I'd been in a bit of a slump, reading-wise, lately, so I decided I needed something that offered adventure, magic and romance. To achieve that combo I decided to dip back into a couple of paranormal romance series I'd fallen away from to see if I could capture some of the old magic. And capture it I did (whew! big sigh of relief! - I always have a fear that I'll never get my reading mojo back when I've been stuck).
First up was the latest in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. This is book 11(!) in the series and to say that Briggs still has it is an understatement. Unlike my next author, Briggs has stayed with the same couple throughout the series and yet the struggles they have, the monsters they face (literally) and the challenges they work through to keep their relationship strong feel fresh with each book. Mercy Thompson is a coyote shapeshifter married to Adam Hauptman, Alpha of the local werewolf pack. Mercy has taken responsibility for the neutrality of the Columbia Basin where wolves, fae and humans are meant to co-exist in safety. Sure she has to deal with the occasional zombie goat or killer goblin, but she's okay with that. When she's asked to broker a deal between the government and the Gray Lords, that's when things go seriously south and into some serious fun and suspense. If you've not read this series before I recommend starting with book one, Moon Called (which weirdly enough was the very first book reviewed on MADreads back in 2006 when we started, wow, 13 years ago).
My next magical foray was into the latest in Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series, Wolf Rain. With these books larger world problems continue from book to book but the protagonists change in each new volume. As the book opens SnowDancer pack (that's werewolves in case you couldn't guess) member Alexei is on a run through the woods when he's hit by a psychic wave of grief. Someone nearby is in deep pain and when he reaches the source he finds a woman, an empath, who's been trapped in a bunker. Memory (the woman) has been kept captive by a psychopath for years and she at first can't believe she's free. And even when she does accept what Alexei is offering, she's afraid her particular "talents" will be more of a danger than a blessing. As she struggles to regain a life, she finds herself falling for the powerfully gentle wolf who found her. Nicely done.
If you are like me and are looking for a great escape (especially since many of us have entered the post-GoT doldrums), you can click on through to see what other books have "paranormal" and "romance" as subject headings in the catalog.