I've requested an interview with the author and would love to discuss the book on my podcast. It was one of the best so far!

Patricia Briggs is my favorite paranormal author. Both her Mercy Thompson and Alpha & Omega series are centered on werewolves. This wonderful story is from the Alpha & Omega series and has Charles the temporarily in charge of the pack. He receives an emergency call from the wilder wolves who live deep in the mountains and discovers a powerful family of witches and skinwalkers. Great book with the chance to catch up with all your favorite pack members. Reading the previous books in the series would be beneficial.

This was an excellent addition to the alpha and omega series. It showed a nice character growth for both Anna and Charles. The mystery was laid out with just enough foreshadowing that it made sense after the big reveal. It was a good read that Patricia Briggs’ fans should enjoy.

With Bran conspicuously and mysteriously absent from the pack (supposedly on a trip to Africa) Charles and Anna are left in charge. When Charles gets an alarming phone call from one of the more broken "wildlings" (werewolves and their mates who are not fit for company), they have to set out to investigate. They are plummeted into a plot where someone is plotting to kill or kidnap the wildlings and wolves.

This is the fifth book in the Alpha & Omega series, and I would definitely recommend being caught up on the Mercy Thompson series as well before reading this. The story focuses on Bran's absence and a murder amongst Bran's own wildling pack. It's a tough plot to explain, but as usual with books in this series, the best part was the relationship between Anna and Charles. There's a really great twist at the end, and some of the questions from Silence Fallen are answered. I was worried that this series and the Mercy Thompson universe in generally had run its course, but Briggs does a great job with keeping it fresh.

"Ours, said Brother Wolf. She is perfect, our soul mate, our anchor, the reason we were created. So that we could be hers."

The Alpha & Omega by Patricia Briggs is one of my favorite Urban Fantasy series. Unfortunately, the books in this series releases every two or three years, so I treasure the books even more than I do with other series. Charles and Anna are one of my favorite couples and I always look forward to seeing their relationship develop. These two have come a very long way, and I love that the author gives us something new every book in regards to their personalities and their abilities. I will not go into detail about the plot because the blurb gives a perfect summary of it. The writing was great and easy to follow. The story had a very nice pacing and the author took her time to tell the story.

In this book we are introduced to 'wildings': "They are the wild and the broken. The werewolves too damaged to live safely among their own kind." I loved these wildings a lot because they are very mysterious and have been around for hundreds of years. They have great knowledge about the world and other paranormal beings. Every side character added so much to the dynamic of the story. I loved the plot in this book and the case/mystery Charles, Anna and others had to solve. It was suspenseful, action-packed and had the perfect amount of magic. I haven't been disappointed by any of the books in this series yet, and I hope that Patricia will continue to deliver topnotch work. Burn Bright definitely satisfied my craving for this series, and it will hold me over for the next two/three year.

Charles and Anna are always a pleasure to spend time with, even when they have really tough problems. While Bran is away, Charles is in charge of his Da's pack and answering his phone when calls come in. So Charles and Anna head off even deeper into the Montana wilderness to find out why a werewolf's fae mate would be calling for help. What they find there only causes more confusion rather than clearing things up, especially a warning that there is a traitor in their small town. Who could it be? After all, who would be crazy/suicidal enough to betray the Marrok and do so right under his very nose? With plenty of intrigue, a few hints of backstory here and there from some of the characters, and lots of danger, it is what readers have come to expect from this series and the larger world of the Mercy Thompson books.

I enjoyed this story more than the third, which also had fae in it. But in this one Charles and Anna are in tune and working as mates should, so even the danger lets us see their bond and the way they strengthen each other (more like book 4). The few memories Charles shares of his younger years, the interactions with Leah when the Marrok is not around, and the way Asil interacts with the wildlings all add to the mental construct readers have of Aspen Creek and its inhabitants.

For those who are already long-time fans of the world in which the Marrok and the Aspen Creek pack exist, this latest outing will be a welcome return of old friends. (I gobbled it down in one sitting.) For those who have not yet encountered this world, some of the relationships may seem a little difficult to unravel, but nothing that will keep readers from enjoying the story. Who doesn't love battles against evil?

Series featuring werewolf Charles and his mate Anna. Left in charge of the pack by his father, Charles and Anna head out to investigate a problem that one of the "wildings" that is wolves who are to dangerous to live in the pack, is having. The problem turns out to be a big one -- there is a traitor in their midst... and a witch is involved. This is another action packed adventure for Anna & Charles -- they also learn more about some of the wildings, whose secrets are deadly. Great addition to the series, highly recommended.

