Bike and Book Ride

Last night, I secretly met with my biker buddy Moosetail. He brought over a battery kit to recharge the bike in my garage, as well as showed me a thing or two about the clutch, the brakes, etc., you know, stuff that the OWNER should know.

Moosetail invited me out for a ride on his bike and so I grabbed my leather jacket and glasses (I am a seasoned biker passenger), tied my hair back, and hopped on. Woohoo! Riding a bike with a pro is definitely a thumbs-up! For one thing, no pushing the bike, heh!

We zipped out to the main road towards the beachside and while making the turn, I...uh...noticed Alpha Male's truck going by the other way. You know, I should buy a sekret bike, stash it somewhere and learn how to ride the thing. Then, when he finally graduates from his stupid sekret bike class, I can show up in my Suzuki or whatever and steal his thunder ;-).

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I finished reading Toni Andrews' Beg For Mercy. It's a good first book...no vampires, werewolves, or "magick," and even though it's called an urban fantasy by many, it read more like an everyday normal contemporary with a heroine who has the power to hypnotize those around her to do her bidding. It's not even dark in tone.

Mercy is just a sassy loner who sort of fears her power because she knows she can inadvertently hurt someone. For example, when she was a kid and was being bullied, she shouted, "Why don't you take a jump?" or something like that, and of course, said bully did, into ongoing traffic, which Mercy hadn't planned on.

Anyway, it's a light and quick read for me. If you're tired of the angsty vampire/slayer/ werewolf/witch and demon paranormals out there, give this new author a try. There are some too-easy plot contrivances and the usual kookie friend-turned-psychic sidekick. I must admit the first person didn't work as well for me as in other urban fantasy books, but mostly, I think, because I didn't believe this book to be one. Am I making sense here? Probably not. But for some reason, I can read urban fantasy/gothic fantasy in first person POV, but not contemporary (even with a heroine with a mental gift).

Throughout the book, because the heroine is the only person who knows about her ability among her friends, she is also the only one running around doing the investigative stuff. Her friends and her new lover/boyfriend act as props who get in her way or help her in arranging meetings with people who could give her the information she needs. Very convenient and coincidental, in some ways. At one point, she even manages to "press" (as she called it) a snarling and fierce enemy's dog who was guarding her girlfriend to become a doting pet just with one command. That was too easy and a bit much.

I'm interested to see whether the writing will turn darker now that Mercy, at the end of the book, has broken every rule she has set out not to do when using her gift. The romantic conflict should be interesting, since the boyfriend knows something is up and is angry/concerned/bewildered that he's kept in the dark. It's a new relationship, so he doesn't want to commit to someone with secrets.

Mercy, of course, has a HUGE secret. And at the end of the book, she finds out that her parents might not be normal. Which means she isn't normal herself.

I'd love to hear your thoughts if you decide to read this book. It's always fun to see what readers think of the beginning of a new continuing series. Setting one up is very hard (I should know, sigh) because not only must the writer introduce the elements that make up the storyverse, but she/he must find a spot to end it and bring the readers to the second book. Sometimes that can get controversial (heh, I should know this too, doublesigh).

In Beg For Mercy, the young heroine finds out that her secret power is bigger than what she'd thought it to be. The series ends with it as a set-up for her to look for her parents and her heritage (really that is the only urban fantasy element that I found). I'm not sure, however, whether I want to read book after book where the main action is the heroine asking questions and the characters dutifully answering them in a monotone of sorts.

Definitely, the scene I'm looking forward to is when the boyfriend finds out about her powers and starts to question whether everything he's ever shared with her has been manipulated by her power. Now that could be dark and powerful. Being that this set-up book is more snarky/fun/light, that scene I'm imagining is probably all in my head ;-).

But you want dark and powerful? That's when the Alpha Male starts up that bike again this week. Hahahahahaha.

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