a reading a few years ago and she talked about the tattoo's and how them moving on the covers was "magical" and an idea that her cover artist had come up with

The Mercy Thompson series are good stories. But it was the character of Mercy that I liked best. Mercy, like Bella from Twilight, was a teenager who fell in love with a much older supernatural. In the first book of the series, Mercy is thrown back together with the love of her teenage years but with the perspective of a 31 year old woman. I liked that. She was a mature adult woman working a job she loved, fighting monsters and trying to make responsible and compassionate decisions about her love life. I found her to be a very realistic character.

Many authors have written stories about rape but few explore the long term consequences for their characters like Briggs did.

If sex is the most important aspect of a story for you, check out erotica or the romance genres. You are right, Briggs is not for you. But if you are plot and character driven then both the Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series are worth a try.

There is much less sexual explicitness in UF than in PNR. It is up to the author, but the story isn't specifically a romance. I do love the fact that there is romance in it though.
It was implied that Mercy gave her virginity to Samuel. Before she got involved with the werewolves, she was a loner so she wasn't prone to slutting around. I don't think she had much, if any sex life. I liked that about Mercy. She was content with herself and wasn't climbing the walls aching for a penis.
As to the tattoos, she was a strong woman and I can totally see her getting inked. That is a common form of self expression in today's society and she isn't the type to really care much what others thought about it. On the covers, she looks like a mechanic and a native American. They are actually one of the few examples where I think they got the cover art right. Most of the time, covers look nothing like the authors descriptions.

I love this series so much! And hope she continues with not to much sex. It distracts from the plot, at least for me, it does. I read a few of Christine Feehan books, the ones with Dark in the title. Loved the stories but would always page past the sex scenes. Not that they weren't good, they were, but I was into the story and not the sex, if that makes any sense=-)And I wanted to find out what happend afterwards!

Lopita wrote: "I love the series but that's just too silly like having 28 years ?? I don't know how old she is but she was not a virgin and she doesn't date and her sex life is blank , did anyone feel the same or it 's just me reading too much hot paranormal books ??

Hmm, I can't see what's supposed to be uncommon there.
I find the typical PNF heroine that has sex with a complete strange at the drop of a hat actually more unrealistic than Mercy who may or may not have a sex life before Adam.
But people are different and so is the importance of sex, in reading and life.


I had no problem with realising where the rape scene went, and felt that it was, unlike _many_ other such scenes and mentions in other series in the genre, properly shocking and impacting while at the same time delivered with the utmost care.

Which is a large part of the reason why I continue staying a fan of Patricia's UF (Mercy) and PNR (Anna & Charles) novels in spite of the genre typical recurring topic of sexualised violence.

But that's different expectations in reading material for you.

Really WELL written sex scenes are few and far between in the paranormal romance I've seen. After a while, most of it starts to all sound the same - and I find formulaic written sex is about as big a turnoff as formulaic live sex. There are exceptions, and for sure they're pretty fun. Chess and Terrible come to mind. But if I had to choose between Briggs' wonderful story-telling and badly written sex... Well there's a reason I'm a huge fan of this series.

On the question of the tattoos in the cover art, I don't think that probably has much to do with any issues of PB's. Authors frequently have little to no say in what cover art a publisher slaps on their titles. Look at the covers for The Hollows - do we see Rachel's uber-curly red hair on ANY of them? At most you'll see a little bit of wave. Hard to find fault with the author for continuing to write the characters/series as they imagine it, rather than shaping their content to previous cover art.

Mercy Thompson, like Kitty Norville is a good Urban Fantasy series in which explicit sex wouldn't enhance but would distract from the stories. Sometimes the fact of an event is more important to the story & character developement than the details of that event.

Urban Fantasy series like Night Huntress and Lords of the Underworld are really good stories in which hot steamy yummy sex is essential (thank the gods).

I follow all these and a bunch more and I ♥ them all.

I think it's you and too many paranormal romance books. This level of sexuality is the norm for mainstream novels in general. If you want sex read the Anita Blake series or 50 Shades of Grey. It's only in romances and paranormal romances that you see all that much sex - OH! and porn too of course. (Not that I don't like sex, but a little goes a long way in a novel in my opinion.)