While I adore the Mercy Thompson series, the Alpha & Omega series is my favorite series by Briggs. Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs is the fifth book in the Alpha & Omega series and is set in the same world as the Mercy Thompson series. Brilliant, suspenseful and filled with characters that make made me laugh, pull my hair out in frustration and admire. Burn Bright packed a wallop and kept me on edge. I lost myself in the story and devoured it in one sitting.

Patricia has done it again. I can't get enough of her work in ANY of the universes she writes about. There is absolutely nothing I wont do for a Briggs novel!

Binge read these, then binge on Mercy Thompson. She's incredible!

Long running series eventually (inevitably?) become more about providing fans an opportunity to connect with favorite characters than they are about providing great stories. In Burn Bright, the fifth book in the Alpha and Omega series and fifteenth novel in the general Mercyverse, Briggs delivers a story about witches, traitors and alliances that is pure devotee-centric entertainment. Because this series is deeply interconnected you won’t want to read it without at least reading the first five books in the Alpha and Omega set.

It begins with a phone call. A being runs through the woods, hearing his mate’s voice say, “Call the Marrok, Right the hell now.” He makes the phone call, but is not answered by the Marrok, who has been away helping to rescue the captured Mercedes. It is instead answered by his son, Charles.

Charles had been filling in for the Marrok while he was on the rescue mission but is less than thrilled to be doing so now while the Marrok transitions his time away from mission to vacation. In spite of his reluctance to play substitute, when the call comes in from the mate of one of the Wildlings (wolves too feral to live in a pack but too sane to kill), he heads to the woods with his wife Anna to see what exactly is happening.

What’s happening is a kidnapping. Charles finds the wolf who’d initiated the phone call, Hester, in a cage. He and Anna manage to take out her assailants and rescue her, but additional hostile forces arrive during the escape. Adding stress to an increasingly difficult situation, Hester’s mate is a powerful Fey. He’s barely stable under the best of circumstances and these aren’t the best of circumstances. Trying to outwit a group of determined kidnappers/killers while making things look as though they’re under control when they clearly aren’t is a challenge even for a duo as dynamic as Charles and Anna. But as he dodges bullets and evades attackers, Charles can’t help wondering just what the hell is going on. Why is someone putting these kinds of resources into Hester, who hasn’t had contact with the outside world in years?  A lot of money is being spent on the operation, from silver bullets to magic infused guns to trained personnel and even a helicopter. Who the heck has that kind of money? And is it coincidental that all this is happening while their powerful leader is gone, or is there a traitor in their midst?

Like most of the books in this series, this is an action oriented story full of magical fights and multi-player battles. There is the usual loving banter between Anna and Charles, we get to spend time with favorites such as Asil and meet some interesting new people like Wellesley but mostly, there is movement. Someone is always heading somewhere urgent. There is also a lot of paranormal politics. All werewolf packs are carefully balanced communities of lethal, easily angered killers, this pack especially so since it contains many of the most lethal, most unbalanced of the North American wolves.

Those superlatives are part of what turn this from a well-balanced narrative into an exceptionally well-written work of groupie fiction. Everyone is the most something – Anna the luckiest and most uniquely talented, Charles the scariest, Leah the bitchiest, Bran (the Marrok) the most powerful, Asil the most enigmatically scary, Mercy the most desirable, legendary, cleverest and rapidly becoming the most Mary Sue of them all.  The werewolves themselves are tough, scary and powerful which means their ‘most’ characters have to be even more than that. And we keep finding more ‘mosts’, in Wellesley and Hester and her mate.

Typically, strong mysteries lift titles in this series beyond fan fodder but in this case the lynchpin of the puzzle doesn’t quite work. It depends on a well-established loner character divulging private information, which doesn’t just go against character but also against common sense. Then the entire ending is driven by deus-ex-machina: the right person is healed at the right moment, the right memory flows to the surface at just the right time, the power is there just when it is needed. It’s all a touch too convenient.

The good news is that the story is engrossing right up until it begins to unravel at the end. Additionally, the author’s complex, brilliant world building saves the novel from being bad or too silly. Those familiar with the Mercyverse can’t help but be awed by how Briggs continues to construct something new and intriguing in a market saturated with same old same old.

Additionally, fans will thoroughly enjoy time spent with familiar characters, notwithstanding that every once in a while, we aren’t thrilled with what happens to them. The romance between Anna and Charles remains strong and the price of admission is worth it for the book’s closing scene between them. It’s also nice to see minor secondary characters, like Tag and Kara, make appearances, even if those appearances are brief. They lend a comfortable familiarity to the text that gives a kind of homecoming  feel to the whole story.

