Frost Burned - Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson’s life has undergone a seismic change. Becoming the mate of Adam Hauptman—the charismatic Alpha of the local werewolf pack—has made her a stepmother to his daughter Jesse, a relationship that brings moments of blissful normalcy to Mercy’s life. But on the edges of humanity, what passes for a minor mishap on an ordinary day can turn into so much more…
After an accident in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Mercy and Jesse can’t reach Adam—or anyone else in the pack for that matter. They’ve all been abducted.
Through their mating bond, all Mercy knows is that Adam is angry and in pain. With the werewolves fighting a political battle to gain acceptance from the public, Mercy fears Adam’s disappearance may be related—and that he and the pack are in serious danger. Outclassed and on her own, Mercy may be forced to seek assistance from any ally she can get, no matter how unlikely.

I was looking forward to this book. I have read that Briggs wouldn't write more books on the Alpha & Omega series and I was hoping to get a glimpse of those characters here. Although the A&O series was my favourite I had greatly enjoyed some of the Mercy books in the past. The last offerings though, haven't been all that successful and I was really hoping that this one would be a winner. I read glowing reviews so when I grabbed it I immediately started reading it.

And then, after reading a couple of chapters I put it down... the next day I sat to read a bit but I really didn't feel like picking it up. I decided to start something else... and then something else. And then I realised that I actually bored with Mercy and all that confusion about who had got to Adam and the rest of the pack. I decided to pick it up and finish it but it took me more than a week and several books in between so you can see how enthusiastic I was.

I think I had two problems with it: first that we don't get more information about the Fae and their decision at the end of Fair Game (we do a bit but definitely not enough), secondly the first half of the book just felt like Mercy was rounding up the troops and nothing was actually happening. Things got better once Adam gets out, we find out more about who's behind it and the action really starts. Although I felt that the ending had a bit too much drama I actually enjoyed it and I was sorry not to have more space given to vampire politics. I did like that the plot included two of my favourite characters in Stefan and Asil and sorry that it didn't include Bran and Samuel.

I'm wondering where Briggs is going to take us next. I was thinking the she would bring together the characters of both her series which doesn't happen here. The little bits of Fae that we do have mentioned made me think that they may have a bigger role in future books. I certainly hope so!

Grade: 3.5/5