This series of posts are about entertainment that I recommend when people ask me for recommendations. It also includes place-specific “entertainment”, such as beautiful gardens; it might be stretching the definition of entertainment, but I enjoy myself in the places I recommend.
They are not universal recommendations. I wouldn’t recommend a dark thriller to someone looking for something nice and happy; I’d recommend a romance.
They aren’t perfect or without mistakes.
Art is never finished, only abandoned. ~ Leonard da Vinci
Mercy Thompson, and Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs
This post covers a fictional world/universe more than a specific series.
Some time in the early 2000s I picked up Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. It was the start of a few years of reading urban fantasy and paranormal romance, mostly because of Briggs’ book.
The cover you see for the book to the right is the cover of the mass market paperback I bought back then, and the reason I picked the book up up.
It is a gorgeous cover by the artist Dan dos Santos. Yes, it was gorgeous enough that I actually looked up and made sure to remember the artist’s name.
Moon Called is the first book in the Mercy Thompson series. An urban fantasy series set in the Tri-Cities in Washington state, USA. It has all the usual trappings of a urban fantasy series. And it is great.
The main character, Mercy Thompson, is a coyote shifter and not insanely powerful. She is resourceful, have great friends, and a tenacity and protective instinct that brings her into trouble all the time.
She’s a hero.
Sometimes her thoughts in the books matches exactly what I imagine I’d think in those moments.
A couple of books into the Mercy series, Briggs wrote a novella also set in the world called Alpha and Omega, which turned into the start of the second series. That novella is one of my favorite stories of all time.
There are more short stories set in this world, most if not all of them helpfully collected in Shifting Shadows. A great read with many gems. Especially Seeing Eye. And any story with Asil in it. (Asil is always fun to read about.)
I’ve read every book and story set in this world. I’ve enjoyed them all.
Of all the urban fantasy I read for years, this is the series and author I still keep up with. And whose books I buy as soon as they release and read them until I finish them in the middle of the night.
I also reread them regularly.
Swordfish is a hacker/action movie that plays with the question of morality.
Otherwise, I’d always pick Super Mario.
Edgy crime with a dose of romance.
This series have that crime of the week with great characters and a dark edge (that sometimes goes very dark). Unlike some crime of the week though, the main detective and everyone around her keeps growing and changing with all the things that happen to them.