The action which drives the story is also well written. You feel in the thick of the battle but at the same time it doesn’t take so much page space that you want to shout ‘Enough, already!’ An excellent job of balancing between conflict and quiet is done.

Burn Bright is a must read for its intended audience; it will very much be a page-turning pleasure for fans. However, it is definitely not the place to begin if you aren’t familiar with the series – that would be the novella Alpha and Omega - but I promise by the time you work your way through the excellent beginning novels and get to this one, you will find Burn Bright quite enjoyable.

Buy it at: A/BN/iB/K

I didn't find that this added much to the series. I kept expecting more of actual plot development, but this ended abruptly and after a pretty low-stakes couple of conflicts (none of the villains were really teased out, or even very threatening at all). The author tried to make it more impactful by killing off a few characters, but they were all characters that we'd never met before in the series, so it wasn't a strong emotional arc. Overall, I might be done with this series if it's just going to be more filler like this.

Patricia Briggs returns to the Alpha & Omega world with BURN BRIGHT. If you have not read the previous Mercy Thompson book, I would suggest that you do. Although they are different series, you’ll get some mention of events that I think are important to know between these two series.

BURN BRIGHT is much more mellow than the fast-pace of the Mercy Thompson series. Written in third person, it also gives readers a much more broader view of the world. I really enjoy this because we get a lot more POVs with this series than in the Mercy one, which allows for us to get some answers and/or clues for what’s going to happen next.

I will say that the very beginning of the book was a little slow, but once Charles and Anna are on the scene, that’s when things start to pick up. If you’re a fan of Mystery, I think you’ll also enjoy this series. There are a ton of unsolved mysteries in this series and it’s always a pleasure to see how they all pan out.

While most of the major cast is present, a few favorites may not be. Briggs gives a lot of insight into a lot of different people, creating a well-rounded narrative that feels all inclusive. As a great addition to the series, BURN BRIGHT will certainly brighten up any reader’s day!

[3.5/5 stars] As Patricia Briggs is one of my favorite urban fantasy writers, I love that I have a new release from her to look forward to every year. Reading her books always feels like cuddling up with a warm fuzzy blanket when it's snowing outside. Burn Bright was a nice installment in the Alpha & Omega series. Perhaps not quite as strong as the last couple of books, but still loads of fun all the same.

The positives were abundant: an interesting mystery to solve (one which I'm sure we'll see repercussions from in the next Mercy book), plenty of Anna and Charles awesomeness (because their relationship dynamic is still one of my favorites), Marrok werewolf pack politics (a topic of which I never tire reading), and an easy flow of writing that absorbs you for a good ride. Essentially, all of the basics I've come to expect from a Briggs novel in abundance.

All that said, I wish the book could've had tighter pacing, most notably in the second half. The main story halted several times so other stories could be told and, while they were all interesting and completely relevant to the plot, they effectively killed any building momentum for me. It wasn't a deal-breaker by any means (because the stories were good), but compared to the last two novels where the story practically careened towards the finish in a can't-put-it-down-for-anything manner, Burn Bright was just okay in that regard.

Overall, anything Briggs produces is a good read, and this wasn't an exception. I delighted in learning more about the dynamics within the Marrok's pack (and especially loved the inclusion of Asil - one of the most interesting side characters in the saga). I love enigmas in books, and Briggs has several she's been slowing revealing more about for years. It keeps me coming back with gusto!

Recommendations: I'm a huge fan of this series (and Patricia Briggs herself - you won't meet a more gracious author) and would recommend them to both urban fantasy fans and those new to the genre. At this point, the link between the Alpha & Omega and Mercy Thompson books is strong enough that you should consider reading both series simultaneously by publication order to avoid major spoilers. Additionally, I would encourage you to pick up Shifting Shadows, a brilliant short story compilation, before diving in to Burn Bright.

Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller

Excellent installment in Patricia Briggs' spin off series, we get to see so much more of the world in this book, fantastic!

I enjoy reading this series because of the characters and the way Ms. Brigg is able to make us care about the Charles and Anna relationship and how Anna is adapting to being Charles mate.
Charles must take control of the pack when his father (the ALPHA) goes missing and a problem arises with the broken werewolves. The broken werewolves are some of the most dangerous of all the werewolves in the pact. Also connect the two book world the Alpha and Omega series and the Mercy Thompson.
Love the story worlds Ms. Brigg created.

This is book 5 in the Alpha & Omega series. It seems so long between books that I went back and re-purchased the first short story and book 1. Burn Bright was amazing! The growth of Anna and Brother Wolf/Charles made my heart sing!

