*This title will be released on March 6, 2012*

Title: Fair Game Author:  Patricia Briggs Series: Alpha and Omega #3 Cover Art: Dan Dos Santos Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance Excerpt: Yes Source: Publisher Reviewed by: Abigail Reading level: Ages 18 and up Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Ace Hardcover (March 6, 2012) ISBN-10: 0441020038 ISBN-13: 978-0441020034   Sexual Content: A couple brief sex scenes. References to rape, sodomy, molestation & torture Rating: Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & put this author on your watch list.

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Thanks to everyone who entered my 300 followers giveaway.  As you can see I’m actually closing in on 500 followers now which is mind boggling.  I definitely loved being able to giveaway complete series, so I will absolutely be doing this again soon.  But you guys want to know who won this time, right?  Here we go…

There were 1079 entries. The winners, chosen by Random.org, are…

For the complete Mercy Thompson series (Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, and Bone Called): #980 Aik

 Aik who said...

My favourite book is Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran.

For the complete Alpha & Omega series (Cry Wolf, Hunting Ground, and On The Prowl): #90 Elie

 Elie who said...

My least favorite book was Thirst by Christopher Pike. ack.

Congratulations Aik & Elie!  I’ve emailed you both.  Please respond within 48 hours or a new winner will be drawn.

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for Shade Fright by Sean Cummings.  If you missed Sean’s visit, you can check it out HERE. 

The winner of Shade Fright by Sean Cummings, chosen by Random.org, is… vslavetopassionv who said:

Demi Moore as a zombie would definitely be worth seeing. :D
I'm a follower through google friend connect.
~smooches~
Jase

 

Congratulations Jase! I’ll be emailing you soon. Please respond within 48 hours or a new winner will be drawn.

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Today is the last day to Enter & Win Patricia Briggs books!

Click HERE to enter. 

Today is the last day to enter for your chance to win some amazing Patricia Briggs books. The 400 follower mark came and went awhile ago, so as promised, there will now be two winners!  One for the complete Mercy Thompson series, and one for the complete Alpha & Omega series.  The giveaway is international (anywhere that Book Depository ships). 

One winner gets: Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, and Bone Called.

Another winner gets: Cry Wolf, Hunting Ground, and On The Prowl! 

Click HERE to enter. 

The winners will be announced tomorrow. 

Don’t think I didn’t notice when I passed the 300 follower mark recently.  I remember when I hit 50 followers and thought elated wasn’t a big enough word.  Well, 300 followers makes 50 feel like that time I shut my toe in the car door and then had my way-too-fat dog jumped up and down on it. 

    So I saw this event coming and knew I needed an amazing giveaway to celebrate.  I decided to go with a complete set of the books that started my love for all things urban fantasy (and they are still my favorite UF books): The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, Bone Called. So you’ll be all caught up in time for Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson, Book 5) which comes out March 30, 2010!

My Reviews of The Mercy Thompson Series
Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1)
Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, Book 2)
Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, Book 3)
Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, Book 4)

The Mercedes Thompson Series is a series of urban fantasy novels written by Patricia Briggs that follow the adventures of Mercedes (Mercy) Thompson, a Native American shapeshifter who was raised by Werewolves. The series is set in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state in an alternate world in which Werewolves and certain types of the fae have been forced to reveal themselves to the public. The series follows Mercy, a VW mechanic by trade, as she learns her true nature and is caught up in the affairs of the local werewolf pack, led by Adam, the Alpha who lives next door, and the local vampire seethe, a member of which she has befriended. –Wikipedia

Want to find out more about Mercy?  Check out my Mercy Thompson Character Profile

And then I thought, Patricia Briggs is such an amazing author, I should giveaway the books in her (Mercy spinoff) Alpha & Omega series too!  So, *if* I cross the 400 follower mark before this giveaway ends, I’ll draw another winner to receive Cry Wolf, Hunting Ground, and On The Prowl!

My Reviews of the Alpha & Omega Series
Alpha and Omega (Prequel included in the On The Prowl anthology)
Cry Wolf (Alpha and Omega, Book 1)
Hunting Ground (Alpha and Omega, Book 2) (I don’t even have this one yet)

Giveaway Guidelines

Open Internationally (anywhere Book Depository ships)

Must be a follower with Google friend connect (or email subscriber if you can’t)

Leave your email address

Comment: Tell me your favorite or least favorite book ever

EXTRA ENTRIES:

+1 Take my poll on the top left

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+10 Actual Blog post (leave link)

Book Description: Today's hottest urban fantasy authors come together in this delicious brew that crackles and boils over with tales of powerful witches and dark magic! In Charlaine Harris' 'Bacon,' a beautiful vampire joins forces with a witch from an ancient line to find out who killed her beloved husband. In 'Seeing Eye' by Patricia Briggs, a blind witch helps sexy werewolf Tom Franklin find his missing brother - and helps him in more ways than either of them ever suspected. And in Jim Butcher's 'Last Call,' wizard Harry Dresden takes on the darkest of dark powers - the ones who dare to mess with this favorite beer. For anyone who's ever wondered what lies beyond the limits of reality, who's imagined the secret spaces where witches wield fearsome magic, come and drink deep. Let yourself fall under the spell of this bewitching collection!

