So for complete transparency, I automatically took off one star for that unnecessary conversation in regards to Mercy, Bran and Leah. It served no purpose except to be a bit creepy and contradict everything we all know about the Mercy Thompson Universe. I've seen some people wonder if it was supposed to make Leah more sympathetic, but it didn't because if that really were the reason she treated Mercy like trash, I'd think even less of her honestly. Briggs would've been better off going with the simple narrative she used in Leah and Charles last conversation that she doesn't like Charles because Bran loves him and doesn't love her. That father/child love reasoning would've worked just fine and it's what I've always thought anyway.

Other than that, I think it took too long for me to get to the heart of what was going on. Usually with these books, especially because I listen to the audio, I get immersed in the world and can't wait to find out what happens next. With this one, I just couldn't get into it at least not until a little more than halfway through. Maybe that's because of what I mentioned earlier or maybe it was the storyline, but either way this was just ok for me.