Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*'s Reviews > Mercy Blade

“Alarm stole over me on little kitten feet.”

The third book isn’t slowing down at all because there’s something always going on, central large mystery story-wise, small side mysteries, personal dilemmas for the main characters, AND personal dilemmas for the side-characters. An unusual thing about this series is that Jane is a form of shifter, although not considered a were – usually the first and second books involving shifters involve OTHER shifters as the main focus. Instead Jane Yellowrock has mainly involved vampires and witches until now.

A major theme in this one ends up being the weres – Jane didn’t even know they really existed until she found out in the first book – and I was intrigued on how they she’s react to them, and them to her, especially the were cats. The book opens with a trip to a local bar to negotiate with a rival of Leo’s, and already we run into werewolves who not surprisingly end up assholes. While the second book digs into some background lore of vampires, this one does with weres, but again my interest in the past isn’t as strong as it is in the present stuff going on. Still, her meeting with the werecats wasn’t much of a letdown, where Leo shows a douche side, but I am curious about her meeting a werecat someday that is attracted to her. Apparently in these books weres are turned off by her smell instead.

Gee DiMercy is introduced in this third book as well, a strange and mysterious rare creature that brings life to his scenes between impressive fighting and teasing stalking. Jane had witch roommates in the last book, but this time she has to deal with Molly’s sister. She’s just…okay, but gets on my nerves later with Bruiser distraction. There is a particularly cool scene where her magic backfires when Jane trusts her judgement on dealing deeper into her past.

The book opens with Rick and it closes with Rick, but this isn’t a Rick heavy story. It’s part of his downfall and the dislike most fans feel for his character. You’d think he would have tossed out the player ways since he and Jane have become an official item, but apparently not. He’s not a love interest so much as Bruiser is when the Primo steps up. Discarded from Leo temporarily, when Bruiser temporarily moves in on Jane’s territory it’s awesome. Their dancing outside on the patio ends up being one of the hottest, most magical scenes of the series. It’s drawn out several pages and the intensity of the genuine chemistry almost gets the pages actually sizzling. I always liked Bruiser before, but that scene majorly amps up the man’s appeal.

Throw in the shower scene and yikes! Bruiser becomes more focused and almost domineering in this one, which was a turn on, but he does make it clear in the end who his heart really belongs to so I can imagine the heart crush impact of that with Jane. I hold out for the Bruiser and Jane soul mate bonds, combined with Leo perfection hope sandwich someday.

Leo has gotten out of most of his grief-ridden killing frenzy, but he’s still unstable, especially during one street chase. The ending wraps this particular issue up well, but only in the afterword. With Jane getting the short end of the stick with getting blamed for stuff, getting into uncomfortable situations, I almost want her to leave the town in her dust while she’s taking off. She almost gets there too, but there’s that particular motorcycle showing up down the street…

Jane finds out a few more things about herself and battles it all out in an intense and violent ending battle scene that leaves her torn. The Katie dance scene was awkward but humorous, and there's some changes there. We get Beast time and a few shifts so that is all good.

Can a party go more wrong? Poor Jane. So much security went into the were meeting, but once you have unexpected guests, a vicious murder, and a returning Carrie coming in like Carrie from the prom, you have mayhem.

You get Jane being a truly badass rescuer who lives up to her lethal name, but those final paragraphs give us a nasty cliffhanger about Rick again. Overall the book is just as good as the first two, getting more involved with other creatures and world-building, finally Leo starting to move on from his loss, more development with existing characters, and Jane settling in farther with Beast.