Review:
Seeing Eye is a very short story.  It clocks in at only 38 pages, and in the hands of a lesser author, it could have been a disaster trying to build a world, create compelling characters, and tell a satisfying story in so few pages.  Fortunately for us, Patricia Briggs was more than equal to the task.

The story is simple enough, Wendy Moira Keller (yep, named after the Peter Pan character), a blind witch, agrees to help a desperate werewolf, Tom Franklin, search for his abducted brother. If you’ve read Brigg’s Hunting Ground already, then these character’s will be familiar to you. If you haven’t read it yet, start with Seeing Eye first as it explains how Moira and Tom met.

Even though we spend such a brief time with Moira and Tom, Brigg’s writes them as fully fleshed out character’s.  Moira specifically is appealing as she provides us with a firsthand look at what Witches are like in the world of Mercy Thompson.  Mercy deals with all kinds of paranormal creatures: vamps, fey, weres, but she only rarely interacts with witches.  In Seeing Eye, Brigg’s gets to explore that world a little more. The result is that I, for one, have two more reason’s to look forward to Hunting Ground.

Sexual Content: None

Author Comments:

So there's this really neat anthology of witch-based stories edited by P. N. Elrod featuring stories some of my all-time favorite authors. Of course, I had to sneak a werewolf into the mix. And a dash of romance, and a snippet of revenge. Eye of newt, wing of bat . . .-Patricia Briggs.

Click HERE to read an excerpt of Seeing Eye

*Seeing Eye is part of Strange Brew: An anthology of stories edited by P N Elrod.  I will be reviewing the other stories in this anthology in separate posts.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312383363
• ISBN-13: 978-0312383367

Book Blurb: These all-new paranormal romances from today's hottest authors feature a female werewolf who comes into her own; a Lord who crosses paths with a fiery mage; a mixed-blood Child of the Moon who faces an uncertain future; and a woman whose sixth sense proves to be a dangerous talent.

 

Review: Alpha and Omega is the novella that preceded Patricia Briggs’ Cry Wolf (Alpha and Omega, Book 1). Part of the On The Prowl anthology, A&O is less its own story and more the introduction to Cry Wolf. It almost feels like someone decided to cut the first few chapters of Cry Wolf and publish them separately. Having read Cry Wolf previously, I already knew the basic plot of this novella as most of it is rehashed in that book. But what makes A&O worth reading is the character insight revealed through the alternating POV of Anna and Charles. And I actually found Anna to be a much stronger character this time around, despite the ongoing abuse she is enduring in A&O. She shows some spine and resourcefulness that I was proud to see. In Cry Wolf she almost seemed to take a step backwards in that sense.

As a heads up, there is a lot of romance in this story. I would say the vast majority involves exploring feelings and attraction. So in that sense, A&O is very much a romance with paranormal elements and not the other way around. But even though the romance is the focus here, because this is Patricia Briggs we're talking about, the paranormal elements are top notch. The werewolf pack dynamic is fascinating and I particularly enjoyed how the wolves in this world have there own distinct personality that is not always in agreement with their human counterparts. I just wish there was more of them, especially regarding the origin of the Omega wolf. Perhaps Briggs is planning on doling out more of those details in future books.  If you are reading this story first, be sure to have Cry Wolf on hand as the story does not conclude in this novella.  *Note* I’ll be reviewing the other On The Prowl Novellas in separate posts.

Sexual Content:  Sexual abuse and rape is alluded to in the past tense.

Here’s what Patricia Briggs had to say about Alpha and Omega:

One of the coolest things about this anthology turned out to be the other authors in it. I enjoy them all -- in fact, I noticed, shortly after my editor told me who they were going to be, that I've blurbed for all of them :) I'm not a short story writer, so this was quite a challenge. I kept having to delete characters and fighting to simplify the plot so it would fit into a story roughly a quarter of the size of most of my books. I thought it would be more like a long short story, but in the end, it feels to me like a short novel. "Alpha and Omega" is Charles's story. Charles is one of those characters who comes on stage to fill out a scene -- or, in this case, to make the Montana pack feel like a "real" pack, one that doesn't just exist for the sake of a novel. But as I wrote a little about him I found out a lot more -- and since he didn't have a real role in the plot, I had to set him aside once he'd performed his alloted role. It would have bothered me more, but I knew that Moon Called was the first in a series so I figured I could use him later. When my editor called to ask me if I thought I could write a novella in Mercy's world -- I thought about it for a while, and decided to give Charles his chance upon the stage. I already had a plot -- he'd been sent to deal with one of the Chicago alphas in Moon Called. Even so, the story took me a little by surprise (which is a good thing). I didn't expect such a strong romance angle in this story, but I liked how it turned out. I hope you enjoy getting to know Charles as much as I did.