Night Broken - Patricia Briggs
Series: Mercy Thompson #8
Published by: Ace, on 11 March 2014
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 352, Source: Kindle Purchase
Reading Challenges: 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge, 2015 TBR Pile Reading Challenge, Bookish Resolutions Challenge 2015

An unexpected phone call heralds a new challenge for Mercy. Her mate Adam’s ex-wife is in trouble, on the run from her new boyfriend. Adam isn’t the kind of man to turn away a person in need—and Mercy knows it. But with Christy holed up in Adam’s house, Mercy can’t shake the feeling that something about the situation isn’t right.

Soon, her suspicions are confirmed when she learns that Christy has the farthest thing from good intentions. She wants Adam back and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen, including turning Adam’s pack against Mercy.

Mercy isn’t about to step down without a fight, but there’s a more dangerous threat circling. Christy’s ex is more than a bad man—in fact, he may not be human at all. As the bodies start piling up, Mercy must put her personal troubles aside to face a creature with the power to tear her whole world apart.

Night Broken is fast-paced and filled with action, fights and romance, on top of that, there’s a little drama because Adam’s ex comes to stay with them – for once seeking help and comfort from the pack.

My Night Broken review:

Night Broken was pretty intense, and there was a new creature introduced in the Mercy Thompson universe here. I have to admit I was rolling my eyes at Adam’s ex acting all innocent and needy, and even more so because of all she had made the pack go through when she had decided living with shifters wasn’t for her, then left both Adam and her daughter behind. Once danger came knocking on Christy’s door, though, she definitely didn’t have enough pride to try to manage on her own, and it didn’t even occur to her that she might put her only daughter in danger by possibly bringing her stalker right to Adam’s house.

The story in Night Broken was fast-paced, though, and I loved the way Mercy fought to save both herself, and the pack she loves so much. She used some very unorthodox methods in her fighting, especially when she had to persuade someone to fight with her rather than against her. It was great to see Mercy feeling strong on her own, and also how sure she was that Adam would have her back, even with all of Christy’s machinations to ingratiate herself into the pack once more.

One of the things I loved the most in Night Broken, though, was the utter trust, love and loyalty between Mercy and Adam. It wasn’t easy for either of them to have Christy living in the same house as them, especially because Christy was finally figuring out that Adam was actually quite a catch. And she did everything she could to undermine Mercy, both when it came to pack order and respect, and when it came to ways to show how useful Christy was when it came to cook for the whole pack for example.

When the shit hit the fan, Mercy really had a lot of allies she could count on, from her fellow wolves to a crazy half-brother, to a fae and even a vampire. Coyote showed up in Night Broken as well, and I don’t know what it is about him, I just always chuckle when he appears. Between speaking in riddles, only showing part of what he should, but ultimately being there for Mercy when he truly needs her, he just tickles my funny bone.

Written in past tense, and mostly from Mercy’s point of view, either in first person or in third person, Night Broken is a great instalment in one of my favorite urban fantasy series.

Some of my favorite Night Broken quotes:

I didn’t argue with her because I was one of the three people in the pack who outranked her, so she’d had to back down. That felt like cheating, and I never cheat. Unless it is against my enemies, whispered a soundless voice in my head that might have been mine but felt like Coyote’s.

My chest hurt, and I felt the stupid light headedness that told me I was flirting with a full-blown panic attack. Panic attacks were stupid and counterproductive, rendering me helpless to protect myself until they were over.

I’ve killed people before. If I’d felt like I had a choice, I wouldn’t have killed them. No choice meant I had no regrets for those kills. Maybe I should have felt worse about that; maybe it was bing a walker or maybe being a predator.