It took me a while to understand what was happening to the “wild and broken”, but when the story line started moving, it moved at a good pace and the story held my attention. I loved the mystery and the resolution of the storyline. Finally the identity of the betrayer/spy was deep and well done! Loved it!

Love, love, love this series! Got hooked on Patricia Briggs after reading the Hurog series. Really love Mercy Thompson, and was thrilled when I met Anna and Charles. I just finished this - not giving any spoilers - and it does not disappoint. Interesting to learn more about the Marrok's pack members.

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.


Patricia Briggs is one of my favorite authors. She consistently produces top-notch books, both in her Mercy Thompson series and in this one, the Alpha & Omega series, which is a spinoff of Mercy's stories and intertwines back and forth.


This novel picks up right around the events of the most recent Mercy book, Silence Fallen, and follows Charles and Anna as they handle some events surrounding the wildlings of the Aspen Creek pack. To me, Briggs is at the top of her game when she's writing Charles and Anna stories. I'm not sure what it is, but just like with Faith Hunter and her Jane Yellowrock series and Nell Ingram spinoff, as much as I love the main series, the spinoff set in the same world really works for me in a much deeper and more satisfying way. I think I just love the connection between Charles and Anna and their wolves and how they balance each other out.


As many of you may not know, Briggs lost her husband unexpectedly in early 2017, and this is the first book she's published since losing him. This book was very clearly influenced by this loss, and focuses heavily on the bonds between mates - Hester and Jonesy, Charles and Anna, Bran and Leah, even Asil and Wellesley and their lost mates. She also dedicated the book to her husband. It was an amazing book, and such a fitting tribute to the man who was, in fact, her own mate, and she couldn't have done a more beautiful job. "But that is the dual gift of love, isn't it? The joy of greeting and the sorrow of good-bye." ~from Patricia Briggs' Dead Heat, the prior book in this series.


If you haven't picked up Briggs and her Mercyverse, you're doing yourself a disservice. Start at the beginning and lose yourself in the beautiful, heartbreaking, heartwarming, deep world that Briggs has created. You won't regret it. (And if I may offer a tidbit of advice, follow this reading order: Moon Called, Alpha & Omega [short story], Cry Wolf, Hunting Ground, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, Bone Crossed, Silver Borne, River Marked, Fair Game, Frost Burned, Dead Heat, Night Broken, Fire Touched, Silence Fallen, Burn Bright)

Bran is MIA after helping rescue Mercy in Europe. This leaves his son Charles in charge of the Aspen Creek Pack. Instead of Anna and him being on the outer fringes of the pack and living in their home that is more a haven than anything else they are ensconced in Bran's house, Pack HQ, and Bran's wife Leah isn't taking too well to having house guests. She's used to having the pack in and out of her house at all hours, but not her step-son and daughter-in-law underfoot. It's almost a relief when a crisis arises. The hills behind their small Montana town are filled with wolves that are under Bran's protection but can not live amongst the pack. A danger to themselves and others, they live off the radar. These wildings are often left to their own devices but can call on the pack in times of crisis. One such crisis has arisen. Men have shown up in the woods. Well armed and prepared men. They have abducted Hester, a member of the pack, and her Fae mate Jonesy has called for help. Due to the remoteness of their location it's a miracle that Anna and Charles arrive before Hester is gone. The ensuing fight leaves many dead but even more questions that need answering. These militant attackers came into the Marrock's territory and attempted to take a pack member under his protection when they knew Bran was gone. They were too well prepared and well informed, indicating an enemy that is well funded and a possible mole within the pack. Yet there is a surprise in store. One of the attackers is known to Anna. He was there when she was abused in her old pack. Charles would kill him if the man wasn't already dead. Hopefully there will be no more death. With that goal in mind the strongest wolves set out to visit the wildings and when Anna meets the werewolf artist Wellesley and connects with him everything starts to make sense. The puzzle pieces are falling into place. But will they be able to accept what is revealed?

