Mercy Burns...not so great.

Mercy Burns, by author Keri Arthur, is the second book in her Myth and Magic series. The book is slated as an UF, but it holds a big romance flavor which I did enjoy. Unfortunately the characters left a lot to be desired and left a bad taste in my mouth. :P

Plot:

Mercy Reynolds is a reporter in the San Francisco Bay area, but she’s also more—and less—than human. Half woman, half air dragon, she’s a “draman”—unable to shift shape but still able to unleash fiery energy. Now something will put her powers to the test.
Mercy’s friend Rainey has enlisted her help to solve her sister’s murder. Then a horrible accident claims Rainey’s life, leaving Mercy only five days to find the killer: If Mercy fails, according to dragon law, Rainey’s soul will be doomed to roam the earth for eternity. But how can Mercy help when she herself is a target? With nowhere else to turn, she must join forces with a sexy stranger—the mysterious man they call “Muerte,” or death itself, who’s as irresistible as he is treacherous. But can even Death keep Mercy alive for long enough to find her answers?

The story revolves around a pretty naive reporter in San Fran (Woot to Nor Cal!) who is trying to figure out who killed her best friend and why. Mercy was outright frustrating at times; she has very little common sense and keeps getting herself into some really sticky situations. It's a wonder this gal is not dead in a gutter someplace. She has to constantly rely on friends for help, and she seems to vacillate during the whole story between whining and insisting she can handle things on her own when she really can't. I wanted to shake her a few times throughout the story. Mercy is so stuck on being "less than" other people that she is constantly complaining about how bad she has it. Well if it's so bad then I say leave, start your own posse or go off solo. Don't complain about politics and do nothing to change them, it was really annoying after a while.

Enter Damon, an Enforcer for the Dragon Council and also the same group that is supposed to hunt down and kill any half breeds. Mercy falls really quickly for Damon even though he is supposed to kill people like her. They end up teaming up to find out who is doing a bunch of killings affecting different Dragon tribes in the area. I don't know if I would be all over a man that wanted me dead, I would probably be running far away and never looking back. But that's just me. If these two were talking it always seemed to turn to Mercy and her going on and on about how she is a half-breed and how bad her life sucks because of it. Again annoying. Best times where when no talking was happening and Damon was taking over in the bedroom. I would have gagged her. lol I'll admit that last comment was bad. :)

Overall the plot was pretty weak that by the time I finished the book I didn't really care who did what or why. To give credit to Keri her first novel, Destiny Kills, is pretty amazing so I would recommend you read that book instead of this one.

Getting 2 Golden Gate Sheep

KD