Angela's Reviews > Iron Kissed

February 2018 Reread. Buddy read with Sarah and Erica.
January 2017 Re-read: Buddy read with Sarah

December 2015 Re-read: Buddy read with Sarah: Every time I start this book I have a huge sense of anticipation and - at the same time - a huge sense of apprehension. This is one of my favorite books in the series and considering it deals with one of the most difficult triggers (for me), that's saying something. So, TRIGGER WARNING (AND SPOILER): this book contains rape.


It is not gratuitous, nor is it graphic, but it happens. And it never feels like one of those things that happens just to make the heroine suffer (as I've read in so many books). It's a real trauma and it's handled with care and delicacy.

The relationship developments in this story are what really drove me. We learn so much more about everyone that this is the book that ended up cementing my love of ALL the characters in this book. Samuel's quiet despair - and care, in spite of that; Adam's stubborn, steady love; Ben's ... well, I'll let you read and find out. Then, through it all, tying everyone together, is Mercy. It's her strength of heart, I think, that draws so many people to her. When she claims someone as hers, that's it. They're hers. She will do anything for them, anything to help them. This doesn't mean that she forgives or forgets easily, but that she still loves - always. I love that about her. I also love that she's smart, and she knows how to work around the autocratic ways of the Pack.

Another reason this is my favorite book (of the first three) is that it deals so much with the fae and their artifacts. The fae in this series are fascinating. These aren't the fairy-tale fae that you've read about (unless you've been reading the really dark stuff). They're dangerous, not usually nice, and incredibly tricky. Though they can't lie, they do the next best thing and obfuscate with truth. And I love them. I always want more of Mercy's dealings with them. Probably because they kind of scare me.

I will say that I'm not a fan of where the book ends. It's a hell of a cliff-hanger - and not necessary. But, luckily, you can now pick up Bone Crossed immediately and pick up right where it left off. And that's just what I did.

Original Review:
Mercy at one point thinks, in this book, that she's suddenly not quite so anonymous in the preternatural communities anymore. That after spending nearly 15 years without any significant contact with them, she's been absolutely embroiled in mess after mess for the past couple of years.

First it was helping Adam get Jesse back, then she owed Stefan for that one. After helping Stefan, she ends up owing the fae. And this is where we pick up Iron Kissed.

Fae are getting murdered on the reservation, and they have no idea who's doing it. Zee and Uncle Mike call Mercy in to sniff around and see if she can come up with anything. And she does. But then things go bad. Zee's arrested for murder of a human, the fae look to be leaving him to hang, and Mercy won't stand for it.

I loved this book. It's a page-turner for me to this day (several re-reads later), and I can never put it down or stop reading it. We get a lot more insight into Mercy's relationships with Samuel and Adam, and how his claiming her as his mate affected him and the pack, in this book. And I'm glad to say I was ecstatic when she chose.

I don't want to say too much about this and risk spoiling anything because it's such a wonderful book. But I will say that there's some very hard moments in it. Heart-breaking, and wrenching, and they had me in tears several times.

And it does end on one big cliff-hanger, though the main story is tied up. It was hell waiting for Bone Crossed to come out when I first read this.

P.S. I loved Ben from, nearly, the first moment we met him, but I have to say my love and care for him solidified in this book.