Review--Mercy Burns by Keri Arthur

DARKNESS DESCENDS.
LOVE ABIDES. BUT . . .

MERCY BURNS

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?

Another 1 day read!! I was on a role! But now the weekend comes into play and I have errands to run! Oh well!

Keri Arthur's Mercy Burns is the long awaited book 2 in her Myth and Magic series that debuted in 2008. Mercy is the sister of Trae who we met back in Destiny Kills, this is her story. Mercy isn't a full blooded dragon at all. She's draman and is treated pretty crappy by the other air dragons. She's inferior and is good for nothing but breeding, not in a married sense either.

The sexy stranger called Death, is really named Damon. He's a certain kind of dragon that deals in death. Like an assassin so to speak, he kills who he's told to and sometimes that could be one of Mercy's kind if the kings call for it. There's a certain structure with the dragons in terms of status and Mercy doesn't rank very high being a draman. But she and Damon decide to work together because their means seek the same end. So they form a truce.

Damon and Mercy both try to fight their attraction to one another, but it isn't long before they let go. Yet Damon makes it clear early on that he cannot have a real relationship with Mercy.

The pacing is very good as Mercy has only 7 days to find her friend's killer to seek justice and still pray for her friend so that she may move on and rest in eternal peace. Should she fail to do this in 7 days, her friend is damned here on earth forever and will never have peace (Or some such thing). And Mercy already lost a day and change when she was in the hospital, so time is really not on her side and she has to work with Damon despite her better judgment to track down the killer.

There is definitely a lot of tension between these two. They are attracted to one another, but Damon can't get over their status quo--and he's not real jerky about it, just a tad.

Trae and Destiny even make an appearance at the end and it was pretty cool, just to see them. I always like that about series with different characters and what not.

Overall it was a fairly good read! The mystery element is pretty good. I couldn't really make any firm speculations, but it did have a nice ending to wrap things up! Definitely worth a read if you've read the first one. And there is a sneak peek at Darkness Unbound! Of course I forced myself (for sanity's sake) not to read it!

Overall rating 4/5 stars