An ongoing perk of being a blogger is access to NetGalley where you can request digital advance reader copies of books. Yet NetGalley is a double edged sword, not just because you might end up requesting so many books there's no chance you'll ever finish them, of which I am guilty, but because sometimes instead of allowing you to request a book, in it's place, taunting you, is the "I Wish" button. Of course sometimes they do grant wishes, they tell you right there as you're desperately clicking the button hoping it will transform into a request one. Of all the authors I've read through NetGalley over the years I have never gotten such a thrill at seeing a book listed as with Patricia Briggs. Those gorgeous covers by Dan dos Santos though are always followed by nothing more than a wish. Yet in these instances my wishes have all been granted, thankfully without some nefarious deal with a fairy on the back end; just a request for my honest opinion, and my honest opinion is that I love Patricia Briggs and all her books set in the world of Mercy Thompson. Yet it's hard to review these books if just for the simple reason that after fifteen installments it's hard to find something new to say... except this time there is something new to say, and that's my realization that I love the Alpha and Omega series more. As long as there aren't any more horses. Yes, I entered this world through Mercy's adventures, but I relate more to Charles and Anna. At first I was wondering if it's because with only five books under their belt they had less baggage, but as seen here this series carries Mercy's baggage as well as it's own. Therefore I thought, perhaps it's the more focused narrative with less characters, but here we dealt with a pack bigger than the Columbia Basin Pack. In the end it comes down to the fact I relate more to Charles and Anna. They are more introspective, more removed. They are a part of their pack yet cherish their alone time, and that's something I can relate to.

As for the Aspen Creek Pack, they really take center stage in Burn Bright. Aside from their first adventure, Charles and Anna have been traipsing all over the continental United States and rarely have time to take in the Montana air. This time isn't downtime either, with Charles's farther Bran MIA after helping rescue Mercy in her previous adventure, but Charles being placed in charge of the pack means he's stuck on his home turf. Therefore, for what I feel is the first time, we're really getting a firsthand look at the pack. It's not filtered through Mercy's memories or passed down gossip that eventually gets to Charles and Anna, it's on the ground and immediate. We get to not only see the pack, but see what they are like without Bran present, who is such a dominate force he can overpower any plot line. And while each and every revelation of how the pack structure works was interesting to me, what I was most drawn to was the insight into Leah. Leah is Bran's mate, a mate who no one likes. Sometimes it seems that Bran doesn't much care for her either. In each and every one of her appearances, be it Mercy's stories or Charles's, she comes across as a really self-centered and bitchy stepmother. I won't say wicked, because she's never done anything altogether malicious, but she's always appeared to be cut from the same cloth. Burn Bright started out in this same vein and yet, while Leah never changed we readers finally got insight into how she became the way she is and the benefits of that. It's often the case that being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes lets you empathize with them and so it is here. We got to the bottom of her rage and came out seeing her with new eyes. She has even earned the respect of Charles, and that's saying something.

We also learned about "secret" pack members. Enter the wildings! Oh, how I love that Patricia Briggs has taken a word that is so heavily associated with Game of Thrones and George R. R. Martin and made it her own. The wildings, instead of being people just living behind a really big wall are werewolves, occasionally with their mates, who can no longer live in a pack setting. They are either too damaged or too dangerous, or a combination of both, to be allowed entrance to the town of Aspen Creek. Some of them occasionally can join the pack hunts, but most of the time they are secreted away on their own large parcels of land under Bran's supervision. Why this resonated with me so strongly is that I've felt for awhile that the black and white nature of who deserves to live and who deserves to die due to their behavior in this fictional universe was needing some grey. Having Charles as executioner to Bran's judgment was harsh. Bran seemed to make Aspen Creek a haven for the damaged, but only up to a point. Yet now we find out that he's actually been hiding his people out in the woods to protect them instead of giving them a fatal punishment. It makes Bran more human to me. He's no longer this untouchable, this unknowable force, he has a heart, and not just for Mercy. This is also seen in the expanding of Leah's past. The superhumans are coming down to our level and that just makes this a more relevant series. Briggs has always explored the all too human side of suffering with her series, and this is another great entry into seeing ourselves more clearly through something that is "other."

All the wildings could be considered crazy, to an extent. It's almost as if Briggs is creating her own spectrum, from unable to take human form to will kill you rather than look at you, we see a wide range of problems. Yet all this boils down to the notion of what makes us crazy and who cares for crazy. I was drawn to the first problem, what makes us crazy. Due to things that have been happening in my own life I felt the importance, the weight of this question. Is it environmental factors? A genetic disposition? An outside factor like drugs? Or, as we are in a supernatural world here, magic? With each different wilding we see a different presentation of madness, and yet, Anna shows that by approaching the situation with compassion these issues can be dealt with. With how Anna carefully deals with Wellesley we see what it is to be an Omega. She is the carer. She has had so much pain inflicted on herself that she knows what others who are injured need. So much of the book ties back into Anna's past traumas, in other words perhaps a re-read of her introductory short story from On the Prowl is needed, that we see there is no instant cure. Anna is still recovering. Her marriage and mystical connection to Charles didn't automatically heal all wounds. In fact, through dealing with her problems and then helping the Wildings, Anna is finding her place in the pack. Your damage, your illness, your problems, whatever they may be, they don't make up who you are, they inform who you become, and Anna is becoming an amazing heroine. My heroine.